You’d assume that since Mark Ruffalo is in Avengers: Age of Ultron, he could just get hooked up with whatever merchandise he wants. But what he’s actually talking about is that there isn’t enough product focused on Black Widow for young female fans in comparison to the massive amount of toys, apparel and other items for sale based on her male teammates.
Here’s what Ruffalo said on Twitter:
.@Marvel we need more #BlackWidow merchandise for my daughters and nieces. Pretty please.
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) April 29, 2015
Seems like a fairly reasonable request, and he even used the magic word.
Yahoo! Movies did its own investigation, and while it was able to turn up some Black Widow merchandise, most of it was part of lines still aimed at boys. That makes the issue here really one of Disney not marketing Age of Ultron to young girls very much, and while it’s odd for the House of Mouse to leave any audience unfulfilled, maybe the company just figures there isn’t much interest among pre-adult females in the whole Avengers phenomenon.
Anecdotally, I can only report on the experiences I’m having with my own 8-year old daughter, who was actually pretty into the Avengers around the time of the first film but seems to have cooled on them as she gets older. Clearly, though, Ruffalo is speaking for more than just himself here, so Disney, Marvel and their licensing partners might want to keep his sentiment in mind when they gear up for Avengers: Infinity War in a few years.
Next: Avengers: Age of Ultron primer: Black Widow
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