Hollywood actresses scoop super-hero roles at Comic-Con, but will they get equal pay?

For decades Hollywood's superheroes were – with the odd exception –  male.

Christopher Reeve was Superman and Adam West was Batman. There was the occasional female superhero, such as Wonder Woman, but they were the exception.

However, over the weekend Marvel signalled a changing of the guard when it announced its latest batch of superhero films at the Comic-Con convention in San Diego.

Several plum parts have been landed by actresses,  reflecting a shift in the balance of power in Hollywood in the #meetoo and Time's Up era.

How much many of the contracts will be worth to the women has yet to be announced, but the studios are under mounting pressure to pay them the same as their male counterparts.

Marvel, in particular, has been seen by many as a male bastion for decades. Its first Hollywood film was Captain America in 1944 and since then its offerings have included Iron man, The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man.

The most graphic example of the cultural shift is the latest Thor film – Thor: Love and Thunder.

Natalie Portman will once again play the part of astrophysicist Dr Jane Porter.

This time around, however, she will also be wielding the hammer because Thor Odison, the traditional hero portrayed by Chris Hemsworth, is deemed unworthy of doing so.

"Feels pretty good. I've always had a little hammer envy," Portman told the delighted crowd when she was handed the hammer by director Taika Watiti.

As the mighty Lady Thor, Ms Portman's case for equal pay is a powerful one, especially given a Forbes study a few years ago which revealed she was the Hollywood's most bankable actor, earning the studio $42.70 (£35.15) for every dollar she was paid.

In the past, she has been an outspoken advocate of equal pay for actresses, for example revealing in an interview with Marie Claire that Ashton Kutcher, her co-star in No Strings Attached, received three times as much as she did.

"Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar."

She is one of several actresses who have spoken out about the disparity in recent years, with the campaign for a fairer deal being spearheaded by Time's Up, an organisation founded in 2017 to tackle sexual harassment and the Hollywood pay gap.

Scarlett Johansson is one actress who has won the equal pay battle. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she will receive $15 million (£12 million) – the same as co-stars Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth – for the Black Widow.

This will be her sixth appearance as the Black Widow and reportedly one of the major scenes will be a spectacular fight with her on-screen sister, portrayed by the British actress Florence Pugh.

Angelina Jolie became the latest Hollywood A-list star to be named as a Marvel super-hero, portraying Thena, in the Eternals. She will, of course, have speed, superstrength and remarkable stamina.

Elizabeth Shue has been named as one of the stars of The Boys, playing a character who was a man in the original comic.

The raft of announcements at Comic-Con will be welcomed by those campaigning for greater diversity in Hollywood and the ditching of the traditional male stereotypes.

But the acid test will be whether studios' commitment to equality extends to pay. Scarlett Johansson's deal will be hailed a setting a benchmark, even if it is some way short of the $40 million Robert Downey Junior reportedly got for the Avengers, Age of Ultron.

Big-name actresses are not giving up and they are now thinking collectively as Reese Witherspoon said in a New York Times interview.

"We're finally hearing each other, and seeing each other, and now locking arms in solidarity with each other."