Marvel Intent on Rolling Out Female-Driven Superhero Film - at Some Point

Marvel isn't lacking for kick-ass women in their decades-deep repertoire of superheroes, mutants, and other infamous characters - yet the films they roll out (two a year) are pretty heavy on the brawn.

Since the studio's rise to international blockbuster acclaim, prominent heroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor have risen up in the ranks, leaving little room for their female counterparts to save the world from imminent desctruction.

Marvel is aware of the issue, director/producer Louis D'Esposito told Coming Soon - assuring fans that a female-driven flick is on the horizon. Just how far out that horizon extends, however, is an entirely different matter.

"There's obviously a drumbeat that is banging louder and louder that we want a female lead superhero," he said. "... [W]e have strong female characters in our films from Black Widow to Pepper Potts to Peggy Carter and you never know. Maybe there's an offshoot film with one of them. Or Captain Marvel, you know?"

So why haven't any of Marvel's leading ladies - including the women of the X-Men - scored their own film yet?

"It's hard," he said. "...because we have a small group at Marvel. We do two films a year. To get those two films done and to do them right takes a lot of work and manpower. And female-power, obviously. To add a third film and to just put it in the slate right now is difficult. We have these next three, four, five films coming out and that's what we're really concentrating on."

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA's Katee Sackhoff, currently featured in this week's new opener RIDDICK, recently told Schmoes Knows that Marvel had begun reaching out to her.

"There's been some stuff going on," she told the podcast. "There's been a lot of checking of availability. ... I don't quite know exactly... There's been a lot of questions about the first quarter of next year."

As widely reported, the studio is diligently working on a script following Ms. Marvel (pictured above) - which many believe Sackhoff could be up for.

Photo Courtesy of Marvel