With the recent success of “Captain Marvel” (2019), it has shown the significant diversity in media. Especially with superhero action movies, a predominantly male space, having a woman as a lead role helps inspire young girls around the world.

Many anticipated the release of “Captain Marvel” because the Marvel franchise had previously not done a story centered around any of their female characters. Though it had initial excitement, many also anticipated that the movie would fail because it was about a woman. Criticisms were made over Brie Larson’s physique and whether it was fit for the role. These “trolls” attacked Larson for her portrayal and believed the movie would fail. These remarks feed into the stigma that women in movies could not succeed. However, the global success of the movie proves these trolls wrong because the success indicates that Marvel fans wanted this movie to succeed.

The success of this movie is vital to young women because they become inspired. In comic book franchises, many women are drawn with attention to their bodies. Their bodies become objectified through the attention being on parts of the body. Their character suits end up being very revealing. These exploitations are seen around the world by young girls and can cause them to get the impression that women’s sole purpose is for their bodies. By having Captain Marvel’s character be focused on her potential and powerful personality, it shifts the previous stigma around superhero women that they are much more than their bodies. Young girls seeing this movie can feel inspired by her abilities.

Within the last couple of years, superhero movies have become more diverse. Releases such as “Black Panther” (2018) and “Wonder Woman” (2017) and their success has shifted social stigma that diverse movies would not succeed. Younger generations are able to see representation and become inspired because they can see people similar to them in powerful positions.

The media in the future will hopefully continue this pursuit because of its significance to marginal groups and to young generations.