Marvel’s Kevin Feige Open to Idea of Female Thor After Chris Hemsworth
Chris Hemsworth and the God of Thunder rockets back to theatres in just a few short weeks in Thor: Ragnarok, but Hemsworth’s contract is expiring very soon.
In an interview with Movies.com, Kevin Feige talked about the idea of bringing female Thor onto the big screens.
We always look back to get those ideas … sometimes very specific storylines like “Civil War,” sometimes just nuggets or characters like “Planet Hulk,” So anything that’s happened in the comics, even a female Thor, become great potentials and the ideas from which future movies can be born.
However, Feige didn’t confirm anything on where Marvel Studios plans to take their cinematic universe following Avengers 4, “We have hopes, and dreams, and ideas of what could happen beyond [Avengers 4], and I think there are lot of exciting potential movies we could make.”
While Feige didn’t come out and endorse the idea of a female Thor movie, Thor: Ragnarok star Karl Urban who plays Skurge in the upcoming movie did when talking to Monkeys Fighting Robots,
Urban said, “I think it’s time. I think it’s well overdue, absolutely. I’d like to see that movie, why not.”
Female Thor was first introduced just two years ago in 2015 in a story by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman. The story revealed that Dr. Jane Foster, portrayed by Natalie Portman in the cinematic universe, was the new female Thor.
The reveal of a female Thor stirred quite a controversy and even provoked former Breitbart Tech Editor and provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos to write a response where he said, “Thor a woman? It’s hard to believe the most macho, overtly masculine character in the comic canon could possibly be reimagined as a broad. But that’s almost certainly precisely the reason Thor was chosen: as a screw-you to so-called nerdbros from the achingly progressive staff of today’s comic book establishment.”
Another strong criticism came from Comic Vine user Lvenger:
This is a blatant PR stunt on Marvel’s part designed to pander to feminist calls for women to have greater roles in comics. The only problem here is that most fans don’t want different Thor’s or Captain America’s, we just want good stories with the same old heroes.
He also added:
Believe me when I say female characters need more promotion and treatment in comics but make them new characters or flesh out the old ones you have. Don’t shoe horn a female character into a male hero’s position as, at the end of the day, she’s still defined by the male character, not her own legacy.
Blake Northcott at Verily Magazine echoed Lvenger’s criticisms:
Changing the gender of the character isn’t really creating anything new. It’s a half-measure that is at the same time historically accurate, intriguing, and completely frustrating.
But Blake also added another dimension to the criticism:
Once the series begins this fall, the conversation will never be about some obstacle that she’ll have to face or a personal struggle she’ll have to overcome. Regardless of how well-written, the fan narrative surrounding the new Thor series will always be about when she will once again become a he and finally shake loose the feminine identity. Even if the female Thor persists for months—or even years—she’ll always be a shadow of the character that came before.
Needless to say the actual comic book had some strong and valid criticisms. It also didn’t sell as well compared to the 2007 run of the Thor book. Comic Vine user killraven4334 details how the the 2007 Thor run sold 165,267 units on the first issue and 101,490 units on issue 5. It sold 591,792 units total for issues 1-5. By comparison the Female Thor run only sold 451,566 units. It’s issue 1 debuted with 150,862 units, but by issue 5 was down to 69,513.
What do you think are you ready to see female Thor on the big screen?
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