12 Best Female Movie Characters Of 2016

Tilda Swinton’s casting as the Ancient One in Doctor Strange, traditionally a Tibetan man in the comics, initially didn’t sit well with a lot of fans who accused director Scott Derrickson of whitewashing. Though Marvel defended her casting by stating that ‘the Ancient One’ was a moniker passed from person to person rather than a fixed character, any ethnicity swapping is likely to stir up its fair share of controversy.

But whitewashing debates aside, Swinton was typically brilliant in the role. Bringing her trademark androgyny, she infused the Ancient One with a sense of mysticism, enigma and otherworldliness and the kind of domineering strength that enables her character to transform the arrogant, disbelieving Doctor Strange into a masterful mage.

Though she isn’t Tibetan, the Ancient One’s gender swap is a progressive move for a genre in which female characters are all too often not much more than scantily clad sidekicks. And that beautifully bittersweet monologue she delivers to Doctor Strange on the Astral Plane is bound to go down in comic book movie history as one of its most touching, finely acted scenes.