In honor of March being women’s history month, here at Marvelous Geeks we are going to take the time to highlight and celebrate some of our favorite ladies in TV and Film. This week, we’re taking a closer look at the ladies from Marvel’s WandaVision.
For six weeks, WandaVision was the largest series discussed all over social media—week by week uncovering the stunning layers behind each of its leading ladies and concluding the series with the hopeful narrative that everything will be okay. Week by week it stirred discourse about too much power and not enough power, too much grief and not enough of grief—too much of this and not enough of that has yet to leave the mouths of people, and well, the only thing there’s been too much of is unfair biases.
The women of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have easily been some of the strongest and most engaging characters, but their stories have often been sidelined by action and catering to the narrative that a male superhero should stand tallest. And fine, whatever—so be it, we adore a lot of the men too, but the TV series between Agent Carter, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and so forth have often focused on the women in a way that’s been most memorable. The same goes for WandaVision perhaps even more so because it’s allowed a great many of us to connect with one another at a time where we’re all likely feeling just as tired and as worn-out as these women are.
Powerful, resilient, sincere, and so utterly vulnerable—the women of WandaVision are representative of the fact that no two of us are the same and yet somehow, we can connect to one another beautifully by openly living out our truths. We can watch women who would’ve otherwise been in more recognizable comic costumes stick to sweats and basic uniforms to remind us of all of the fact that super women are within each of us.
Wanda Maximoff
As the leading lady of this series, we’ve got a lot to say about Wanda (and we will in a Character Deep Dive). But for the sake of this post, in a woman like Wanda we celebrate the open vulnerability in her selfless decision making. In her darkness and pain, Wanda unknowingly created a world that could be happy for her, but when she learns the truth, she puts her happiness, hope, and family aside for the sake of saving Westview.
Wanda is a woman who’s lost her parents and brother—she then lost her partner. She learned to navigate through her unwanted powers only to then be washed over by grief and lose control once again. She learned to be okay only to lose everything again. And that’s part of what’s made her so amazing and entrancing as a character—this growth and remarkable journey she’s been on has told the story of a woman who’s hurting. So much of the beauty in her character is found in the detail that even if you haven’t gone through loss in the way she has, you’ve still likely found yourself aching because of something that broke you. You’ve likely found yourself in a situation where you’ve cried so hard that if you had any sort of power, you’d probably create something like Wanda did, too.
She’s a representation of pain and repression. She’s a representation of the willpower that it takes to let go of something no matter how badly we want to hold onto it. She’s a representation of deep, aching fatigue. She’s a representation of every single woman who says she’s fine when she’s collapsing inside. And she’s a representation of the creativity that’s within all of us—how we take the pain and what we do with. Wanda Maximoff, as she isn’t too much or too little of something. She is enough. In all her pain and darkness, she is enough. As a grieving wife and mother, she is enough. As a daughter and sister, she is enough. As an Avenger trying to figure out her powers, she is enough.
Monica Rambeau
Monica Rambeau’s empathy has been the beacon of hope that has anchored this show so beautifully, there are truly so few words to describe her. Because the reality is, people like Monica exist and so often, they’re neglected—their truth isn’t explored enough or their innate kindness just isn’t appreciated. But Monica is a woman who’s experienced colossal grief and never even got to say goodbye, which is entirely heartbreaking in and of itself, then when she sees her darkness in another woman, she reaches forward. She chooses to believe in the fact that this woman isn’t a villain, but rather a desperate human being (no matter how powerful), who’s fighting to keep happiness intact.
It isn’t easy to lose everything and not to lose yourself in the process—that is something we talk about frequently, but simultaneously not enough. Monica has not only returned to an unknown world after five years, but she returned to a world without her mother. She returned to a world where the people she was supposed to trust are part of the problem and the person she’s trying to help out isn’t hearing her.
And that’s where her strength comes in—the ability to continue looking into people instead of settling on what she’s told. She’s looking into the eyes of a grieving woman and seeing herself. She’s looking into the eyes of a villainous man and fighting for justice. She walks through an energy source that would’ve destroyed anyone else, but instead it fuels her with power. Photon. Comics aside. Anything and everything we know about this aside. If we look at this scene as is, with zero context, it tells us that there is a deep, colossal reason for this woman’s strength. And that strength comes from empathy. It comes from her softness and the decision to believe in people a little more than they believe in themselves. That takes a lot of energy from someone, physically and emotionally, imagine how much is required from a woman who’s lost as much as she has. The push and pull would be maddening and yet, she’s fighting. She’s striving. And it strengthens her beautifully, which is the beginning of her incredible story.
Darcy Lewis
I love Chris Hemsworth as much as the next person—the man is a babe and Thor lives up to his godly title, but Darcy Lewis has always been my favorite part of the Thor films. And to see her finally on our screens again reprising her impeccable role was everything.
She might just be the most hilarious woman in the cinematic universe, but that’s the thing with Darcy—she’s so much more than the comedic, completely relatable relief. She’s a Dr. Darcy Lewis and she clarifies the importance of her title to men refusing to use it because the work she’s done, does, and will do matters. The amount she’s put into her work and establishing a name for herself matters.
Darcy’s unabashed joy in everything she does is so utterly refreshing. Watching a couple on TV while losing your mind? Been there. Done that. Still do it. Catching bad guys while looking good doing it? Haven’t been there, but I can imagine reacting the same way. Darcy listens to people, she cares, and much like Monica, empathy runs deep in her. She chooses to trust her gut and she chooses to trust in the people who prove to be holding onto so much more. She’ll share her chips with you.
We don’t know much about Darcy, but she’s the best scene stealer because her wit is unmatched and her heart is on display beautifully. You trust her. It’s easy to. And you understand why she fights so hard for a woman’s voice to be heard because she’s fought long and heard to ensure hers is. Titles matter. Acknowledging people’s skills matter. And believing in people matters, which Darcy does so damn well.
We love Kathryn Hahn and we adore what she’s done with Agatha, but we wanted to focus this on the three women we related most to, but be sure to check out our Most Noteworthy Performance where we just can’t get enough of the witchy showcase.
We’ve got so many more women we’re celebrating such the Women of Bridgerton, the Women of The Expanse, and Women of The Rookie plus a variety of Incredible Women. Be sure to check back in. Who are your some of your favorites that we might have missed or that you’re hoping we’d discuss? Let us know in the comments below.