She-man the saviour

Sheetal

It’s International Women’s Day—a day when every man suddenly wakes up to the realisation that their mother, sister, daughter or wife is the real superhero in their life. And if some forget it during the course of the year, here are sheroes—female superheroes, who serve as reminder what women are capable of.

When ChatGPT was asked about top 10 philosophers of the world, it included all male names but internet was quick to question it. Which is why this year’s theme proposed by the United Nations is DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality, emphasising on difference between equality and equity. Hence the #EmbraceEquity .

Positive message

Talking of gender equality and digital medium in the context of our women superheroes, the topmost and recent example is She-Hulk: Attorney At Law. Tatania Maslany as Jennifer Walters is single attorney in her 30s who also becomes the green superhero, She-Hulk. The twerk video of her with Megan, Thee Stallion, went viral for the song WAP (Cardi B and Megan) they danced to, which was hailed by critics and advocates of women empowerment for giving out a sex-positive message..

Phase by phase

Films like Supergirl (1984) and Catwoman (2004) by DC had come way before Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first solo-woman superhero film, Captain Marvel (2019), but it is the latter, which has become more successful in portraying women in cape. MCU has been hyper-active and with phase three, it has successfully established women superhero genre. With phase four that involves series, She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel, both released last year, it has become a phenomenon. Not to forget, both the series were well-received globally. Ms. Marvel starred first Asian superhero of Pakistani descent played by Iman Vellani. Ms. Marvel was a fresh concept in many ways, it’s a brown girl from Jersey City endowed with powers to save the world. The Pakistani song, Pasoori, adapted in the series, also became another viral trend. It also marked Bollywood actor Farhan Akhtar’s Hollywood debut.

Wonder of wonder

Also DC film Wonder Woman in 2017 was widely accepted. Gal Gadot as super-heroine served as the ideal, putting a full-stop to male-dominated superhero world. It was that summer’s highest grossing film and also got a sequel, Wonder Woman 1984, which was released in 2020.

It’s a film which actually talks about empowerment of girls while the titular character fights for what she believes in. Also Patty Jenkins, the director of Wonder Woman, is the first woman to direct a superhero movie.

Jokes amid galactic wars

Captain Marvel remained visible on internet from the time it was released. Our heroine knows how to joke and smile. An action, adventure, and sci-fi movie wherein Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson, discovers that she is one of the universe’s most super powerful heroes as she has to save the Earth caught in a galactic war between two diverse alien races.

Nothing extraordinary

From the Avengers, Black Widow aka Scarlett Johansson got her own franchise in 2021 but it took her more than a decade to do so. Earlier, she played the same character in the multi-starrer superhero franchise, Avengers. She was the last to get a solo deal from other Avengers co-stars. The film was commended for not making Scarlet fight in heels. Also, the film serves as a reminder that you don’t need to be extraordinary to save the world.

Positive turn

Harley Quinn is known as Joker’s lover and not endowed with the goodness that superheros and sheroes might carry. Yet, Margot Robbie as Harley has made into the hearts of the audience just like Joker after she featured in Suicide Squad, where super villains were forced to be the superheroes. Her character got a thumbs-up for a separate film, Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020). It shows a vulnerable woman in a toxic relationship with man like Joker and yet with goodness in heart who teams up with other female superheroes to protect a young girl from a dangerous drug lord. She puts fun in everything which makes her different from others.

(With inputs by Sakshi Sharma)