For three full phases of Marvel and a few DC offerings, we have been treated to a hearty handful of Girl Power.
From Cate Blanchett’s strangely sexy portrayal of Hela in Thor: Rangarok to Margot Robbie’s obvious one of Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and the upcoming–deep breath—Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), we have been treated to some instinctive, dazzling actresses who have been women that commanded the screen and nearly owned their respective movies.
We already know a woman can lead a franchise in Wonder Woman. (Sorry Captain Marvel. DC and WB got you there.)
The nerd community has proven to be fully committed to a female who can pose a serious threat to super machismo of male heroes (e.g., Psylocke, Catwoman, Dark Phoenix, Mystique). You know? All that “Fight Like a Girl” bravado.
Conversely, there have been a few failed to meh females in comic book movies of the past (e.g., Catwoman, Mystique, Poison Ivy). Thankfully, we are soon getting a recent batch of leading women as complete or anti-baddies in Cheetah (Wonder Woman 1984), Black Canary and Huntress (the aforementioned Birds of Prey), and the newly reported Granny Goodness and the Female Furies (New Gods)
So, how about this Marvel and DC Comics: More female super villains should be in comic book movies. Period.
Why? Rudyard Kipling wrote “The female is more deadly than the male.” Let’s see that happen on the Silver Screen.
There are lady super villains that are notoriously vile, scary, powerful, and overall badassess according to canon. They have dominated men and ruled vast empires. And Hollywood is full of women who could engulf themselves in a role certain to make more than an impression, but cinematic history.
Let’s review the top 10 who should be on the big screen, regardless of publisher, and some fancasted imagination of who could play them.
10. Silver Banshee (DC)
Siobhan McDougal has a unique power in that as alluring as she is, it’s not her touch that proves to overpower people, including Superman. Much like Black Canary, it’s her voice. She’s a malevolent siren who was transformed into the Silver Banshee by a surreptitious Gaelic group called the Crone.
Her quest is to find an occultic book as payment for this noir persona, which brings her to Metropolis. Any woman who can bring it against the last son of Krypton must get some screen time. She’s evil, seductive, and scary. What’s not to like.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrices:
- WriteOnGeek: Serinda Swan
- CineFile: Margot Robbie or Rachel Weisz
- WonderMeg: Taissa Farmiga
- Ezohile: Saorise Ronan
9. Star Sapphire (DC)
Are you still anxiously anticipating the Green Lantern Corps bandied about for the past three years? Do you want more Girl Power in CBMs? Then, Star Sapphire is your girl. Period. She can do anything the emerald troupe of testosterone can do, and then some.
She is part of an immortal race of women known as the Zamarons. There have been a couple on this mortal coil selected as hosts (i.e., Carol Ferris, Dela Pharon, Deborah Darnell, Jillian Pearlman), much like we have with the fellas (i.e., Hal Jordan, John Stewart), so you can see how if Star Sapphire is introduced, we could have a great time on another CBM. So, uh, DC? Get to work.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrices:
- WriteOnGeek: Eva Green
- CineFile: Lizzy Caplan or Kim Director
- WonderMeg: Nina Dobrev
- Ezohile: Olivia Wilde
8. Morgan Le Fay (Marvel)
Yes, we know. Morgan Le Fay was played by Elizabeth Hurley in Runaways: Season 3. Anyone remember that depiction? Anyone care? No? Moving on. This is a supervillain who takes her roots and inspiration from the medieval days of King Arthur. (Think Merlin, with one hell of an attitude.)
Think about all this and why we need her on film now: She is part elf (Lord of the Rings fans, it’s okay to like CBMs). She is immortal. She is a master of the mystic arts. She wants to take over the world. She was a major foe against Spider Woman. And, Dr. Doom and her hooked up on more than one occasion. Do I really need to say more? We need her in our nerd lives pronto.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Lena Headey
- CineFile: Lena Headey
- WonderMeg: Eva Green
- Ezohile: Eva Green
7. Emma Frost (Marvel)
Unlike Elizabeth Hurley, many of you should recall Emma Frost‘s inaugural portrayal in a CBM in X-Men: First Class played by January Jones. While she did nice a respectable job, Emma is a chilling character (sorry…it just fit). She needs to be a less “I love puppies and water balloons” kind of gal.
The “White Queen” has gone through an evolution — supervillain to foe of the X-Men. The actress who portrays her needs to have the confidence to pull that transformation off. Someone who is dynamic in her skill set and can be convincing on both sides of the fight.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Katheryn Winnick
- CineFile: Amanda Seyfried
- WonderMeg: Natalie Dormer
- Ezohile: Rosamund Pike
6. Circe (DC)
Who is Circe? The supreme goddess of magic who could smoke Wonder Woman and not even blink. It’s a shame that Wonder Woman’s main antagonists are Ares and Cheetas, because Circe could do a “Samatha from Bewitched” wiggle of her noses are turn those two into Ass and a bag of Cheetos. She’s that powerful.
Someone with that much control of super sardonic powers must be on screen to give these superheroes a fight that counts and could last a couple of movies (e.g., that Thanos guy). She’s seducing also to keep the fellas unarmed, then, she reaches in for the kill. An actress like this must have that in her toolbox. Circe sure does.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Gemma Arterton
- CineFile: Alexandra Breckenridge
- WonderMeg: Lena Headey or Carice Van Houten
- Ezohile: Jessica Chastain
5. Enchantress (Marvel)
You saw Enchantress deal with the Suicide Squad. Yeah, same woman, similar powers, different franchise. This “Enchantress” (known as Amora…so seduction is key with the etymology of that word) is known as one of the main wielders of powers in Asgard. Her renowned charm leads to mind control. And once she has that control, she will begin to weave a web an Asgardian (or anyone for that matter) can escape.
Her goal is the pursuit of power and pleasure, using sorcery and sexuality as her tools. An actress of this mindset needs to be convincing, cunning, and have a healthy dollop of crazy in her quiver. This is a menacing woman of mischief. Think Loki’s main turn-on and someone Hela may admire.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Alice Eve
- CineFile: Amber Heard or Charlize Theron
- WonderMeg: Lily James
- Ezohile: Charlize Theron
4. Black Cat (Marvel)
As we have seen through the years, there are countless similarities in characters between both Marvel and DC. In fact, flat-out thefts of character names, backstories, and skills. Black Cat is to Spider-Man as Catwoman is to Batman. Now that we have that out of the way. What do you like in your Catwoman? Odds are Black Cat will dress that up and look–and act–just as good.
Felicia Hardy is a diabolical tease. One moment, she’s Spider-Man’s love interest. The next, she’s only interested in slicing his jugular. She is a expert thief, but unlike her counterpart in DC, her knack is faking her own death. She can fool anyone in that, so we need an actress who can do a lot of dying and get up to live again. Who will that be? Whoever it is, now that Spider-Man is in the MCU, Felicia needs to get her tail there too.
P.S. Black Cat is already in PS4’s Spider-Man DLC, so Marvel is thinking it.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Alexandra Daddario
- WonderMeg: Nicole Peltz
- Ezohile: Olivia Holt
3. Lady Deathstrike (Marvel)
Here’s another that has been portrayed in the earlier X-Men works–Kelly Hu played Stryker’s right-hand in X2. Anyone? Yeah, that’s unfortunate because that’s some good casting for this blade-wielding death threat. Lady Deathstrike’s name is Yuriko Oyama, and she is one bad girl.
For example, she is on a personal mission to kill Wolverine, so good luck with that. After some private “tutoring” and tweaking to give her some mutant powers, Oyama possesses superhuman strength and Adamantium claws to rival Wolverine’s own. And, she has her own private cyborg army. We need a veritable assassin in this role, and with X-Men in the MCU, we need that now
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Ayelet Zurer
- WonderMeg: Celina Jade
- Ezohile: Rila Fukushima
2. Lady Shiva (DC)
And speaking of bad girls and complete assassins, we have Lady Shiva (aka. Sandra Wu-San). Man or woman, she is one of the most fierce creatures DC has — and she seems real, which is fitting since she is clocking Batman everywhere he turns. Much like Elektra, this assassin for hire (or Colleen Wing aka. Iron Fist White), Shiva’s training comes from a clandestine martial arts community, Ra’s Al Ghul’s League of Assassins. You know she can hold her own.
This is a presence DC sorely needs. Right now, anyone with hand-to-hand skills have special powers. She is just a regular badass trained from the ground-up. That’s Girl Power if ever there was someone to personify that. This is a presence we want, DC needs, and Warner Bros. needs to cast immediately.
Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Maggie Cheung
- WonderMeg: Gemma Chan
- Ezohile: Lucy Liu
1. Grail (DC)
Speaking of Wonder Woman’s archnemeses and violent vixens of DC, Grail is the worst (or best, however you choose to look at her). She needs to be on the screen now. She can’t be beat and no way the powerful boys in DC can do anything about her plague of bloodshed. You know that movie New Gods? Yeah, she is one! (Someone say “sequel”?)
Her daddy is Darkseid, after he hooked up with an Amazon. That’s Zeus gangster stuff right there. And she has the strength, cruel nature, and weapons to back it all up. She has her daddy’s eyes. Sweet, right? No, not baby blues — those Omega Beams. All energy that can be shot anywhere (eyes or hands). She can erase living organisms from any planet she’s on. So, uh, Justice League, don’t get this girl mad.
Man, we need her on a screen…Ava could make that happen. Fancast Fantasies from the Matrix:
- WriteOnGeek: Kate Beckinsale
- CineFile: Naomi Scott
- WonderMeg: Charlize Theron
- Ezohile: Eiza Gonzalez
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