DON’T GET ME wrong — I liked “Iron Man.â€Â

Like other superhero movies from summers past, it was a pleasant diversion from a sometimes mundane reality, a good way to kick off the summer movie season.

But I must admit, those women̢۪s studies classes from several years back made a lasting impression.

On occasion my inner feminist has been known to break free of my chest cavity like that creature from “Alien,â€Â rearing up like a possessed pony.

Especially during the summer movie season.

I guess what bothers me the most is the archaic portrayal of women in movies based on comic books. And granted, I know many of those comics originated in the earlier parts of the 20th century.

Still, it bugs me.

The first time I actually gave it some serious thought was back in 2005; I remember being struck by the similarity between the movie poster for “Batman Beginsâ€Â and those of 1950s B-movies like “The Creature from the Black Lagoon.â€Â

Katie Holmes̢۪s slack body being hauled forward by Batman is basically the same pose struck by the scantily-clad female being carried off by the Creature.

After that, I began noticing that the roles of women in comic book films were mainly that of love interest to the superhero, and that as such, she was destined to be put in peril time and again so that the hero could rescue her, most likely from the villain.

Of course, the damsel-in-distress theme has existed onscreen at least since “The Great Train Robbery,â€Â filmed in 1903.

“Iron Manâ€Â is just the latest of these movies, but with an added twist.

We have the Good Girl-Bad Girl paradox going on.

The good girl is Pepper Potts, Tony Stark̢۪s loyal assistant, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.

She does whatever is asked of her, even to the point of sending Stark̢۪s one-night stand̢۪s clothes to the drycleaners to be freshly pressed when she wakes up in the morning.

This one-night stand is the editor of Vanity Fair, played by Leslie Bibb, with a great amount of wit and vivacity that Pepper sadly lacks.

What does a movie tell its audience when the feisty girl with a mind of her own is the one willing to jump in the sack after only a brief conversation with the movie̢۪s hero, and the obedient Pepper is the one who̢۪s girlfriend material?

This tells me, that as advanced as we are living in these times, Hollywood is still afraid of a strong woman, so it̢۪s best to relegate her to the role of the tramp, good enough to screw but not enough to take seriously.