Who is Marvel's flagship female?

[JudicatorPrime]

Personally, I think it's because the Widow isn't exactly a family friendly character. Nat is pretty brutal when it comes down to it. Could you imagine Widow starring in a solo children's cartoon show?

I heard Black Widow didn't have a good showing in the current Black Panther quest cartoon. If they damage her popularity on that front, she'll be lucky to appear in the next Avengers cartoon installment, let alone a solo.

[Force de Phenix]

I think it would have to be an Avenger since they are what Marvel tries to sell itself as. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four come in a package, and to separate a female character from them would feel like a missing limb. Maybe Sersi will be a major player once the Etenals movie is close to coming out.

[CrimsonEchidna]

What exactly made Storm drop so far off the radar??

I'd say it's a combination of (1) the Avengers itself overtaking the X-Men as the flagship franchise of the company and (2) change of which characters were get the most prominent focus in the X-Books post-House of M.

[Crimz]

I think it would have to be an Avenger since they are what Marvel tries to sell itself as. The X-Men and the Fantastic Four come in a package, and to separate a female character from them would feel like a missing limb. Maybe Sersi will be a major player once the Etenals movie is close to coming out.

You don't have to separate a character from a team to push them. I think we should get away from that mentality as it neuters possibilities for many characters that have potential. If characters Spider-Man can be in several books at the same time and no one complains, then I think it will be fine for a character to get a push without having to be booted off their team. You can easily have both.

Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther (who is also somehow simultaneously trapped on another planet and leading the Avengers on earth), Captain Marvel, and countless more. All of these are characters that both have solo books and are on team books. There's no reason characters associated with teams can't be pushed to be solo characters too.

[Force de Phenix]

You don't have to separate a character from a team to push them. I think we should get away from that mentality as it neuters possibilities for many characters that have potential. If characters Spider-Man can be in several books at the same time and no one complains, then I think it will be fine for a character to get a push without having to be booted off their team. You can easily have both.

Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther (who is also somehow simultaneously trapped on another planet and leading the Avengers on earth), Captain Marvel, and countless more. All of these are characters that both have solo books and are on team books. There's no reason characters associated with teams can't be pushed to be solo characters too.

I just feel like characters like Storm/Jean are such big part of the X-Men, that they've become synonymous with that team. Spider-Man goes everywhere, and is first and foremost a solo character. What separates a solo character from a team character is one that has a rogues gallery of villains that is unique to them. The former's rogues gallery are X-Men villains. Plus, their team dynamic is a big part of how they've been written. They wrote Wolverine as a solo character for a long time, so he's more "solo" established.

[nnelg]

Invisible Woman is Marvels flagship female character.

[Crimz]

I just feel like characters like Storm/Jean are such big part of the X-Men, that they've become synonymous with that team. Spider-Man goes everywhere, and is first and foremost a solo character. What separates a solo character from a team character is one that has a rogues gallery of villains that is unique to them. The former's rogues gallery are X-Men villains. Plus, their team dynamic is a big part of how they've been written. They wrote Wolverine as a solo character for a long time, so he's more "solo" established.

But the thing is that it's all about writing. A rogues gallery can be created, new dynamics can be created with a supporting cast. Wolverine is just as associated with the X-Men as Storm and Jean. They too can be made solo characters without there X-Men status being jeopardized because, as you said, Wolverine is a viable solo and team character. There are so many characters on teams brimming with potential and to write them off would be a waste. A perfect example of this is Vision. The book written by Tom King was brilliant and if he was written off as a team only character then we would never have gotten that book or Viv.

It's a common believe, especially among fans that leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The belief that a certain character only works on a team means that a reader will pass up potentially great books because of it. Then that book doesn't sell and the fans believe it's because they can only work in a team, the the cycle repeats. I think both fans and Marvel should not subscribe to this belief.

I don't believe that any hero is too tied to a team that they can't possibly be more. There are too many characters that are just there waiting for the right writer and push. Don't get me wrong it would take effort, but most worthwhile things do.

[MajorHoy]

Can a female character be a "flagship" if she doesn't have / is unable to support her own solo title (or at least a solo feature)?

[PwrdOn]

Marvel has always been more blatantly commercial than DC in their approach, and they always get too jittery when their attempts to push female and minority characters don't sell well out of the gate and pull the rug out from under them. Also, most of their writers are just really bad at writing women and they often come off as bitchy and unlikable whether that was the intent or not. The company especially seems to like creating these spunky teenagers that get pushed hard, then when they wear out their welcome are aged up into immature and irritating adults, leaving all the fans disappointed about wasted potential and what not.

[Force de Phenix]

But the thing is that it's all about writing. A rogues gallery can be created, new dynamics can be created with a supporting cast. Wolverine is just as associated with the X-Men as Storm and Jean. They too can be made solo characters without there X-Men status being jeopardized because, as you said, Wolverine is a viable solo and team character. There are so many characters on teams brimming with potential and to write them off would be a waste. A perfect example of this is Vision. The book written by Tom King was brilliant and if he was written off as a team only character then we would never have gotten that book or Viv.

It's a common believe, especially among fans that leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The belief that a certain character only works on a team means that a reader will pass up potentially great books because of it. Then that book doesn't sell and the fans believe it's because they can only work in a team, the the cycle repeats. I think both fans and Marvel should not subscribe to this belief.

I don't believe that any hero is too tied to a team that they can't possibly be more. There are too many characters that are just there waiting for the right writer and push. Don't get me wrong it would take effort, but most worthwhile things do.

Well the X-Men are going to be in the forefront of Disney-MCU soon, but I think they're going to keep them together and sell them as the X-Men, but who knows. Marvel is taking chances with making and Eternals and Shang Chi film. They can either separate the X-Men like Fox was going to do, or group them together and release additional movies with other Marvel characters. They succeeded in breaking the monopoly the X-Men had and included the Avengers in therir success. So they might keep on going with new faces until they have as many Marvel characters as possible. The comics become a sort of movie preview pamphlet, so we'll see what Marvel does. They made Captain Marvel a thing, so who knows.

[JudicatorPrime]

Can a female character be a "flagship" if she doesn't have / is unable to support her own solo title (or at least a solo feature)?

Begs the question, which of Marvel's fab females have had the longest uninterrupted solo series run?

[ed2962]

Definitely. Marvel never treated their female characters the same as their male ones until the films started coming out. That's when the difference between female and male heroes stood out to a wider audience and Marvel went on a mad rush to promote their female heroes more. It's great that they finally started to do it, but it should have never taken so long. DC has been better than Marvel when it comes to their female characters for a long time, Marvel has been playing catch-up.

They've tried various times since the early 70's, they just haven't been as successful at it. And there will be these gaps where it looks like they make really half hearted attempts.

[ed2962]

Personally, I think it's because the Widow isn't exactly a family friendly character. Nat is pretty brutal when it comes down to it. Could you imagine Widow starring in a solo children's cartoon show?

It wouldn't be hard at all. People forget that despite Black Widow's back story, she wasn't a super dark character until "modern" times. In her first back up feature in Amazing Adventures, she was doing things like saving the youth from gangs and hippies con men.

[ed2962]

Marvel has always been more blatantly commercial than DC in their approach, and they always get too jittery when their attempts to push female and minority characters don't sell well out of the gate and pull the rug out from under them. Also, most of their writers are just really bad at writing women and they often come off as bitchy and unlikable whether that was the intent or not. The company especially seems to like creating these spunky teenagers that get pushed hard, then when they wear out their welcome are aged up into immature and irritating adults, leaving all the fans disappointed about wasted potential and what not.

There's probably more truth to this than a lot of us want to admit...

[ARkadelphia]

What exactly made Storm drop so far off the radar??

Nothing. Storm is still the best answer in my opinion.