With the recent development of Marvel’s upcoming movies during San Diego Comic Con, we have managed to have a glimpse of what’s going to happen in the next few years. Besides the amazing action scenes, we too are going to be rooting for Marvel female superheroes that we all loved <3
1. Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch)
She’s probably one of the most powerful character on this list – having the power to manipulate reality and control chaos magic. She was originally a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants where her brother Quicksilver…
…and her were reluctant members of the X-Men. She later joined the Avengers and became a long-term member marrying Vision, going mad, disassembling the team and warping reality so mutants were the majority than humans.
However,
She’s a bit less insane now.
2. Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow)
Natasha start off as a villain before quickly becoming a superhero. She’s also one the Marvels iconic red heads, alongside Mary Jane Watson and the Red Skull and is also one of the few non-superpower-ed characters who can hold their own amongst Gods and Super-Soldiers.
And just because she may seem like a team player, she also puts her spying skills to good use when she’s flying solo. She also has 4 limited series and 4 graphic novels to her name, whilst also becoming the first female ‘super’-hero to make it into the MCU universe. But of course, we’d all love a Black Widow film to highlight her past and how she joined The Avengers.
3. Jennifer Walters (She-Hulk)
Yes. She-Hulk. Jen is a cousin of The Hulk, Bruce Banner, and has gained the same powers as her cousin (on a lesser scale) after a getting a blood transfusion from him when she was critically injured during a mob hit.
Her real-life origins started when Marvel got worried CBS may try to create a spin-off with a female Hulk character from the tv series – which they own the rights to. Oooh. Anyway, I think we can all agree that the character was an overall success; being a fourth-wall-breaking solo hero, a super-lawyer for super-humans, and a member of literally every team you can think of that isn’t called Guardians of the Galaxy. I’d say she should be the top on any superheroine list, DC or Marvel.
4. Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel/ Ms. Marvel/ Binary/ Warbird)
One of the strongest female characters in the Marvel universe is Carol Danvers. However, she started out more or less like a C-grade character who had the potential to rival DC’s Wonder Woman. Even though she could hold her own comic for a long time and had the powers to take on the Avengers, Marvel never really got behind her. She’s had a tonne of name changes and bad storylines, with her title being cancelled after only 2 years (despite it being very progressive in that era). 2012 was the moment her story changed.
She took up the mantel of Captain Marvel, becoming a leading figure in the Avengers and an important figure in the Marvel universe. Also, she is now the first Marvel superheroine to get her own solo film in the MCU.
5. Jean Grey (Phoenix)
Jean Grey is one of the most well-recognised character worldwide due to the success of the X-Men films. She’s the original X-Woman and the first of only 9 Omega Level Mutants identified – the most powerful mutants in the Marvel Universe. Jean is also important for a number of reasons, being the main focal point in many storylines. Like Carol Danvers, Jean started out as the weak link of the team, but as time went on, her abilities grew.
She’s also one of the few characters in the universe who can control and contain the Force of Rebirth, which gives her powers that is really only matched by the reality warping powers of Scarlet Witch. Plus, her romance with Cyclops is still one of the best romances in the Marvel Universe, and no amount of Wolverine can ever change that.
6. Ororo Munroe (Storm)
There are many powerful superheroine in the Marvel Universe, but only one can actually claim to be worshipped as a Goddess. Storm started out a homeless orphan to becoming the leader of the X-Men, standing out from many other strong characters. She was also one of the first black superheroes in Marvel history and the first black female superhero ever – actually the first black female character of any significance in the entire comic industry.
She’s more known to be a member of the X-Men but she was also a member of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, even rocking a punk look for a time. Plus, she was also the Queen of Wakanda and has had the most consistently strong characterisation in the Marvel Universe – rarely playing a damsel in distress, for comedy or even left out of an X-Men story.
7. Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp)
Being one of the founding members of the Avengers alongside her hubby Ant-Man, Janet gained her powers after the death of her father, in an effort to avenge his murder. The experiment she went through gave her the ability to shrink to miniscule size and grow wings. And if those powers don’t seem that impressive, her tenaciousness definitely made up for it with her leading the Avengers for many years – very successfully – even recruiting other strong female superheroes to the team like She-Hulk and Captain Marvel.
8. Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman)
So this is where it gets confusing. Jessica Drew was originally a spider that mutated into a human by a scientist, but was actually a human who had memories being a super – implanted into her brain courtesy of HYDRA (for some reason), but then was actually a human who was born to a woman suffering from uranium exposure and was injected with a serum based on irradiated spider blood and place in a genetic accelerator to cure her… but was actually a human who was born with spider-powers after her mother was hit with a laser containing the DNA traits of many different spiders whilst she was pregnant.
Parker was honestly lucky to just get bitten by a radioactive spider if you ask me. However, despite her ridiculous origin(s), she has managed to become a mainstay of the Marvel Universe, being on multiple Avenger teams and mentored many other spider-powered superheroes including Spider-Gwen and Mattie Franklin.
9. Jessica Jones
This has to be my ultimate favourite Marvel superhero of all time. And thanks to the recent Netflix adaptation, she has been on everyone’s minds. She’s also a great superhero without a superhero name – her time as Jewel ended traumatically, so let’s not get into that. Jessica is a private detective with a chip on her shoulder and is much of an antihero – which I personally love. She made her first appearance in 2001, being one of the more recent superheroes in Marvel, hence why her characters reflects more modern sensibilities. She’s also pretty much effed up emotionally and mentally, and an alcoholic – sounds like me – who is trying her best to overcome a painful past.
Being conflicted, sharp and occasionally unpleasant made more people empathise with her, as no one’s really a ‘perfect superhero’ in their daily lives. Jessica is basically most of us without the super-strength or the ability to fly/leap, and represents many who have suffered abuse, addiction and depression.
10. Gamora
I know that if I don’t put Gamora in here, that I will be stoned by many Marvel fans. So let’s jump into it! This green-skinned alien is the last of her species, being adopted as a child and raised as the supervillain Thanos. She grew up a deadly assassin and ends up joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, as we saw in the film adaptation, played by the captivating Zoe Saldana.
She has also seen many sh*t in her life; the death of all her people, an attack and rape as a young girl, and a prickly relationship with her adoptive father. She isn’t defined by her ordeals and instead pushes on, finding herself to be a proactive and protective force in the universe.
BONUS:
Doreen Green (Squirrel Girl)
Because this badass can communicate with squirrels as well as have some epic squirrel attributes. It’s absolutely bonkers but she has won the affection of her audiences with her more ‘happier’ story along with her her quirkiness and charm, making her a breath of fresh air to the universe. She’s never actually made it into the Avengers, but she was a member of the comedic Great Lake Avengers, later serving as a nanny to Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Recently, she had her own comic title; The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, which follows her college life and battling foes, defeating them with overwhelming hordes of squirrels.
Squirrel Girl is proof that a story doesn’t have to be dark, serious and gritty, to be good. Sometimes, being fun is enough.
