The legends, villains, and superpowers of the Marvel universe have captured the world’s attention for decades. However, while female characters are evident throughout Marvel’s history, our attention has only come to women as leaders within the Marvel universe in recent years. This course will give leaders like Black Widow, The Wasp, Shuri, Kamala Khan, She Hulk, and countless other Marvel women the attention they deserve through a critical analysis of their origin stories, leadership characteristics, and contributions to the Marvel universe. We will examine historical, social, and cultural paradigms of leadership, gender constructs within leadership roles, and leadership patterns and behaviors – not only related to cinematic, television and print portrayals of female Marvel characters, but in our own lives and society as well. We will also analyze the representation of women, how female leadership is framed, and marginalization and exclusion of women in leadership roles throughout comic book, film, and television portrayals of the Marvel universe. Selected texts, Marvel-based television shows, and Marvel movies will enhance learning in this course.
- Teacher: Denise Simpson