Marvel Cinematic Universe: 5 superheroines that need Phase 4 movies

If the Marvel Cinematic Universe really wants to include more women in Phase 4, then these superheroines deserve consideration.

While attending the Black Panther premiere, Tessa Thompson seemed to promise that more female characters would arrive in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the in-development Phase 4. Considering that that’s quite a while away, it does mean that the wait will continue for more superhero films led by women.

However, that doesn’t mean that we can’t put together a wishlist of five superb superheroines who deserve to make appearances on the big screen.

We’ve kept it to five for the sake of brevity.

Storm

Hey, if Disney and Fox’s deal goes through, then the weather-controlling, once-played-by-Halle-Berry Ororo Munroe can get her own movie, without the other X-Men to get in her way. (Okay, probably with some of the other X-Men or X-adjacent characters. Even Deadpool has Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead to tie him to the greater scheme of things … sort of.) Regardless, Storm is one of the coolest characters just to look at, and that’s before you get into her powers, personality, or general superheroine ability.

Besides, there was that one time she got married to Black Panther. Not that she needs a romance to carry a movie, but it could become an ongoing plotline throughout multiple MCU movies that actually makes sense, unlike the out-of-nowhere Bruce Banner-Natasha Romanoff connection.

Valkyrie

Tessa Thompson’s constant pushing for more women to play heroes of the MCU deserves a good turn in the form of a movie led by Valkyrie. Her work in Thor: Ragnarok shows that there are plenty of aspects to Valkyrie’s character that could be explored in a film of her own.

Whether we go back to her actual days with the other Valkyries pre-Hela or find our lone survivor post-Ragnarok, we’re down for whatever Thompson wants to do, and whoever she wants to call in to act alongside. (We’d even just take Valkyrie: Ragnarok.)

She’s spoken about working mostly in a team-up type of movie, and we think she’d work well with other characters on this list.

Kamala Khan

Confusion about Captain/Ms. Marvel aside, Kamala Khan is pretty young to be an active superhero — she’s a teenager. A quick look at her comics history shows she’s worked with Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel), the Avengers and Spider-Man, all of whom now exist in the MCU. Presumably, the easiest fit would be with the latter, since Spider-Man: Homecoming seems to have hit the spot when it comes to letting Peter Parker be a teenager as well as a hero. That’s especially true considering that her inspiration for getting into the hero business, the aforementioned Danvers, has her own solo movie set in the ’90s, which could really make the whole timeline tough.

(Then again, would that just make Kamala the in-universe equivalent of a hipster? Maybe she still likes Danvers, even though she’s probably pretty obscure thanks to all of the mostly-male heroes that have shown up in the universe since.)

Regardless, Kamala could add some youthfulness to the MCU alongside Spider-Man.

Kate Bishop

Can we just let Clint Barton go back to his farm in peace for good this time? Or, if you must, let him and Kate Bishop share a screen so they can make jokes about both being Hawkeye. We’d be fine with that too.

Granted, Kate might run into the same problems Clint has about not being interesting when not paired up with other people, because even though explosive arrows are cool, they’re not the kind of thing you can necessarily carry a movie with. However, if Kate picking up where Clint leaves off with the help of other heroes is what we end up getting, then it’s still another heroine taking to the big screen.

(Hopefully, it’s more than that.)

Scarlet Witch

Yes, we’ll take a Scarlet Witch movie even if Vision has to show up, too. She’s had a lot to deal with in very few appearances so far in the MCU: the loss of her brother, civil war between the heroes who helped her understand Ultron was not actually a good being and the aforementioned budding relationship with Vision. Like Storm, she has particularly interesting powers; like Storm, the Disney acquisition of Fox could open her storylines up considerably, since in the comics, she’s typically Magneto’s daughter. (Like most things in the comics, it’s complicated.)

Additionally, Marvel’s come a long way in terms of its special effects for magical powers with films like Doctor Strange. By Phase Four, the time would be even more right, practically speaking, for Wanda Maximoff to go on an adventure of her own and discover what’s really in her bag of tricks, metaphorically speaking.

Honorable mention: the Dora Milaje

Yes, they play a major role in the upcoming Black Panther, and yes, they’re not actually superheroines in the traditional sense, but the women of the Dora Milaje (with additional appearances from Shuri, T’Challa’s sister) could totally anchor a movie all on their own. In fact, it would be a breath of fresh air for a team of non-super-powered characters to hold a film down for the MCU.

Besides, who doesn’t want to see more of Nakia, Okoye and Shuri at the very least?

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Which superheroines should help take the MCU into Phase 4 and beyond?