10 Ways Comic Book Movies Keep F*cking Up Female Characters

Sure, Scarlett gets her chunk of Hulk time, but where are the rest of the women? The majority of female characters are sidelined for the more famous men in their lives. I know the franchise is called Iron Man, but where the hell is Pepper Potts? She went from Tony Stark's No.1 to M.I.A. quick as a flash, while Civil War barely even referenced her. It was the decision of writer Stephen McFeely for a darker Stark, citing that Pepper would have held him back - charming eh?

Meanwhile Jane Foster is "safe" away from the dangers that Thor brings with him, but now that Natalie Portman has opted out of the MCU, her character will vanish into the bermuda triangle. And that's it, comic book movies seem to use their women as either a help or a hinderance, nothing in between. Take Doctor Strange for example - the film did a great job of establishing Cumberbatch's titular hero, but Rachel McAdams was only there when Stephen Strange needed medical assistance.

He came across as the chauvinistic pig who cast out the woman who cared about him in a rehash of the Stark and Pepper relationship. What's more, Doctor Strange made not even an inkling that Christine Palmer might turn into her Night Nurse persona.

Back to the X-Men again, and we have spent six films seeing Jubilee on our screens, but not once has she been referenced by name. Lana Condor actually got a speaking part as the yellow-jacket bonfire party, but even then the only scene where she got to do something was cut.

Condor herself suffered burns on the set, but kept quiet for fear she would meet the cutting room floor, which happened anyway. In fact, the only female parts of any merit have come from Batman vs Superman, and even then Wonder Woman only came at the very end, and they blew up Holly Hunter before she could take down Lex Luthor.