'Supergirl': Has a wave of female-led superhero stories finally begun?
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Molly Driscoll Staff writer
It鈥檚 a bird, it鈥檚 a plane, it鈥檚 鈥� a female superhero, something that we haven鈥檛 seen a lot of recently.聽
On Oct. 26, CBS premieres its new show 鈥淪upergirl,鈥� a program that centers on Kara Zor-El, Superman鈥檚 cousin. The program stars Melissa Benoist as the caped heroine as well as David Harewood, Chyler Leigh, Calista Flockhart, Jeremy Jordan, and Mehcad Brooks.
In the show鈥檚 story, Kara went to Earth to make sure her cousin was safe. She works as an assistant at a media company, where she struggles with her powers and with her attraction to Superman鈥檚 sidekick, Jimmy Olsen (Brooks).
鈥淪upergirl鈥� arrives in a pop culture that鈥檚 ruled by superheroes but decidedly lacking in superheroines.
In the hero-glutted box office, female superheroes are occasionally members of a team, like Scarlett Johansson鈥檚 Black Widow or Jaimie Alexander鈥檚 Lady Sif, but they haven鈥檛 gotten their own stories.
Black Widow, one of the most high-profile, is part of Marvel鈥檚 Avengers team. She popped up in the 鈥淚ron Man鈥� and 鈥淐aptain America鈥� film series as well as the 鈥淎vengers鈥� movies, but she hasn't gotten a solo movie yet.
鈥淗ulk鈥� star Mark Ruffalo, one of the 鈥淎vengers鈥� co-stars,聽recently complained that he found it difficult to find Black Widow merchandise for his female relatives.
And some fans objected to a plotline in the most recent 鈥淎vengers鈥� film, this summer鈥檚 鈥淎vengers: Age of Ultron,鈥� in which Black Widow revealed she is unable to have children.
Elsewhere in the Marvel universe, Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), who works for the Strategic Scientific Reserve agency and can also hold her own in combat, is the center of ABC鈥檚 show 鈥淎gent Carter.鈥�
But on many other comic book TV shows on networks and streaming media, including 鈥淒aredevil,鈥� 鈥淕otham,鈥� 鈥淎rrow,鈥� 鈥淭he Flash,鈥� and the recently canceled 鈥淐onstantine,鈥� male characters are the focus of the story.聽
More female protagonists will soon get screentime in comic book stories both on TV and at the multiplex. Netflix鈥檚 鈥淛essica Jones,鈥� which debuts next month, is the story of the super-powered character of the same name, and after Wonder Woman makes an appearance in this March鈥檚 鈥淏atman v. Superman,鈥� she鈥檚 scheduled to star in her own movie in 2017.
The Marvel superheroine Captain Marvel will star in a movie, too聽鈥� eventually. Originally scheduled for 2018, her film is now slated for a 2019 release, possibly because a new 鈥淎nt-Man鈥� movie was just announced by Marvel for 2018. It鈥檚 titled 鈥淎nt-Man and the Wasp,鈥� and the Wasp is usually a female character in comic book lore.聽
Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University鈥檚 Newhouse School, says, 鈥淚鈥檓 surprised we haven鈥檛 seen more [female-led superhero stories]. The time is not only ripe for this but way overdue.鈥澛�
Though Hollywood's conventional wisdom maintains that only men like comic books, Mr. Thompson sees no reason that male viewers wouldn鈥檛 tune in to a comic book movie or TV show about a female superhero. And that thinking of only men watching comic book stories is flawed, anyway, says Thompson 鈥� he points to the box office grosses of Marvel films and movie series like the 鈥淒ark Knight鈥� Batman movies.
If only men were going to see these movies, he says, they wouldn鈥檛 reach the same grosses. 鈥淭he math doesn鈥檛 work on that,鈥� he says. Gender demographics for the opening weekend of this summer鈥檚 鈥淎vengers: Age of Ultron鈥� were almost even, with about 59 percent of the audience being male.
Whether 鈥淪upergirl鈥� succeeds or fails will 鈥渂e a matter of execution,鈥� he says.聽
