Ever since the first Iron Man film premiered and kicked off what we now know as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’ve been a die-hard fan of all-things superhero. Call me a nerd if you must, but I have a shameless, passionate love for the wide-spanning world that Marvel has built through these films over the years, and am counting down the minutes until the latest installment End Game premieres later this month (warning to Lorne: if Captain America dies in this film, I’m gonna need a solid 3-5 days off work to recover). That said, as much as I love Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the rest of the gang, I’ve been dying to see some female representation in the MCU, so I was thrilled when Marvel finally delivered with Captain Marvel.
As Vulture notes, after 11 years and 20 previous installments, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s film is the first entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to center on a female hero, a small victory for anyone who believes women deserve an equal place in the industry’s most dominant genre. And Disney, which is counting on Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers to anchor its next phase of Avengers movies, has been happy to lean into its newest hero’s status as a feminist icon, selling the message that the film is not just a cell in an Excel spreadsheet labeled “Q1 2019,” but a boundary-breaking moment for women and girls. From the fight scene set to “I’m Just a Girl” by No Doubt to the sequence of Carol continually rising after falling down throughout her life, I found the movie utterly inspiring and left the theater on a high ready to take down the patriarchy.
Captain Marvel is just the latest strong female character in pop culture, and while she was certainly ground-breaking for the MCU, she’s hardly the first strong woman depicted on film to inspire girls and women everywhere. Here’s a few of my favorite boss women characters who have no shame in their kick ass-take names game.
- Hermione Granger. My love of reading was sparked when I was a kid by the Harry Potter series (shout out to my parents for accompanying me to Barnes & Noble at midnight for every book release). Hermione showed me that knowing the answers to every question didn’t make you a nerd, it made you smart, and being smart was cool. Let’s be real, Harry may have been The Chosen One, but he would’ve died at the hands of Quirrell in book one if it wasn’t for Hermione. She was just as brave and just as strong as all of the male characters in the series, and she was unafraid to stand up for what she believed in and fight for what was right.
- Elle Woods. Elle Woods is underestimated based on her appearance and her interests. Her boyfriend breaks up with her because she’s not “serious” enough and not even her parents think she’s intelligent enough to go to law school. Yes, she likes getting her nails done and is heavily invested in pink clothes and high heels, but she also has a high IQ, integrity and a sense of justice. You can like nail varnish and also be capable of reading an erudite book about the nuances of law. Intelligence and an appreciation of fashion are not mutually exclusive and expressing yourself through traditionally feminine means is not a sign of weakness – not even if it comes in the form of a pink, scented CV. She proves that no one need behave like Morrissey to prove their intellect.
- Shuri from Black Panther. The princess of Wakanda is basically the brains of this insanely high-tech wonderland. Shuri helped create most of the technology that powers the vibranium-rich world ruled by her older brother T’Challa (aka the Black Panther). And she’s no slouch in a fight either, known for her panther-headed gauntlets Shuri kicked butt in “Black Panther.”
- Mulan. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” might be the best song from the Mulan soundtrack, but the film showed that being strong and saving the day didn’t require a woman being made into a man. Mulan refused to sit on the sidelines and went into war solely to save her father’s life, and ended up saving all of China.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer. What makes Buffy so subversive even now, 20 years after the show’s debut, is that it made Buffy herself the subject of traditionally masculine storytelling tropes. Buffy’s love interests get fridged; she holds the weight of the world on her shoulders; she has what would have been manpain if a standard action hero like Batman were experiencing it. And she does it all as a tiny, blonde former cheerleader, as the embodiment of the girl her genre usually kills first.
- Brienne from Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin says of comparisons of Brienne to Joan of Arc: “I did not think it was an accurate portrayal of what a woman warrior was or would be. I created Brienne of Tarth as an answer to that. I was inspired by the queens of Scottish history and Lady Macbeth — strong women who didn’t put on chain-mail bikinis to go forth into battle.”
