Marvel chief: Sexist backlash is 'ludicrous'

As Marvel prepares to launch Ant-Man, its 12th superhero movie into theaters this weekend, the studio is being asked to answer for its portrayal (and lack of portrayal) of female superheroes.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige was asked by the Singapore Times why Marvel female characters have been sidelined in the studio's many films, especially in light of Evangeline Lilly's Ant-Man character, Hope Van Dyne, who is stopped from carrying out heroics by her father, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas).

Feige responded by saying that the women who have appeared in Marvel films thus far have been "smart, intelligent (and) powerful." "They haven't been the title characters up till this point and that has changed now that we've announced Captain Marvel, in which the title character will be Carol Danvers," he said, referring to the studio's announced first solo film to star a female hero, planned for 2018 (it's worth noting that the film's release date, and that of Black Panther, the studio's first solo film for a person of color, were both moved back so that a new Spider-Man film could open in 2017.)

He claimed that the decision to make a Captain Marvel movie had nothing to do with the calls from fans and the media for more female characters. "There has been a shift in the press and the public in terms of a very vocal clamoring for stand-alone female character films," he said. He also claimed that Marvel has always "gone for the powerful woman versus the damsel in distress."

Feige also discussed the backlash to the portrayal of Black Widow in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The studio's most prominent female superhero to date was the subject of much discussion and debate before and after the film premiered. First, Ultron stars Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner called the character a "slut" and a "whore" in an interview (comments that Evans apologized for and Renner doubled down on in a late-night appearance). Then many fans and critics were disturbed by a scene in the film in which Black Widow reveals she has been forcibly sterilized, and calls herself a "monster" because of it, which some have taken as an implication that goodness is attached to a woman's ability to be a mother.

"In terms of essays written about Black Widow in Ultron, I think they're all valid," Feige said. "Everybody's opinions are valid." However he also seemed to suggest that those opinions were wrong. "To suggest that female characters can't have multiple dimensions is also ludicrous," he said. "That Black Widow went through a program in which she was forced to have her reproductive organs removed is probably a little upsetting to her. So that people would be upset that she's upset - that's a little strange."

He repeated that Marvel's strategy has nothing to do with the backlash. "It would paralyze you if you were trying to develop a story or character that is going to please everyone on the Internet," he said. "You would curl up into a ball and never do anything."