The original X-Men franchise actually did a fantastic job with female representation. Rogue is our POV character for the first half of the first first (and then it switches to Wolverine). Jean and Storm also feel crucial to the series. Plus Mystique is one of the coolest bad guys! I try to forget X3 ever happened so I…

He wasn't an unknown by any means, but I don't think he had that "stop 10 people on the street and they've all heard of him" level of fame that he does now.

Agreed! I understand Ellen Page isn't as much of a bankable star or an established part of the franchise, but it seems like they could have found a way to make her more crucial to the film. In the comics Wolverine was Kitty's mentor for a while. It would have been so cool to see them establish that relationship here…

I wonder if this is a male/female socialization thing. All of the toys I loved as a kid were sold to me on a narrative-basis. I had dolls of all my favorite Disney/TV characters and while they sometimes came with interchangeable outfits and/or animal sidekicks, for the most part it felt like I was buying the…

I mean you clearly know more about this topic than me but wouldn't people buy a Black Widow toy because they like the character from the movies and want to play act stories about the Avengers? Isn't that the whole point of action figures? Maria Hill doesn't really do anything in the movie whereas as Black Widow is a…

That's what I'm hoping as well! And while I'm excited by the thought of Gamora taking center stage in GotG 2 it feels like I've lived my entire life being told meaningful female representation is just a year or two away so its hard not to be a bit jaded. It would have taken very little reworking to make Gamora feel…

I guess on paper Kitty had a big role to play, but as you mention that translates to essentially nothing on screen. It would have been cool if she had been the one to go back in time (as she does in the comics). I understand that Wolverine is a big star in the film series, but Kitty could have at least gone back with…

I've loved basically every comment you've made in this thread. Keep fighting the good fight!

Fair enough. But Johansson has repeatedly said she'd be up for a solo film, and I highly
doubt she's anymore cost prohibitive than RDJ who I believe is the
highest paid actor in Hollywood. Hemsworth and Evans don't have the
luxury of recording lines for CGI doubles yet that hasn't stopped them
from getting two films…

We'll have to agree to disagree I suppose. If I were a kid getting to have Black Widow rope swing off my furniture and/or ride around on a Chitauri hovercraft would be HUGE draws for me. Plus the thought of changing her hair is super exciting to me personally and would probably help sell the doll in both the…

I typed something similar later in the comments, but I'll post here as well. I'm obviously just speculating that a Black Widow movie would be successful, just as any discussion of future box office returns is speculative. It's by no means a guarantee that a Black Widow solo film would dominate at the box office, and…

Iron Man was a pretty unknown B-list superhero before Marvel turned him into a household name. Same with Guardians of the Galaxy (which is based on a comic created in 2008). There is nothing stopping Marvel from turning a lesser known female character into a high profile film star. That's basically the company's…

The lack of any Beast/Mystique interaction is definitely a strange part of DOFP. Although theoretically she hasn't seen him in 10 years and only spent a couple weeks with him over the course of First Class? DOFP really does not want to consider the logistics of its 10-year time jump. If Erik was arrested for the…

But Mystique is the sole female character the current X-Men franchise has any interest in (and I spend several paragraph talking about her). Meanwhile once important characters like Rogue, Jean Grey, Storm, Kitty, etc. are mostly absent from the franchise and they've yet to introduce any compelling female characters…

In Winter Soldier she swings on a rope/cord thing to get off a bridge. That could totally be a part of her action figure! You can make her swing off tables and stuff! She tricks Winter Soldier with a recorder (or maybe her phone?). In Avengers she spends a bunch of time on Chitauri hoverboard. You could TOTALLY sell…

Interesting point, although I would argue that genre hopping is exactly what makes the MCU so unique. I did a full MCU marathon this weekend and both Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger feel like HUGE genre departures from Iron Man and Incredible Hulk. Iron Man is a sardonic action film, Thor is a melodramatic…

Disney princesses largely exist in male-dominated environments (the only expectations being Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty I think). It's not that Disney princess films flip the gender ratio of superhero films, they simple take the female characters who would be sidekicks in supehero films and make them into…

This comment made me laugh for a good five minutes.

The weirdest unstated part of DOFP is that Mystique only hung out with Erik for about a year before he was arrested for the Kennedy assassination. (Assuming he was arrested immediately after the shooting. First Class takes place in 1962 and Kennedy was killed in 1963.) Which means she has spent 10 years as a solo…

I take your point, but on the other hand I doubt most people expected Frozen to break 1 billion dollars or for Lucy to earn triple its budget or for The Fault in Our Stars to beat Edge Of Tomorrow or for Guardians of the Galaxy (which was considered a huge risk for Marvel) to dominate the way it did. I agree Avengers…