Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige says he believes in making female-led films, but it all comes down to them being able to tell the right story.
With Guardians of the Galaxy continuing Marvel’s hot streak of movie hits, some have been wondering when the studio will finally launch a film with a female character in the lead role. It seems people looking forward to that might have to wait a little bit longer, In an interview with ComicBookResources, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was asked how close are we to seeing a Marvel film with a female-led protagonist, since some fans have been demanding for it. Feige admits that even though he “very much” believes in doing it, it’s a “challenging thing” and they’re still looking to be able to tell the “right story.”
I think you’re right about that, and I think it comes down to timing, which is what I’ve sort of always said, and it comes down to us being able to tell the right story. I very much believe in doing it. I very much believe that it’s unfair to say, “People don’t want to see movies with female heroes,” then list five movies that were not very good, therefore, people didn’t go to the movies because they weren’t good movies, versus [because] they were female leads. And they don’t mention “Hunger Games,” “Frozen,” “Divergent.” You can go back to “Kill Bill” or “Aliens.” These are all female-led movies. It can certainly be done. I hope we do it sooner rather than later. But we find ourselves in the very strange position of managing more franchises than most people have — which is a very, very good thing and we don’t take for granted, but is a challenging thing. You may notice from those release dates, we have three for 2017. And that’s because just the timing worked on what was sort of gearing up. But it does mean you have to put one franchise on hold for three or four years in order to introduce a new one? I don’t know. Those are the kinds of chess matches we’re playing right now.
In the same interview, Feige confirms that Avengers: Age of Ultron is costing the studio more compared to The Avengers; and he thinks film director Joss Whedon will deliver a spectacle that is unmatched in any movie Marvel has ever made, or “maybe amongst any movie ever made.”
Well, sometimes I think raising the bar can be equated with spending more money or making a bigger action scene, and while “Avengers [Age of Ultron]” cost more than the first one did, and while there will be big action scenes, what we think raising the bar means is surprising people, exceeding their expectations in ways that they weren’t expecting. If all anybody was expecting were more explosions, that would be the easiest thing in the world to do. We get to deliver that every time — that would be simple. But I don’t think that’s what people want. I don’t think that’s what people mean by raising the bar. I think they want to be surprised, and they want to learn more about the characters. What Joss is doing in that movie is both. [He’s] delivering a level of spectacle that is unmatched, certainly, in any movie we’ve made, maybe amongst any movie ever made. But at the same time, and more importantly, [we’re] growing the characters and altering the character’s relationships in unique and surprising ways which can impact movies that come after.
Do you think the time is ripe for a female-led Marvel movie? Should Marvel start with the Black Widow since people are familiar with the character after being introduced in The Avengers and Scarlet Johansson is a known name in Hollywood? Or should the studio start kick this off with another superhero character altogether? And if so, which one?
Source: Comic Book Resources
