Debating Empowerment in the Ms. Marvel Lettercols

The lettercols of Ms. Marvel vol 1 (1977-79) show an industry & its fans reckoning with a fraught cultural moment—the real but uneven gains of second-wave feminism. Writer Gerry Conway’s intro letter lays the groundwork for the debates that follow. 1/12 #CaptainMarvel #TheMarvels

In a letter printed at the end of Ms. Marvel #1, Conway exploits the notion of gender equality to justify his qualifications to write a feminist female superhero: “If the women’s liberation movement means anything, it’s a battle for equality of the sexes…” 2/12

“And it’s my contention that a man, properly motivated & aware of the pitfalls, can write a woman character as well as a woman.” Conway isn’t wrong. But his defensive tone, compounded by an asterisk assuring readers that his wife Carla contributed insight, is worth noting. 3/12

Conway similarly invokes feminism in his defence of Ms. Marvel’s name. This name can be considered problematic inasmuch as it links & arguably subordinates her to the male superhero Captain Marvel, whose name connotes institutional authority & is not explicitly gendered. 4/12

Conway instead asserts the contemporary importance of “Ms” as a statement of independence: “her name… is influenced, to a great extent, by the move toward women’s liberation. She is not a Marvel Girl; she’s a woman, not a Miss or a Mrs—a Ms. Her own person. Herself.” 5/12

Once again, Conway is not wrong. “Ms.” became a popular identity prefix for exactly the reasons he states—because it allows a woman to indicate her gender identity separate from her marital status. The feminist magazine “Ms.” emphasizes this connection to women’s liberation. 6/12

Yet the name proved controversial. Significantly, girls & women write about 50% of Ms. Marvel’s published letters. While it’s impossible to know if this percentage reflects the readership, it does confirm a mandate to make it seem like girls & women were reading the title. 7/12

Many female readers, including “Miss (and proud of it) Mary-Catherine Gilmore” in issue #4, felt that the creation of Ms. Marvel provided an “opportunity… to comment on… the blatant sexism running rampant among the pages of Marvel & your Distinguished Competition.” 8/12

“Cynthia Walker (Mrs., not Ms.)” (Ms. Marvel #3), and “Ms. (and bubbling with pride over it) Adrienne Foster” (Ms. Marvel #7) similarly identify themselves in relation to their support for, or dissent from, the version of feminism they read into the naming of Ms. Marvel. 9/12

And in issue #8, “Debbie Lipp” highlights troubling implications of the series’ tagline: “‘This female fights back!’ is blatantly sexist, in that it implies that other females don’t fight back—that it is, in fact, unusual & entertaining that a female should fight back.” 10/12

These disagreements about what female empowerment might look like and how it might be marketed illustrate female readers’ well-earned distrust of the historically sexist superhero genre as well as conflicts within feminism itself and real women’s lives & imaginations. 11/12

There are many reasons Ms. Marvel initially failed to connect with readers, female or otherwise. But the lettercols suggest one reason might be the impossible task at its heart—namely, the assumption that one woman, and one version of empowerment, could reflect all women. 12/12