boy, I can’t wait for you to tell me which heroine was in some awesome marvel movie, because surely it would be a good movie that we have every reason to acknowledge it exists.

He didn’t say Elektra was an “awesome marvel movie.” He said it was a movie with a female lead.

I’ve been wondering for a while when there would be a Dazzler movie. It would seem like it should be pretty easy to shoot technically, since her powers are based on light. Probably lack of any good story ideas and the relative obscurity of the character are more of a factor than anything technical. What if Hannah Montana did her own light show effects? Just ditch the roller skates…

A She-Hulk movie could work, there seems to be something of a bout of Hulk-mania around for whatever reason. Finding an actress to fill the role could be…interesting.

I actually meant the spy work. I understand why they wouldn’t have her go change shoes in between the “Oh, hey, they’re building a bigger, better robosuit of doom and tried to assassinate my boss and are now probably also going to try to assassinate me” discovery, but the fact that somebody decided that she’d head into a corporate espionage mission in ridiculously cumbersome and fragile-looking high heels instead of sensible, sturdy, modest high heels seemed completely ridiculous. She understood what he was after, expressed an initial unwillingness to do it, and then decided to stick with the crazy stilt shoes instead of a heel that would least hold up if she had to race-walk past security? Given that they showed her in non-”come fuck me” outfits earlier in the movie, it would hardly have been out of character for her to head out for that errand in a black pantsuit and shoes with a 1″ heel with a solid base to it.

The shoe choice just didn’t really make me roll my eyes until she had to flee from the supervillain in them and then run around on that grate flooring surrounding the reactor. I kept waiting for her to break a heel and thereby need to call one of the SHIELD agents for help or create some ridiculous zomgrescue! moment for Stark.

preying mantis: *snorts* We were amused by the fact that Pepper’s outfits seemed to get more low-cut as her heels got higher, and that we don’t see her feet when she runs because, boy, her ankles. The pain.

In general, I was pleasantly surprised. Though it was irritating that she was reduced to shrieking “Tony!” at random intervals during the climactic battle. Push the damn button already!

to be fair, they had just come from the SHIELD offices and her report, which she left for from her “walk around the offices like everything’s normal” spy work. so I can see why she’d still be in the impractical shoes. I don’t really get why you’d bring a civilian along to the site of your hopeful arrest, but I guess she was useful in opening all the doors they had to get through until the top secret one. still, “If you’re wondering how Joel eats and breathes…”

It would have been nice if they’d let Paltrow do a little less flailing while running and screaming, but my biggest complaint about that scene is the shoes they put her in. I mean, really, she’s off to do something where she might wind up doing the 100-meter dash from security after, and they have Ms. Competent pick out five-inch stilettos held on by an ankle strap?

The scene where he tried to paint her as Lois Lane Mark 2 and she reminded him that she doesn’t stop existing just because she’s out of his line of sight was brilliant, though.

oh, really? awesome. I wonder who was in it…

it was Elektra.

boy, I can’t wait for you to tell me which heroine was in some awesome marvel movie, because surely it would be a good movie that we have every reason to acknowledge it exists.

Howbout a tribute to disco?

But later writers have hung up on that. to the degree that almost no one really acknowledges that either of them have personalities outside of SVU Domestic Violence victim and Guy who regrets slapping his wife once.

they let Reed Richards move past it, even though he did it REPEATEDLY for DECADES. They let spidey off the hook for super-strength shoving MJ into a wall while she was pregnant. twice. and he wasn’t even mind controlled. just “stressed.”

but they don’t give either of them a personality outside of it, so that’s what they are.

Even if Hank Pym SCIENCE! Adventurer is possibly the best comic concept ever executed by anybody ever. Mr. Wizard vs Aliens, with a belt of gadgets ranging from bunsen burners to a fucking CHAINSAW? No. too awesome.

but then, you’ll also note that the whole “pepper pots as a romantic interest” was kind of shoehorned in, just like they’ve shoehorned in a romantic interest into every goddamn Batman movie because… well, I’m not really sure why.

One thing I’m not looking forward to is if the Avengers movies continue, how they’d handle the Pyms’ domestic violence thing, as the only ways to possibly handle it is portraying it as not a big deal and profoundly sexist, or going absurdly over the top like Ultimates did and still being profoundly sexist.

Here’s the thing about that, though: in one scene, two decades ago, Hank Pym, while in a massive depression and drunk, during an argument with his (super-powered) wife, slapped her. Once. And immediately was horrified by what he had done, went even further into depression, withdrew from the world, et cetera and so on.

That was the sum total of the domestic violence in the Van Dyne-Pym household. It was writers, years later, who kept bringing it up constantly apparently just to torture the character, as Hank Pym has become the favourite angst-target of Marvel writers. There was never any indication of domestic violence before or after that single incident, but that incident was referenced so often that people now assume Hank Pym was slapping around his wife regularly. In the Ultimate Universe he did, but in regular Marvel continuity, no.

So the easy way to deal with the “domestic violence’ issue? You don’t have to.