Cara Delevingne Nailed the Problem With Sexism in Superhero Movies

Cara Delevingne may be starring as the Enchantress in 2016's Suicide Squad movie, but she thinks that otherwise, "superhero movies are totally sexist."

As the model-turned-actress told Empire magazine in their latest print edition (and as Yahoo reported online), female superheroes' looks are often totally inappropriate for their line of work. You'd never see male superheroes designed in the same way.

"Female superheroes are normally naked or in bikinis. No one would be able to fight like that," Delevingne told Empire. "Wonder Woman, how the hell does she fight? She would be dead in a minute."

The Paper Towns star has a point. Look at Superman in comparison to Wonder Woman: one covered in spandex, the other largely exposed, with attention drawn to their breasts. Even Wonder Woman's new look doesn't solve this problem.

But even if she were totally covered, the issues would still exist. Look at Black Widow, the Avengers' resident female badass. If another character were a breakout the way she is, she'd have five solo movies to her name by now. Instead, she's relegated to playing second-fiddle to male characters. The closest thing she has to her own story is a Saturday Night Live parody.

Hopefully Suicide Squad can help change things. The film, which tells the story of a collection of villains that become a team of antiheroes, will feature four female characters: Delevingne's Enchantress, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, Viola Davis' Amanda Waller and Karen Fukuhara's Katana.

In her Empire interview, Delevingne said, to her, the film's female characters "have the best roles." Should she be right, the movie will hopefully bring about a sea change for superhero movies heading forward. Audiences will be able to judge for themselves when Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 5, 2016.