Perhaps one of the best scenes in a subpar movie was Wonder Woman saving Batman in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Bruce is about to be annihilated by the monstrosity created by Lex Luthor and as he prepares for the hit, Diana swoops in and absorbs the heat vision with her gauntlets and forces the monster back. In the movie theater there were whoops of joy and gasps of delight from young girls around me. While I was upset with the quality of the movie, I was happy whenever Diana would show up on screen. When she donned her costume I could hear little girls whispering to their parents, no doubt planning to go buy her merchandise after the movie ended.
Black Widow has been on screen for the past couple of years. Natasha Romanoff hasn’t had any romantic relationships but has endeared herself to all of the members of her mostly male team. She commands respect because she has earned everything she has. She’s beautiful, strong, and independent. She is not invincible though; Natasha has a troubled past and throughout the Marvel movies we see her growing as a person and figuring out what it means to be a hero.
She uses her femininity to bring down bad men in a way
that no one else can and is an invaluable part of the
Avengers. She is able to hold her own against much
more powerful men and although she is afraid at times,
she always resolves to do her best and help even if she
might get hurt.
Characters such as Diana and Natasha are giving girls a
new dream–they want to be heroes and strong; they want
to be independent. Female superheroes are going to
bring forward a new image of what it means to be a
woman. Girls will have women to look up to that they
can access anywhere. Popular movies mean merchandise
and it is much more preferable to see girls dressing up
as a superhero than in barely-there shorts and crop tops.