The Smurfette Principle

[Thequeerjock]

I would have been happy to see them take some inspiration from the all-ages Avengers book and give Wasp the Giant-Woman identity, actually, if part of the worry was her perceived "lameness." And I'm not sure who I'd cast, but I'm also pretty fond of making her Asian American or mixed like in the Ultimates (since they already went the Ultimate route for Hawkeye and Fury, and to a lesser extent Black Widow). Obviously none of the spousal abuse stuff Millar peppered in.

[Stressfactor]

I see what's being said, though. The decision was made at the top to go with more male heroes--Hawkeye--probably due to blindness that the team might be a bit too boy heavy.

Whedon made it work because Black Widow is essentially the Batman of the group and he added Hill but...obviously, there's something against female heroes at the top:

Look at this:
n a chat afterwards, Joe told me that he’d love to make a tentpole movie with a female lead, but that he really doesn’t think there is an actress right now who could carry it, or a character that would work either. I’m thinking I might agree with him on this one actually.

It's from a con report by Ain't It Cool News:
http://www.aintitcool.com/node/55873

So, yes, one can make a general argument that Hawkeye was easier to insert but there's no denying there's a bias against female heroes.

If they can find an actress to play Widow, they can find one to play Carol Danvers. (Oscar Winner Hillary Swank? Heck, try racially blind casting and go with Michele Rodriguez.) Me, I'd cast Emmy nominee Elisabeth Moss, who has just the right amount of steel & silliness to pull it off, as Wasp.

And we won't even add the obviously, which is that Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie could play Carol Danvers. It's what she does. She even carries action movies. (Salt.)

If Mad Men can find a whole host of female actors to play a whole host of disparate and complicated parts, then it's not that hard to find one to play in a super movie. If Hunger Games can find Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss and cast someone as perfect as the actress who played Rue, then it's not that hard.

If they can't make it a 'tentpole' movie with one actress how about two?

You CANNOT tell me that "Daughters of the Dragon" would not look kick-ass on the big screen with two female leads. Not to mention the fact that the film has the potential for BOTH kung-fu and gun-fu action. And it doesn't hurt to have an Asian-American for one lead and an African-American for another.


But I think a lot of female comic book characters have been hurt by the failures of Catwoman and Elektra. Which, in both cases, it wasn't the fault of having female leads it was the fault of having really, really, REALLY poor scripts... But that's not what studio execs are going to take away from it.

I think it's going to take someone making a really GOOD comic book movie based on a female lead before the studios will run out and take a chance on more.

[Morrison_Lad]

What about Jessica Jones?

Then again, you probably still have the same "How did she get her powers?" question to deal with.

[Stressfactor]

I would have been happy to see them take some inspiration from the all-ages Avengers book and give Wasp the Giant-Woman identity, actually, if part of the worry was her perceived "lameness." And I'm not sure who I'd cast, but I'm also pretty fond of making her Asian American or mixed like in the Ultimates (since they already went the Ultimate route for Hawkeye and Fury, and to a lesser extent Black Widow). Obviously none of the spousal abuse stuff Millar peppered in.

Honestly, I'd like to see Wasp revamped entirely where she can fully use her powers at both full-size AND at shrunken size.

Have the wings be purely mechanical -- part of a jet-pack like affair that gives her greater power and manoverability. The shrinking, instead of being her primary power, is actually a secondary power and one with drawbacks. At full size her jetpack gives her more speed and power and her sting guns would also be more powerful. When she shrinks she loses power in the jetpack and in the force from the guns. The shrinking, however, gives her the ability to go places a full-sized person cannot so that's her trade-off.

She could use the shrinking abilities for stealth and spying and to avoid being hit in heavy combat situations but then use her abilities at full-size to really lay some smack-down on her enemies.

[Thequeerjock]

Daughters of Dragon is still one of my dream movies, TBH. Do it real tongue in cheek and I think it could kick ass.

[Slewo.O]

They've done the same with Ant-Man in the cartoon, no reason they couldn't have Wasp's size-changing go both ways.

[Stressfactor]

What about Jessica Jones?

Then again, you probably still have the same "How did she get her powers?" question to deal with.

I thought they were looking into a live-action TV series featuring Jessica Jones. I'm pretty sure one title I saw tossed around was "Alias: Jessica Jones". I'm not sure if that's been canned now though.

[Major Comma]

That would be nice .
I was dissapointed that ABC passed on the proposed Jessica Jones series

[Stressfactor]

Daughters of Dragon is still one of my dream movies, TBH. Do it real tongue in cheek and I think it could kick ass.

I'd love to see a really smart screenwriter do it as a retro-exploitation style movie with a sidecar of satire on the genre.

[Shurato2099]

I'd rather not see Carol thrown in at the expense of losing out on Quasar or Mantis. Carol fits better in Avengers anyhow.

The modern version of Carol is definitely more Avengers material. I'm a bit torn as to her power set, but I'd say either work her into GotG or streamline her origin to gloss over her Binary phase and go with her current set. Without doing a big story about her, however, you'd have to divorce her from Mar-Vell and the Kree.

I'd love to see either her or Wasp for the next movie, I just think that it would require some build-up.