Marvel’s Women Problem: Not A Single MCU Film Has Female Characters on Screen for More Than 40 Percent of Runtime

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been around for a decade, but the gigantic movie franchise still has a lot of work to do when it comes to gender equality on screen. Digital Spy has ranked every MCU title by the amount of time women spend on screen, and not a single film out of 19 movies has featured women for more than 40 percent of the runtime.

Similar to the Disney-backed “Star Wars” movies, the two most profitable MCU movies have featured some of the franchise’s greatest female representation. “Black Panther” tops the list with 40 percent of the film having women on screen (54 minutes of the film’s 134 minute runtime features women), while “Avengers: Infinity War” comes in second with 34 percent (approximately 51 minutes of the film’s 149 minute runtime). The worst MCU title for women on screen is “Captain America: The First Avenger,” where female characters appear in less than 14 percent of the film.

Digital Spy’s breakdown also includes the amount of time each female character appears in her respective film. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in “Guardians of the Galaxy” holds the record for being the female character that appears on screen the longest in an MCU film. The character is on screen for 31 minutes of the movie’s 120 minute runtime.

Fortunately, Marvel is heading in the right direction when it comes to representation thanks to the upcoming release of “Captain Marvel.” The March 2019 tentpole should end up easily topping the list as it features Marvel’s first standalone female superhero in the title role. Next month’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” should also be a top performer (we can only hope Evangeline Lilly appears in 50 percent of the film).

Head over to Digital Spy to read the complete ranking of gender representation in MCU films.