History of the portrayal of women in comic book-based films

Cassandra Lofaro, Verrazano Class of 2019, earned a degree in Communications with an emphasis on media studies.


For my capstone project, I decided to focus on the gender portrayal of superheros. I became interested in superheroes when I was in high school, and noticed that within cinematic universes (Marvel and DC, specifically), that there had been a lack of female-led films. Just a few years later, it was time for me to choose a topic for my capstone, and only two movies had been released by that point that featured females in the titular role; Wonder Woman in 2017 and Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018. I was interested in both on the historic portrayal of women in comic books and the role of women in comic book-based films, so I decided to focus on gender roles and how superheroes are portrayed within those barriers. While working on my capstone, a third female-led movie was released; Captain Marvel in March 2019.

Women superheroes are few and far between

With the help and support of my faculty mentor, Professor Edward D. Miller, I was able to find a lot more information than I had originally anticipated. Overall, the research that I did for this project met my expectations; while some of the information was disappointing in terms of the portrayal of women vs men in comics, the general outlook for the future is hopeful. I was both able to learn new things, and to confirm some of my predictions upon doing research. From adapting costumes from illustrations to functional, real-life versions for film, and understanding how the hair and makeup of a particular character may be chosen, to understanding how characters have changed and developed over the past several years. Researching this topic has broadened how I view the portrayal of superheroes; while my love of superheroes started as a hobby, I was able to turn something fun into something I could study.

Cassandra investigated gender roles in comic book-based movies

I definitely think that this is a topic that could be further developed, so long as film studios continue to diversify their leading characters, and if more women become involved in the illustration and authorship of comic books. I will continue to pay close attention to how men and women are portrayed in comic book-based films, as I’m anticipating many changes and generally enjoy seeing how studios explore new characters. I’m excited and hopeful for what the future holds, and am thrilled that I was given the choice to perform this research in the first place.