12 Greatest Ever Comic Book Movie Anti-Heroes

10. Black Widow

Sometimes it's not exactly clear what Marvel Studios thinks Black Widow is supposed to be. Where she should be classed as a leading anti-heroine whose compelling back-story makes her a far stronger stand-alone prospect than Captain Marvel or The Wasp (or indeed a fair few of her male counterparts), she's been variously employed as side-kick, romantic interest and dangerous secret weapon.

What makes her more than all three is the red in her ledger she mentioned in The Avengers, and the origin that was hinted at in Age Of Ultron. She might have had her claws clipped off somewhat by her alignment with Captain America and the curiously uncool version of Hawkeye Joss Whedon has pedalled, but Black Widow is both a fearsome weapon and a ticking time-bomb.

If - and it's a big, big if - Marvel ever pull their fingers out and remember they have an ass-kicking, murderous assassin who will do literally anything to get the job done, we might actually get to see the snarky side of her character blossom as it deserves to. That might go some way to washing away the distasteful image of the domesticated Auntie Nat we've had to accept recently.