The Power of Girlhood in the MCU

• In Event: Reimagining Politics: The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Politics, and Identity

Abstract

Girlhood in the MCU, portrayed in the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, exceeds the limitations of the ways gender has been presented in previous phases of the MCU. Moon Girl and Ms. Marvel offer complex and multi-dimensional depictions of girlhood that evade some of the limits of “girls in peril” and postfeminism. The range of racially and ethnically diverse creators, energizing pop aesthetics, engagement with larger political issues (such as gentrification, racial profiling and colonialism), and intergenerational relationships between women that are positively portrayed in these shows offers a glimpse of the feminist political possibilities still largely untapped in the MCU, shining a light on girls as audiences and as superheroines.

Author

• Linda Beail, Point Loma Nazarene University