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[LordOfLore]

Link.

The first Guardians of the Galaxy inspired some grumbling when fans realized that while merchandise featuring Star-Lord, Drax, Rocket, and Groot was plentiful, toys of Gamora seemed to be few and far in between. #WheresGamora started trending, as audiences called out the studio for giving its female hero the short shrift. Then Marvel seemingly repeated the exact same blunder a year later with Avengers: Age of Ultron, which gave rise to the #WheresBlackWidow hashtag. Even the Hulk got involved with that one.

So, as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 looms on the horizon, has Marvel learned its lesson? During an on-set interview, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige addressed the #WheresBlackWidow and #WheresGamora campaigns, and discussed the efforts the company is making fto ensure its female characters are better represented in the merchandise going forward.

Feige spoke with Peter and other assorted journalists during their visit to the set of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 last year. At one point, the Marvel exec offered his thoughts on the #WheresBlackWidow campaign:

That was very frustrating for us, because we see, we see it from the other side. When I say we, I mean the filmmakers, because we’re presented with the stuff that’s being made, and I don’t know if there’s an absolutely equal sampling, but Black Widow was all over that. Gamora was all over that stuff. What we don’t see is how much of it is in any given store. How easy is one piece of merchandise to find versus another piece of merchandise. So, we see the stuff and we go, oh great, these are all our characters, they’re all great represented, they’re all going to be sold, and then we find out, oh, you can’t find this, you can’t find that, or there’s lunch boxes or a backpack where a certain character is not on it, and I think the outrage was great, because that’s not going to happen anymore.

The lack of Marvel female superhero merchandise wasn’t just a matter of retailers running out of her toys. As pointed out by Amy Ratcliffe, Gamora was regularly excluded even from products that featured the Guardians as a group. In the case of Black Widow, she was even erased from a toy set based on one of her biggest scenes in the movie, in which she blasts out of the Quinjet on a motorbike. In the toy version of that sequence, she was replaced by Iron Man and Captain America.

Thankfully, it sounds like Feige is committing to making sure that female characters are better represented going forward. For starters, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will have more female characters in general:

And that was one of our big things we set out to do and was very important to James [Gunn] as well, was putting, as we did in the first film, with a number of characters, even more so this time, putting women at the forefront of the story.

In addition to the return of Gamora, we can look forward to a more prominent role for Nebula. The Vol. 2 lineup also introduces a brand-new ally, Mantis, and the MCU’s first female villain, Ayesha. And Feige stressed that they’ll be making an active effort to ensure that the merchandise is reflective of the film.

We can’t have sway over what a retail store, how many items of what they want to stock on a shelf, but when toy sets come over, or t-shirt designs come over, if they’re not represented properly or representative of the film, we’re not even saying is the equality of each gender specific, we’re going does it represent the movie we’re making, and if it doesn’t, we send it back until it does.

Talk is one thing and action is another, and we’ll have to wait a few more months to see how Feige’s promises play out in practice. It’s true that Marvel can’t control how many toys retailers order (which, in turn, impacts what kind of toys get made), but this is a case where consumers have voiced their demand for more female loud and clear. Marvel’s clearly heard the call; now it’s up to them to respond.

I'll believe him when I see it.

 

[SporeCrawler]

Maybe if ghost in the shell is a megahit

 

[SpaceWolf]

I'll be interested to see the extent of the push for all the merchandise for Captain Marvel.

 

[LionPride]

Yeah of anyone, a Black Widow movie was never something I was interested in

 

[Holundrian]

I thought it was about a possible movie but good that it was just about the merch.

 

[Dalek]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

 

[Kyne]

i would honestly rather have a movie about hawkeye coping with the fact that he's just a glorified archer on a team of actual superheroes.

 

[SpaceWolf]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

I'm not particularly interested in a Black Widow movie. I've never found her a particularly interesting character and the way Scarlett plays her just doesn't do it for me.

We definitely need more female hero movies, though...there are just far more worthy and more interesting contenders. She-Hulk, Squirrel-Girl, Ms Marvel...those are the characters I'd like to see get their own movies. Black Widow works fine as a supporting character.

 

[Inferno313]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

They've said repeatedly that's a matter of when, not if. Hope it's announced as part of phase 4 sooner than later.

 

[Blader]

They've said repeatedly that's a matter of when, not if. Hope it's announced as part of phase 4 sooner than later.

I don't really see Scarlett sticking around that long.

 

[Stinkles]

i would honestly rather have a movie about hawkeye coping with the fact that he's just a glorified archer on a team of actual superheroes.

This is about small volumes of female toys not movies.

 

[ReplacementPelican]

We can’t have sway over what a retail store, how many items of what they want to stock on a shelf, but when toy sets come over, or t-shirt designs come over, if they’re not represented properly or representative of the film, we’re not even saying is the equality of each gender specific, we’re going does it represent the movie we’re making, and if it doesn’t, we send it back until it does.

Fair enough, fair enough. I did think it was a bit silly to point this at Marvel when people pay to licence the franchise and thus its not Marvel saying 'Nah, leave the chick out' but whoever is developing the specific product.

Its nice to see Feige address concerns though, I'm all for seeing this.

Though, as an aside, I was once in a HMV around the time of The Force Awakens and a little girl picked up a Rey toy and said she wanted it and her Mum took it off her, put it down and said 'no, that's a boy's toy.' Its a crying shame because loads of women my age (23) love the Marvel movies and Star Wars but it seems as though some people still have very old opinions as to what's acceptable even if you push the female characters front and center.

 

[Grizzlyjin]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

I love that run. Sparse on dialogue but so so good. I'd take a Black Widow movie based off that any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

 

[Dalek]

i would honestly rather have a movie about hawkeye coping with the fact that he's just a glorified archer on a team of actual superheroes.

Get that Greg Land art out of here.

I love that run. Sparse on dialogue but so so good. I'd take a Black Widow movie based off that any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.

I was looking for scans from this weeks issue-the layout and storytelling with sparse dialogue is amazing. This is when she's

Spoiler

trying to stop those kids from killing all the guards

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Dudes read the article, he's not talking about a Black Widow movie. It's about the problem with female heroes not appearing in merchandising as much as the male ones.

 

[Whompa02]

Maybe if ghost in the shell is a megahit

Based on the hardcore weeabos and xenophobes constantly berating that project, I have a feeling it wont, sadly.

 

[El Topo]

Wait, I misread things.

Edit:
Kevin Feige is good at promising things.

 

[The Kree]

I don't really see Scarlett sticking around that long.

I don't really see Scarlett falling out of love with money any time soon.

 

[Kyne]

This is about small volumes of female toys not movies.

o..

awkward.

 

[guek]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

I love this book!

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Wait, the thread is misleading.

I mean, if you actually read the OP it isn't. The title is if you don't know what the campaign is about, yeah, but it's there in the OP so...

 

[El Topo]

I mean, if you actually read the OP it isn't. The title is if you don't know what the campaign is about, yeah, but it's there in the OP so...

I've already changed my post?

 

[Shao Kahn on the Lawn]

I'm curious to know what the response will be if they remedy this oversight and end up with lots of unsold stock. I don't know what the male:female demand for action figures is but it seems like it would skew highly towards young boys who are subjected to a lot of societal pressure to not be "girly".

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

I am not so surprised Widow doesn't have that much merchandise, but she definitely should. Despite not having a film of her own she's appeared in five films and needs her fair share as well for little girls to have. Reminds me of that Young Justice story where they didn't give their female characters much either because they were going for the male audience.

In the case of Gamora she could've used some better lines in the first movie and since she has said nothing in either of the new ones I doubt she's going to be much better. Mantis I expect to be more memorable and I would like to see her Hot Toy. Nebula had the wackest monologue in the first and expect the same.

 

[hidys]

Wasn't it Ike Perlmutter's idea that merchandise based off of female superheroes doesn't matter because according to him no one buys it?

If that decision is still up to him then I doubt anything is going to change.

Unless Feige has taken over that stuff but I thought he only looked after the movies themselves?

 

[LosDaddie]

People not reading the OP 😂

Anyway, my wife did a few posts about this BW issue. She was pissed about it. The same thing happened initially with Rey from Star Wars.

Good thing Marvel is trying to correct it.

 

[torre_avenue]

Wasn't it Ike Perlmutter's idea that merchandise based off of female superheroes doesn't matter because according to him no one buys it?

If that decision is still up to him then I doubt anything is going to change.

Unless Feige has taken over that stuff?

Feige now reports directly to Bob Iger, meaning if Feige says he'd like more merchandise of the female characters, it'll be done.

 

[Skellig Gra]

Can we start a #removehawkeye hashtag?

 

[UnemployedVillain]

i would honestly rather have a movie about hawkeye coping with the fact that he's just a glorified archer on a team of actual superheroes.

Hasn't that been Hawkeye in every movie he's been in since Avengers 1?

 

[hidys]

Feige now reports directly to Bob Iger, meaning if Feige says he'd like more merchandise of the female characters, it'll be done.

Cool.

Well Im glad he's not just in charge of the films.

 

[Busty]

They were never going to make this film. If they were they would have made it by now. Ant Man gets a solo flim before Black Widow? C'mon?!

They are twenty films or so films into their cinematic universe before they even produce a film featuring a female protagonist.

Feige now reports directly to Bob Iger, meaning if Feige says he'd like more merchandise of the female characters, it'll be done.

Fundamentally not how that works. Disney's consumer product division is so powerful that is has the power to stop films getting made if it doesn't see any merch potential in it.

Fiege ain't telling them shit.

 

[Blader]

I don't really see Scarlett falling out of love with money any time soon.

She probably makes more from stuff like Lucy and Ghost in the Shell than Avengers.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Feige now reports directly to Bob Iger,

It's Alan Horn, I believe.

Also, I don't know that Horn (or Iger) are too concerned with the kind of merch getting made. But since the problem was Perlmutter getting in the way of what was supposed to get made, the fact Perlmutter is out (he's all up in the White House business now, ugh) and neither Horn nor Feige sees fit to stop action figures & t-shirts of woman characters is absolutely a good thing. More of that stuff will hit shelves now.

 

[jett]

Like the article itself says, they have no power over how much product a retail outlet orders, but they can make improvements on the "sets" and "collections" at least.

They were never going to make this film. If they were they would have made it by now. Ant Man gets a solo flim before Black Widow? C'mon?!

They are twenty films or so films into their cinematic universe before they even produce a film featuring a female protagonist.



Fundamentally not how that works. Disney's consumer product division is so powerful that is has the power to stop films getting made if it doesn't see any merch potential in it.

Fiege ain't telling them shit.

The OP is about Black Widow getting more merchandise/toys, not getting a movie.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Glad they're getting the merchandise sorted, but it's ridiculous that Black Widow hasn't had her own movie yet.

She's basically the Avengers equivalent of Batman, but sarcastic and willing to murder people's faces off. If they can't think of how to leverage that, along with her dual nationality backstop, cold war origins, globe trotting spy drama and the fact that she holds her own against stuff that gives literal gods a run for their money, they're simply not trying.

 

[Busty]

The OP is about Black Widow getting more merchandise/toys, not getting a movie.

You're right, I mixed up my thoughts but it is 'Six and half a dozen' on the issue. It just speaks to the larger mentally at play here .

 

[foxuzamaki]

Maybe if ghost in the shell is a megahit

But I'm not seeing GTS out of principle because not only is there gender misrepresentation there's also racial

 

[Dandy Lyin]

I'd love a Black Widow spy movie. A Black Widow superhero movie wouldn't be as great.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Not surprised. Some retailers don't wanna sell "female action figures" for usually very stupid reasons. I also don't believe a Black Widow film will happen anytime soon.

Wasn't it Ike Perlmutter's idea that merchandise based off of female superheroes doesn't matter because according to him no one buys it?

If that decision is still up to him then I doubt anything is going to change.

Unless Feige has taken over that stuff but I thought he only looked after the movies themselves?

Perlmutter has no say in the matter anymore. His power has been greatly reduced. It's why we're now getting Captain Marvel and Black Widow film.

 

[antispin]

I thought this was about a BW movie. "So you're saying there's still a chance..."

 

[Sesha]

Considering Marvel Ent. has been pushing merch focused heavily or exclusively on women and diversity in general before, I wonder who was to blame for screw-ups like the omission of BW, Gamora and other female MCU characters from merch previously. Lack of oversight by the heads of the MCU? Or corporate fuckery as part of Perlmutter's petty feud with Feige?

She probably makes more from stuff like Lucy and Ghost in the Shell than Avengers.

Seems unlikely with the paychecks she's collecting from MCU movies.

 

[Frozenprince]

Believe it when I see them on the shelves.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

She probably makes more from stuff like Lucy and Ghost in the Shell than Avengers.

I think she's making the most for Ghost in the Shell, but Avengers and Lucy were around the same.

 

[TwEE-N-Toast]

No Aunt May or Black Widow movie? Its like they don't have their finger on the pulse of what people really want.

 

[thechristoph]

Not surprised. Some retailers don't wanna sell "female action figures" for usually very stupid reasons. I also don't believe a Black Widow film will happen anytime soon.

It's a crappy cycle if you like to collect these things. Female figures don't sell... because they don't make many of them... because they don't sell... because they don't make many of them...

 

[Shaanyboi]

And what about a Black Widow movie??

This period in-between Civil War and Infinity War would've been perfect for a Widow movie with her on the run.

 

[PSqueak]

A friend sent me a photo of a Nico Minoru action figure he saw at a local walmart.

If Nico Minoru can have an action figure, it would be completely bullshit if they pull this shit again.

 

[Ottaro]

Based on the hardcore weeabos and xenophobes constantly berating that project, I have a feeling it wont, sadly.

...do what now? What did I miss?

 

[Shaanyboi]

Can we start a #removehawkeye hashtag?

Only if you want to be outed as a fucking monster

 

[AcademicSaucer]

I don't really see Scarlett falling out of love with money any time soon.

this really