HONGKONG: Female superheroes will no longer be under-represented in films, at least in those made by Marvel Studios. They are enthusiastic about having female-led superhero films, starting with "Captain Marvel", which will have a woman director "for sure".
Asked about Marvel Studios' commitment to do a stand-alone movie on Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson, Kevin Feige, President of Marvel Studios, said: "I think it's just time right now. She will play a very important part in the next two 'Avengers' movies."
"Where we go from there?...we are starting to plan out. But we are interested in doing it. Scarlett is interested in doing it and I think the fans are very interested. So, usually that's a good recipe for things happening," Feige said.
Her fans will have to wait for a while, but those who want to see women with superpowers on the big screen can look forward to "Captain Marvel", to be essayed by Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson.
Feige said, "'Captain Marvel' will be coming up quickly. Evangeline Lilly will be able to wear the Wasp costume to play the character, who also makes an appearance in the 'Avengers'. We are very enthusiastic about it... as has been the case of the comics. There have been amazing female characters in comics. A lot of them have been 'X Men' characters, which we don't control."
"But more and more in our movies, you will see much more even between men and women just like our fan base. It has been more even than ever before. We want our movies to reflect that. Even the director James Gunn ('Guardians of the Galaxy') is very focussed as we are on that. Half of the guardians are women."
What about female directors?
"We don't talk about filmmakers before hiring them, but we will be announcing before the end of the year," he said.
Will there be a woman director for "Captain Marvel"?
"Yes, it's for sure," said Feige.
While these projects are yet to hit the screens, Marvel Studios' film titled "Doctor Strange" will present a woman mentoring a man.
Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton will be seen as the wise and enigmatic figure known as The Ancient One. When she encounters Stephen Strange, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, the centuries-old sage sees potential in the ex-surgeon and agrees to show him a new side to reality.
"We wanted to have more female representation in our movies and we thought that what better way to do that. Tilda is perfect. She is amazing," Feige said.
Swinton as the bald and martial arts mystic will certainly be one of the high points of the film, which will hit the Indian screens on November 4, the same day as its North American release. But the film is already being compared to various other films, including the science fiction heist thriller "Inception".
"'Inception' has amazing visuals. We wanted to bring to live all those images from the comic books. In the comic books, there are cities upside down that Steve Ditko drew 50 years ago. 'Inception' is the first to do in such an amazing way."
"And there are not a lot of films that do those kind of mind-bending visuals. 'Inception' is one of them. So, that's the only example people can go to. Hopefully, the next time people see cities bending, they will say 'Hey, that's like 'Doctor Strange'," added Feige.
The studios were more concerned about the similarities between Strange and Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man" films.
"We were much more focussed on making sure he wasn't like Tony Stark because Tony is also funny and an arrogant guy who gets involved in an accident. One of the reasons why we wanted Benedict is that he has so much different energy than Downey so, we wanted to make sure that we are not repeating ourselves," said Feige.