Captain Marvel looks set to be a game changer for Marvel Studios as the big screen debut Carol Danvers kicks down the door for more female-led superhero movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We know that Black Widow is in the works but during a recent chat with Entertainment Weekly, Kevin Feige confirmed plans to announce more releases like that in the not too distant future.
"With [Ant-Man and The Wasp] and now Captain Marvel and many movies to be announced in the near future, I’m anxious for the time where it’s not a novelty that there is a female-led superhero movie, but it is a norm. And it is less a story of, ‘Oh, look, a female hero,’ and it’s more a story of, ‘Oh, what’s this about? Who’s this character? I’m excited to see that.’ And I think we can get there."
Asked why it's taken so long to get to this point, Feige offered an explanation and pointed to the past. "I think there are a lot of reasons not the least of which was fighting for many years the erroneous notion that audiences did not want to see a female-led hero [film] because of a slew of films 15 years ago that didn’t work," he said. "And my belief was always that they didn’t work not because they were female-led stories — they didn’t work because they were not particularly good movies."
Captain Marvel now offers Marvel Studios the chance to get it right and the success of Wonder Woman last year definitely hasn't escaped the notice of the Feige and he was quick to praise the DC movie.
"I’ve always said, I root for all genre movies because the success of those movies helps us. Because not everybody knows the difference between what studio makes what movie or what comic book company what character comes from. So I’m very pleased when any film in our genre [does well] — not just superheroes, but action or sci-fi or anything. The success of Wonder Woman made me very happy because as I’ve said before in the press, I’d much rather the question be, ‘Oh gosh, what did you think about that successful female-led hero that came out a few years ago?’ Rather than the question I used to get, which was, ‘Are you afraid that people don’t want to see a female hero?’"
Which female superheroes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe would you like to see receive the spotlight? She-Hulk seems like one deserving candidate but there's a very long list to choose from...