GOING ON A TANGENT It’s hard to avoid misogyny when researching comic book Bettys Only Betty Banner ended up on the list of Women in Refrigerators, but the search for character pictures took Madeline down a rabbit hole of all the ways comic fans can exemplify sexism and racism.
How many Bettys could Jennifer Connelly have played? Jenny, not Betty, in The Rocketeer (1991) Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001) Betty Banner in Hulk (2003)
31
Reading Connelly is married to Bettany, he suddenly seemed way too old to be playing house with Elizabeth Olsen. He can keep getting cast forever but will 31 prove to be a cut off for actresses?
WHY ʻJENNY’? The Rocketeer is an adventure story set in pulp fiction-styled 1930s about a down-on-hisluck pilot named Cliff Secord who finds a mysterious rocket pack. Dave Stevens, the creator, said, “All my vague cartoon ambitions suddenly fused into one crystal clear goal: to draw dramatic, emotionally-charged, energized scenes of power, grandeur, and intensity.” As a longtime admirer of Bettie Page, he made her Cliff’s girlfriend. Disney, however, could not have Bettie Page in the movie version. Instead, Cliff’s girlfriend would not evoke fetish imagery.
Betty, Ned, and MJ in Spider-Man: Far From Home, the treatment excited fans give Ned and Betty, and Betty Brant’s What If treatment as Spider-Woman
BACK ON TOP Bettie Page slipped into obscurity as a born again Christian after a decade as a successful pin-up model in the ’50s. Renewed interest in her with the popularity of The Rocketeer brought her out of hiding in the ’80s. She was practically penniless, so, when Dave Stevens befriended her, he helped her reclaim her wealth through financial compensation for her from the use of her likeness.
18
Art Department Weekly • March 23, 2021
CALL IT ENTHUSIASM? Four years ago, after it was announced Angourie Rice, a blonde, would be in Spider-Man: Homecoming, fans assumed she would be Gwen Stacy. (Her costume includes a black headband like Gwen.) Articles still use her photo, not Zendaya’s, when running down who Peter has dated onscreen. There are theories that she could still become Spider-Gwen, ignoring the history that Betty Brant was once Spider-Girl. All of this adds up to the rule that female characters are only here for the pleasure of heros and white cisgender male audience members. I mean, even Aunt May is sexy now.
