Professional Nerd Stephen Colbert has taken a strong stance on Marvel's gender imbalance thanks to a new report about Iron Man 3's villain being changed from a woman to a man to sell toys.
“The Marvel Cinematic Universe is kind of a sausage fest,” said Colbert in a recent Late Show segment. And well, he's not wrong.
No matter where you want to lay the blame, the Marvel movie and TV universe skew heavily male. And so, the higher-ups think, they must sell things directly to men. At least that's what Iron Man 3 director Shane Black recently revealed (not that we were shocked). Women had much larger roles in his film until Marvel told him his main villain needed to be male to sell toys. He had to rewrite the entire script.
The best part? They never even made action figures for Guy Pearce's villain Aldrich Killian. No, seriously. Killian got a LEGO minifig in a larger set and a Minimates figure. That's it. Way to go, Marvel!
Here's what Colbert had to say when he heard the ridiculous news.
Toy sales are undoubtedly a huge part of making money from a film but fans are wondering why studios only want to cater to roughly half the market.
There've been several campaigns started in the last few years surrounding Disney franchises alone. Gamora was left out of many Guardians of the Galaxy items and we all know Black Widow has repeatedly been ignored in that department as well. Even when there are female characters, as was the case with Jurassic World's dinosaurs, toy companies spontaneously make them male. It's weird and nonsensical.
Thankfully some progress is being made. Many struggled to find Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Rey items in stores, but at least there was a plethora made. And while new Ghostbusters merchandise oddly features only boys on the shooting toys, the lead characters are getting a bunch of figures. Toy companies just need to get it through their thick skulls you can actually sell more merchandise when you make items for all your characters and sell to all genders.