Question

[trinityvixen]

I was thinking about my earlier post (in which I objectified at least two men and hinted at a history of doing so to many, many others) and the oncoming onslaught of superhero movies (our taste for which is surprisingly still rapacious). Marvel has no less than a dozen movies already assumed: Iron Man 2 and, very probably, 3; Thor (with Thor 2 less likely but not impossible); Captain America (its sequel potential somewhere between that of Iron Man 3 and Thor 2); The Avengers; Wolverine 2; Deadpool; and some variety of X-Men-related films--the long idle Magneto movie and the more active X-Men: First Class.

DC has, to its credit, tried to step up production of the next Christopher Nolan Batman film and is making noise about another Superman film (though they won't film anything until the lawsuits are settled, I'm sure). And, while they do that, Green Lantern is already filming. (Seriously, someone took a shitty quality photo of Ryan Reynolds on set with what looked like a smudge on one of his fingers and the Lantern fans exploded with paroxysms of glee that he was wearing the ring.) The Flash may be getting another script treatment. Don't ask about Wonder Woman, though.

But, no, wait, let's ask about Wonder Woman for a second. Or, rather, since I don't want to hear the bullshit about how they can't figure out how to make Wonder Woman interesting enough to justify a movie, let's focus on what really bugged me as I looked at the Marvel line-up. Forget DC for a moment. I need comics fans to answer (riddle) me this: Who is Marvel's Wonder Woman?

I'm not trying to pick at wounds here, though it is a sore subject for me, personally. I really just could not think of any grand dame of the Marvel universe who stands on the sort of equal footing with her male colleagues that Wonder Woman does in the DC universe. The best I could come up with were the obviously-derivative-versions-of-male-characters, sometimes-members of the Avengers, like Spider-Woman or She-Hulk. Thinking about female Marvel characters, I immediately thought of X-Men, but they're hardly any of them anything like Wonder Woman. You can think of the iconic Marvel characters without ever touching on any X-Man or X-Woman. So the X-Women cannot be said to be iconic enough to Wonder Woman, for all that they are, by far, the most interesting women in the Marvel universe.

So, comics nerds better versed than I: am I wrong? Is there an iconic Marvel character who is on par with DC's Wonder Woman and I'm just not thinking of her?

Comments

[chuckro.livejournal.com]

There isn't.

When they ran DC vs. Marvel, they paired her up against Storm. (Superman vs. Hulk, Batman vs. Captain America, Spider-Man vs. Superboy, Wolverine vs. Lobo) When the best they have is an oft-marginalized team-book member, they've got nothing.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I feel the need to point out that Wonder Woman was created to fulfill male bondage fantasy. So I think it's on shaky feminist grounds from the get-go.

[gryphonrose.livejournal.com]

That *is* a good question.

Storm would have been my first answer too, barring your caveat. And Jean Grey is up there as well.

Sue Storm Richards is certainly not on Wonder Woman's level power-wise, but I'd argue that in terms of familiarity and authority she may be--she is the First Lady of Marvel's First Family of superheroes, after all. Everyone knows, respects, and likes Sue--and if that one storyline where she went evil is any indication, she's actually pretty bad-ass when she sets aside all those annoying little moral compunctions of hers.

Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlet Witch) is another strong female, and was never an X-Man though she is a mutant. The Wasp is another who's widely known and respected.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

I don't recognize most of the names or faces on the Marvel Women Wikipedia Page, so I guess not. If you have to think about it at all, then it's already evident there's no one of the same standing as Wonder Woman.

[arcane-the-sage.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly I have an easier time thinking up female superheros in the Marvel Setting than I do in DC. Seriously, Wonder Woman is the first and only DC hero to come to mind at first thought (with Starfire, Raven, Black Canary, Batgirl, and Zatanna coming in with more effort). But Marvel I think of Jean Gray, Storm, Susan Richards, She-Hulk, the Scarlet Witch, Marvel Girl, more recently Emma Frost all at first thought with a whole lot more coming in at second thought. While I admit a bit of bias towards marvel here, the marvel characters as a whole seem better thought out than the DC ones outside the "saving people" story arcs.

[4thofeleven.livejournal.com]

Does Marvel really have iconic heroes on that level in the first place, though? Who's the Marvel Superman or Batman? (Spider-Man and Wolverine, I guess... neither of which have anywhere near the iconic pop-culture status of the DC characters)