Warning: This article contains spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel has been praised for a long of things over the years, but one criticism that’s traditionally been levelled against the MCU is its lack of leading female characters. The studio has clearly been endeavoring to fix that failure lately, though, as the projects released as part of Phase Four so far have seen a major upswing in the number of fully realized heroines, anti-heroines and female villains.
And following the increased role for Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, not to mention the introduction of America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), fans are celebrating the many women of Marvel’s Phase Four on social media. User @JamieCinematics got things started by highlighting nine MCU women, eight of whom have debuted over the past year.
“Phase Four women hit different,” reads the tweet, accompanied by an image showcasing Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), Xialing (Meng’er Zhang), Yelena (Florence Pugh), Makkari (Lauren Ridloff), Wanda Maximoff, Thena (Angelina Jolie), Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), Layla El-Faouly (May Calamawy), and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino).
And the tweet is still missing out a couple of key players. Like Hawkeye‘s Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), who’s set to lead her own spinoff series, Echo, soon.
And then there’s Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau aka Photon, due to return in next year’s The Marvels.
That’s not even mentioning Jane Foster’s (Natalie Portman) upcoming upgrade to the Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder and Tatiana Maslany’s Jennifer Walters, arriving in Disney Plus’ She-Hulk TV show.
Others aren’t so full of praise, however, as they feel that Marvel still has some way to go in delivering truly female-centric stories.
Spoilers for Doctor Strange 2 to follow!
While some may agree with that assessment, Marvel is obviously aiming to improve all the time. Case in point: the casting of Charlize Theron as Clea, as introduced in Doctor Strange 2‘s post-credits scene.
Yet again, this trending Twitter thread proves that fans want less male-dominated entries in the MCU and a greater focus on its women. Would it kill you to commission an A-Force movie already, Kevin Feige?