aren't there a lot of men?

Film You've probably seen this already, but just in case ...



To endorse the crowd, "woop" and "yeah"!

Except, my first reaction was: aren't there a lot of men?

Traditionally, The Avengers has been a predominantly male superhero team but even in the comics, The Wasp was a founding member. As you'd expect, the wikipedia has a list of members and I think I can see what the problem is. Here's a complete list of female teamsters from across the years from the various flavours of The Avengers:

The Wasp
Scarlet Witch
Mantis
Ms. Marvel
Tigra
Mantis
She-Hulk
Captain Marvel
Mockingbird
Firebird
Spider-Woman
Invisible Woman
Crystal
Firestar
Hellcat
Jocasta
Stature
Valkyrie
Sharon Carter
Marrina
Magdalene
Moira Brandon
Masque

Some of those will be tied up in the Fox X-Men license which I think includes any of the mutants in the Marvelverse (that's Scarlet Witch done for) and similar movie deals (Spiderwoman?). Others because they're part of a property that could be sold on-mass like The Inhumans. But mostly it's because outside of comics circles they're so horrendously obscure.

The only names that really have a cache are Firestar because of the Saturday morning cartoon and She-Hulk and it's unlikely that she'd be included in a film with her more famous cousin without the huge mass of baggage. Oh and Invisible Woman but that would be too weird.

It's a few years since I was really absorbed in Marvel Comics, but I can't think of another proper a-list female Marvel Comics character who isn't a derivation of an existing male character or depends on a super hero team for her existence. I even asked twitter and nothing quite fitted the bill.

Black Widow seems to be in this because Marvel consciously "introduced" her in Iron Man 2 and that might have worked for others from that list, The Wasp for example. But perhaps her non-appearance is because of the potential Ant-Man film, what with their continuity being linked together.

In other words the reason The Avengers is a men's room is not necessarily the film maker's fault. There just aren't enough female a-listers to go around. Which is a pity because Dichen Lachman would make an excellent Mantis. Or Emily Brunt as Hellcat. Or Ali Larter as Ms. Marvel. I'll stop.

Updated later in the day: Or not. A trailer has been released for a new cartoon series, which features the movie line-up plus Ant Man and The Wasp.



Ron Livingston and Michelle Monaghan had best keep their diaries clear.