The strongest, most Marvel-lous women of the MCU
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has its flaws, there’s no doubt about that, but one thing it excels at are its female characters. The franchise has presented many great women to its audience over the past sixteen years—powerful, interesting, sometimes very flawed women. Each of them are strong in their own unique way. Here’s a ranking of the best of them, but this definitely isn’t a “worst to best” ranking, because all these ladies rule. Rather it’s a “fantastic character” to “even more fantastic character” ranking.
Queen Ramonda
Queen Ramonda is a very strong woman, and hands down one of the most tragic characters in the MCU. Over the course of her story she loses a husband, the lives of herself and her children are threatened, her country is almost lost to her, she loses a child, and finally she dies not even knowing if her one remaining child is safe. “Have I not given everything?” she says before her death, and she’s absolutely right. Angela Bassett did get an Oscar nomination for playing her, though! And frankly, she should have won.
Jane Foster
Jane was introduced in Thor as a love interest for the title character, but she was so much more than that. She was a woman of science with an inquisitive mind and a determined spirit, and she was sorely missed from Thor: Ragnarok. She returned in Thor: Love and Thunder as the female version of Thor himself, and was the best part of that much-maligned movie. Sadly, though, Jane’s journey in the MCU is probably over, as she died at the end of the film. At least we saw a glimpse of a nice afterlife for her.
Mantis
We meet Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2, and she’s a meek alien woman seemingly completely under the thumb of her father Ego. But then her character developed and she grew into a strong, capable, powerful member of the Guardians—and arguably the funniest person in the group. Her double-act with Drax was the center of The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and made it something truly special. Then at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3, she decided to leave the team and go on an adventure to find herself. Wouldn’t that have made a great, and probably very funny, spinoff series?
Scarlet Witch
One of the most controversial, but also one of the most fascinating, characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Is Wanda Maximoff fully responsible for all her villainous actions or was the Darkhold to blame? Either way, it was fascinating seeing Wanda go from new Avenger to a dangerous threat after everything—her brother, her boyfriend, her children—was taken from her. She’s seemingly dead right now but fans have a lot of hope she’ll return one day in a solo movie.
Ms Marvel
Kamala is all of us who grew up wishing to one day be a Avenger. She’s a avid fan of Captain Marvel, but isn’t quite prepared for the reality of getting superpowers herself, and has to balance her family and friends around the threats she has to face. She may not be the most powerful person in the MCU, but she’s an extremely strongly written character. And, of course, she’s also notable for being the first Muslim superhero in the MCU and a great role model for her fellow young Muslim girls.
Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers is a strong woman who doesn’t take crap from anybody, and she’s a savior of the universe. But toxic fandom strikes again! Crybabies threw tantrums over the first MCU solo female heroine and review-bombed Captain Marvel on RottenTomatoes. Yet the film was a financial success, and Carol Danvers will likely continue in the MCU for a long time to come. As she should.
Shuri
Shuri is certainly the most intelligent person in the MCU, showing off her science skills in Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War. But she was also a slightly immature teenager, until Black Panther: Wakanda Forever rolled around. In that film, Shuri had to deal with the tragic deaths of her brother and her mother while protecting her country at the same time. She emerged from the experience a worthy hero and the new Black Panther.
Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff is a great character and it’s SO unfair what happened to her. Yep, this is where the major flaws of the Marvel Cinematic Universe come in. Natasha had a fascinating backstory, that of an ex-assassin who had to fight for her agency, but we didn’t actually see that until her solo movie … which came out after her death in Endgame. And it was unfair that Endgame killed her off at all, because she was such a strong character in that movie. She lives on as a great female character who suffered from not-so-great writing decisions.
Gamora
Gamora very nearly suffered the same fate as Black Widow. She was thrown to her death by Thanos in Infinity War, a moment I HATED, but thanks to time travel she got to live on. She returned in Avengers: Endgame to help defend the universe against Thanos, and then in Guardians of the Galaxy vol 3 she appeared as a more ruthless, driven Gamora who’d taken up space piracy. She never did go back to her pre-death partner, Star-Lord, in the end … but maybe she didn’t need to?
Nebula
Nebula has one of the best redemption arcs in the MCU, arguably the best. She began her journey as the abused daughter of Thanos and sister of Gamora, a dangerous cyborg assassin. But as time went on it was clear she was more than just a killer. She was badly hurting from what Thanos did to her and she was jealous of Gamora, the favored daughter. When the sisters were able to reach an understanding, everything changed for Nebula. She slowly grew into a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and a hero, albeit a sometimes grumpy one. Here’s to hoping we see her again sometime in the future!
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