While we love the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one thing is blatantly true, almost every single one features a male as the lead. In the 10+ year span of the MCU, there’s only been one female-led movie, Captain Marvel. In May, we’ll get our second, Black Widow. And there’s only been one person of color to lead a Marvel film, Black Panther. What’s up with that, Kevin Feige?
According to actor Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Feige has been fighting for a while to include more diversity in the MCU. The problem was, he wasn’t always at the head of everything as he is now. Marvel’s Ike Perlmutter and others used to get in the way. Ruffalo explains, looking back at 2012’s Avengers:
“When we did the first Avengers, [Marvel supremo] Kevin Feige told me, ‘Listen, I might not be here tomorrow.’ And he’s like, ‘Ike [Isaac Perlmutter, Disney’s largest shareholder at the time] does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.’ Because Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes. He changed the whole Marvel universe. We now have a gay superhero on the way, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes – Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have Captain Marvel, they are doing She-Hulk next. No other studio is being that inclusive on that level.”
He continued:
“They have to, though. This is the fucking world.”
Perlmutter is no longer part of the film division and Feige has much more say than he used to. With Black Widow coming out, we also have characters like Shang-Chi getting their own movie. Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk will also be female-led series on Disney+. We are also going to get a transgender character in the Loki series and Natalie Portman will become Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder. The Eternals will first the first on-screen same-sex kiss and Valkyrie’s bisexuality might finally come to the forefront in Thor 4. We’re making progress, slowly.
What do you think about Ruffalo’s comments?
H/T: HN Entertainment
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