Forget sex appeal. Female superheroes need a funny bone

The writers of previous female-led superhero films have concentrated on the women being sexual creatures. But what they need is a dose of humour.

Scarlett Johansson stars as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow in film Avengers: Age of Ultron

Unless you’ve been hibernating in the wilderness, you will have noticed the sharp increase in the number of “comic book superhero” films (and TV shows) over the past few years.

To name a few: Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Thor, Captain America, Ironman, XMen, Watchmen, Avengers, Hulk, Green Lantern, Kick-Ass, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, Hellboy, Wolverine, Guardians of the Galaxy. Ant Man is coming out soon, as well as Superman vs. Batman. Hollywood knows when it’s onto a good thing.

There’s nothing wrong with having a heck of a lot of superheroes. They overcome adversity, they save the world, they sacrifice. But there is something wrong with the distinct lack of female superheroes. OK, sure, there’s Black Widow, but she’s part of the Avengers franchise and doesn’t star in her own film — unlike most of her Avengers compatriots.

It’s not hard to see why studio execs are cautious about creating a movie helmed by a female superhero. History has shown that those films don’t do well — take a look at Catwoman and Elektra. Both were miserable failures at the box office. We could even look all the way back to 1984’s Supergirl. Disaster.

So far there’s only one female superhero film in the pipeline, Captain Marvel (to be released in 2018).

It would be easy to just say, “Well, men don’t want to watch films with females as the lead, anyway.” That would be a general and stupid assumption. Pitch Perfect is currently killing it at the box office (it’s knocked Avengers off the top spot in Australia), and that film has several female leads. According to Fizziology (a company which analyses how films are discussed on social media), most of the conversation around Pitch Perfect comes from men.

It’s clear that the problem with female superheroes is all down to the writing.

The writers of previous female-led superhero films have concentrated on the women being sexual creatures. First off, there’s nothing wrong with that — Thor had women staring at his chest when he took off his shirt in his movies. Same thing with Captain America.

But the difference is, that’s ALL the writers have given these female characters. Sexiness. They stand around a lot and flip their perfect hair and look amazing in their spandex (or lack thereof). They ooze sex appeal, and do little else.

If you look at the highly successful Marvel universe — Guardians, Ironman, Thor, Spiderman — you’ll see immediately why they’re thoroughly beating the DC universe (Batman, Superman).

Humour. Or as the Americans say, “Humor.”

Sure, you could argue that the grittier Batman franchise (under Christopher Nolan) is superior to any of the colourful and funny movies Marvel has created. Film is art and art is subjective (but let us never speak of Green Lantern).

Still, if you look at box office figures, and the sheer number of characters Marvel has brought to life - special mention should go to the superb Guardians of the Galaxy - it’s plain that Marvel is at the forefront of the Marvel vs. DC competition. And this is from someone who thinks DC’s characters are much more interesting than Marvel’s.

All that needs to be done is to inject some humour into these female superheroes. That’s all. Let them be funny. Give them witty dialogue. Give them a bloody personality, for the love of God. Sure, they’re sexy. But they’re funny too. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out part of Buffy’s enormous success was down to her being wickedly hilarious.

So please, Hollywood execs. Give it a shot. Give us some humour. Let Black Widow have her time in the sun. We’re waiting for her to save the world.

Originally published as Forget sex appeal. Female superheroes need a funny bone