Well, if you were hoping to see the Martian Manhunter in either ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ or the follow-up full-blown ‘Justice League’ movie, don’t hold your breath. Writer of both, David S. Goyer, apparently hates the character. And wait until you hear his take on She-Hulk.
The writer appeared on the podcast Scriptnotes hosted by Jon August and Craig Mazin along with Andrea Berloff (‘The Legend of Conan’) and Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) for the “Summer Super Hero Spectacular.” Maybe he felt the podcast didn’t have a wide enough audience that he didn’t have to hold his tongue, but the successful screenwriter let loose with abandon.
When the subject of the She-Hulk –the gamma-powered female cousin of the Incredible Hulk– arose, the writers and hosts really cut loose. First Markus expressed– not completely incorrectly– that the character “has the worst, most demeaning character name possible. You’re just a female version.” This, unfortunately is true of most of the popular female heroes in comics. Very few, most notably Wonder Woman, are their own character with no ties to an existing male character (I include team members in this).
Oh, but they weren’t done with She-Hulk. Shulkie fans, you may want to exit stage left. You’ve been warned.
Craig Mazin: The real name for She-Hulk was Slut-Hulk. That was the whole point. Let’s just make this green chick with enormous boobs. And she’s Hulk strong but not Hulk massive, right? … She’s real lean, stringy…
David Goyer: She’s still pretty chunky. She was like Chyna from the WWE.
Mazin: The whole point of She-Hulk was just to appeal sexistly to ten-year-old boys. Worked on me.
Goyer: I have a theory about She-Hulk. Which was created by a man, right? And at the time in particular I think 95% of comic book readers were men and certainly almost all of the comic book writers were men. So the Hulk was this classic male power fantasy. It’s like, most of the people reading comic books were these people like me who were just these little kids getting the shit kicked out of them every day… And so then they created She-Huk, right? Who was still smart… I think She-Hulk is the chick that you could f**k if you were Hulk, you know what I’m saying? … She-Hulk was the extension of the male power fantasy. So it’s like if I’m going to be this geek who becomes the Hulk then let’s create a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could f**k.
Gross, am I right?! You know what’s extra gross? She-Hulk and the Hulk are first cousins! Is that the point of Supergirl? That’s she’s the only woman that Superman could f**k, despite the fact that she’s his first cousin?! I could get in to the fact that the Hulk actually has had female lovers, but clearly Goyer isn’t actually all that well versed in either character, so it would be pointless.
And if you had any hope that the Martian Manhunter would appear in the DC Cinematic Universe, hang that up. Goyer has no use for the character.
“He can’t be f*****g called the *Martian* Manhunter because that’s goofy. He can be called Manhunter… The whole deal with Martian Manhunter is he’s an alien living amongst us… So he comes down to Earth and decides, unlike Superman who already exists in the world now, that he’s just going to be a homicide detective… So instead of using super-powers and mind-reading and like, oh, I could figure out if the President’s lying or whatever, he just decides to disguise himself as a human homicide detective. Dare to dream!”
“I would set it up like ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. We discover one of those Earth-like planets… So maybe like… we get the DNA code from that planet and then grow him in a petri dish here… He’s like in Area 51 or something and we’re just basically… doing biopsies on him. Then he gets out and he’s really angry and he f**ks She-Hulk.”
So the only idea he can come up with for a character that’s been around in the comics since the 60s– and has successfully been adapted in the animated ‘Justice League’ and on ‘Smallville’– is to rip off some already existing movies? Just don’t bother, thanks.
Sigh, but I guess the real bone to pick here is the discussion of the She-Hulk and how it reflects on the continued “boys club” mentality in comics and related media.
As for Mazin’s calling her “Slut-Hulk”, yes, in the comics she’s a bit… “Sex and the City.” Does that make Batman Bat-Slut or Nightwing Slutwing or Green Arrow Peen Arrow or yadda-yadda-yadda? Because those hos get around.
I will also find fault with that tired “adolescent male power fantasy” excuse people keep going back to. Not every male comic book reader was getting shoved into lockers and given swirlies in the boysroom. I mean, I dealt with bullying, but I’m sure it had more to do with other factors than the fact that I read comics. But when I was bullied, I didn’t retreat into the pages of powerful, vengeance-crazed tough guys, exacting bloody revenge. I actually gravitated to Wonder Woman who saw the best in everyone and urged them to find the strength within themselves. It wasn’t about being stronger than my bullies, it was about being a stronger, better version of me. But there is more geek stereotyping to come.
The real red flag, however is that Goyer is the writer responsible for bringing Wonder Woman, the ultimate feminist icon in comics, a symbol of love and peace, to the big screen for the first time EVER! Or is she just the only woman that Superman can f**k?
Source: The Mary Sue
