Deadpool – 20th Century Fox's highly celebrated, record-breaking R-rated superhero movie – does a good job of looking like it is far less sexist than any of the other entries into the genre. For a start, it has four significant female characters, which is certainly unheard of in the world-dominating Marvel Cinematic Universe. These women are all presented as being capable and self-possessed, too, as opposed to the peripheral one-dimensional props that we’re used to seeing onscreen.

But, as we know, these things are often too good to be true. Generally, when movies appear to be more equal at first glance, it is because the sexism is much more subtle. In many ways, that’s more damaging – because more people are more willing to swallow down the misogyny if it’s tightly...

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