The Ladies of Marvel

Whitney Frost feels like a revolutionary villain because of her backstory. Why is that? Because it’ mundane and relatable to every woman on the planet. 

There is no Rape as Backstory, my parents are dead, raised to be a trained killer, evil clone, or rich indifference. Whitney Frost is a genius who was told that she couldn’t be what she wanted because she’s a girl. That her brain was worth less than her beauty and that her neutral expression was offensive. How many girls are told, “That’s not for girls.” and “You should smile more.”?

We’ve all been there and we’ve all felt that rage and that exhaustion. And it’s drilled into us by men and even our own mothers(a parallel done well with Peggy’s much weaker backstory). You can’t be yourself because you’re supposed to be a lady. A lady isn’t an individual, it’s a full time job.

And in Whitney’s case, it’s enough to make her want to kill. The show treats it like any villainous backstory, a look into what makes someone so full of rage and hate that they send it back to the world.

Being a girl. Her rage comes from being a girl. And the show does nothing to say that her anger isn’t justified.

Misogyny is her supervillain origin story. And that blows my mind.

Marvel Ladies