The Avengers’ Black Widow Problem: How Marvel Slut-Shamed Their Most Badass Superheroine

[RandySF]

The thing nobody wants to admit about Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, and the Great Superhero Slut-Shaming of 2015 is that, PR crisis aside, the BroVengers were right.

Not for calling Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow a “slut” and a “whore” in the most casually offensive way possible; Renner also managed to sneak in a “prosthetic leg” comment that earned him a side of ableist complaints to go with those heaping cries of sexism. What was lost in the outrage over their feminist-baiting fratty misogyny is that Avengers: Age of Ultron’s macho twosome hit the nail on the head regarding Marvel’s persistent problem with women.

Namely, that even Marvel’s most badass female characters keep getting exploited—and utterly wasted—just to prop up the men around them. And it’s Marvel that keeps fortifying that glass ceiling.

In 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films thus far, strong female co-leads have only appeared in larger ensemble team-ups, primarily as lethal and emotionally impenetrable femme fatales who double as love interests (shout out to Guardians of the Galaxy’s Gamora).

Meanwhile, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America have fronted multiple stand-alones as complex superheroes with their own extended individual journeys to explore, but it’ll be another nine movies before Marvel finally rolls the dice on its first female-led superhero movie.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/28/the-avengers-black-widow-problem-how-marvel-slut-shamed-their-most-badass-superheroine.html

[KeepItReal]

1. I'm down with Salt 2 and Lucy 2.

Hollywood needs to make em.