With the long awaited release of The Avengers movie looming, we take a look at some of the best female marvels in recent years.
Written and directed by Joss Whedon, best known for his cult TV shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Firefly, The Avengers very much mimics the tone of previous Marvel movies, blending a wiseass sense of humour with typical comic-book derring-do.
Scarlett Johansson, 27, who plays catsuit-clad assassin Black Widow in the superhero blockbuster, has revealed that she loved her character because she was always ready for action. She said: 'It's nice to be able to play a female character that's not a damsel in distress or some woman in waiting but to actually play someone who's got a lot of conviction and who is really ready to kick some booty.'
As for strong female characters, we take a look at some of the best in recent history:
Hayden Panettiere as Claire Bennet in Heroes: Before the US drama Heroes turned into a confusing, meandering mess which was cancelled in 2010, it was brilliant TV. In this tale of handsome global citizens who discover they’ve got special abilities, 16-year-old Claire, played by the gorgeous Hayden Panettiere, was a super hot cheerleader with incredible healing powers.
Chloe Moretz asHit Girl in Kick-Ass: Controversial use of the c-word by this 11-year-old superhero in Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 film Kick-Ass, distracted attention slightly from a terrifically complex character. Hit Girl, played by the superb Chloe Moretz, was been raised by her semi-crazed father to be a violent superhero. As a result, Hit Girl is an expert knife-fighter and marksman, creepily cynical and knowing, despite her age. A bold and fascinating creation, Hit Girl is certainly worth a mention.
Sarah Michelle Gella as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: It took writer-director Joss Whedon a couple of goes and a 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to get his creation off the ground before he found success with this karate-kicking wise-cracker in a TV series launched in 1997. The premise was appealing: high-schooler Buffy Summers discovered she was the principal human defence against suburbia-infesting vampires. Buffy fought, slayed and fell in love with hunky vamps. It ran for seven series with Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role, leading the way for the current deluge of films and TV shows about vampire-human relations.
Who do you think the best female marvel is?
