Nerd Processor
Captain Marvel Isn’t Marvel’s Answer to Wonder Woman… Yet
The studio’s first solo female superhero has a lot more riding on her shoulders than ticket sales
Last week I saw the debut of the trailer for Captain Marvel, Marvel Studio’s long-awaited film that will (for the first time!) plant a female superhero firmly in the spotlight. Although the movie was developed in 2013, it was the resounding success of 2016’s Wonder Woman — released by DC, Marvel’s chief competitor — that finally spurred the studio to give a superhero franchise to a nondude.
But let’s be clear: Captain Marvel is no Wonder Woman… for now, at least.
The trailer was probably the first time most people had even heard of the character Marvel Studios is trying to make its premier female superhero. But Marvel Comics has also been trying to make Carol Danvers its equivalent to Wonder Woman on and off since 1977. Marvel has always been missing a distinctive female superhero on par with its best-known (and most marketable) characters, like Spider-Man, Captain America, and the Hulk. For most of Marvel’s existence, the majority of its most famous female superheroes were parts of a team (think Fantastic Four’s Invisible Woman or X-Men’s Storm).
