10 Words Popularised By Comics

During the 1990s, Green Lantern comics were in a slump. To jazz things up, DC's writers created a brand new Green Lantern called Kyle Rayner. When readers complained that this emerald-tinted space cop was bland, the creative team did something drastic.

In Green Lantern #54, a supervillain called Major Force killed Kyle's girlfriend, Alex DeWitt, and stuffed her body in a refrigerator. The writer of the issue, Ron Marz, believed this would make Kyle a more popular character since he would be regarded as a tragic figure.

Instead, readers were appalled that a female character was killed off solely to make a male character more interesting. Writer Gail Simone ended up coining the phrase "Women in Refrigerators" - or "fridging" - when referring to a female character in a story who suffers a tragedy to spur a male character into action.

This concept isn't just exclusive to comics. Deadpool 2 was criticised for killing off Wade Wilson's partner in the first ten minutes of the movie.

Since "fridging" has become a more popular colloquialism over the years, comic writers try their best to flesh out female characters to avoid them coming across as props or plot devices.