After a long string of male-dominated superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), 'Captain Marvel' will mark the gender shift in the shared universe's list of films. Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige talked about this new trend of heroines as title characters beginning with the release of the 2018 film. Writer Nicole Perlman also revealed her screenwriting task for the film to be more challenging than writing 'Guardians of the Galaxy'.
According to Straits Times, Feige said that the superhero industry is slowly changing with the adaptation of superheroines taking leads in future films. He revealed that 'Captain Marvel' is the first female-led title after 12 comic book live-action adaptations and was optimistic of its reception after a number of successful female-centric movies recently. The industry mogul also pitched in on his thoughts about the evolving state of the traditionally male-dominated comic book fanbase. He said, "The female-genre fanbase is either growing, or getting more vocal, or both... So women are very much a gigantic portion of the fanbase." He added, "There have been strong, powerful, intelligent women in the comics for decades. And if you go back to look at our movies... our films have been full of smart, intelligent, powerful women."
According to USA Today, Feige also defended the backlash over what some saw as Scarlett Johansson's sexist Black Widow portrayal in 'Avengers: Age of Ultron' as well as the female-specific degrading names male co-stars called the character in prior interviews.
The monumental gender-shift may be why screenwriter Perlman (working alongside co-writer Meg LeFauve) found her role exciting and challenging. According to Wired, Perlman said, "We've been talking a lot about archetypes and what we want this movie to be about and just how to write a strong female superhero without making it Superman with boobs... It's a lot more complicated than just writing Guardians."
'Captain Marvel' is an upcoming superhero film based off the Marvel Comics. It is the 20th movie installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a shared universe created by Marvel Studios which features its independent films. It is set to be released on November 2, 2018 under the distribution of Walt Disney Studios. It is also the eighth film in Phase Three of the MCU. 'Captain Marvel' will most likely be adapting the story of the fictional Carol Danvers ak.a. Ms. Marvel, who first appeared as a member of the United States Air Force in a 1968 copy of Marvel Super-Heroes. She was then reincarnated in later publications as Ms. Marvel, a superheroine with fused human genes and alien Kree.
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