I know I should never read USA Weekly, especially after the whole “Vinnie” thing. (Vincent Lecavalier is hockey player from Quebec; I doubt he goes by Vinnie.) But someone linked an interview of you, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Liv Tyler about your roles as heroines in superhero movies, “Girls want to have fun, too.”

I would just like to correct you that women do in fact enjoy comics. In fact, we’re rather a growing audience. I know what you were told by the boys, but there are some really amazing women in comics, both with super powers and without.

Which, by the way, Pepper Potts is one of them. And out of the three of you, your role as Pepper was the most kick ass. Pepper actually helps destroy the bad guy, instead of getting captured by him, unlike Tony Stark. (Okay, I haven’t seen Incredible Hulk, but I’ll still bet my pennies on Pepper.) And I wouldn’t doubt the power of a well-tailored suit to make you attractive on screen.

Perhaps you’d enjoy reading a more positive take on Pepper than your own.

Thank you,

Woman who reads comics and enjoys superhero movies

And I can’t help but agree.

What will Marvel be making instead of a She-Hulk movie?

2009 – X-Men Origins: Wolverine and X-Men Origins: Magneto
2010 – Iron Man 2 and Thor
2011 – Spider-Man 4, The First Avenger: Captain America, The Avengers
2012 – Ant-Man

Okay, we’ll assume that X-Men movies will have some super women in them, but they’re definitely focusing on Wolverine and Magneto.

What’s the line-up Jon Feavreau told USA Today they wanted to go with for The Avengers movie?

“The ones Marvel is talking about now are Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man and Iron Man. I would love to see that.”

Okay, those are all the first Avengers, except the Wasp. You know the only woman on the team. At least, we’ll have Samuel L. Jackson to have a minority interacting with the team as head of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I’d love a She-Hulk movie. I’d love a Ms. Marvel movie. I’d love to see the Wasp on the Avengers team like she’s supposed to be. It would be a great way to introduce the non-comic audience to a least one female Marvel superhero.

Seriously, they’re making a Thor movie? How bad is that going to be, especially if they make him talk like they do in the comics?

I’d much rather have an original She-Hulk movie where they cameo the Hulk and show him in all the previews too.

But at the very least, give the Wasp her due and put her in the Avengers movie.

Iron Man is the movie other superhero films want to be. It’s the cool kid of a sometimes not so great superhero genre. It’s what Spider-Man wanted to be and what Superman never could be. It delivered a simple story about an asshole arms dealer turned superhero with an appeal to both comic and non-comic audiences. You don’t feel like you need to know any back story unlike with the X-Men movies and your viewing is subtly enhanced if you know the back story unlike X3 or Serenity.

Tony Stark might be rich like Bruce Wayne and incredibly smart like Reed Richards, but Tony Stark’s also an asshole. An asshole like you and me. This is perhaps a powerful universal appeal that so far superhero films haven’t embodied.

Peter Parker (Spider-Man) usually gets toted as the character with universal appeal for his sad story and acceptance of heroism. “With great power comes great responsibility” blah blah blah. I know people who love Spider-Man, who dragged me to the theater to see the second one on opening weekend. All that said, I don’t think the nerd-emo-boy turned superhero is a true universal appeal. It doesn’t appeal to me. I want to smack Peter Parker. I want to smack a lot of nerd-emo-boys too. (Yes, I was at a convention last weekend, why do you ask?) I can’t ever see myself as Peter Parker.

Iron Man was different. Finally, a superhero movie was produced where the main character didn’t cry over his/her hard decisions or someone didn’t give a pretentious piece of exposition about the weight of the world. Tony went from hardboiled arms dealer to humanist superhero without so much as a lecture about serving the world. It was refreshing.

Tony Stark is either the asshole we are or the asshole we wish we had the money and privilege to be. An asshole with really cool flying armor and gear.

I’m so there.