I started watching Marvel movies when I was twelve years old. At that point in my life I was dying for female representation in superhero films, I wanted to see myself on screen, and slowly with time, the female characters came. Now that the female characters of the Marvel universe have become more plentiful, I wanted to pick out my top five Marvel women and explain their significance.
5. Shuri
Shuri is an iconic female icon in the Marvel Universe. She got her fan base from her appearance in "Black Panther", where she was equally hilarious, intelligent, and badass, making fans all over the world fall in love with her. Shuri is a special character, who does a lot of background work while making amazing jokes about bad shoe choices or the fragility of a white man. This all made the character loved by all fans, and her fan base will only continue to grow.
4. Valkyrie
Valkyrie made her first appearance in "Thor: Ragnarok", quickly becoming a fan favorite of many fans. The character has a comedic and sarcastic attitude, paired with a fantastic ability to beat any competitor in front of her, making fans' jaws drop in awe of her. Valkyrie is also known as the first LGBTQIA+ superhero in the marvel universe and is dubbed a bisexual icon. Valkyrie’s fan base will only continue to grow with the new series "Thor: Love and Thunder" coming soon.
3. Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff
Scarlet Witch first entered the Marvel universe in clips at the end of a film of a young girl being experimented on and has only grown her fan base from there. Fans fell in love with her individuality and caring personality and got attached to the character. Each of Scarlet Witch's appearances whether it be in her series or films got a LOT of attention. People truly gained a great amount of admiration for the character, quickly buying her costumes and posting tik toks to her show's theme songs.
2. Yelena Belova
Yelena Belova is a brand new character with her first appearance in the brand new film “Black Widow.” Though the character is brand new, she has already become loved and adored by fans. Yelena has a loving and sarcastic personality, matched with her fantastic badass energy, and strong attitude makes a character that is loved by fans. I, like many other fans, initially fell in love with Yelena and wanted to be just like her. Yelena has a similar effect on fans to her counterpart in Black Widow, in that she has fans doing anything to look like her. The empowering yet nonchalant nature of the character was perfect, and I have absolutely no doubt her fan base will continue to grow.
1. Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff
Black Widow was one of the first females to enter the Marvel universe in Iron Man 2. Since that point, she joined the Avengers and has become one of the most beloved superheroes by women all around the world. She appears in the series as a strong-minded assassin, easily matching with her male counterparts. Throughout the series; the character gets her share of judgment, but lets it roll off her shoulders and proves the haters wrong. Black Widow recently got her feature film in “Black Widow” where you see the background of the badass assassin that is Natasha Romanoff. Her story is particularly empowering and captures the eyes and admiration of many young women. The new Black Widow film has even had a Katniss-like effect with fans dressing, doing their hair, and buying jewelry just to look like the character.