Women’s by Marvel Studios has changed over the years, both in front of and behind the camera, yet too many of its founding female heroes are murdered off.
What once began as a franchise where there were supposed to be strict regulations about the roles that women were allowed to play (namely, no female stars and no female villains) and where there were no female filmmakers in sight has evolved into one where women are at the forefront of several projects, like Black Widow, WandaVision, and Hawkeye.
Having said that, there is one aspect of Marvel’s portrayal of its female characters that some fans have noticed to be less than favorable. Although there weren’t many of them in the MCU’s early years, those who were there had an influence on viewers, and several rapidly won over fans.
Even though there are now much more female protagonists in the series, many people still hold those from the MCU’s early years in a special place in their hearts. That’s why it’s so disheartening that almost every significant one has already perished, a fact that has now been further confirmed by the recent debut of Secret Invasion.
Who Are The Heroes That Are Being Dropped by Marvel
Since Peggy is revealed to have been extremely old and to have lived a long, happy life, most fans wouldn’t give this any thought. But it’s difficult to leave it off the list given how many other early MCU women have perished since then.
Gamora first made an appearance in the 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy, and even though she can be considered the deuteragonist, she is still a love interest for Peter Quill. Gamora is the only female Guardian in the film, and her stoic, no-nonsense demeanor is consistent with that of the majority of the other MCU female characters up to that point.
Thankfully, Gamora, or at least a version of her, returns in Avengers: Endgame and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; nevertheless, she is not the same character who was killed off in Infinity War, and many Marvel fans are still disappointed by her demise.
The first female superhero in the MCU was Black Widow. She had a difficult upbringing and was taught to be an assassin in the infamous Red Room. After meeting Clint Barton, she finally joined the original six Avengers not long after her debut in Iron Man 2 (2010).
To put it lightly, it is a curious choice to murder off the first female Guardian of the Galaxy and the first female Avenger in consecutive films in the same way.
Wanda’s actions during the Multiverse Saga sparked a lot of debate about how women are portrayed, particularly with relation to mental health, but her alleged demise highlights yet another significant issue the MCU has with its female characters in general.
Since Maria Hill was essentially the “last woman standing” in the early MCU, it makes her passing all the more difficult to accept and demonstrates that, despite the MCU’s numerous advancements in female representation, it still has certain blind spots.