When it comes to cartoon-style depictions of women, pop culture is brimming with Disney characters, Barbies and the sorts of superheroes who do things that male superheroes want them to do, or are just named after the male versions of them.
However, that’s about to change as comic publisher Marvel are recasting Thor – played by Chris Hemsworth in the recent films – as a woman. This is being done in the hopes that it’ll attract more women to the world of graphic novels, because Thor, along with Iron Man and Captain America, is one of Marvel's ‘big three’.
Marvel put out a statement on its official website, saying, ‘No longer is the classic Thunder God able to hold the mighty hammer, Mjolnir, and a brand new female hero will emerge worthy of the name Thor.’
‘Thor will be the eight title to feature a lead female protagonist and aims to speak directly to an audience that long was not the target for super hero comic books in America: women and girls.’
And just to hammer home (see what we did there?) how this new incarnation of Thor isn’t to be seen as anything lesser or additional to the male Thor. Jason Aaron, who’s writing the new series, said, ‘This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is Thor.’
Pretty good going, if comic books are your thing, and even if they’re not your thing, that such a big company is so readily making creating a female lead role for her own graphic novel is pretty cool.
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.