All right. So I am a nerdy lady. I pretty much always enjoy a good superhero flick. Despite the fact that Marvel continually puts out movies headed by straight, white dudes, I continue to give them my money and I generally enjoy myself. Of course, I always hold out hope that they will step up their game and give us more character variety and better representation in terms of both gender and race. But at this point, I know what I’m getting into when I go to see a Marvel Movie.
Ant Man was no exception. I knew going in that I was going to see a movie about Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd), AKA another straight white dude, becoming a superhero. And it did just fine in that department.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
BUT here’s the thing. At this point, I know that the producers at Marvel have heard some of the demands for better female representation. So why they decided to introduce the character of Hope (played by Evangaline Lily), and make her fully capable of being The Wasp from the beginning of the movie, yet still sideline her in favor of Ant-Man is beyond me. They have every character, including her, repeatedly express that she just as qualified as Scott (no, make that WAY MORE qualified) to don the suit and be the hero. So why didn’t Marvel write a story where she could be the hero? Or at least put her on equal narrative footing with Ant-Man?
Within the first half hour of the movie it becomes clear that Dr. Pym’s reasons for bringing in Scott Lang, rather than permitting his already ass-kicking daughter to go ahead and kick some ass, are flimsy, sexist and just plain tired. I spent more of the movie fuming in my head, “If they end this movie without Hope becoming The Wasp, I will be so pissed,” than actually enjoying the rest of the movie.
And, in the end, we do see Dr. Pym showing Hope an updated Wasp suit and her apt response of, “About damn time.” It was a pretty awesome moment. But perhaps it felt so awesome because I’d been waiting for it and waiting for it and the credits had startws rolling and I thought perhaps they weren’t going to oblige. But after a moment’s reflection, I realized that this wasn’t quite enough for me. There was so much time in the film spent on this narrative: Hope was incredibly capable but not allowed to be the hero. She had superior fighting skills, she had the brain power and the know-how to control the ants with her mind and she was ready and willing to take the risk for herself. But she defers to her father over and over again, based on his belief that she must be protected. I’m not saying it doesn’t make good character sense the character of Hank Pym to want to prevent his daughter from undertaking a dangerous mission. I’m saying this isn’t a good enough reason why we, at this point in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, couldn’t have a female driven superhero movie.
You know what I would have loved? If, at some point during the climax of the film, Hope had showed up in the Wasp suit and said, “Sorry Dad, I got tired of waiting for you to get over yourself. And guess what? I am bad ass enough to have looked over your plans and made an awesome suit all for myself because it turns out in addition to being a great fighter, I’ve also worked at an amazing science lab my whole friggin life.” I mean, she probably would have said it a little nicer than that, because I actually did like a lot of the father/daughter dynamics while they struggled to repair their relationship, but you get my point!
For a long time, we’ve deserved a female superhero movie. A little teaser during the end credits that Hope will eventually put on the suit is not good enough anymore. When a character is repeatedly acknowledged as stronger, smarter and better prepared than the hero of the film, yet is still not allowed to share the spotlight, it almost seems that the Powers That Be at Marvel are actively TRYING to piss us off.
