4 ways we could see an all-female MCU movie unfold
By Shaun Stacy
MCU stars like Brie Larson, Elizabeth Olsen, Zoe Saldana, and even Robert Downey, Jr. have campaigned for a movie featuring an all-female team of heroes. So what’s the hold up?
It was such a fleeting, but awe-inspiring moment. During the climactic final battle of Avengers: Endgame, there was a five-second scene of all the female heroes coming together on the battlefield. It was a small taste of something much bigger, leaving MCU stars and audiences craving more of the female heroes taking center stage.
For a couple of years now, Brie Larson has been famously spearheading the campaign for a movie to feature all of the female superheroes that have appeared in the MCU over the past 10 years, along with possibly some newer ones. Other stars like Evangeline Lily, Karen Gillan, Tessa Thompson, Elizabeth Olsen, Zoe Saldana, and Pom Klementieff have all voiced their support of the idea to head honcho Kevin Feige. So, what’s taking so long?
For one, despite the commercial and critical success of Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, Hollywood executives still have doubts about whether or not female superheroes can make studios money. The unfortunate legacies of films like Catwoman and Elektra still cast a dark shadow over female-led action movies.
Secondly, a lot of (male) MCU fans want to chalk the idea up to pandering to the feminist or left-wing agendas by forcing the idea of bringing a strong group of women together to save the world — or universe — all by themselves.
However, throughout the history of Marvel Comics, there are been a multitude of instances in which female superheroes come together to form a team with little to no male counterparts. Here are a few examples of how we could see these stories translate to the MCU.
A-Force
The most popular storyline to bring a group of female heroes together was A-Force. The team first appeared in an alternate universe during Marvel’s second Secret Wars crossover event of 2015, but eventually reemerged in primary continuity a short time after.
There was a rotating roster of members, but the predominantly main characters were She-Hulk, Medusa, Dazzler, Nico Minoru, Singularity, and Captain Marvel. With most of these characters having already made a live-action appearance at one time or another, this would be a great way to bring them together as well introduce new characters like Singularity and the female Loki.
While we’d rather have them be in the main MCU continuity, with the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel dealing with multiverses, it’s entirely feasible to have this team featured very soon.
The Fearless Defenders
While the Defenders have already made their Netflix MCU debut, there have been several iterations of the team in the comics over the years, including an all-female version led by Valkyrie and Misty Knight. In the story, Valkyrie is asked to gather a group of female heroes from Earth to become a new team of Valkyries, here referred to as Valkyrior, to defend Asgard from worldly threats.
The team was rounded out by mutant Danielle Moonstar, sorceress Clea, and Warrior Woman (Marvel’s unfortunate play on Wonder Woman). Again, half of these characters have already appeared, with Clea set to debut in the Doctor Strange sequel and Danielle Moonstar appearing in The New Mutants, which has already been filmed but hasn’t been released for going on two years.
Daughters of Liberty
This team of fierce female heroes just recently debuted in Marvel Comics earlier this year. After Captain America is wrongfully convicted of killing someone, Sharon Carter puts together a team of heroes to break Cap out of prison and compile evidence against the real murderer.
The roster includes Misty Knight, Mockingbird, Echo, Invisible Woman, White Tiger, and Spider-Woman (which a definitely a team we can get behind). With Sharon, Misty, and Mockingbird already having made appearances in the MCU, with Invisible Woman coming up, it would be a great way to introduce complex new characters like Echo and Spider-Woman.
While Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America in the MCU, this storyline could easily be transferred to Sam Wilson’s Captain America or another male Avenger.
Supergirl
Ok, hear us out on this. Yes, Supergirl is part of the DC Comics universe, and Marvel and DC are supposed to be mortal enemies. However, the Supergirl television series featured an episode in season three that used the idea of an all-female team brilliantly. In order to find out some critical information on Reign (the season’s big bad), Supergirl has to travel into outer space to a female prison that is located on a planet where the atmosphere is toxic to anyone with a “Y” chromosome.
Supergirl forms a team with the visiting Saturn Girl, along with frenemies Psi and Livewire for the mission. We could easily translate this into the MCU like so: Nebula is having trouble finding her newly returned sister, Gamora, but eventually finds out she is hiding out on a planet with a similar atmosphere as the one referenced in Supergirl. Nebula asks Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Shuri, and Mantis to help her find her sister. Along the way, shenanigans ensue with hostile aliens. Done deal. Marvel, I’ll be waiting on my finder’s fee for that one.
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