At San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend, Captain Marvel co-writer Nicole Perlman sat down with Wired to talk about her and Meg LeFauve’s preparation for the 2018 movie:

We’ve been talking a lot about archetypes and what we want this movie to be about and just how to write a strong female superhero without making it Superman with boobs. Meg and I are doing a lot of brainstorming and we’ll catch ourselves and say, ‘Wait a minute, what are we saying [here] about women in power?’ Then we have to say, ‘Why are we getting so hung up on that? We should just tell the best story and build the best character.’

Perlman, who became the first female writer for a Marvel Studios movie ever when she co-wrote Guardians of the Galaxy with James Gunn, says Captain Marvel is proving a little more complicated to write than the universe’s favorite gang of A-holes:

We have this constant back-and-forth about how to tell a story that is compelling, entertaining, moving, kick-ass, and fun, and also be aware of what those larger implications might be. It’s a lot more complicated than just writing [Guardians of the Galaxy].

Hollywood affords women (both female creators and female characters) fewer opportunities or second chances than it does men, so it makes sense that Perlam and LeFauve would be acutely aware of the pressure placed on Captain Marvel to succeed. Given the lack of female superhero movies overall, Captain Marvel may be expected to both positively represent all women and prove to Marvel that lady-led movies are bankable, but it’s not Perlman and LeFauve’s fault that female fans are so incredibly underserved.

In other words, it’s reassuring to see that the pair are considering the context in which Captain Marvel is being made, but that they’re realistic about the movie’s limitations as well.

Thoughts, gang?

(via Newsarama)

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