Sarah Michelle Gellar Calls Out ‘Backwards’ Reaction to Women-Led Marvel Movies

Sarah Michelle Gellar knows a thing or two about leading a genre hit, having starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for seven seasons. But in a new interview with The Guardian, she says fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are less accepting when it comes to women-led projects.

“Genre is where women can really succeed and hold an audience,” she told the outlet. “Every time a Marvel movie tries to do a female cast, it just gets torn apart … Unfortunately, audiences weren’t as accepting.”

“There’s still this mentality of ‘the male superhero’, this very backwards way of thinking,” she added.

Marvel’s first women-led superhero movie was Captain Marvel in 2019, which was subjected to pre-release review-bombing on critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The onslaught got so bad that it spurred the website to take preventitive action against such practices, banning user comments on movies before they’re released to the public.

Other Marvel projects starring women, including Disney+ series Mrs. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, have face similar preemptive backlash on platforms like IMDB.

Gellar also commented about the ways the entertainment industry has changed as more people have begun to speak out against toxic creatives, with Gellar herself having accused Buffy showrunner Joss Whedon of abuse and unprofessional behavior in 2021.

“There’s not a day goes by where you don’t pick up a trade magazine and hear about some showrunner being ousted for behaviour that is just unbecoming,” she said. “When I grew up, people screamed on sets: actors, directors, everybody. It doesn’t happen any more. If someone comes out on set screaming, it’s like: ‘Peace out!’ No one needs to be treated like that – we’ve established that.’”

Gellar is currently back in genre television with Wolf Pack, her new teen series on Paramount+.

Thumbnail credit: Jose Perez / Getty Images

Alex Stedman is a News Editor for IGN, leading entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.