Geek Syndicate Issue 8 | Page 59

Geek Syndicate
Avengers Assemble!
For me, the biggest disappointment comes from
Joss Whedon’s Avengers Assemble. Whether Whedon enjoys being hailed as geekdom’s greatest
feminist I have no idea, but it is a burden of his
own creation, so frankly I don’t care.
This movie features three named females - one
lead in Scarlett Johansson’s Natasha Romanov
and two secondary characters; Agent Maria Hill
and the ubiquitous Pepper Potts. Not once do any of these women speak to each other. At points,
Hill and Romanov are in the same room and they don’t even look at one another.

Image © Marvel Studios, 2012

Seriously, there’s time for Stark and Coulson to chat about a cellist but S.H.I.E.L.D colleagues Hill
and Romanov don’t so much as acknowledge each other? It’s ridiculous. I’m not after a deep and
meaningful conversation about extra-terrestrial terrorism or anything but how hard would it
have been to pop in a water cooler moment for the sake of equality? Or, you know, a brief natter
about strategy – is that really too much to expect?

Maybe Romanov and Hill don’t see eye to eye ... but is an exchange of words to much to ask for?

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