DC Comics has created some of the most iconic superheroes of all time, no doubt, with characters like The Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary and of course Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Grossing billions of dollars, nobody can argue they have been hugely successful both on page and screen. However, they still have some room for improvement, according to this 11-year old girl, who thinks she has the answer to their looming problem.
Rowan may just be a little girl in the world, but she apparently has some very big ideas when it comes to her thoughts on the DC Comics' shared universe. In a recent letter that's made its way around Twitter, Rowan professes her love of DC superheroes in comics, cartoons and movies with great pride. But unfortunately for the beloved comic company, the letter wasn't all good. Rowan soon details her reason for writing the letter saying:
"I’m a girl, and I’m upset because there aren’t very many girl superheroes or movies and comics from DC. ...I remember watching Justice League cartoons when I was really young with my dad. There are Superman and Batman movies, but not a Wonder Woman one. You have a Flash TV show but not a Wonder Woman one. Marvel comics made a movie about a talking tree and racoon awesome, but you haven't made a movie with Wonder Woman...I love your comics, but I would love them a whole lot more, if there were more girls."
Of all the superhero movies in both the DC and Marvel world of films (both old and new), how many of them are female-driven? I think we can agree that there are more Superman and Batman films than we can count and we have quite a few Captain America, Spider-Man and X-Men movies at this point... but what about characters like Hawkgirl, Starfire and Batgirl? Oh wait, that's right, they did make Supergirl back in 1984 and then Catwoman twenty years later in 2004 and Elektra in 2005. I guess it probably wouldn't look so bad if they weren't outdone 10 to 1 by their male counterparts. I think little Rowan would agree. Check out her full letter here.
Well, as it turns out Rowan has a very valid point and she's not alone in thinking females are underrepresented in the world of comic superheroes. Avengers franchise director Joss Whedon shared his thoughts on the subject recently in an interview with Digital Spy, saying he thinks Marvel needs to shed the "sexism" and "misogyny" that currently exists in the industry.
"You hear 'Oh, [female superheroes] don't work because of these two bad ones that were made eight years ago', there's always an excuse. …Marvel is in a position of making a statement simply by making [a female-led] movie, which I think would be a good thing to do."
The good news for Rowan and all who agree we need more female superheroes, is that Wonder Woman, starring Gal Gadot is set for a 2017 release. Wonder Woman will also appear in the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League Part One (2017) and Two (2019). Also, on the Marvel side of things, Captain Marvel aka Ms. Marvel is set to make an appearance in her very own MCU film in 2018, which may end up being directed by Whedon. If these upcoming films do well, it could just open the floodgate. Men, are you ready?
