One Woman in the Justice League
Just one woman, maybe two, in a team or group of men.
Also watch Jimmy Kimmelās "Muscle Manā superhero skit - āIām the girly oneā
The Avengers:
In Marvel Comics:
āLabeled āEarthās Mightiest Heroes,ā the original Avengers consisted of Iron Man, Ant-Man, Hulk, Thor and the Wasp. Captain America was discovered trapped in ice in The Avengers issue #4, and joined the group after they revived him.ā
5 / 6 original members are male. Only one is female.
Modern films (MCU):
The original 6 Avengers were Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and Black Widow.
Again, 5 / 6 original members are male. Only one is female.
Justice League
In DC comics:
āThe Justice League originally consisted of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Aquamanā
6 / 7 original members are male. Only one is female.
In modern films (DCEU):
The members were/are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash, Cyborg. (+ introducing Martian Manhunter (in Zack Snyderās Justice League directorās cut))
5 / 6 main members in both versions of the Justice League film are male, with appearances by a 7th member in the directorās cut who is also male. Only one member is female.
The Umbrella Academy (comics and show)
7 members:
- Luther (Number One / Spaceboy)
- Diego (Number Two / The Kraken)
- Allison (Number Three / The Rumor)
- Klaus (Number Four / The SĆ©ance)
- Five (Number Five / The Boy)
- Ben (Number Six / The Horror)
- Vanya (Number Seven / The White Violin) Later becomes known as Viktor and nonbinary in the television adaptation after Elliot Pageās transition but thatās not really relevant to this.
Here, 5 / 7 original members are male. Only two are female. Only slightly better than the other more famous superhero teams, and they had to add another member (compared to Avengersā 6 members) to improve the ratio (maybe executives still demanded to have 5 males).
Now letās look at some sitcoms and other stories.
Itās Always Sunny in Philadelphia:
4 males, and 1 female slightly less prominent character who is abused constantly. The show claims to be politically aware and satirical but gets away with a lot of misogynistic comedy, tbh, that Iām willing to bet a lot of people are finding funny for the wrong reasons.
Community:
Jeff, Britta, Abed, Troy, Annie, Pierce, Shirley. This one is a little better, 3/7 are female. Notice itās always more males though, they never let it become more than 50% female, or else then itās a āchick flickā or a āfemale team upā or āgender flippedā story. And of course the main character, and the leading few characters, are almost always male or mostly male.
Stranger Things:
Main original group of kids consisted of: Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, and El (Eleven). 1 original female member, who is comparable to an alien and even plays the role of E.T. in direct homage. When they added Max, I saw people complaining that although they liked her, there should be only one female member. š¤¦
Why is it āiconicā to have only one female in a group of males? Does that just mean itās the tradition, the way itās always been? Canāt we change that? Is it so that all the men can have a chance with the one girl, or so the males can always dominate the discussion with their use of force and manliness? Or so that whenever the team saves the day, itās mostly a bunch of men doing it, but with āa little helpā from a female/a few females (at most), too!
Itās so fucked up and disgusting to me Iāve realised. And men donāt seem to care. Iām a male and this is really disturbing to me now that Iāve woken up to it. How do women feel about this? Am I overreacting?
Too often, I would agree with you yes. But itās also in the context of how theyāre crying and the way that they are crying. Thereās a type of crying where for example, a commander is leading troops across the battlefield, watched longtime friends get blown apart and the commander sits down and just quietly cries after the battle. Whether the commander is male or female isnāt going to matter. Most people would say OK thatās reasonable level of emotion for the commander.
That little context, there is what too many directors and producers donāt understand. The emotion has to fit the character and has to fit the scene In order for it to be believableā¦
As far as the whole bossy and bitchy versus assertive comparing men to women. Again, I canāt speak for what other people think and say
can only speak for my personal point of view. Where I have a real problem with it is when actors and actresses arenāt taught appropriately to be assertive without being bitchy. Men generally are able to pick up on it easier. Women sometimes they donāt pick up on it and theyāve gotta have voice Training. Now that is not saying all women are that way so I donāt want somebody coming back and saying hey this guy just said all women arethis way. Well no I didnāt. But many times women donāt have the role models needed in their life to understand how to be assertive. Well, how do you act assertive on a movie screen if nobodyās ever taught you how to be assertive?
It would be no different than if somebody asked me to lead troops and combat well I donāt know how to do that. I wouldnāt knowhow to be assertive in that manner so I doubt Iād do it very well. Or for example, if somebody said hey, go repair that engine well if nobodyās ever showing me how to do it I donāt think Iād be able todo it. Given ones a technical skill and oneās a skill of how to project your voice, but if youāve never had somebody show you howto do it or teach you how to do it and youāve never had a role model in that manner. You might have a hard time it.
I think thatās it. I was taught how to project my voice, how to use an authoritative tone and it has helped me get leadership roles. Itās a skill, and itās a skill that any leader ought to have, in a film, at least.
Both men and women can do it, but you need to learn and I havenāt seen nearly as many girls trying to learn it as boys