3. Women Save The Day
After rebuilding his body and his legend, Batman comes back to Gotham and defeats Bane in a fight at the end of
The Dark Knight Rises. A surprise attack from Talia, whom Batman only knew as Miranda Tate, however, gives Bane the opportunity to avenge his loss by killing a bound Dark Knight. All hope appears lost until Catwoman blasts Bane into oblivion with a canon on the Batpod. Bruce Wayne is saved by his love interest, Selina Kyle. In his final confrontation with Aldrich Killian (the real Mandarin), Tony Stark appears to have defeated his foe after blowing up the Mark XLII armor with the villain locked inside. Killian returns, though, ready to eliminate Stark permanently before Pepper Potts, whom Tony thought was dead, reemerges to save her man. Pepper destroys Killian in an admittedly violent manner, bringing the conflict to a close. Similar moments like these are emblematic of the favorable light each series has cast on female characters. Tonys one night stand in the first film and a few gogo dancers aside, the
Iron Man series has done a very good job in showcasing strong female characters, especially Pepper Potts whose strength reached its literal and figurative peak in the last film.
The Dark Knight Trilogy also did well in this regard, showing women in positions of power like strong-minded assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes, League of Shadows boss Talia, and the aforementioned Selina Kyle. Not every female character in a superhero film has to be a scream queen waiting to be saved. It is a great change of pace to see these series flip the script and show women claim victory over the villains that are usually their tormentors in these films.