10 Female Superheroes Who Should Get Their Own Film

Because saving the world while simultaneously crushing the patriarchy is a full time job.

Black Widow Scarlett Johansson
Marvel

For years upon tedious years, Hollywood has remained stubbornly unconvinced of the financial viability of female superheroes on the big screen. There just isn't a market for female superheroes to headline their own films. Right?

Maybe not. As we can see from Wonder Women, which currently has a super fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, is winning over critics, and had a $200 million opening weekend worldwide, there is room in the spotlights of the superhero universe for women too.

Some would say that female superhero films are being made, they just aren't being made well, and that's why there aren't more of them. But there are plenty of terrible male superhero films (Daredevil, looking at you) that haven't made Hollywood give up on the genre.

Others would claim that there aren't enough high-profile female superhero characters to warrant their own film, in the eyes of producers who are only looking at their return on investment. But they've been willing to take chances on lesser-known male comic book properties, like Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy. And if there can be three different Spider-Man franchises in fifteen years, there's certainly a little space for female characters who have been languishing in the shadows, forced into the role of sidekick for far too long.

So now that Wonder Woman has flown through the glass ceiling in her invisible jet (sadly not featured in this film), which other female superheroes should follow?

10. She-Hulk

Black Widow Scarlett Johansson
Marvel Comics

There have been so many attempts at making the Hulk work as the star of a standalone superhero movie, and they're all just awful, but they still won't even give She-Hulk a shot to prove herself? In a lot of ways, she's the more interesting character. Let's face it, Bruce Banner/The Hulk is kind of a dead end. Bruce tries to control his emotions, fails to control his emotions, Hulks out, then feels really bad about it later. Rinse and repeat, ad nauseum.

But where the Hulk is ruled by anger and aggression, the She-Hulk is significantly more restrained. A lawyer by the name of Jennifer Walters, she got her Hulk powers after receiving an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin, Bruce Banner. But because she got only a small dose of the Hulkiness (that's the medical term by the way), she was able to retain more of her intelligence and personality after transforming, rather than turning into a big old dumb rage monster. Sounds like a film about her could at least be worth a try.

Contributor
Contributor

Audrey Fox is an ex-film student, which means that she prefers to spend her days in the dark, watching movies and pondering the director's use of diegetic sound. She currently works as an entertainment writer, joyfully rambling about all things film and television related. Add her on Twitter at @audonamission and check out her film blog at 1001moviesandbeyond.com.