Nebula actor Karen Gillan feels that 'now is the time' for an all female superhero Marvel movie based in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Nebula actor Karen Gillan feels that 'now is the time' for an all female superhero Marvel movie based in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU does not have the best track record when it comes to featuring female characters front and center. For many years, Scarlett Johannson's Black Widow was the lone woman among the male superheroes that made up the MCU's Avengers - and despite having debuted in the MCU back in 2010, the Black Widow character has yet to get a solo movie to call her own.
As the MCU continues to grow, more and more big name actresses have joined the franchise to play major female characters. Gillan's Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies is a highly skilled fighter, as is her sister Gamora (played by Zoe Saldana). Elsewhere, this year's Thor: Ragnarok not only debuted the MCU's first female villain in Cate Blanchett's Hela, it also introduced us to another character that is shaping to be a pivotal player - Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie. With a roster of brilliant actresses working under their brand, Marvel Studios can greenlight an all-female project any time they want, really.
Sitting down with Indiewirewhile promoting her new film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Gillan spoke openly about how she and some of her female colleagues in Marvel Studios pitched the idea of an all-female movie:
“Brie Larson was like, ‘We should go up to Kevin Feige and tell him to make an all-female Marvel movie,’ so we marched up there in a group, a whole herd of us, and said that to him. He was like, ‘Yeah, that would be amazing!’ but he didn’t really commit to it, but he thought it would be a great idea.”
Gillan doubled down on the idea, saying that “now is the time, more than ever" for Marvel to try its hand at a female superhero ensemble adventure. She also cited the success of the Patty Jenkins directed and Gal Gadot led Wonder Woman, which smashed box office records around the world this past summer:
"Look at the success of Wonder Woman. It’s clear that we all want that."
Back in October, word got out that several MCU actresses - including, Johansson, Thompson, Saldana, Gillan, Pom Klementieff, and Brie Larson - had approached studio chief Kevin Feige to talk about the possibility of an all-female MCU superhero film. Given the number of lady power players currently in the franchise, the project seems perfectly feasible. The question now is, when will (or, rather, could) it happen.
Feige has admitted that he regrets DC having beaten Marvel to the punch when it comes to a solo female superhero movie, a la Wonder Woman. That being said, Marvel Studios does have next year's Ant-Man and the Wasp - starring Evangeline Lily as the second Wasp - as well as Captain Marvel (starring Larson as its namesake) waiting in the wings, so the studio is making progress on that front. If they continue to make progress in that area, then it's not too difficult to imagine that Gillan and her fellow MCU actresses' wishes for an all-female superhero blockbuster may yet come true.
