In 2016, Marvel Studios announced the title of the sequel to Ant-Man: Ant-Man & The Wasp. Released in 2018, this was the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to feature a female superheroes’ name in the title, so it was an incredibly important step towards greater equality for women in the MCU.

Movie Poster Controversy

The movie posters were subject to some controversy due to the way Ant-Man and the Wasp were positioned. Evangeline Lilly (who plays the Wasp) is facing forward, while Paul Rudd (Ant-Man) is looking back over his shoulder, a pose typically reserved for women on posters. One tweet from an angry fan sums up the strange, sexist outlook that the opponents of this poster had:

This is the future the liberals are planning for you. Women are men and men are women. #AntManAndTheWasp – @michaelshipley

Another poster (pictured below) featured Wasp in a prominent position at the center, which was another “win for gender parity,” as Scott Mendelson of Forbes Magazine wrote.

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Female Competence

Throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp, the female characters consistently prove themselves to be more competent and often more powerful than their male counterparts. Hope van Dyne (Wasp) was introduced in Ant-Man, but got little chance to show her true worth or the extent of her abilities. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, however, Hope was “the brains of the operation,” in contrast to Ant-Man’s “comic relief.” Alongside her father, Hank Pym, she works to solve complex scientific problems involving the quantum realm and is never portrayed as less intelligent or inferior to Pym, despite his greater age and experience. Not only is Hope much more intellectually competent than Scott Lang (Ant-Man), she is his physical superior as well, demonstrating acrobatic and shape-shifting skills that put Ant-Man’s to shame. As one critic wrote, “this woman kicks so much ass, it’s almost infuriating that she wasn’t recruited to the Avengers before the Infinity War went down – she could have given Thanos and his minions some serious trouble.” Although Ant-Man is still the focus of the majority of the film, his role is somewhat passive. One of Scott’s greatest roles in this film that allows them to (spoiler alert) rescue Hope’s mother, Janet van Dyne, from the quantum realm is as a conduit that Janet is able to relay information through. Scott hears her voice in his head and in some scenes, is fully controlled by Janet’s mind. This leaves Hope to save the day and rescue her mother. She “gets Scott out of binds, risks her life to save him, and generally drives the entire plot of the film,” showing her incredible capabilities every step of the way.

Janet van Dyne is another example of a competent woman in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Although she was trapped in the dangerous quantum realm for many years, she was able to stay alive and even find a way to contact her family, a feat that her husband never thought would be possible.

Ghost

One of the most interesting ways to write a villain is by giving them a valid justification for the things that they are doing. A villain with an unrelatable motivation makes the fight between good and evil seem simplistic and loses all sense of nuance. Ant-Man and the Wasp features a female antagonist, which is not very common in the action movie genre. Ghost is one of my favorite villains simply because I can genuinely understand where she’s coming from and why she committed the crimes that she did. Ghost lives with an incredibly painful condition where she phases through objects uncontrollably. Her fight against the heroes is solely motivated by her intense desire to cure her condition, which was caused by a terrible accident that killed both her parents. This sympathetic backstory and motivation allow her to connect with the audience and the protagonists, which is unique to many antagonists.

Following the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, massive controversy surrounding the portrayal of the character Black Widow erupted. At the time, Black Widow, or Natasha Romanoff, was arguably the main female character in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in three films prior to Age of Ultron. But, the representation of women in Marvel films was still incredibly lacking. As one reporter, Jen Yamato, wrote:

“in 11 Marvel Cinematic Universe films thus far, strong female co-leads have only appeared in the larger ensemble team-ups primarily as lethal and emotionally impenetrable femme fatales who double as love interests (shoutout to Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Gamora).”

Still, previous movies had teased Black Widow’s complicated and interesting background, so fans were excited to see her character arc during the second Avengers movie and learn more about her story, as they were promised. Natasha Romanoff was trained from a very young age to become a spy as a part of the “Black Widow Ops Program” at a Soviet training facility called the Red Room. Knowing that a flashback scene to Romanoff’s time at the Red Room was coming in Avengers: Age of Ultron, fans hoped for an explanation of the “red ledger” line in the first Avengers movie or another event that showed the complexity of her character with the sins she committed in her past. Instead, it was revealed that the final “graduation ceremony” at the Red Room was sterilization. Although this is an undoubtedly terrible and traumatic event in Black Widow’s life, the focus of her big reveal is on her reproductive abilities, and, as Todd VanDerWerff, a reporter for Vox, writes, “it seems as if she, like so many female characters, is being reduced to her reproductive choices.” This left many fans disappointed and upset, arguing that this reveal was sexist and overshadowed Black Widow’s other moments in the film. Although Romanoff had never previously expressed interest in starting a family or having children, her backstory reveal focuses on the devastation that she feels because she is unable to have children. One review of the movie’s treatment of Black Widow explains the scenario, “instead of an assassin struggling with moral lines she didn’t know existed, we got a woman who feels incomplete because she cannot have babies.”

The last sentence of Black Widow’s reveal has been the subject of massive controversy. Her mini-monolgue, which she gave to Bruce Banner (the Hulk), in its entirety says:

In the Red Room, where I was trained, where I was raised, they have a graduation ceremony. They sterilize you. It’s efficient – one less thing to worry about – the one thing that might matter more than a mission. Makes everything easier, even killing. You still think you’re the only monster on the team?

Its somewhat difficult to tell whether she is referring to herself as a monster because she has killed people or because she is unable to have children. Although Joss Whedon stated in an interview 18 months after the film’s release that the former was his intent, it still reads as if Black Widow is calling herself a monster because she was sterilized and is equating it to the literal monster that the Hulk is.

The timing of this reveal is also very important, since it takes place within a very controversial scene. The Avengers are all safely hidden at Hawkeye’s secret family’s farm, recovering from previous events and preparing for the battle against Ultron ahead of them. In this scene, Natasha and Bruce Banner (the Hulk) have a conversation about their relationship. Although there was absolutely no evidence of anything romantic going on between them in previous movies, Natasha spends this scene flirting and making advances towards Bruce. When I first saw the scene, I was struck by how awkward and out of character it was. Bruce rejects her advances, saying that she would have no future with him because of his Hulk alter ego. When he brings up the fact that it would be impossible for him to have children, Natasha responds with “neither can I” before giving the lines quoted above. This entire scene is completely out of character for both Natasha and Bruce, who have never shown any interest in each other before and forces Black Widow into an unnecessary love interest role.

I originally planned to only write two posts on Wonder Woman, but I just couldn’t fit everything that I wanted to talk about into my previous posts. So, here’s more about the revolutionary movie.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

No Man’s Land

One of the most memorable and powerful scenes in Wonder Woman was the battle in “No Man’s Land.” It takes place at a pivotal moment for Diana’s character. After a woman tells her that a nearby village has been taken over by enemy troops, Diana is determined to help, but in order to do so, she must cross “No Man’s Land,” the strip of land between the two opposing enemy lines. Steve Trevor warns her, “no man can cross it. This is not something you can cross. This is not possible.” Against the advice of all the men she is fighting alongside, Diana steps into “No Man’s Land.” Showing strength and perseverance, she makes it to the other side.

As she deflects bullets on her way through “No Man’s Land,” Wonder Woman is taking fire for the defenseless and helpless people she feels a duty to protect. She stands strong in her conviction to help others and serves as an inspiration for her friends to join her in the push against enemy lines. But, the primary purpose of this scene wasn’t to create an exciting battle; Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman’s director, explained her thought process when creating the scene and the opposition she faced:

Nobody understood what I was trying to do there. It was a scene that everybody was like, ‘Ah, OK, but we’re doing this cool thing in the town, why are you worried about that?’ I think to some of the people I was working with it was confusing. ‘Who’s she fighting?’ [But] it’s not about that, it’s about her.

The location’s name is incredibly significant as well. No man might have been able to cross it, but a strong, determined woman did.

Impact

I mentioned many of the ways that Wonder Woman broke records and became incredibly successful in my first post, but I never explained the impact it had on me. Since I first saw The Avengers in 2012, I have been a die hard Marvel fan. I try not to hate on DC Comics, since I know the rivalry between fans of the two competing companies can be vicious, but I’ve never connected with any DC characters. While I have hundreds of issues of Marvel comics, I only have a single issue created by DC, which I got for free and even though I went to see Marvel movies on their opening weekend, I had never seen a DC movie in theaters until Wonder Woman. So, saying that Wonder Woman is one of my favorite movies feels a little bit like a betrayal, but I can’t help it. On my way out of the theater, I couldn’t stop smiling. This is going to sound super cheesy but bear with me; after watching Wonder Woman, I felt powerful. I had never seen a female superhero that had made me feel that way before. I can’t even really explain how I felt. But, looking back, I wish I could feel that way again.

To some, Wonder Woman is the first “good old-fashioned superhero” of the DC Extended Universe. She is not dark or grim or hostile or edgy. She is defined by her hopefulness and belief in goodness. She is confident in her abilities and firm in her morals. It is a refreshing take on a superhero.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

Themyscira and the Amazons

Wonder Woman, or Diana Prince, was born on the island of Themyscira, a paradise inhabited only by female warriors called Amazons. Gods created these women in order “to show mankind what sort of greatness they [could] achieve,” but after mankind enslaved them and a war ensued, the Amazons returned to their island, sequestered from the rest of the world, training constantly in case they ever needed to fight humans again.

When German soldiers do invade the island at the beginning of the film, a massive fight begins. As a review by Vox put it, “Amazons deal beautiful death.” They fight gracefully, beautifully, and precisely, but also with incredible strength and brutality. Despite their best efforts, the Amazons are killed one by one, unable to combat the Germans’ guns. Shots of these women falling to the ground, struck by bullets, tears at the audience’s heartstrings and establishes Wonder Woman’s motivation to end war and suffering.

Steve Trevor, the Sidekick

In male-led superhero movies, their female counterparts are often physically weaker and require constant protection or rescue. In Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor fills that role, subverting the traditional expectation of the romantic lead. Wonder Woman serves as his protector while Steve helps to guide her through the new world she suddenly is forced to face as she leaves Themyscira. They have “compelling chemistry” and the romance between them does not minimize Diana’s independence and strong-willed nature.

The Nature of Strength

Diana is not only physically strong and agile; her strength also comes from her morality and optimism. In a genre that is dominated by dark, pessimistic protagonists, Wonder Woman is unique. She is able to do what she does because of her emotional strength and belief that human beings are inherently good, even though her male counterpart, Steve, feels the opposite way. In the final battle against Ares, he argues that humans do not deserve the protection that Wonder Woman is granting them and she responds, “It’s not about deserve, it’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.” This belief in love and hope is the reason she is able to defeat Ares and save mankind. Women are often called “emotional” as an insult, but Diana shows that it is a powerful strength.

 

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There is so much more that I could discuss about this movie like the No Man’s Land scene, the inclusion of a female villain, and the sexism Diana experiences in London, so I might make yet another post about Wonder Woman! (Let me know in the comments if you think I should or if you’re tired of me talking about Wonder Woman!)