After watching some of the drama online surrounding the release of Captain Marvel I remembered a post I made on The Movie Boards’ Facebook page in December of last year I asked a question about how many people knew that Brie Larson wasn’t the first female to headline a Marvel movie. Jennifer Garner played Elektra in 2005. Now Adam J New did mention Marianne Hartley won an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series,” for playing Dr. Carolyn Fields in Season 2 Episode 1 “Married” of The Incredible Hulk Television Series, though yes she was a lead actress in the episode, it wasn’t her show. However, with a little research we can go earlier then that. To my knowledge the first three women to star in comic book movies are Monica Vitti as Modesty Blaise in 1966, Jane Fonda as Barbarella in 1968 and Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman in 1974.
- Modesty Blaise 1966
- Barbarella 1968
- Wonder Woman Telemovie 1974
- Wonder Woman Telemovie 1975
- Modesty Blaise 1982 (American-produced one-hour television pilot)
- Golden Raspberry Nominated Barb Wire 1996
- My Name is Modesty 2003
- Elektra 2005
- Aeon Flux 2005 (Released after the Aeon Flux TV series that ran from 1991 – 1995 and the Graphic Novel that was released in 1995)
- Wonder Woman 2017
Yet to be released
- Captain Marvel March 6 2019
- Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) expected to be released 7 February 2020 (USA)