The Motherhood Series: Infertile, Hard Bodied Heroines.

Since the superhero comic came into being, women have rarely been portrayed as maternal figures. In fact, in the birth of the genre, women were secondary characters or the love interest of the main male hero; and as Jeffrey Brown suggests, “modern female characters are so thoroughly eroticised that it is nearly impossible to find a superheroine or villainess that is not defined primarily by her sex appeal all in an attempt to cater to the mostly male comics consumer” (136). Consequently, there is a limited number of representations of the day to day issues numerous women face, particularly motherhood and pregnancy.

Instead of attempting to depict pregnancy and motherhood, many superhero comic books tend to ignore this aspect of womanhood when creating their superheroines. In some comic books and science fiction films, action heroines are made infertile to expel any worries about her becoming pregnant and ruining the male fantasy suggested by Brown (139).

Lara Croft, the protagonist of the 1996 video game Tomb Raider displays an example of this type of treatment of the action heroine. Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Core Design, following archaeologist Lara Croft in her quest to recover a mysterious artefact. Facing many dangers throughout the game it is apparent Lara is more than equipped to deal with peril being highly skilled in armed combat. The character of Lara Croft became immensely popular when Tomb Raider was released and many pin this down to the appeal she had to the male audience.

In her character biography, Lara is described as a single woman born into English nobility, with hobbies including, archery and extreme snowboarding ( Lara Croft, the Art of Virtual Seduction, Cohen 82). Although her original creator envisioned her to volunteer with children, having hobbies that included needlework, they were later altered, transforming the softer version of Croft into a tougher character with “enhanced combat abilities” (Herbst, 24). The rejection of the typically female character traits in her initial biography indicates that these are less desirable for an action heroine such as Lara. In fact, when assessing Lara’s character Claudia Herbst in Lara’s Lethal and Loaded Mission, reveals that it was not just the soft personality that has been erased from her highly desirable character.

In simply reading the title of the book Lara Croft: The Art of Virtual Seduction, there is a sense that Lara was created as a sexual object first, and an intelligent (and some would suggest feminist) action heroine second, indeed the cover art for the book is also designed much like magazines like Cosmopolitan that are made with women in mind. Along with the layout, Lara is hyper-feminised by appearing to be naked in the illustration featured on the cover.

In the original 1996 game Tomb Raider, Lara’s computer-generated body has a tiny waist, oversized breasts and large hips, that all give the sense that her character was created in order to seduce the consumer of the game. Herbst states that this is an indication that, “she is not pregnant, and thus available for the act of procreation” (29). Yet as she goes on to suggest, “Lara as the hardened and oversexed female appears strangely infertile […] her midsection is so small her body could not possibly accommodate reproductive organs” (32). Lara’s body displays elements of the erotic nature of the superheroines body that Jeffrey Brown discusses (136). Yet she reaches new heights in relation to the impossible, muscular and thin bodies of the female character present in superhero comic books, being computer generated, therefore containing “no messy reproductive system” (32). It is not just the ‘messiness’ of reproduction that is of concern. If Lara was a maternal figure, yet continued to pursue her action heroine role, her appeal as a sexually attractive action heroine would perhaps be diminished and implies that women cannot be action heroines whilst still being mothers.

Considering her status as a hyper-feminine heroine, Lara has been bereft of an element that is quintessentially female (Herbst 35), stating that this enables the male to be less threatened by “the mysterious and powerful place from which life springs” (33). Many action heroines are childless with no discussion about why contained in their narratives. However, Marvel’s most recent film Avengers: Age of Ultron addresses these issues of fertility in one of its superheroines Black Widow.

Black Widow the pseudonym of Natasha Romanova (known as Romanoff in the cinematic universe), is a long-standing character in the Marvel Comics universe. Introduced in 1964 by Stan Lee as a Russian spy and the antagonist of Iron Man, Romanoff has since been portrayed on film by Scarlett Johansson. First appearing in Iron Man 2 (2010) Johansson has since featured in both of The Avengers (2012 and 2015) films, as well as both Captain America sequels, Winter Soldier (2014) and Civil War (2016). Black Widow is a highly skilled assassin and spy, beloved by many female fans, as she is the first woman to feature in the superhero team.

Although Black Widow has played a prominent role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, featuring in five of their feature films, she has not had as much of a starring role in these films. Whilst being one of the most popular characters she has been deprived of a standalone film.  However, the superheroes, Captain America, Iron Man and Thor will all have had three films each, which comes to a total of nineteen films before a single film is made featuring a woman superhero as its protagonist.

However, it is not just the lack of a standalone Black Widow film that many fans are disgruntled about, there were endless articles after the release of the latest Avengers film, Age of Ultron expressing disappointment over the inclusion of Black Widow’s origin story. After we find out that her fellow Avenger, Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), has a family tucked away in the domestic safety of the countryside, Natasha’s private conversation with Bruce Banner (the Hulk) she reveals that she cannot have children, stating that she is no different to him, a monster.

In revealing Black Widow cannot have children, she has been de-feminised at the same time as being hyper-sexualised, as the lack of a child makes her, perhaps more attractive as her body will never be altered due to pregnancy which could “challenge the strictly enforced body boundaries that are fundamental to the heroic fantasy” (Brown 139). This leaves her defined by her femininity, rather than an action heroine in her own right. Her origin story leaves her defined by the fact that certain elements of her femininity have been taken away from her, leaving a sterilized, yet still sexually appealing body to identify her heroism.

For many women, pregnancy is still seen as a choice. Kelly Oliver states in Knock Me Up, Knock Me Down, that “women are still expected to have children; those who choose not to are seen as somehow deficient or abnormal” (85). So what of those who cannot have children? The choice is completely taken away, which in many depictions of infertility in films and, indeed the media, shows this as one of the most heart-breaking things to happen to women, leading to the inference that women are continually defined by their bodies, in particular, their reproductive systems. Even Black Widow, who in previous films has put on a façade of an emotionless killer, is visibly saddened by the memories of her sterilization, softening her character.

Age of Ultron’s explanation of Black Widow’s origin story and her subsequent sterilization faced backlash from many critics and created a storm of online articles with titles such as Why Everyone Hates the New Domesticated Black Widow and Black Widow: This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things. Many of these journalists felt that this origin story somehow ruins the character of Black Widow inferring that her character did not need to be humanized. Because Black Widow is a woman, it has been suggested that the writers of the film were showing that she does indeed have a softer, more typically feminine side.

It can be suggested that Black Widow’s sexuality and her fertility are controlled out of fears that the ability to have children will interfere with her duties as an assassin. This element of control is a common theme in science fiction films. In their discussion of the 1993 film Jurassic Park, Laura Briggs and Jodi Kelber-Kaye discuss the restrictions that have been placed on the female dinosaurs in the park. Their reproduction is controlled by making all of the dinosaurs in the park female and that this “threatens the pure and natural family” (92). However, the attempt to control the female reproduction is futile, as “life finds a way” (Jurassic Park, 1993). It is the element of control that is important in relation to female action heroines on screen.

Writer and scholar Marina Warner in her lecture on the monstrous female asks is “the terror the velociraptors inspire in any way connected to their femaleness?”(3). It can be suggested that in the film, the attempt to control the female reproductive process is down to fear. The way in which Black Widow’s fertility is controlled stems from anxieties surrounding her ability have children, and how this would have an effect on her ability to do her job as a professional cold-blooded killer? However, is this down to fear of her reproduction, or merely something that is deemed necessary for an efficient employee? Certainly, there is an anxiety that their highly trained killers would not be as effective, and if these women are being bred for a certain outcome, much like the dinosaurs, would they want them to be contained?

But how cool would it be to see action heroines such as Lara Croft as a mother? Rihanna Pratchett, who wrote the first of the reboot Tomb Raider games has expressed interest in this line of narrative for Lara, after stating that an old and rugged version of Lara would be a fun new direction, Pratchett adds, “I’d also be interested in seeing Lara as a mother. How would that work? How would she even have time? I’d love to see more action moms in games. There’s so much we can do, so many stories we can tell, it feels like we’re just scratching the surface”.

Lara has already had a complete redesign in look, but also in personality, her vulnerable side is shown in the more recent games. So maybe further down the line, we could potentially see an old Lara, or even, if game developers are brave enough, Lara as a mother. We have already seen Nathan Drake as a father in Uncharted 4, so why not Lara?

By Siobhan Eardley.

Works Cited:

Briggs, Laura and Jodi I. Kelber-Kaye. “‘There is No Unauthorized Breeding in Jurassic Park’: Gender and the Uses of Genetics.” NWSA Journal, 12.3 (2000): 92-113. JSTOR. Web. 

Brown, Jeffrey A. “Supermoms?: Maternity and the Monstrous Feminine in Superhero Comics.” Beyond Bombshells, Mississippi: UP of Mississippi (2015) JSTOR. Web.

Cohen, Mark. Lara Croft and the Art of Visual Seduction. California: Prima Games. 2000. Print. 

Herbst, Claudia. “Lara’s Lethal and Loaded Mission: Transposing Reproduction and Destruction.” Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. Ed Sherrie A. Inness. New York: Palgrave Macmillan (2004) Print.

Oliver, Kelley. “Accident and Excess: The Choice to Have a Baby.” Knock Me Up, Knock Me Down. New York: Columbia UP, 2012. JSTOR. Web.

GIF Credit:

Tomb Raider 1: https://gifer.com/en/1NsC

Black Widow: https://gifer.com/en/2VWP

Black Widow & Hulk: https://giphy.com/gifs/black-widow-Pnkyv5ErOabZu