I’ve been reading quite a bit of negativity about current fantasy films with female leads failing, with the prevailing belief that audiences don’t want to watch female lead characters.
I’ll venture the opinion, as a publisher and a content provider for other publishers, that guys do NOT hate women in leading roles. They hate 1.) poorly-written movies about 2.) women who aren’t sexy. (After all, these movies are fantasies.)
Look at the comic books themselves: Sexy variant covers sell like crazy. As mainstream publishers phased out “sexy babe” comics in recent years, that audience — a big audience, because comics are still mostly read by guys — found their sexy babe comics on Kickstarter, where they thrive. (I’ve published a few there.)
I believe it’s the same with movies and TV shows. Silly shows like She-Spies and Pamela Anderson’s VIP thrived when playing up the sexy and nothing depressing. Think Xena, Wonder Woman, Baywatch, Charlie’s Angels, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nikita, Alias, Charmed, and so many others.
The super heroine movies of recent years have none of the sexiness and joy that the main audience wants. Halle Berry’s Catwoman was poorly written and nothing at all like the audience wanted. Black Widow and The Marvels just sat there, not even trying to be entertaining (yet not as bad as Eternals, which wasted Angelina Jolie and Gemma Chan).
She-Hulk was a slog to get through; its fourth wall-breaking was self-conscious and unfunny, the opposite of Deadpool that revelled in its silliness and irreverent, bawdy humor. She-Hulk’s twerking wasn’t well done and seemed forced, and the bad CG work hindered it further. Deadpool’s dancing proved hilarious and consistent with the character. She-Hulk seemed to be a series that hated itself, so it’s no wonder much of the audience hated it.
