Welcome to the 21st century, where on one hand we have space travel, near-instant communication across the globe, and AI that can write essays about gladiators (I think, based on context). On the other hand, there exists an astonishing subset of adult human males who loudly complain whenever a TV show or movie gives a sword, a spotlight, or even a gladiator’s loincloth to a woman. Yes women leading stories – how utterly terrifying.

Let’s be clear: The House of Ashur is thriving with critics praising its storytelling and performances. Yet its fan numbers are being dragged down by vote-bombing campaigns from folks who apparently believe that Achilla (a fierce female gladiator protagonist) is too much to handle. That reaction isn’t just silly, it’s fish-slapping-ridiculous. These are people who, given a choice between a well-written lead and…..well, literally nothing else, somehow pick nothing elsejust because they don’t want it to be a woman. Really.

You might remember a certain Captain Marvel movie that suffered a similar fate before it was even in theaters. Hundreds of thousands of online ratings were dumped on the film before anyone had seen it, not because the plot was bad, but because the lead was female and some men (yes, mostly male) just couldn’t abide the idea that a woman could be “the big one” for a change. Review bombing became so bad that Rotten Tomatoes had to change their rating rules to stop it.  

Now, it’s easy to laugh – and we should – because the idea of voting against something simply because a woman is at the center is like refusing to eat soup because the spoon is pink. It’s arbitrary. If the story’s good, the gender of the lead doesn’t matter for most people. Ask yourself: would you care if Indiana Jones were a woman if the script were fire? What about James Bond? Samus Aran? Sarah Connor? The answer for most fans is no – those characters are beloved precisely because they’re compelling, not because they fit some old “male lead only” checklist.

When critics sneer at female leads in genre stories, they often don’t realize how absurd it looks from the outside. Complaining that female heroes “ruin” a franchise is like saying new toppings on pizza ruin Italian cuisine. Spoiler alert: there’s pizza with pineapple and it still exists. And it sells! Some people love it, some hate it, and the world keeps spinning.

Part of the “backlash” is rooted in fandom tradition resisting change – a legacy of decades when the default hero was male, yet media evolves. Women commanding the screen is not a threat to masculinity any more than men playing with dolls was a threat to toy sales. And when the backlash is so loud it drowns out the actual audience? That’s not fandom, it’s performance art disguised as insecurity.

Here’s the real kicker: many stories with female protagonists already succeedwithout complaint. Wonder Woman kicked ass at the box office, Xena ruled the ’90s, and modern audiences adore characters like Buffy, Rey, and Furiosa. They weren’t treated like novelty, they were embraced for what they were: interesting heroes with stories worth telling.  

So to the gentlemen (and keyboard gladiators) who can’t stomach a woman front and center: relax. Pop some popcorn, enjoy the spectacle, and if it’s not your cup of tea, fine. But don’t pretend that a female lead is a threat, it’s just a story, not an invasion force. Unless she actually is an invasion force, in which case….. alright, fair. That would be awesome.

In the end, if a story is good, its hero – male, female, gladiator, intergalactic space slug – deserves to be celebrated. Voting against something because of its protagonist’s gender isn’t just outdated, it’s downright comedic. And frankly, Achilla deserves better.