Entertainment

The Incredible Hulk opens today, and according to Trey June (I've lost track), this is the 17th live-action film featuring a Marvel character in the past eight years. Sadly, though, we won't be seeing a superheroine on the big screen this summer, or next for that matter (unless she is part of an ensemble cast), largely because our best known and most popular superheroine, Wonder Woman, who should have at least one feature film by now, is being held captive by the handwringing bunglers at Warner Bros.

Oh well, it's only a matter of time before Marvel gets around to making a She-Hulk movie. Casting ideas anyone?

I couldn't resist sharing this Alias montage—edited beautifully by Clara—with you:



Ah, fond memories! Little reminders of just how brilliant Jennifer Garner was as Sydney Bristow. Jennifer understood what it would take to be widely accepted as a female action star, and set herself purposefully to the task. She built up her statuesque and already athletic (from years of ballet training) frame into a genuinely daunting physical presence—consequently, when Sydney gave some menacing hoodlum a beating it looked routine—and she even did many of her own stunts and fight scenes. Jennifer, in fact, became so convincing that for a time she was the biggest action star on television, male or female, period.

Alias was a high watermark in female action and paved the way for what hopefully will be even more to come. We have Jennifer Garner to thank for much of that.