In 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe was created with the release of “Iron Man.” Since then, there have been numerous movies about many different types of characters. However, the studio had never produced a film with a female title character — until now. On March 8, 2019, Marvel’s first female superhero movie, “Captain Marvel,” debuted in theaters everywhere. Thousands of people were thrilled to have a female lead. “Before, a character was a woman and then a hero but now they’re a hero first,” voices Jasmine Pearce (‘19).

However, not everyone was excited about the movie. Many men, specifically white men, were angry with the lead actress, Brie Larson, after she asked for the critics on her press tour to be more diverse. This sparked a controversy with her and some Reddit and Twitter users claimed that she “hated all white men” and therefore the movie would too. Many were calling her out directly saying, for example, (BearsEst1920). “Hi Brie. I’m a white guy, am I [allowed] to watch your movie? I also would like to be a member of the press one day but you seem to be rooting against that…” 3/7/19, 8:05pm. Tweet.

This was one of the more mild tweets directed at the actress.

Others believe the movie’s feminism was not pushed as much as the men implying. “It usually gets on my nerves when a movie tries too hard to push a political [agenda,] but they were really subtle with it and just showed it through her actions that women are strong and can do what men can do,” says Emma Sealls (‘20).

All controversy aside, the opening of “Captain Marvel” was a success for Marvel with a total opening weekend box office of about $455 million worldwide.

“Captain Marvel” is not the very first female superhero movie. Many think of DC’s “Wonder Woman,” which came out two years ago. While the DC film was the first in twelve years, there had been other movie renditions of Wonder Woman before the 2017 version. Supergirl also got a movie back in 1984 and currently has a TV series.

This is certainly not Marvel’s last female-led superhero movie as they have already confirmed “Dark Phoenix” to come out later this year in July. The trailer is already hyping fans up. “Dark Phoenix” will be the next installment in the “X-Men” universe, featuring the character Jean Gray as the lead.