In Response to Elizabeth Banks' Comments About Comic Book Movies Being a "Male Genre"
In the last nineteen years, comic book movies have slowly but surely come into their own as the dominant movie genre in Hollywood today. Looking at the comic book movies of the early 2000s (X-Men, Spider-Man, Catwoman to name a few), a distinct evolution is apparent when compared to the comic book movies of today (Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Joker). These nineteen years have shown us that comic book movies can balance the grand action spectacle with deep character development and compelling narratives; that comic book movies can have emotional maturity; that comic book movies can transcend the confines of their genre that many film critics, film fans, and filmmakers initially pigeonholed it into. Not only have the quality of movies grown, but so have the films' box office appeal. From modest beginnings of a $296 million worldwide debut for 2000's X-Men, we have now seen comic book movies lead the charge in box office records. This year's Avengers: Endgame surpassed…