We may have just had Ant-Man and the Wasp hit theaters earlier this year (with the Wasp sharing the title with a male counterpart), but by the time Captain Marvel hits theaters next year, it will have almost been 11 years after the MCU’s birth that we get a female standalone movie. Even crazier, it took 20 movies with male leads to get here. So what took Marvel Studios so long to make this happen? It’s not as though they’re lacking in female characters to use from the comics.

Speaking with EW, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige opened up on why they took their time:

“I think there are a lot of reasons, not the least of which was fighting for many years the erroneous notion that audiences did not want to see a female-led hero [film] because of a slew of films 15 years ago that didn’t work. And my belief was always that they didn’t work not because they were female-led stories — they didn’t work because they were not particularly good movies.”

The man has a point there. Elektra, anyone? But because Hollywood — like many businesses — is a risk-averse industry, and few quality chances had been taken on female superhero movies. The ones that did take risks…were kinda crap…So yeah.

RELATED – Captain Marvel: Why Brie Larson Took Several Months To Sign On

Luckily, it sounds like Marvel Studios understands the fact that female-led movies aren’t the problem, and with that in mind, they have many other female-led superhero movies coming down the pipe:

“With [Ant-Man and The Wasp] and now with Captain Marvel and many movies to be announced in the near future, I’m anxious for the time where it’s not a novelty that there is a female-led superhero movie, but it is a norm. And it is less a story of, ‘Oh, look, a female hero,’ and it’s more a story of, ‘Oh, what’s this about? Who’s this character? I’m excited to see that.’ And I think we can get there.”

Of course, the big movie that comes to mind for many of us is the long-awaited Black Widow movie, which many fans have been pushing since Captain America: The Winter Soldier. While we haven’t heard anything new in recent weeks, it seems to be gaining real momentum, and I expect it will be officially announced whenever the full Phase 4 slate is revealed.

What female superhero do you want to see realized on the big screen? Let us know down below!

Don’t forget to share this post on your Facebook wall and with your Twitter followers! Just hit the buttons on the top of this page.

SOURCE: EW