Female heroes are still scarce, but Marvel movies roll on

The hoopla surrounding the treatment of the female characters in “Avengers: Age of Ultron” has once again brought to the forefront the question of female superheroes in the movies. And though Marvel Studios has highlighted a few female heroes, most notably Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow and Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch, there is still something of a scarcity to them.

To be sure, Marvel is unleashing the first female-led hero movie, “Captain Marvel,” which doesn’t hit theaters for more than 3 more years, fans are left wondering why we don’t get more Y-chromosome action in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Even more disturbing is Marvel’s apparent lack of interest in even cashing in on female heroes. Social media has been abuzz over Black Widow’s and Scarlett Witch’s absence from the Avengers line of toys and merchandise. It has even been noted that a toy meant to depict the scene where Black Widow drops out of a jet riding a motorcycle is included in the line of toys, but featured Captain America riding the bike, not Black Widow.

Parents are clamoring for Black Widow merch to give their daughters. They want Black Widow action figures and dolls, and t-shirts, hats, watches, and pillows. So why intentionally deny them? A recent report online suggested that Marvel’s marketing execs are well aware of this lack of female involvement, and simply aren’t interested in getting into that market.

In fact, one of the few places you can find Black Widow represented in an official photo of the Avengers is on online casino slot machines bearing its likeness. How strange is that?

Girls these days are much more savvy when it comes to officially licensed merchandise, and many of them are interested in Black Widow dolls, t-shirts, lamps, and all of the other various licensed merchandise that seems to be everywhere.

And yet Marvel’s perceived sexism continues to run rampant as Marvel ignores the female market. But why? Do they not want female money? That appears to be quite a strange aberration considering the strong role females play in the actual movies, and the step away from the stereotypical “damsel in distress” stereotype.

Everyone from Pepper Potts in the “Iron Man” movies to Peggy Carter in “Captain America: the First Avenger” have gotten their turn to be aggressive; Potts in “Iron Man 3,” both wearing the Iron Man armor briefly, then getting physical in the movie’s final battle, and Carter both in “The First Avenger” and even getting to kick butt in her own TV series, ABC’s “Agent Carter,” where she even turns sexism on its nose.

So will Marvel finally realize there is yet another market they are willfully ignoring? Will they bow to pressure, or will they defy both the voice of the people and the beckon of cold hard cash and continue to not offer girls the same merchandise they do for boys?

If anything, it will be a little awkward in three years when the “Captain Marvel” action figure line to consist of two male supporting characters.