By the Eye of Odin! Thor is now a woman. What in the name of
Asgard is going on?
Well, I’ll tell ya.
First, let me state that I understand that every once in a
while the people at Marvel have to change things up to keep it new and
interesting to generate sales. By that logic I have learned that they even once
turned Thor into a frog…man, I’m glad I stopped reading comic books when my
sons outgrew them back in the early to mid-90s. I don’t know if I could have
handled the God of Thunder being an amphibian.
How could a frog be seen as worthy? Heck, how would a frog even
be able to wield Mjolnir?? Never mind…
So, the powers-that-be decided making Thor a girl fits a
story line. Okay. Got it. I admit that at first I thought it was just a ploy to
keep fanboy cave dwellers enticed, because Penny from the Big Bang Theory
doesn’t happen in real life,
but after reading comments by actual fans I
decided I get the thought process of changing Thor up a bit. Some, however, believe this is great because of the lack of female superheroes.
Now that brings us to the real problem – replacing Thor does not solve the problem. The lack of viable female characters
being introduced to audiences in comic book form is the problem. Making Thor a girl for a short
period of time for the sake of a current story line does nothing to fix that. The mythical "they" say that it is too difficult to introduce new characters. BULL!
I was 12-13 years old when Marvel introduced Storm.
They did a great
job, and she is one of the most popular female characters in comic lore.
I was
about 16-17 years old when Marvel introduced two more popular female characters:
Rogue and Shadowcat
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Both have also done very well.
In fact, BtVS creator, Joss
Whedon, names Kitty Pryde (Shadowcat) as an influence to his Buffy.
New female
characters can be introduced. It's easy. Just make sure they have cool names, a cool story and
cool powers. It has been done, and it has been done correctly with huge
success. The industry is lazy.
This isn’t just on comic books, movies are to blame too.
The movie industry has seen the popularity of The Hunger Games
(female lead),
Divergent (female lead), Underworld,
and a few others.
Plus,
someone like Emma Watson,
and her fan base could definitely carry a franchise; or either of the girls from the Percy Jackson movies
(Alexandra Daddano and
Leven Rambin) could both be leads in action type movies.
Jamie Alexander (Lady
Sif) could do the same as a main character, though probably not as Sif.
Few are given a chance.
Personally, I think YA literature has taken the lead in
bringing strong female characters to the forefront. I hope that my Julie will
get a chance to continue to build a strong female presence and fan base. Maybe
someday the rest of the entertainment industries will catch up.
