While the Wonder Woman and Black Widow movies remain just a hope in many a superheroine-adoring fan’s heart, the Soska sisters have decided to do it for themselves with an adaptation of Painkiller Jane, a cop turned vigilante with fast-healing powers.
Created in 1995 by Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada for Event Comics, Painkiller Jane already has a made-for-TV movie and a TV show dedicated to her, both on the SyFy Channel. Jane gained the ability to tolerate heaps of pain after being made as an undercover officer and subsequently tortured. In that sense, she’s pretty grounded as far as superheroes go — much more human than not.
Jen and Sylvia Soska are the twin Canadian helmers behind Dead Hooker in a Trunk, See No Evil 2, and American Mary. Their feminist takes on the horror genre and over-the-top body grossness have made them cult figures. There’s no word yet on casting.
Unfortunately, Painkiller Jane looks to join a still-pretty-empty hall of superheroines. Autostraddle noted that Marvel chief Kevin Feige remains unpersuaded of the need for a female-centric superhero movie, commenting, “We’re not going to be swayed by the [feminist] backlash. We’re going to keep bringing the movies out the way we envision it and the way we believe in it — and that includes diversity in all of the active films.”
To which there is only one proper response: What diversity?
Thus, Marvel continues to ignore the fact that women and girls continue to make up 52% of moviegoers and 47% of comic-book readers.
[via THR]
