Movies that should/could have a female lead character.

[dreng3]

Okay Escapist, jump in the diving suit, put on your breathing apparatus, cause we're diving into this mess, and we aren't stopping till we hit the bottom.

So, in light of Ghostbusters 2016 and Ocean's Eight there has been some discussion regarding movies with female leads, and some have commented on the ideas forcibly introducing female characters into established setting. As a casual observer it seems to me that people mainly have problems with the idea of having a female lead instead of a male, and hijacking already existing male characters to make a female one. So let's rectify this, your mission, should you chose to accept it, is to suggest, and maybe explain, a franchise or character that deserves the role of main character in a movie or on tv, with the catch that the character must be female.

Ground Rules are simple
1. Subject must be female
2. Subject must be the main character, and may not share the role of main character with a male character. Sharing lead between to female characters is fine
3. It should make sense for the character to play lead in a story of her own
4. Don't be dicks about it (I'd have made this rule one, but I trust you guys and gals to play nice)


As creator of the thread I reserve the right to go first.

Movie: X-Men Origins: Rogue.

Easiest pitch in the world, featuring future X-man Rogue this movie will detail the hardships she goes through following the awakening of her mutant powers, and nearly killing a casual hookup at a party.
I'll just go ahead and award myself bonus points for having it be a superhero movie.

 

[Parasondox]

Another thread about female leads. We have had media IP with female leads for decades, centuries now. Why, in 2016, are we losing our shit about it on both sides of the pros and cons argument?

 

[mecegirl]

Unless the plot has to do with genitals or gender roles any movie could have a male or female lead character.

 

[dreng3]

Another thread about female leads. We have had media IP with female leads for decades, centuries now. Why, in 2016, are we losing our shit about it on both sides of the pros and cons argument?

Nothing really to do with pros or cons, this is simply an attempt to get people to look at female characters that should have movies of their own, no discussion about replacing men with women, or keeping women out.

Unless the plot has to do with genitals or gender roles any movie could have a male or female lead character.

But that wasn't really the question, I'm not suggesting that anyone go invent a new character or build a franchise from the ground, I'm asking for already established characters who could totally use a movie or show.

 

[Saelune]

Ms. Marvel (Oh wait...)
She Hulk
Jessica Jones
Black Widow
Spider-Woman

 

[mecegirl]

Unless the plot has to do with genitals or gender roles any movie could have a male or female lead character.

But that wasn't really the question, I'm not suggesting that anyone go invent a new character or build a franchise from the ground, I'm asking for already established characters who could totally use a movie or show.

And I'm saying that unless the plot has to do with genitals or gender roles any movie could have a male or female lead character.

Random example. You couldn't genderbend a Little Woman movie. It just wouldn't be the same story because of the time period.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Can't you just pick an IP and have a woman be the lead? Star Trek, Star Wars, Warhammer, Battletech, Mass Effect, Bioshock, BattleTanks, the list goes on and on. Fuck it, even BroForce could have a female lead!

Like video games, 99.99999999999% of all movies wouldn't change if you just added a 'S' to the script every now and then.

 

[dreng3]

So, we are suggesting movies that would be funny if someone r63'd them?

Fight Club.
The Fly.
Clockwork Orange.
Videodrome.
American Psycho.
Falling Down.
The Cable Guy.
Darkman.
Donnie Darko.
Falling Down.

That wasn't the intent, I wanted to discuss movies that could/should be made where a female protagonist was either a give, or at least better/more reasonable than a male one.
Ideally with already existing characters.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I could be wrong, but I don't think the fanbase would've made such a big deal out of the new Ghostbusters being women if the people behind the movie didn't make a big deal out of it. If they'd just been like "Ok we're rebooting the Ghostbusters franchise, and incidentally we've cast these women in the lead roles." But nope, before we knew anything else about the movie we knew it was going to be an all female team; and everyone continued to bang on about it.

 

[Metalix Knightmare]

Has Ocean's 8 really inspired much discussion? I mean, I've seen a thread on it on Kotaku In Action but not much else. Even then the discussion there ranged from "Meh" due to it not really being a well beloved franchise and a rebooted series in and of itself, to "Well at least it's a spinoff and not a reboot".

That wasn't the intent, I wanted to discuss movies that could/should be made where a female protagonist was either a give, or at least better/more reasonable than a male one.
Ideally with already existing characters.

So the main idea here is to make a movie better simply by switching the genders of the lead characters? I'm sorry, but that very idea is so shallow you could drown Draken in it.

(Ah, that will never fail to be the lamest way for a villain to die)

I mean, 9/10 times it wouldn't really matter. You look at all the action movies about a father going on a murder spree to get his family back, all that would do is make it a mother going on a murder spree to get her family back. You look at romance movies and all that does is either switch the genders of the couples, or just makes a whole mess of lesbian romance movies. Slapstick comedy just turns into a bunch of women slapping each other around, etc, etc

Granted though, there are a TON of female characters in comics ALONE that could carry a movie on their own, and people would be pretty darned receptive to that. (Hello Wonder Woman trailer's like/dislike bar.)

 

[dreng3]

That wasn't the intent, I wanted to discuss movies that could/should be made where a female protagonist was either a give, or at least better/more reasonable than a male one.
Ideally with already existing characters.

So the main idea here is to make a movie better simply by switching the genders of the lead characters? I'm sorry, but that very idea is so shallow you could drown Draken in it.

Again, not the intent. I wanted people to point out already made characters that could have a movie or show of their own, with the stipulation that these characters be female. I never mentioned anything about being better for not having a male lead, but I also have a hard time believing that there aren't any female superheroes, anti-heroes, or just general badasses that couldn't be the main character of a movie.