The Problem With Disney’s Weaponization Of Feminism In ‘Captain Marvel’ (2019)

Since its inception in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or MCU, has faced criticism for its depiction of female characters. In early films like The Avengers (2012, Joss Whedon), the women of the film are either side characters with no personality or sex objects meant to be gazed upon by the largely male audience. These outdated depictions of women would later be remedied by films like Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, James Gunn), but there would still be valid criticisms of Disney’s treatment of female characters and an assertion of the need for a female-led big budget MCU film.

In 2019, over 10 years into the MCU, Captain Marvel, dir. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, would hit the big screen as Marvel’s first female-led superhero film.¹ Starring Academy-Award winner Brie Larson, the film allowed the audience to bear witness to Carol Danvers, dubbed by Kevin Feige as the MCU’s most powerful hero. The film was marketed as an explicitly feminist film, drawing female audiences in because they were finally getting the female-led film they deserved.

However, the film itself is lackluster and fails to engage critically with feminist themes, instead using its involvement with the U.S. Air Force to sell the military to its audience. Its phoned-in script by Boden, Fleck, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet fails to explore the notable lack of women-led Marvel films.

Contrarily, films like Barbie (2023; Greta Gerwig) explicitly display themselves as feminist by engaging with the patriarchy and performative activism while also being well written and shot. After six years in the world, it seems Captain Marvel has failed to shake the table and challenge societal expectations of women in a realistic, relatable way. Despite Marvel Studios’ parent company, Disney, positioning the film as a historic feminist milestone, it has faded into the background as other feminist blockbusters like Barbie maintain cultural relevance and continue a conversation about feminism in film by challenging the very real systems that oppress women.

Despite being marketed as a film that would introduce an iconic, powerful character into the MCU, Captain Marvel kept its feminism subdued in favor of corporate empowerment that embraces oppressive systems instead of questioning their existence. Six years after its release, this problem with Disney’s approach to feminism has caused the film to fail to resonate and exhibits the profit-driven superhero fatigue evident within the current cinematic landscape.

Captain Marvel’s Safe, Nationalistic Feminism

The feminism in Captain Marvel comes from a place of profit-driven incentive rather than wanting to tell a genuine story of female empowerment. However, its marketing and development promoted the opposite, positioning it as one of the biggest feminist action films of recent years. Its trailers depict epic action sequences featuring the titular hero as a cosmic force to be reckoned with.

However, the reality of Captain Marvel is that it is a muddy action film with an uninteresting approach to feminism. Its depictions of feminist conflicts are too basic, such as Carol often being told to “keep her emotions in check,” and facing that idea throughout the entire film.

Critics were quick to note this shallow approach to feminism, with Bella Sloan Cude of the University of Southern California saying the moments “reeked of a corporate boardroom scrambling to pay lip service to women’s issues.”² While many women do face the assumption of being “too emotional” for traditionally male positions, the film drops this idea halfway through in favor of using the film to advertise the U.S. Air Force. Much of Captain Marvel‘s lack of meaningful feminist ideals is replaced by military propaganda, attempting to sway the U.S. Military in a positive light by depicting women involved with it as powerful.

An ad for the US Air Force featuring heroic action movie music asserts the idea that women being in the Air Force is an inherently feminist act and ties that to Captain Marvel. A featurette for the film also explores how Brie Larson trained and interacted with various women in the Air Force to prepare for her role.

While the comic accuracy of Carol Danvers being an Air Force pilot is necessary for the film’s connection to Marvel Comics, the film is essentially an ad for the Air Force, taking significant time to depict Carol and her colleague, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) in military positions.

Using what has been advertised as a feminist film to engage in blind military support alienates audiences of women expecting a film that would challenge institutions like the military, which have been shown to have problems with exclusion and sexual assault of its female members to this day.

According to Jeremy Fuster for The Wrap, the film’s release lined up with Martha McSally testifying against her superior for sexual assault.³ This gave grounds to start a conversation about the blind support for the military in Marvel films as well as other action films like Top Gun (1986; Tony Scott), as the film’s release date drowned out the importance of this legal battle. Its false portrayal of women in the military being inherently feminist negates McSally’s testimony and the experiences of many other women.

Captain Marvel’s engagement with feminism, or lack thereof, is an evident problem within MCU films and the greater modern Disney library. In an age where films like Barbie are breaking new ground and prioritizing meaningful engagement over profit, it is clear that Marvel’s big feminist hero has faded into the background.

Barbie Vs Captain Marvel: Where Disney Went Wrong

Captain Marvel has appeared to fade into obscurity in the years since its release, as the general public has gravitated more towards blockbuster films like Barbie to watch. Why is it that Captain Marvel was marketed so heavily and made over $1 billion at the global box office, yet remains disconnected from modern audiences? Along with its commercial success, the film currently has a 79% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Clearly, the film was liked. The problem that lies with its lack of relevance in pop culture is its approach to feminism.

As the film is deliberately used as a military recruiting tactic, it only favors female empowerment when it is through the system, not against it. Films like Barbie depict a “crash course” approach to feminism that covers major topics in a way that general audiences can digest,⁴ acknowledging that there is a patriarchal system that should be dismantled. Captain Marvel never acknowledges the patriarchy as an oppressive force, and instead argues that empowerment can only exist within the system.

Furthermore, Captain Marvel takes an incredibly shallow approach to its empowerment of women because it empowers women in relation to men. In the film, Carol is constantly put in positions where a man tries to belittle her or bring her down, such as a scene in which she is asked to smile in public.

Instead of taking the time to understand that these men’s actions are indicative of greater problems in society, Carol simply beats them up and moves on. There is no meaningful engagement with feminist ideals; the film just aims to show how much physically stronger Carol is than the man that talked down to her, instead of discussing what makes her strong in her own right.

In contrast, Barbie took a similar fish-out-of-water approach with its titular character but understood that there were many facets of the patriarchy that worked to hold women down, such as jobs and iconography. Barbie emphasized how absurd the ideals men upheld were, and thus criticized the patriarchy as a whole. Gerwig taking such a bold approach to a feminist story and using Barbie to tell that story is what makes the film so impactful.

Captain Marvel failed to use its characters to meaningfully portray feminist ideals and thus failed to break new ground in Marvel films while Barbie introduced core feminist ideals to all ages.

The shallow approach to feminism in Marvel films and Disney’s live-action films as a whole seems to exhibit that they would rather play it safe than engage with feminist ideas. This is likely caused by the fear that they will be considered “woke” and alienated by moviegoers.

These problems are evident with Disney’s live-action princess films, which, according to Elisa Guimarães of Collider, try to alter the characters but ultimately do not change the patriarchal core of their respective stories.⁵ Similar to the live-action Disney princess films, Captain Marvel ultimately does not change the audience’s view of the patriarchy. Instead, it promotes seeking empowerment through the military.

As a result, the film fails to maintain relevance as other large studios take significant swings at the patriarchy and explore more explicit feminist themes.

The Consequences Of Captain Marvel’s Feminism

Captain Marvel is the first of three solely female-led Marvel films in the franchise. Following this film, Black Widow and a sequel to Captain Marvel titled The Marvels would release in 2021 and 2023 respectively. These films do not contain the same problems Captain Marvel has, since they likely learned from the mistake of watering feminism down in the aforementioned film. Despite Marvel’s female-led films getting better in terms of basic writing and story progression, there is a persistent problem with their lack of cultural impact.

The MCU is a franchise driven by profit from all angles, which includes comic books, toys, and collectible memorabilia. Their drive for profit is evident in their female-led films because, rather than engage meaningfully with feminism, they choose to keep it surface level and devoid of any real patriarchal critique.

With Black Widow and The Marvels, while they try to improve by focusing on different types of relationships between women, their core is to sell merchandise. This means refraining from upsetting their mainly male audience by keeping their feminism to a minimum.

Many saw the backlash all three of these films received from male comic book fans due to its pushing of a “woke” agenda,⁶ and since then there has been no female-led films released by the company. Knowing these repeated instances, it is clear that the cowardice in Marvel’s engagement with feminism also comes from a potential alienation of their largest audience.

The Undeniability Of Disney Falling Short

By failing to critique the patriarchy, Captain Marvel cannot be considered a feminist film, only a film featuring a female lead. Marvel Studios and their parent company, Disney, marketed the film to appeal to feminists around the world, which is disingenuous and solidifies their existence as a company turning a profit rather than telling important and diverse stories.

Films like Barbie allow audiences of all ages to engage with feminist ideals at a more digestible level, and do not measure its main character’s power in relation to men. Contrarily, Captain Marvel stays away from meaningful critiques and instead focuses on a broad “girl power” narrative. Furthermore, its depiction of the military ignores the real issues women face in that field and thus advertises the Air Force to its audience to boost recruitment.

If Captain Marvel had taken a similar approach to Barbie and explored explicit feminist themes, it could have maintained relevance in pop culture and opened the door to more feminist blockbusters. Unfortunately, the final product is evidence that mixing half-baked “girl power” with military propaganda fails to garner positive attention; all it leads to is a missed opportunity for change.

Footnotes

1. Boden, Anna and Ryan Fleck, directors. Captain Marvel, Marvel Studios, 2019. ↩︎
2. Cude, Bella Sloane. “I Want YOU, Girl: How Captain Marvel Exploits Feminism for Military Propaganda.” USC Scribe, 5 Dec. 2022. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025. ↩︎
3. Suster, Jeremy. “Air Force’s Use of ‘Captain Marvel’ to Recruit Women Ignores a Grim Record on Sexual Assault.” The Wrap, 8 Mar. 2019. Accessed 24 Feb 2025. ↩︎
4. Gerwig, Greta, director. Barbie, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2023. ↩︎
5. Guimarães, Elisa. “Why the Feminism in Disney’s Live-Action Remakes Falls Flat.” Collider, 29 Sept. 2022. Accessed 26 Feb. 2025. ↩︎
6. Murray, Conor. “‘The Marvels’ Faces Anti-‘Woke’ Backlash After Box Office Flop—Echoing ‘Captain Marvel’ Attacks.” Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025. ↩︎