David S. Goyer Labels She-Hulk “Porn Star,” Martian Manhunter “Goofy”

Just because you’re writing comic-book related projects doesn’t mean that you have a good grasp on certain characters. Cue David S. Goyer, whose work includes Blade, The Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel and the upcoming Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. There’s no denying that the guy is talented, but clearly his viewpoint on several Marvel and DC characters leaves a lot to be desired.

Goyer recently appeared on the Scriptnotes podcast on a panel with other superhero/fantasy and sic-fi screenwriters. One of the topics of discussion was adapting certain characters for movies and television. She-Hulk was eventually brought up, which led to this dialogue between Goyer and host Craig Mazin over the emerald strong woman.

Craig Mazin: The real name for She-Hulk was Slut-Hulk. That was the whole point. Let’s just make this green chick with enormous boobs. And she’s Hulk strong but not Hulk massive, right? … She’s real lean, stringy…

David S. Goyer: She’s still pretty chunky. She was like Chyna from the WWE.

Mazin: The whole point of She-Hulk was just to appeal sexistly to ten-year-old boys. Worked on me.

Goyer: I have a theory about She-Hulk. Which was created by a man, right? And at the time in particular I think 95% of comic book readers were men and certainly almost all of the comic book writers were men. So the Hulk was this classic male power fantasy. It’s like, most of the people reading comic books were these people like me who were just these little kids getting the shit kicked out of them every day… And so then they created She-Huk, right? Who was still smart… I think She-Hulk is the chick that you could fuck if you were Hulk, you know what I’m saying? … She-Hulk was the extension of the male power fantasy. So it’s like if I’m going to be this geek who becomes the Hulk then let’s create a giant green porn star that only the Hulk could fuck.

Considering that Bruce Banner and Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk) are cousins, the chances of them sleeping together are practically zero (unless this is Old Man Logan). But let’s move away from that technicality and look at how Goyer looks at She-Hulk. To him, she’s nothing more than a sex object for male readers, and that’s the only way you could be a fan of her. Yeah, clearly he doesn’t know s**t about her.

She-Hulk is a woman not just physically strong, but mentally as well. She’s humorous (one of the original 4th wall breakers in comics), determined and intelligent, if her career as a lawyer wasn’t an obvious indicator. If anything, She-Hulk is a role model, as she shows that super heroines shouldn’t be confined by the sexist double standards forced on them. For Goyer to reduce her to a “porn star” is insulting.

Of course, the fun didn’t stop there. Not content to just insult one fan base, Goyer turned his attention to Martian Manhunter. After questioning whether anyone in the audience who had heard of MM had ever gotten laid, he explained his viewpoint on the Manhunter from Mars.

Well, he hasn’t been rebooted but he’s a mainstay in the Justice League. He can’t be fucking called the Martian Manhunter because that’s goofy. He can be called Manhunter… The whole deal with Martian Manhunter is he’s an alien living amongst us… So he comes down to Earth and decides, unlike Superman who already exists in the world now, that he’s just going to be a homicide detective… So instead of using super-powers and mind-reading and like, oh, I could figure out if the President’s lying or whatever, he just decides to disguise himself as a human homicide detective. Dare to dream!

Goyer also stated that if he adapted Martian Manhunter for a feature film, he would have him be a DNA sample that we discover on another planet and grow him in a petri dish in Area 51. So, showing the sole survivor of an alien planet try to blend in and understand humanity is “goofy,” but growing said alien in a petri dish is better? Admittedly, Martian Manhunter’s story is similar to Superman’s, but it’s more original than the Area 51 angle, which has been used God knows how many times in movies. By the way, the whole concept of people fighting crime in colored tights is inherently “goofy.” That doesn’t make it any less enjoyable.

Look, you’d be crazy to think that She-Hulk and Martian Manhunter are at the same level of popularity as characters like Superman or Spider-Man, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to others. To diminish them based solely on their appearance or that they’re not “serious”enough shows that Goyer really doesn’t understand the complexities of these characters. It’s not just a lack of understanding, it’s like he doesn’t even care. Is this really who we want writing Justice League? Considering how he looks at She-Hulk, I’m afraid on about he’ll treat Wonder Woman.

SOURCE: The Mary Sue