After Wonder Woman & Black Panther, is a Vixen solo film the next logical step?

[HestiasHearth]

Well... I think that a Vixen movie could be popular, but it won't reach the levels of buzz as the Wonder Woman or Black Panther movies.

Wonder Woman was big because because it was the first movie about a superheroine. Black Panther was big because it featured the first Black superhero, or any racial minority hero.

Wonder Woman was not the first movie about a superheroine. Supergirl came first (1980). What Wonder Woman was is the first major superheroine movie that was actually good, and that was made with a decent budget, and that was marketed well, plus it was made at a time in which superhero films are all the rage. In the same way, Black Panther is not the first black superhero to lead his own movie (Blade came first, and technically, Hancock is a superhero film starring a black superhero). But again, Black Panther was a black-lead superhero film made in our post-Iron Man era, and it was overdue. Just like audiences were craving a big budget superheroine film (and Wonder Woman was looooong overdue), they were craving a modern CBM led by a hero of color.

[MoneySpider]

Janelle Monae? Zoe Kravitz? Gugu Mbatha-Raw? Uh, what about the darker-skinned black actresses in Hollywood as potential actresses for Vixen? Let's not forget that the CW has already cast two other light-skinned (bi-racial) actresses as Amaya Jiwe (Grandmother Vixen) and Mari Jiwe McCabe (Granddaughter Vixen).

These are EXACTLY the same kind of casting decisions affecting Storm in the X-Men movies. First Halle Berry (bi-racial black woman), then Alexandra Shipp (bi-racial black woman) but darker-skinned black actresses never seem to be considered for the role.

Not to mention casting darker-skinned actresses in important roles is ONE of the reasons why the "Black Panther" movie has been such a success so far.

[BlackClaw]

Janelle Monae? Zoe Kravitz? Gugu Mbatha-Raw? Uh, what about the darker-skinned black actresses in Hollywood as potential actresses for Vixen? Let's not forget that the CW has already cast two other light-skinned (bi-racial) actresses as Amaya Jiwe (Grandmother Vixen) and Mari Jiwe McCabe (Granddaughter Vixen).

These are EXACTLY the same kind of casting decisions affecting Storm in the X-Men movies. First Halle Berry (bi-racial black woman), then Alexandra Shipp (bi-racial black woman) but darker-skinned black actresses never seem to be considered for the role.

Not to mention casting darker-skinned actresses in important roles is ONE of the reasons why the "Black Panther" movie has been such a success so far.

I think Tika Sumpter would be a good choice if we’re looking for dark skinned actresses. As for who the villain should be, I think Grodd would be a good adversary for her. Assuming a Flash film won’t use him.

[Jim Kelly]

Wonder Woman was not the first movie about a superheroine. Supergirl came first (1980). What Wonder Woman was is the first major superheroine movie that was actually good, and that was made with a decent budget, and that was marketed well, plus it was made at a time in which superhero films are all the rage. In the same way, Black Panther is not the first black superhero to lead his own movie (Blade came first, and technically, Hancock is a superhero film starring a black superhero). But again, Black Panther was a black-lead superhero film made in our post-Iron Man era, and it was overdue. Just like audiences were craving a big budget superheroine film (and Wonder Woman was looooong overdue), they were craving a modern CBM led by a hero of color.

Actually, STEEL was in 1997, before BLADE in 1998.

[Rac7d*]

Well... I think that a Vixen movie could be popular, but it won't reach the levels of buzz as the Wonder Woman or Black Panther movies.

Wonder Woman was big because because it was the first movie about a superheroine. Black Panther was big because it featured the first Black superhero, or any racial minority hero.

Vixen would be neither the first superheroine onscreen or the first Black superhero. To reach that level of buzz, DC needs to be proactive not reactive. They need the first of something else, not following previously successful moves. They'll just recieve diminishing returns. Perhaps they should try to make the first superhero movie centered around an LGBT hero. I dunno.

Why would it not
A women of color leading in an epic SuPER hero blockbuster
She would be the combination of the two the first Black super heroine lead ! Unless you dont find that appealing?

One of the big cracks in the women movement is that injustice seem to matter most when it happen to Caucasian women, when women of color have had it more difficult for way longer
I think they film would certainly be well received. #Blackgirlmagic

[El_Gato]

Janelle Monae? Zoe Kravitz? Gugu Mbatha-Raw? Uh, what about the darker-skinned black actresses in Hollywood as potential actresses for Vixen? Let's not forget that the CW has already cast two other light-skinned (bi-racial) actresses as Amaya Jiwe (Grandmother Vixen) and Mari Jiwe McCabe (Granddaughter Vixen).

These are EXACTLY the same kind of casting decisions affecting Storm in the X-Men movies. First Halle Berry (bi-racial black woman), then Alexandra Shipp (bi-racial black woman) but darker-skinned black actresses never seem to be considered for the role.

Not to mention casting darker-skinned actresses in important roles is ONE of the reasons why the "Black Panther" movie has been such a success so far.

Then maybe go with an African actress like one of the following:

Genevieve Nnaji (Nigerian descent):



Yvonne Okoro (Ghanian descent):

[Sutekh]

I'd love for a Vixen movie to have been thought out in advance, so that DC could just set it up and hit the ground running with a great story already primed and ready for the big screen, but I feel like that hasn't happened, and if someone (DC or Marvel) rushed out a story with a black female lead, like Vixen or Storm, just to be 'the first with a black female lead, to ride on the success of Wonder Woman and Black Panther' it could fall on it's face.

And then Avi Arad or some throwback like him will roll out and mumble something about audiences not wanting to see movies with black female leads, the way he opined that the failures of Elektra and Catwoman were 'proof' that audiences didn't want movies about strong women, instead of more accurately stating that audiences don't want to see movies that *suck.*

While I like the visual effects, I also kind of think that Vixen is suited to having no real visual effects at all, and could be made on the cheap (saving production money for actors, sets, crew, marketing, etc.).

Sure, comics portrayals (and later animated and Legends of Tomorrow/Arrow appearances) have shown her with an animal-shaped CGI manifestation, but there's no more need for that than there is to portray the energy signatures of psychics or magnetism based characters (option shown as pink fluff on the page) in live-action. The objects floating around gets the motion across all by itself, in a moving medium. Similarly, in a live-action moving medium, Mari doesn't need to be surrounded by a cheetah-image and zippy streaks in the air when she movies at cheetah speed, because it's a moving image and we can see her running fast without any need for visual clues. A brief cheetah sound as she takes off running (or dolphin sound as she leaps into the water, or eagle's cry as she takes to the sky) would be enough to clue the audience in that she's adapting the abilities of those animals. I feel like there's an over-reliance on CGI flourishes, at the moment (the Flash's trail of lightning, in recent years, for example, when he used to be able to run without that sort of lightshow), and a more streamlined Vixen could be done.

While Wonder Woman has been one of DC's more strongly pushed characters for decades, Black Panther has been much lower-tier (and the Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, possibly even lower on the totem pole), so I'm not convinced that Vixen's level of popularity among comic book fans is as much a factor as it could be. Then again, it might not be entirely useful to compare what Marvel has done with what DC can do, as their circumstances aren't 100% identical.

I do wonder if the trend of 'the first X movie!' is going to continue. Which company is going to bring out 'the first Latino superhero movie' or 'the first Asian superhero movie' or 'the first gay superhero movie?' If a character like Vixen or Monica Rambeau is considered obscure, it's going to get even more so when they are trying to sell movies based on Vibe or White Tiger or Katana or Shang-Chi or the Midnighter or Northstar.

[MoneySpider]

I think Tika Sumpter would be a good choice if we’re looking for dark skinned actresses. As for who the villain should be, I think Grodd would be a good adversary for her. Assuming a Flash film won’t use him.

Honestly, I'd be suspicious if they had a gorilla-themed main villain for a 1st movie starring a black super-heroine. Maybe if Grodd was part of a villainous animal-themed group/organization that Vixen had to go up against, then it could work.

[MoneySpider]

I'd love for a Vixen movie to have been thought out in advance, so that DC could just set it up and hit the ground running with a great story already primed and ready for the big screen, but I feel like that hasn't happened, and if someone (DC or Marvel) rushed out a story with a black female lead, like Vixen or Storm, just to be 'the first with a black female lead, to ride on the success of Wonder Woman and Black Panther' it could fall on it's face.

And then Avi Arad or some throwback like him will roll out and mumble something about audiences not wanting to see movies with black female leads, the way he opined that the failures of Elektra and Catwoman were 'proof' that audiences didn't want movies about strong women, instead of more accurately stating that audiences don't want to see movies that *suck.*

While I like the visual effects, I also kind of think that Vixen is suited to having no real visual effects at all, and could be made on the cheap (saving production money for actors, sets, crew, marketing, etc.).

Sure, comics portrayals (and later animated and Legends of Tomorrow/Arrow appearances) have shown her with an animal-shaped CGI manifestation, but there's no more need for that than there is to portray the energy signatures of psychics or magnetism based characters (option shown as pink fluff on the page) in live-action. The objects floating around gets the motion across all by itself, in a moving medium. Similarly, in a live-action moving medium, Mari doesn't need to be surrounded by a cheetah-image and zippy streaks in the air when she movies at cheetah speed, because it's a moving image and we can see her running fast without any need for visual clues. A brief cheetah sound as she takes off running (or dolphin sound as she leaps into the water, or eagle's cry as she takes to the sky) would be enough to clue the audience in that she's adapting the abilities of those animals. I feel like there's an over-reliance on CGI flourishes, at the moment (the Flash's trail of lightning, in recent years, for example, when he used to be able to run without that sort of lightshow), and a more streamlined Vixen could be done.

While Wonder Woman has been one of DC's more strongly pushed characters for decades, Black Panther has been much lower-tier (and the Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool, possibly even lower on the totem pole), so I'm not convinced that Vixen's level of popularity among comic book fans is as much a factor as it could be. Then again, it might not be entirely useful to compare what Marvel has done with what DC can do, as their circumstances aren't 100% identical.

I do wonder if the trend of 'the first X movie!' is going to continue. Which company is going to bring out 'the first Latino superhero movie' or 'the first Asian superhero movie' or 'the first gay superhero movie?' If a character like Vixen or Monica Rambeau is considered obscure, it's going to get even more so when they are trying to sell movies based on Vibe or White Tiger or Katana or Shang-Chi or the Midnighter or Northstar.

How do you think Mari using lesser-known animals on the big screen should be handled? For instance, how do you think they should have the audience know that Vixen is using the abilities of a certain type of poisonous spider, or a certain type of snake, or a poison frog?

[Johnny]

Janelle Monae? Zoe Kravitz? Gugu Mbatha-Raw? Uh, what about the darker-skinned black actresses in Hollywood as potential actresses for Vixen? Let's not forget that the CW has already cast two other light-skinned (bi-racial) actresses as Amaya Jiwe (Grandmother Vixen) and Mari Jiwe McCabe (Granddaughter Vixen).

These are EXACTLY the same kind of casting decisions affecting Storm in the X-Men movies. First Halle Berry (bi-racial black woman), then Alexandra Shipp (bi-racial black woman) but darker-skinned black actresses never seem to be considered for the role.

Not to mention casting darker-skinned actresses in important roles is ONE of the reasons why the "Black Panther" movie has been such a success so far.

I mean, Angela Bassett isn't very dark-skinned, yet I don't see complaints about her playing an African queen mother. Maybe because she isn't bi-racial I guess, but also because... well, it's Angela Bassett.

[Korath]

How do you think Mari using lesser-known animals on the big screen should be handled? For instance, how do you think they should have the audience know that Vixen is using the abilities of a certain type of poisonous spider, or a certain type of snake, or a poison frog?

Establish early on her abilities with some common animals (cat, dogs, birds, etc.). That way, the audience will know that she use animal abilities quickly. Then, when you introduce more exotic creatures, most people will not go out of their way to know which was used. Mari suddenly produce poison ? Must be a snake or something. She can crawl over a wall ? Spider. She produces electric discharges ? You get the point.

And if they want to use some of the most impressive creatures out there (such as tardigrade or bacterias able to heal extremely fast), name drop them in a one liner. Some guy cut Mari's hand, it simply grow back in seconds (and most audience would probably think lizard) and Vixen can go on trolling her foe by telling something like "Never heard of the tardigrade buddy?".

I would also make clear that while the pendant is necessary to properlly channel the animal kingdom's abilities, Mari's bloodline has been so attuned to it for thousands of years that only her can use it. The pendant, after all, is kind of a big macguffin and liability since it could in theory be removed easily. But with some work, it could be done.

And I would love for Genevieve Nnaji to be Vixen on the silver screen.

[Colossus1980]

I consider those two the 'Holy Grail' of CBM. No one will ever touch BP's box office records for a standalone debut and WW will probably be unbeatable for a long time as a heroine CBM. Everything afterwards just seems to be a letdown in terms of financial success.

[MoneySpider]

I mean, Angela Bassett isn't very dark-skinned, yet I don't see complaints about her playing an African queen mother. Maybe because she isn't bi-racial I guess, but also because... well, it's Angela Bassett.

Yes, it's Angela Bassett and Angela is a lot darker than all of these bi-racial actresses that Hollywood LOVES to cast in productions when they want to represent a black woman in something.

[Confuzzled]

I consider those two the 'Holy Grail' of CBM. No one will ever touch BP's box office records for a standalone debut and WW will probably be unbeatable for a long time as a heroine CBM. Everything afterwards just seems to be a letdown in terms of financial success.

You think Wonder Woman 2 won't outdo Wonder Woman?

I also think an actually well executed Gotham City Sirens/Birds of Prey/Harley & Ivy or some combo of Harley Quinn with other popular female characters could outdo WW, especially overseas. Heck, said film could even have a small part for Diana herself. But again, well-executed is the key factor here.

On the Marvel side, a multiracial all-female ensemble film featuring Black Widow, Shuri, Okoye, Valkyrie, Mantis, Gamora etc. could also outgross WW.

[Johnny]

Yes, it's Angela Bassett and Angela is a lot darker than all of these bi-racial actresses that Hollywood LOVES to cast in productions when they want to represent a black woman in something.

I see. Well, I wouldn't say I have much of a problem with bi-racial actresses to be honest.