Mark Ruffalo stands up for female superheroes again. Did we mention we love him?
So in case you didn’t know, we seriously heart Mark Ruffalo, and not only because we’re Avengers fans that love his kick-ass superhero acting.
We love the fact that he is consistently standing up for women, especially during his latest press tour. Remember when he answered the sexist questions his Avengers co-star Scarlett Johansson constantly has to deal with, or when he politely tweeted to Marvel asking them to provide more Black Widow merch for his daughter (since Marvel’s representation of her has been a bit of a problem)? Yeah, The Hulk is a keeper.
Yesterday, during a Reddit AMA, he continued his campaign for superhero equality and we couldn’t be more pleased. First of all, when asked about his favorite Avenger (not including The Hulk, obvs) he chose Black Widow. Why? “I think she’s a badass,” he wrote.
Ruffalo also highlighted the limitations placed on female characters versus their male counterparts, explaining, “People are frustrated that they want to see more women, doing more things, in superhero movies, and because we don’t have as many women as we should yet. . .The guys can do anything, they can have love affairs, they can be weak or strong and nobody raises an eyebrow. But when we do that with a woman, because there are so few storylines for women, we become hyper-critical of every single move that we make because there’s not much else to compare it to.”
Ruffalo is, of course, addressing the debate over whether Black Widow was marginalized as a stereotypical female character in a sea of male superheroes. For the record, he’s got her back. “If anything, Black Widow is much stronger than Banner,” Ruffalo continued. “She protects him. . . I think that what people might really be upset about is the fact that we need more superhuman women.”
His comments—about the general lack of female superheroes on screen—couldn’t possibly come at a better time. We now know, in the wake of the recent Sony leaks, that executives haven’t exactly been supportive of casting female superhero leads—and that’s truly disappointing considering the ever-growing female fandom community. Girls deserve to see more superheroes they can identify with, they want to see them.
Ruffalo clearly gets this (he’s got two rad daughters, remember?) and he’s using his promotional platform to engage in the feminist conversation and call out Hollywood’s glaring oversight. So let’s give The Hulk a hand—not that he needs one. Have you seen those big green arms?
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