DC and Marvel Comics, the two biggest comic publishers in the world, recently announced their new movie line-ups. Perhaps it’s time to remind them that although they tout having strong female characters in their (upcoming) films, they should not use this as a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to their mistreatment of female characters.

In mid-August, Marvel revealed their new Spider-Woman variant cover, to the surprise and confusion of fans everywhere. An industry that had been trying to pick up the pieces from a long history of turning female characters into props and makeshift pinups took two steps backwards by having an erotic artist, Milo Manara, draw the character of Spider-Woman. He placed Spider-Woman in an impossible crouching position while wearing a classic skintight costume and sticking her rear high in the air. Marvel pulled the cover in late September and now refuses to comment.

DC’s recent blunders are equally noteworthy. Late last month, DC licensed a teen girl’s t-shirt with the line “Training to be Batman’s Wife” plastered on the front. Aside from marketing a shirt that implies women know of Batman only in terms of wanting to marry him, they marketed this to teenage girls. The biggest blow has been that someone at DC Comics gave this move the green light.

But what do those who work in the industry think of these incidents? “I think it’s a silly controversy. Lots of things like this have happened before and there wasn’t that much of a response,” said one comic shop employee, who asked that he and his employer remain unnamed.

More importantly, someone at both comic publishers okayed two equally problematic products that placed women in a poor light. So, after bringing back the days of women in pulpy, sexually appealing costumage and telling teenage girls to brag about their future marriage to a classic comic book character, can the industry repair its stance? Some are unsure.

“It’s outrageously inappropriate to advertise things like that in an industry that is clearly geared towards younger consumers. It’s hard to say whether they will be able to repair their reputation simply based on similar incidents they’ve had in the past,” says MBHS student Noa Gurvis.

Though it’s not as if the comics world is devoid of strong, female characters. Captain Marvel, once known as “Ms.” Marvel in her long-standing run at Marvel comics, received a revamp courtesy of writer Kelly Sue DeConnick which removed the overly-sexualized aspects of her character and made her a role model to female readers everywhere. DeConnick herself, arguably, set the bar for the treatment of female writers in the industry. One Irish comics website had referred to her in 2012 only in regards to her fellow comics writer husband, Matt Fraction, leading to an outpouring of fans and creators who would deem themselves “not the wife of Matt Fraction.”

It’s not purely the comic industry’s fault, though. The backlash against strong female characters and anything remotely female is baffling. When Y: The Last Man writer Brian K. Vaughan released a new series, Saga, the first issue was banned in some shops. It depicted a woman breastfeeding and was banned because it was perceived as improper. If we want to go back further to equally strange accusations, when comics were in their heyday in the 1950s, the character of Wonder Woman was accused of promoting lesbianism.

Women make up 47% of comic book readers, according to TIME Magazine. So, doesn’t that mean that they don’t care about their gender being either cast aside or turned into a prop?

“That’s part of the problem,” says Millennium Brooklyn High School teacher Mr. Conway. “Women are consuming media messages that aren’t positive or realistic…so when…these 47% are reading these comic books, reading about women who do not look like them and are…kind of two-dimensional…I think it’s a concern.”

Simply because forty-seven percent of the readership are women doesn’t mean that they are suddenly fine with female characters being given second-hand treatment. Marvel and DC should take notice and be working to write characters that don’t marginalize close to half their readership. They should also become diligent in making sure their female writers aren’t playing second fiddle to a male writer for no basis aside from gender. Most importantly, however, they should be defending female characters that are criticized for, essentially, being women.