Today we're saying a big BOOHOO to all of the men who are feeling a little threatened by Marvel Studios' upcoming release, Captain Marvel. Overnight, the second trailer for the film dropped and delivered another glimpse at some of the action we should expect from the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first female-led solo flick. Not everybody was happy with what they saw, however...
Brie Larson steps into the titular role, and it hasn't taken long for the sexists to start frantically smashing away on their keyboards, picking at anything from the tone of her voice, to the slogans shown on screen to promote the character.
"With Her? I just threw up in my mouth," one particularly delicate man writes. "Did the Clintons pay for that?" You couldn't make this stuff up. Even in a world where aliens exist and heroes spend much of their time flying through the skies of the United States, there's a Clinton conspiracy.
Then there are the typical comments from those who would never write the same about a leading male hero.
"She talks like a character on Beverly Hills 90210," is a good example.
"Captain SJW can't act," is another.
Despite Captain America (Chris Evans) being with the MCU for almost a decade, and fighting the good fight in many ways mirrored by Larson's performance, he never had to face this sort of criticism. It doesn't take a genius to work out why...
One of the most flagrant abuses of male privilege comes from a Facebook commentator who wrote: "What a feaking (sic) joke.. I hope Marvel goes down the toilet with their social justice warrior attitude -- why does every superhero, every cartoon, every action movie have to be rebooted with some unbelievable chick who cant (sic) act... And we're supposed to buy into this? I don't think so."
We're guessing he's not a fan of actual comic books if he thinks this is the first time the character of Captain Marvel has been a female!
Carol Danvers' first appearance actually came all the way back in 1968, in an issue of Marvel Super-Heroes. She first took up the mantle of Ms. Marvel in 1977, and was given the Captain Marvel moniker in 2012.
This of course begs the question, why is it taking sexist trolls so long to catch up, if comic book writers have been pushing powerful female characters forward for decades?
Now, we're not saying that you have to love the Captain Marvel trailer or go out of the way to see the film simply to earn your non-sexist credentials. You can hate the teaser, or the idea of the movie, and even comment on Larson's performance in the two minutes we've seen her on screen. Just don't use the gender of the leading star to form part of your critique. It's simple enough.
Captain Marvel comes to cinemas across the UK in March, 2019.
Tagged in Marvel