How The Marvel Cinematic Universe Erases Women

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)

Directed by James Gunn, written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman

Like Captain America: The First Avenger, Guardians Of The Galaxy expands the scope of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of time – but also of space. It operates on its own terms, too, in that it is a film about a team of superheroes (albeit hitherto morally compromised ones), none of whom have their own franchises, in the way that the Avengers do (well, the male Avengers, anyway). The main element that ties it into the generally coherent MCU, however, is the erasure of women.

In the comic book source material, the Guardians Of The Galaxy team was introduced in 1969, with an initially male-led line-up – Major Victory, Martinex T’Naga and Yondu Udonata (who appears in the film as former associate of Star-Lord). This was quickly balanced, however, by the arrival of husband and wife team Starhawk and Aleta, and a girl named Nikki, from the planet Mercury. Over the following years, many female characters rotated through the team membership – but it is the 2008 comic book reboot of the team upon which the feature film is loosely based.

The 2008 team roster for Guardians Of The Galaxy in the source material was Peter Quill/Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Phyla Vell/Quasar, Adam Warlock, Gamora, Drax The Destroyer and Groot. In the film, Adam Warlock and Phyla Vell/Quasar are removed. While that seems fairly balanced – given that Warlock is male and Quasar is female – it actually creates greater imbalance in the team than already existed, because it was not balanced in the first place. If the team has seven members, and five are male, then removing two men would leave things on a much more even keel, in terms of gender.

Removing Quasar means that Gamora – fantastic character though she is – is the only woman on the team. This perpetuates the idea of women being in the minority, being unusual, being ‘other’ – as opposed to being over half the population of the world. On the villainous side of things, there is Nebula (Karen Gillan) – sister of Gamora. She is written in a fairly one-dimensional way, and has little screen time. Also having little screen time is Nova Prime Irani Rael (Glenn Close), who is the leader of the Nova Corps.

While it is rumoured that Mantis – a female character from the comic books with ties to the Avengers – will feature in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2, there is a range of significant female characters (other than Quasar), that could have been used to draw the super-powered team closer to the MCU. Moondragon appears in the comics, and also has ties to Thor and Iron Man; and Captain Marvel is a lead character in her own right, and has also featured within Guardians Of The Galaxy