"It’s a huge honor. I hope that it’s the first of many. If it serves as nothing else, I hope it inspires more women to get behind the camera and become cinematographers."

Black Panther is Marvel’s latest film, and it’s already breaking records before it debuts in theatres; the excitement for a film that celebrates and centers Black heroes shows this message is clearly something that resonates with audiences, now more than ever. But as the latest trailer highlights, there’s more to Black Panther than just giving us a new hero to fight for justice. One of the many things that sets Black Panther apart from other Marvel films is how its female action heroes able to do so much more than hang on the sidelines.

“We’re starting, and it’s starting with these extraordinary actresses and brave ladies,” he said. “We, as men, have got to be part of it, you know? We started it, so we have to be part of the solution.”

Last year, the three most popular films in the US had female leads, with Star Wars: The Last Jedi at No 1, followed by Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman in third place. And there’s plenty more where they came from. Hollywood is still waking up to its masculinity problem, but 2018 looks as if it could be the year powerful women roar on screen in female-driven sci-fi, action blockbusters and super-sleuth thrillers.

The director of the latest Star Wars movie has said it's time an episode in the series was entrusted to a female and/or non-white film-maker. "Hell yes it's time," said Rian Johnson at a press conference for Star Wars: The Last Jedi in central London. "There are so many incredibly talented female directors, directors of colour out there, and so many that I would love to see play in this universe."

The actress posted an impassioned speech on Instagram after seeing an article in the Daily Mail that said she was 11 years older than her actual age of 44. “While, yes, it can be funny to read untrue things about yourself, I’ve been aware for years (with this newspaper but by no means confined to it) of how the glee in shaming women, often with lies like this, is so much darker and further reaching than enjoying a little schadenfreude,” Beckinsale writes.

This photo is especially telling when you remember that earlier this year, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said he was approached by most of the women from the Marvel Cinematic Universe who asked him when they’d get their own team-up movie. Several people wondered when and where that conversation could have happened—now it seems pretty likely that this is where Feige was approached. And, either way, you have to admit that’s a very intimidating line up.

"There are logistical reasons those costumes are different and somewhat skimpier, and that's because it's set in an earlier time in [Wonder Woman's home island] Themyscira, when it's a slightly more primitive society," Whitaker says. "I think there's been a certain amount of misinformation."

“I am not one to go for traditional female roles, because I don’t think traditionally female characters are very interesting, and I don’t think they represent real life,” said the actress. “I’m working hard to break free of stereotypes that the film industry has created and nurtured around women.”

As a shy, dyslexic college drop-out working for the Chicago Parks & Recreation Department, Burke was the least likely person to become a heroic champion for the disabled but she did. The myriad of obstacles in her path included the famously bigoted head of the Olympics commission who did not want to “dilute the brand” by allowing “retarded” children to masquerade as Olympians.

At the very beginning, because I was a woman, there were a lot of scientists who didn’t want to accept anything that I discovered," Goodall explains. "They said, 'How do we know she’s telling the truth? She’s just a Geographic cover girl. She wouldn’t have been exposed the way she is if she didn’t have good legs. That’s all she is.'