For all that members of fandom claim that they are so great to female characters and ‘give them more respect’ than the creators and writers, fandom is so much more likely to demote a female character in a romantic relationship from a great character in their own right to ‘just a love interest’ than the source material.
Look at Pepper:
- Film: Badass who played a big part in saving the day in the Iron Man films (the biggest part in the first film, where she was the one who unravelled Stane’s main plot, alerted Coulson and led them to where the suit was, pushed the button to overload the reactor and blow it), also runs Stark Industries in the second film; runs Tony’s life in the first;
- Comics: In Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man, Pepper slept with Tony, but got a suit and spent most of the issues saving the day either on her own or alongside one of the best spies in the world and someone who was very high up in SHIELD.
- Fandom: Thought of by a large part of fandom as ‘just Tony’s love interest’ and has all of her extremely important roles and actions either brushed aside or completely ignored because she’s also Tony’s love interest.
acceber74 said: It must be because she comes in between their favorite slash pairing…
I would not be surprised at all, given how a lot of slashers have been like in the Marvel fandom (like all those times Steve’s face got Photoshopped over hers in like, every photo she’s ever been in, thus literally erasing her), though it usually seems to be Rhodey who gets that treatment. (If I see another person go on and on about Steve was the one who taught Tony everything he ever needed to know about weapons and the military while acting like Rhodey doesn’t exist or is a ‘bad friend’ …)
But yeah, I’m already getting tired of the supposedly feminist Pepper bashing in her tag (cut for ‘Iron Man 3’ spoilers) —
