Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic (original) (raw)

Comic writers and artists have often gotten a bad rap for their portrayal of women. If you take a quick shuffle through any comic book, you’ll understand why. They can be perceived a bit — how shall we say? — reductionist. (Translation: Boobs! Boobs everywhere!) The world of comics may be fun but, historically, it hasn’t exactly been considered feminist. However, that’s not to say there aren’t some seriously fierce women in the realm.

True, many female comic-book characters are top-heavy and scantily clad. That shouldn’t negate their often otherwise brilliant stories, though. Marvel, especially, has developed and published some incredible female characters. Black Widow is a killing machine, Squirrel Girl kicks serious butt, and Gamora is legitimately the deadliest woman in the universe. These gals don’t need heroes… they can save themselves.

We rounded up some of the most popular and well-loved female Marvel characters below, as well as a look at the entire female roster.

Popular Marvel Female Characters

1. Black Widow (AKA Natasha Romanoff)

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

If you’ve seen the Avengers movies, you might have the basic idea of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow’s origins. She was born and orphaned as a child in the Soviet Union. And while her family lineage is fuzzy, she might be related to the famed Romanov dynasty. She ended up in the Russian army, followed by the highly secretive and abusive Black Widow program. Black Widow has also seen her fair share of heartache and tragedy. She fell in love with Soviet soldier named Nikolai, but he died in World War II and their baby was stillborn. She’s a skilled assassin, speaks Russian, English, French, German, and Chinese, and has done more than her fair share of shady jobs. As we know, though, she ultimately ended up on the path of good.

2. Captain Marvel (AKA Carol Danvers)

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Looking for a female STEM role model? Captain Marvel is your girl. Before becoming a superhero, Carol was a little girl dreaming of space exploration. She grew up to become an Air Force pilot and eventually worked for NASA.

3. Gamora

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

You remember Gamora from the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers movies, right? She was the very green adopted daughter to Thanos (after he killed her parents). So far in the MCU, she hasn’t gotten a ton of good airtime. However, it’s worth noting that Thanos raised Gamora to be the deadliest woman in the Galaxy.

4. Jessica Jones

Marvel Television/Netflix Streaming Services

What’s not to love about the surly and sarcastic Jessica Jones? You may remember her from the brilliant Netflix series. She has a pretty average comic book existence: Dead parents, run-in with a super serum that gives her special powers… you know the drill. The difference with Jessica Jones really lies in her personality. She’s like a female Wolverine — leather jacket and all. While she spent some time in full superhero mode as Jewel, fighting with the Avengers, that level of optimism just wasn’t her speed. Jessica is a private detective a la Veronica Mars.

5. Scarlet Witch (AKA Wanda Maximoff)

Marvel Studios/Disney Media Distribution

Born in Eastern Europe during a time of conflict, Wanda and her twin brother Pietro were separated from their parents during their early years. Wanda soon learned she’d inherited powerful magic. During their time on the streets, she kept her powers hidden. Like all good hero backstories, though, an evil villain soon found Wanda and Pietro, took them in, and made them part of his group of evil mutants. Ever the individualist, Wanda eventually moved on from the group and found herself as an important member of the Avengers. You’ll get to see more of her story when Disney+ releases WandaVision later this year.

6. Squirrel Girl (AKA Doreen Green)

Squirrel Girl may not be as widely known or wildly popular as Black Window or Storm, but she’s still earned her spot in this list of best Marvel female characters. One cool thing about Squirrel Girl is that she looks pretty average. She’s the Hermione of the superhero world: shrugged off at first but probably a lot smarter and stronger than most of her cohorts. Yes, she has squirrel teeth and an actual tail. But, she still kicks butt and that’s made her pretty popular with Marvel fans.

7. Storm (AKA Ororo Munroe)

Marvel Entertainment/20th Century Fox

Is there a single more popular X-Men than Storm? The gist is simple: She’s the mutant daughter of a Kenyan princess, though both of her parents died early in her life. Why is she called Storm? Girlfriend can manipulate the weather! She’s fantastically powerful and revered, but we think one of the coolest parts of her story is that she saved the life of Prince T’Challa, the Black Panther. The two are tied by more than that, however. Did you know Storm married Black Panther and became queen consort of Wakanda? The two had a son, Azari, and ruled side-by-side until their marriage came to an end in 2012.

Historically speaking, Storm is an imperative member of the X-Men, and was the first female character of African descent in comic books. Die-hard Marvel fans will agree Storm may be the most powerful member of the X-Men, after all, she did beat Cyclopse with no powers once. No wonder storied and talented actresses like Halle Berry and Alexandra Shipp have donned the famous white wig to play this badass woman.

8. The Wasp (AKA Janet Van Dyne and Hope Van Dyne)

Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Here’s the thing about The Wasp: She’s a total BAMF. When her story begins in the comics, Janet is just your average socialite. Then she meets Dr. Henry “Hank” Pym, aka Ant-Man. Together, they become a superhero crime-fighting pair — her impressive powers include a bio-electric shock that manifests as a powerful “sting.” Along the way, she even goes on to name and lead the Avengers. In the Ant-Man and Avengers movies, her daughter Hope (played by Evangeline Lilly) takes over as The Wasp. And, yep, she’s fierce AF too.

Other Marvel Female Characters

To peruse at your leisure, the following list covers a wealth of Marvel female characters from both the comics and the MCU (in alphabetical order).

Abigail Brand
Agatha Harkness
Agent 13 (Sharon Carter)
Agent Carter (Peggy Carter)
Amanda Sefton
Amora
Angel Salvadore
Big Bertha (Ashley Crawford)
Black Cat (Felicia Hardy)
Black Widow (Claire Voyant, Natasha Romanova, Yelena Belova)
Blindfold (Ruth Aldine)
Blink (Clarice Ferguson)
Blonde Phantom (Louise Grant)
Boom-Boom (Tabitha Smith)
Brainstorm (Valeria Richards)
Caiera
Callisto
Camille “Cammi” Benally
Captain Britain (Elizabeth Braddock)
Cerise
Cipher (Alisa Tager)
Clea (Clea Strange)
Cloud 9 (Abigail Boylen)
Commander Medusa (Medusalith Amaquelin)
Copycat (Vanessa Carlysle)
Crystal (Crystalia Amaquelin)
Dagger (Tandy Bowen)
Dakota North
Dallas Riordan
Dark Angel (Shevaun Haldane)
Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna)
Dazzler (Alison Blaire)
Debrii (Deborah Fields)
Dead Girl (Moonbeam)
Death
Deathcry
Diamond Lil (Lillian Crawley)
Diamondback (Rachel Leighton)
Dinah Soar
Domino (Neena Thurman)
Dr. Cecilia Reyes
Dust (Sooraya Qadir)
Echo (Maya Lopez)
Elektra
Elloe Kaifi
Elsa Bloodstone
Elsie-Dee
Elysius
Emma Frost
Energizer (Katherine “Katie” Power)
Enigma (Tara Virango)
Excalibur (Faiza Hussain)
Feral (Maria Callasantos)
Finesse (Jeanne Foucault)
Firebird (Bonita Juarez)
Firestar (Angelica Jones)
Free Spirit (Cathy Webster)
Frenzy (Joanna Cargill)
Gladiatrix (Robin Braxton)
Go-Go Tomago (Leiko Tanaka)
Golden Girl (Elizabeth “Betsy” Ross)
Gorilla Girl (Fahnbullah Eddy)
Gwenpool (Gwendolyn Poole)
Harpy (Elizabeth “Betty” Ross)
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop)
Hepzibah
Hit-Girl
Honey Lemon (Aiko Miyazaki)
Hummingbird (Maria Aracely Penalba)
Husk (Paige Guthrie)
Inertia (Edith Freiberg)
Invisible Woman (Susan Storm)
Jackpot (Alana Jobson, Sara Ehret)
Jarella
Jazinda (Jazinda Kl’rt-Spawn)
Jean Grey
Jennifer Kale
Jocasta (Jocasta Pym)
Jolt (Helen Takahama)
Jubilee (Jubilation Lee)
Karma (Xi’an Coy Manh)
Karolina Dean
Katy
Kismet Deadly
Klara Prast
Lady Mastermind (Regan Wyngarde)
Lady Roma
Lady Sif
X-23 (Laura Kinney)
Layla Miller
Lifeguard (Heather Cameron)
Lightspeed (Julie Power)
Lilith
Lionheart (Kelsey Leigh)
Loa (Alani Ryan)
Lyja
M (Monet St. Croix)
Madame Web (Julia Carpenter)
Magik (Illyana Rasputina)
Magma (Amara Aquilla)
Majestrix Lilandra (Lilandra Neramani)
Mantis
Maria Hill
Marrina (Marrina Smallwood)
Marrow (Sarah)
Martyr (Phyla-Vell)
Mayhem (Brigid O’Reilly)
Meggan
Mercury (Cessily Kincaid)
Mirage (Danielle Moonstar)
Miss America (America Chavez, Madeline Joyce)
Misty Knight (Mercedes Knight)
Mockingbird (Barbara Morse)
Molly Hayes
Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette)
Moondragon (Heather Douglas)
Moonglow (Arcanna Jones)
Moonstone (Karla Sofen)
Motormouth (Harley Davis)
Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan)
Murmur (Arlette Truffaut)
Mystique (Raven Darkholme)
Namora (Aquaria Neptunia)
Namorita
Nebula
Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Ellie Phimister)
Nemesis (Isabel St. Ives, Jane Thorne, Amelia Weatherly)
Nico Minoru
Nightshade (Tilda Johnson)
Nikki (Nicholette Gold)
Nocturne (Talia Wagner)
Nova (Frankie Raye)
Okoye
Omega Sentinel (Karima Shapandar)
Outlaw (Inez Temple)
Oya (Idie Okonkwo)
Penance (Claudette and Nicole St. Croix)
Persuasion (Kara Killgrave)
Pixie (Megan Gwynn)
Poison (Cecilia Cardinale)
Polaris (Lorna Dane)
Power Princess (Zarda Shelton)
Psylocke (Kwannon)
Quake (Daisy Johnson)
Rebecca “Rikki” Barnes
Red Queen (Hope Pym)
Red Sonja
Replica
Rescue (Virginia “Pepper” Potts)
Risque (Gloria Munoz)
Rogue (Anna Marie)
Rubber Maid (Andrea Margulies)
Sabra (Ruth Bat-Seraph)
Sage
Satana
Scarlet Samurai (Mariko Yashida)
Scorpion (Carmilla Black)
Sersi
Shadowcat (Katherine “Kitty” Pryde)
Shamrock (Molly Fitzgerald)
Shanna the She-Devil (Shanna O’Hara)
Shard
Sharon Friedlander
She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters)
Shooting Star (Victoria Star)
Shuri (Aja-Adanna)
Silhouette
Silk (Cindy Moon)
Silverclaw (Maria de Guadalupe Santiago)
Silver Sable (Silver Sablinova)
Siryn (Theresa Cassidy)
Skids (Sally Blevins)
Slingshot (Yo-Yo Rodriguez)
Smasher (Izzy Kane)
Snowbird (Narya)
Songbird (Melissa Gold)
SP//dr (Peni Parker)
Spectrum (Monica Rambeau)
Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon)
Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy, Jessica Drew)
Spiral (Rita Wayword)
Spitfire (Jacqueline Falsworth)
Stacy X (Miranda Leevald)
Starhawk (Aleta Ogord)
Stinger (Cassandra Lang)
Valkyrie (Jane Foster)
White Queen (Emma Frost)
White Tiger (Angela del Toro)
Xialing

Marvel Female Characters Fun Facts

Quicksilver ranked the Phoenix Force as an Extinction-Level Threat. Many consider it the most feared being in the MCU.
One of the few people who can truly understand Wolverine, Laura Kinney (aka X-23) was created from his stolen DNA to be a perfect killing machine.
Despite not being a super-recognizable Marvel character, Squirrel Girl made it into the Lego Marvel Super Heroes video games. You can unlock her in the Dock Yard during free roam by using Wolverine to dig up a switch behind the shack where she’s located.
Black Widow may be a lot older than you imagine. The MCU likes to play coy about how many birthdays Natasha Romanov has celebrated, but they often drop hints that she’s into her thirties or beyond. But as the comics allude, medical treatments and technology help her maintain her youth — to that end, she’s said to be over 70 years old in the comics!
Jean Grey (aka Phoenix) has died roughly 14 times in Marvel’s Earth-616 continuity. Don’t worry, though; the phoenix force means she’s always being resurrected, too.
In Spider-Man: Reign, it’s revealed that Peter Parker’s love, Mary Jane Watson, passed away from cancer. How? She died as a result of exposure to radiation from Peter’s radioactive sperm. Yowza.
You probably recognize Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. But her former codename was binary — a name she received after being exposed to new cosmic-level energy power. She then became Warbird before (finally!) settling into the alter ego of Captain Marvel.
The first female-led film, Captain Marvel, made headlines for another fantastic female-centric reason. Anna Boden, who directed the film alongside Ryan Fleck, was the first female director in the MCU
Spider-Girl is Marvel’s second most successful spider-themed character!
Stacy-X’s original name was actually X-Stacy. Get it? Ecstasy. Using her pheromone powers, she could make people experience pure joy and happiness.

This article was originally published on November 16, 2020