Marvel Comics has made an expanded cinematic universe (MCU) starting with the first "Iron Man" movie ten years ago. Out of the twenty movies thus far the company has churned out, there are obviously a plethora of characters and different personalities that come out of these films. One of the aspects of these movies I haven't really thought about before was its women. Well, that is, until now (cue the gasps). After watching "Antman and the Wasp" with its awesome female characters on opening weekend, I took a look back and found many examples of the other badass women in the MCU. I also think I know the reason why they are pumping out such good female characters.
When you look back in the early MCU, women were not really of large significance in the first several movies. "Iron Man" used Pepper as a love interest, "Hulk" used Betty as a love interest, "Thor" used Jane as a love interest, "Iron Man 2" introduced Black Widow mostly as a sex appeal, "Captain America: The First Avenger" used Peggy as a love interest, and so on and so forth. In my opinion, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is where women's roles in the MCU began to shift. Mainly, we got Gamora and Nebula from this film; two very deadly and awesome gals. After the first Guardians movie, we got great women such as the Ancient One (from "Doctor Strange"). We got Scarlet Witch (from "Avengers 2: Age of Ultron"). We got the goddess of death Hela (from "Thor: Ragnarok"). We got Nakia, Okoye, and Suri (from "Black Panther"). Most recently, we got Wasp and Ghost (from "Antman and the Wasp"). After the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" movie, the women became a lot more substantial in the films. It is not only because they are badass', though.
What I think Marvel did to make these characters great is not creating them to be women to champion the cause of "girl power" (at the very least it is not very apparent). They were made to be significant to the story and have their own interesting personalities and motives. Ghost's motive to steal technology could have been because men stole her work and didn't credit her; stupid plots like that happen all the time. But no, Marvel made saving her own life her motivation. Sure, that sounds like a good motivator, but that doesn't happen too often. It seems that women in media have aspects in their characters that are linked to being wronged by men, or attempting to prove their worth to society because of xyz. They don't need to be that way though. For example, Hela wants to rule Asgard because she wants power, Ghost wants quantum technology for self-preservation, Suri loves to make her own technology and to tinker for the good of her country, Gamora loves adventure so she teamed up with a ragtag group of a**holes. These women were made to be great characters; not great women. That's why it works.
A film where women power is played too strongly is "Wonder Woman." It was, at least to me, kind of annoying the amount of "just because I am a woman does not mean I am lesser" moments. Like yes, WE KNOW. But when that consumes your character gets old very quickly. Yes, you don't understand why women wear fluffy dresses because you know they can all be warriors. Yes, you can single-handedly save Steve Trevor, a man, in the alleyway from a bunch of German thugs. Yes, you can cross No Man's Land because you are no man. We get it. "I am so smart, look at all the smart things I am doing!" is just as annoying as "I am such a badass female character look at how I can do the same things men can do, if not better!" The movie itself was good, yes, but her character as a whole is a lot more stale because of how much attention her persona gives to this ideal.
Ultimately, I think Marvel has recently been doing really well with their female characters. They are not in your face about how women can be great. They make their female characters more than just their femininity, or the breaking of it. I have no doubt that they will do Carol Danvers justice with the release of "Captain Marvel" next year. No doubt at all.
