The Male Gaze & MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Pepper Potts is represented in MCU in Iron Man 1, 2, 3, and Avengers 1.

Even though Tony Stark acts like a "changed man" when he realizes he is in love with Pepper,

he constantly places other things over their

relationship. He is forgiven - to a point - when he

apologizes. Eventually he loses her because he never truly changes.

During her time in the film, she is seen as a smart and capable woman. But she is also seen as a possession to be won and someone to be rescued, like a "damsel in distress."

When she is kidnapped and injected with something that gives her superpowers, why wouldn't she be running around in a bra?

Once again, MCU advertises their films as being suitable for families. As long as a man is sorry, if he is a flawed hero, his treatment of women is fine, right?

The Male Gaze & MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

The Male Gaze: Guardians of the Galaxy and Gamora

The Male Gaze: Iron Man, Tony Stark, and "disposable women"

The Male Gaze: Iron Man & Pepper Potts

The Male Gaze: Jessica Jones

The Netflix show Jessica Jones, which is a part of MCU shows a

very strong woman with super powers. But is is deeply psychologically screwed up and makes many bad life choices. She has a strong sexual relationship with another character who she has violent fights with. She also is stalked by a man with mind control powers.

Peter, who is a womanizer, seemingly tries to

seduce Gamora, though it does not work. His attempt

to have her listen to music and to dance, is still an attempt of male assertion over what she should do.

Before Tony Stark starts dating Pepper Potts, he is shown as a womanizer who dates "sexy, skinny" women. They are treated as nothing but sex objects for his pleasure. In the first movie, he is shown as having a habit of sleeping with women and having his assistant Pepper kick them out the next day. Pepper, also a woman, treats Tony's "conquests" with scorn, acting like they should have known better. In the second and third movies, during flashbacks we see him treating women as objects, including a time where he purchased sex from two call girls. As "family" movies, which is an emphasized aspect in the marketing of the MCU franchise, this normalizes dismissive treatment of females.

Gamora is very similar to Black Widow, as she is a strong fighter, wears a tight outfit, and uses sex appeal to trick males

Drax is shown first "saving" Gamora from a violent

attack, only to attack her violently himself. He mentions that her father killed his entire family and decides to kill her for revenge. Even though she has no relationship with her family and asserts this, his claim shows male ownership of females. Additionally, the violence and threats only stop when another male steps in on her behalf, as the heroic rescuer.

The Male Gaze in Marvel Cinematic Universe films/TV

The Male Gaze: Black Widow in MCU films

The Male Gaze and Male Spectator

The Male Gaze: Black Widow in MCU films

One important premise of feminist theories of performance and visual arts is the awareness of exclusion of females from male spaces, according to Jill Dolan in The Feminist Spectator as Critic. A highly profitable film franchise focused on multiple well-known and lesser-known Marvel comic book heroes, films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been, largely, a male-dominated space, with some exceptions. Many females have had a smaller role or have been a part of a mostly male cast. Additionally, even highly popular female characters have been denied having standalone films and have not been given representation in most merchandise. During interviews, male cast members are asked intelligent questions whereas female cast members have been asked derogatory questions about their costumes and whether or not they wear underwear beneath them. As Dolan contends, strong female characters in performance and visual arts is that such representation is based of the male model of preferred gender roles, norms, expectations, and critiques. The spectator, who the performance is ideally created for, as Dolan notes, exchanges discourse about how women should be represented with the male hero who is embedded in the narrative. Examining representations of some females from select films and TV shows in MCU supports Dolan's thesis.

In this scene, Black Widow is being interrogated and is subject to physical violence. Even though she fights her way out of the situation, why does she have to do in a low cut dress with heels?

Major themes in the select works and in others show women as the following:

• Helpless
• In need of rescue and/or protection
• Unstable
• Strong fighters, but in spite of male counterparts
• Using sex appeal to get information
• Wearing clothes that men find to be sexy
• Victims of violence
• Caring and nurturing
• Owned by male family members and/or lovers

Clearly MCU frames females from the perspective of a male spectator, not giving authentic representation.

Only a soft female can quell male rage, right? Black Widow also is meant to exemplify feminine softness and nurturing as she is the only one who is able to help Bruce Banner stop being the Hulk and return to his normal human self.

Of course, when she is in love with Bruce and makes an advance, she has to rejected because he is too afraid to trust her enough to help keep him from turning into the Hulk. She self-discloses about a painful part of her past, yet he still rejects her.

Black Widow is a strong female, whose wit and prowess equally matches her male counterparts. In spite of this, she still wears a costume meant to hug her body, leaving little to the imagination. Additionally, one of her skills is using "the art of female seduction" and "female weakness" to exploit males. Is this really necessary for a female to be considered strong, to use rely on stereotypical female behavior?

In this scene from Iron Man 2, Black Widow and another agent from S. H. I. E. L. D. are on their way to deal with a situation. Look at the framing when she changes, as the spectator clearly is focused on her bra, as we see the driver try to avert his gaze. She fights against all male enemies, outmatching them, and is more powerful than her partner. Yet, she is still wearing clothing meant to show off her body while the other agent is in a normal suit. As she fights, notice how her hair flounces, yet stays perfectly feminine.

In this scene with villain Loki from the first Avengers film, examine how his reflection towers above Black Widow as he threatens her. It is ultimately the use of these threats that gets her the information she needs.