And yea, unless youve been under a rock, youve probably seen the new Avengers promotional mateiral, since the second avengers movie is about a week away.
Now of course if you have seen the promotional material you might have noticed something....a couple of characters seem to be missing.
See for example, if you go to the Marvel website and look up "age of ultron" you see a lot of stuff that looks like this
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| Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America |
And well a lot of people are quick to point out, someone is missing.
Of course the counterpoint is Black Widow has actually BEEN in 3 films (Iron Man 2, Avengers and Captain America 2) where as Hawkeye has basically been in 1 (barring a 3 second cameo in thor) and was a villain for half of it. So yea it might make sense to feature her a bit more that him
However also worth noting that Hulk, whos on fucking everything, has only been featured in 2 films, and Thor and Cap tie Black Widow at 3 (again excluding a 30 second cameo by cap)
So with all that in mind, is not promoting the Black Widow as much as the other 4 (sorry Hawkeye) sexist?
Actually, my ruling is no.
At least not directly.
So, for those who know me IRL, they probably know I am not, nor have I ever been the biggest fan of Black Widow as an Avenger (in the comics).
It turns out that carries over to the movies too (although not all the reasons are her fault per say).
What I'm getting at is Black Widow kinda sucks, shes not really an A list character. Shes more of a C lister, and played as such in most cases.
In fact the only reason people get mad about her not getting top 4 level billing (and not giving a fuck about Hawkeye not getting the same level billing), is because of the one and only thing she brings to the table that no one else does.....boobs.
Like thats it. Because she is the ONLY female character in the avengers, people want her to get equal billing.
Because done right, thats the way it should be. You should be as likely to have a total bad ass woman as a man/equally deep and developed characters/ect
And had marvel bothered to do that, then maybe the complaints would be justified.
However as it stands, I take the opposite approach, I think the Black Widow is actually OVER pushed because she is literally the only woman marvel has (on the big screen anyways).
Seriously name me 1 thing she did in the avengers movie that couldnt have been done by Phil Coulson, or Melinda May (from agents of shield)?
There really isnt anything. She just happened to be there instead of them. Thats really her contribution, happening to be there while looking good in a catsuit. In fact she got all the way through Iron Man 2 without ever actually mentioning her super hero name......
And while she had her total badass moment in the Avengers movie (when being interrogated/interrogating the russian), again that scene would have worked just as believably with pretty much any other character in that spot.
Not so much with memorable moments of the big 4. Hell even Hawkeye, who didnt really have a bad ass moment, at least looked pretty flashy with his weapon.
Which is another key point (and this is more to do with writing than an actual problem with the actress or character)
So if I asked you to name the avengers weapons the answer would look something like this
Cap: Shield
Thor: Hammer
Iron Man: Armor
Hawkeye: Bow and Arrows
Hulk: Hulk (fists)
Black Widow: um.....err......well......pistol's?
And as it turns out, youd be wrong on that last one.
The correct answer is Widow's Bite (although its never named)
or basically this thing:
Wait what? but I saw the movie in IMAX and never saw that.
Of course you didnt. Because it was used only three times in the movie for about 6 seconds.
Dont believe me?
First appearance (4 second mark):
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| The Black Widow |
At which point they tend to rail on Marvel for sexism.
And well it seems they have a point. If you go the official marvel website and search "avengers: age of ultron" of the 53 items that come up, Black Widow is featured only on 4 of them.
So yea, thats a bit problematic. Now of course Marvel's explanation usually points out that all 4 of the normally featured characters have had feature films released about them (3 in the case of Iron man, 2 each for Cap and Thor), and Black Widow hasnt.
Plus its not like shes the only not new character in movie they are ignoring
And well it seems they have a point. If you go the official marvel website and search "avengers: age of ultron" of the 53 items that come up, Black Widow is featured only on 4 of them.
So yea, thats a bit problematic. Now of course Marvel's explanation usually points out that all 4 of the normally featured characters have had feature films released about them (3 in the case of Iron man, 2 each for Cap and Thor), and Black Widow hasnt.
Plus its not like shes the only not new character in movie they are ignoring
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| Hey, Hi, Remember me? Please...... |
Of those 53 items mentioned above Hawkeye is featured on 1. Or roughly 300% less than Black Widow
However also worth noting that Hulk, whos on fucking everything, has only been featured in 2 films, and Thor and Cap tie Black Widow at 3 (again excluding a 30 second cameo by cap)
So with all that in mind, is not promoting the Black Widow as much as the other 4 (sorry Hawkeye) sexist?
Actually, my ruling is no.
At least not directly.
So, for those who know me IRL, they probably know I am not, nor have I ever been the biggest fan of Black Widow as an Avenger (in the comics).
It turns out that carries over to the movies too (although not all the reasons are her fault per say).
What I'm getting at is Black Widow kinda sucks, shes not really an A list character. Shes more of a C lister, and played as such in most cases.
In fact the only reason people get mad about her not getting top 4 level billing (and not giving a fuck about Hawkeye not getting the same level billing), is because of the one and only thing she brings to the table that no one else does.....boobs.
Like thats it. Because she is the ONLY female character in the avengers, people want her to get equal billing.
Because done right, thats the way it should be. You should be as likely to have a total bad ass woman as a man/equally deep and developed characters/ect
And had marvel bothered to do that, then maybe the complaints would be justified.
However as it stands, I take the opposite approach, I think the Black Widow is actually OVER pushed because she is literally the only woman marvel has (on the big screen anyways).
Seriously name me 1 thing she did in the avengers movie that couldnt have been done by Phil Coulson, or Melinda May (from agents of shield)?
There really isnt anything. She just happened to be there instead of them. Thats really her contribution, happening to be there while looking good in a catsuit. In fact she got all the way through Iron Man 2 without ever actually mentioning her super hero name......
And while she had her total badass moment in the Avengers movie (when being interrogated/interrogating the russian), again that scene would have worked just as believably with pretty much any other character in that spot.
Not so much with memorable moments of the big 4. Hell even Hawkeye, who didnt really have a bad ass moment, at least looked pretty flashy with his weapon.
Which is another key point (and this is more to do with writing than an actual problem with the actress or character)
So if I asked you to name the avengers weapons the answer would look something like this
Cap: Shield
Thor: Hammer
Iron Man: Armor
Hawkeye: Bow and Arrows
Hulk: Hulk (fists)
Black Widow: um.....err......well......pistol's?
And as it turns out, youd be wrong on that last one.
The correct answer is Widow's Bite (although its never named)
or basically this thing:
Wait what? but I saw the movie in IMAX and never saw that.
Of course you didnt. Because it was used only three times in the movie for about 6 seconds.
Dont believe me?
First appearance (4 second mark):
And final appearance: (22-25 second mark)
You saw that right? in the background? Oh and of course by the time it comes for the Team Bad Ass pose, whats Widow doing? reloading her gun.....(i cant find footage of appearance #2, but its the same idea as this one....its in the background)
Now while she is redeemed quite a bit in the second captain america (check out the extra attention they gave to draw your eye to her widows bite as an example), that cant really change the fact that for her first two appearances she was treated as boobs in latex, not really a full character worth promoting.
Of course, while that does kinda explain why Marvel's not bothering to promote her (she aint worth it/istn treated as a a lister), it doesnt excuse the real problem.....in that this was no accident.
As I pointed out above, Widow has a pretty cool weapon, just like the boys, and never used it.
But it goes beyond that in that she was I believe, intentionally picked because she could be reduced to tits and ass with a gun.
Consider. of the Avengers in the Movie, 3 of them founded the team (appeared in Issue 1): Thor, Hulk and Iron Man. Cap joined in issue 4, Hawkeye in issue 16. So all basically in the first year and a half of the franchise. (1963-1965)
Black Widow on the other hand officially joined at the end Avengers 119.....as a reserve (read not featured member) and quit in the opening pages of Avengers 120 in 1979. Wasn't seen again until she rejoined in 1978, lasted 4 issues, disappeared for 4 more, then returned to quit again. Didnt actually get a long run on the team until 1991.
In otherwords shes a johnny-come-lately compared to the others, and even later if you count only when she became a full team member.
Shes also not exactly the most significant female team member, the 60's had the Wasp and Scarelt Witch, prominetly featured, the 70's the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Mantis, Moondragon. The 80's Wasp, Witch, She-Hulk, Tigra, Spider Woman II, Captain Marvel (Rambeau) and Mockingbird. the 90's had Wasp, Witch, She Hulk, Crystal, Firestar, Serei, Captain Marvel (Danvers), Spider Woman I and finally the Widow. 2000's had Spider Woman I, Danvers, Jessica Jones, She-Hulk and Tigra. 2010's so far has Witch, Spider Woman I, She Hulk, Danvers, and Rogue (now keep in mind this a list of female characters who got major attention, not just female characters on the team)
Now as you'll note a lot of those names come up more than once (Wasp, Witch, She-Hulk, Tigra, Captain Marvel (Danvers) Spider Woman I mostly).
Set somehow despite that Marvel went with a C-lister from 20 years ago (although to be fair they had a trademark issue with Scarlet Witch (but not spider-woman who is totally separate from spider-man), and a redundancy issue with She Hulk.
Now I suppose Marvel could claim "well she was team leader at one point so thats significant", which is true. But again looking only at Women so were Wasp, both Captain Marvel's, Scarlet Witch and Rogue (currently). And well, Black Widow is the only team leader in history to be so poorly recieved by the public that the comic was legit cancelled and rebooted following months of debate in the letter pages over if she was actually leader or not, and the writing team didnt even try to come up with an in universe explanation that made sense (still havnt by the way).
You'll notice by the way, a LOT of the same names came up, as came up last time Wasp, Witch, Captain Marvel.
So again, why did they go with Widow? Well, because shes the only one whos powers you can basically reduce to "has gun will shoot", and not be too badly screamed at. Partly because Widow's powers anrt that impressive (her Widows bite is basically it, plus some agility, although it should be noted in the comics the Bite has stun darts and a repelling line and a few other options) and partly because I've yet to run across any fans of Black Widows run in the avengers (as opposed to daredevil) from prior of the original avengers movie, so no one cared anyways.
In otherwords she was perfect for what marvel needed. A way to get a female character into the movie cheaply (no special effects needed), and one who could basically be handled with minimal effort, do nothing, look hot as hell, and generate no complaints on how she was used (her few fans seeing her inclusion as a major elevation (and it was) and therefore blind to the sexist reasons being it)
So like I said, the fact that marvel isnt promoting Black Widow isnt really a problem for me. I see nothing there worth promoting,
To me the bigger problem is that they thought they could get away with passing off a leather clad pair of tits as a major character, and that we, the american public, more or less let them get away with it.
However to end this blog on a high note, it should in all fairness be noted that since Black Widows movie debut Marvel has gotten a lot better. For starters the portrayal and actual attempt to show a valuable skill set for the Black Widow in Captain America 2, shows some attempt to salvage the character (too late in my opinion), and the major attention and character given to the Characters of Mockingbird and Quake (another comic avenger) Melinda May (kinda), and Agent Carter and the upcoming female led Captain Marvel movie (and hopefully the portrayal and usage of the Scarlet Witch in Avengers 2) show good hope for a legit a-list female super hero soon. (my money is on Captain Marvel, especially with the comics seeming to try to push her to the top of the pile as well)
Also, one last favor. if your going to reply, no avengers 2 spoilers please.....
Set somehow despite that Marvel went with a C-lister from 20 years ago (although to be fair they had a trademark issue with Scarlet Witch (but not spider-woman who is totally separate from spider-man), and a redundancy issue with She Hulk.
Now I suppose Marvel could claim "well she was team leader at one point so thats significant", which is true. But again looking only at Women so were Wasp, both Captain Marvel's, Scarlet Witch and Rogue (currently). And well, Black Widow is the only team leader in history to be so poorly recieved by the public that the comic was legit cancelled and rebooted following months of debate in the letter pages over if she was actually leader or not, and the writing team didnt even try to come up with an in universe explanation that made sense (still havnt by the way).
You'll notice by the way, a LOT of the same names came up, as came up last time Wasp, Witch, Captain Marvel.
So again, why did they go with Widow? Well, because shes the only one whos powers you can basically reduce to "has gun will shoot", and not be too badly screamed at. Partly because Widow's powers anrt that impressive (her Widows bite is basically it, plus some agility, although it should be noted in the comics the Bite has stun darts and a repelling line and a few other options) and partly because I've yet to run across any fans of Black Widows run in the avengers (as opposed to daredevil) from prior of the original avengers movie, so no one cared anyways.
In otherwords she was perfect for what marvel needed. A way to get a female character into the movie cheaply (no special effects needed), and one who could basically be handled with minimal effort, do nothing, look hot as hell, and generate no complaints on how she was used (her few fans seeing her inclusion as a major elevation (and it was) and therefore blind to the sexist reasons being it)
So like I said, the fact that marvel isnt promoting Black Widow isnt really a problem for me. I see nothing there worth promoting,
To me the bigger problem is that they thought they could get away with passing off a leather clad pair of tits as a major character, and that we, the american public, more or less let them get away with it.
However to end this blog on a high note, it should in all fairness be noted that since Black Widows movie debut Marvel has gotten a lot better. For starters the portrayal and actual attempt to show a valuable skill set for the Black Widow in Captain America 2, shows some attempt to salvage the character (too late in my opinion), and the major attention and character given to the Characters of Mockingbird and Quake (another comic avenger) Melinda May (kinda), and Agent Carter and the upcoming female led Captain Marvel movie (and hopefully the portrayal and usage of the Scarlet Witch in Avengers 2) show good hope for a legit a-list female super hero soon. (my money is on Captain Marvel, especially with the comics seeming to try to push her to the top of the pile as well)
Also, one last favor. if your going to reply, no avengers 2 spoilers please.....
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