Gender, Feminism, and Heroism in Joss Whedon and John ...

men are quite the opposite, like the villains of the Hellfire Club who don Victorian-style
suits, but the majority of men fall somewhere in the middle. Women, in contrast, tend to
be dressed far more provocatively (Marvel, 2006). A number of women wear unitards
similar to those described above, but, with very few exceptions (like the extremely
masculine Araña), this skin-tight ensemble is the most conservative female hero outfit.
Leotards are quite common, usually with portions of the character’s abdomen, breasts,
and/or buttocks exposed. Prime examples of this look include Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk.
Some female characters wear what closely resembles lingerie—the fact that women of
the Hellfire Club dress this way while the men wear suits is rather telling. Overall, both
male and female costumes sexualize superheroes somewhat, but the degree to which
female heroes expose their bodies is far greater than their male co-workers.
With such long-standing and instantly recognizable artistic standards for comic
book superheroes in place, it is unrealistic to expect even the most feminist comic book
artists to change completely how mainstream comic book women are drawn, especially
for characters like Kitty and Emma who were established decades earlier. Certainly some
readers would welcome such changes, and much could be said about the relationship
between sexism in media and the physical constructions of comic book characters. As
interesting as these topics may be, they are not within the scope of this thesis. Rather, I
seek to explore how those pre-existing conditions factor into the text at hand, sometimes
in subversive and transgressive ways.
Cassaday can be assumed to have had at least some control over certain aspects of
the Astonishing X-Men’s art. One such aspect is the relative extent of character
16