Female Marvel superheroes who deserve their own ABC shows: She-Hulk, Valkyrie and more – CNET

With a new live-action series focused on Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) called WandaVision headed to the new Disney Plus streaming service. And now it looks like ABC might be eyeing a Marvel female superhero series for its own network.

“I have spoken to Marvel and we are in active talks about one project in particular,” ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke told Deadline on Monday. Burke said the character would be “something brand new, mostly” to align with ABC’s strategy of focusing on female superheroes.

While ABC is still deciding how many other Marvel characters to focus on, we have our own list of female superheroes we think deserve their own TV series.

1. She-Hulk 

When lawyer Jennifer Walters gets an emergency blood transfusion from her cousin Dr. Bruce Banner, she ends up getting a milder case of his Hulk condition. Unlike Hulk, Walters can keep her emotions in check when she transforms into She-Hulk. 

The lawyer-by-day, vigilante-by-night angle worked well for the Marvel character Daredevil in the hit Netflix series, so why not She-Hulk? 

Perhaps ABC can relaunch She-Hulk as a Law & Order-type drama, or maybe even an Ally McBeal comedy. In the comics, She-Hulk was also a member of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, the Defenders and S.H.I.E.L.D., so the crossover potential is endless. 

2. Black Widow

Natalia “Natasha” Romanova/Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson in the MCU) was a Russian spy and adversary to Iron Man. She ultimately defected to the US and joined S.H.I.E.L.D. Later, she became an important member of the Avengers. Black Widow is already getting her own prequel movie where we see how she transformed from spy to superhero, but what about an ABC series with Black Widow as a teenager? High school Natasha Romanova could be like Riverdale with a lot more fighting.

3. The Dora Milaje

The warrior women of Wakanda from Black Panther are fierce and fabulous, so why not give them their own women-centric spin-off series? Black Panther director Ryan Coogler recently commented that he’d be interested in making a spin-off movie about them. Even the real-world 19th-century Dahomey Warriors — the all-female military regiment who inspired the Dora Milaje — are getting a TV series. It would be interesting to see how the Dora Milaje came to be, before Wakanda was revealed to the outside world. 

4. X-23

Laura Kinney AKA X-23 was created to be the ideal killing machine thanks to Wolverine’s stolen DNA. In the Marvel comics, Laura’s mother Dr. Sarah Kinney was hired by a top-secret program to recreate the Weapon X experiment that originally turned Logan into Wolverine. Laura — named X-23 — was a clone created from these experiments and trained to kill. But she eventually escaped and eventually found Charles Xavier and joined the Avengers Academy. Imagine what she could do with her own TV series?

5. Gamora 

Then there’s the female space assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies. Her character’s complex history would make for an ideal ABC series, particularly if the show focused on why she’s the last of her species (Zen-Whoberis) after everyone was exterminated by the Badoon. Overcoming her tragic past to later rise up as one of the deadliest assassins in the universe is inspiring to say the least. 

6. Danielle Moonstar 

It’s about time fans were introduced to one of the first female Native American characters in a series all her own. Danielle Moonstar is a mutant raised as part of the Cheyenne Nation. Under the guidance of X-Men’s Professor Xavier, she learned to hone her ability to create images of people’s greatest fears. This series could either focus on her life with other teen mutants at the school, or the superhero she became later as an adult.

7. A-Force 

The Avengers might have felt like the superhero all-stars in their heyday, but the all-female A-Force is even cooler. This lineup consists of Captain Marvel, Dazzler, Medusa, She-Hulk, Singularity, Nico Minoru and a female Thor who band together to fight evil. That alone sounds like the best series ever. 

8. Spider-Gwen 

Peter Parker’s flame Gwen Stacy is living her own web-slinging adventures as Spider-Gwen in an alternate universe. It would be refreshing to have a Spider-Man series with a female lead for a change. Plus considering how much fans were excited to spot her as an Easter egg in Avengers: Endgame, now might be the perfect time for a Spider-Gwen TV series. 

9. Misty Knight 

When police officer Misty Knight lost her arm in battle, she soon got an bionic arm and became the kind of superhero New York City deserved. We’ve already seen her character (played by Simone Missick) impress fans in the Netflix series Luke Cage, but it might be time to shine the spotlight more on Misty to tell her full story. 

10. The Black Cat 

Not all ABC series have to be about superheroes. Why not focus on a female villainess for a change? Marvel character Felicia Hardy, aka Black Cat, is an accomplished criminal but she occasionally aligns herself with Spider-Man when it suits her interests. 

11. The Valkyries 

Fans got a glimpse of the female demi-goddesses known as the Valkyries in the 2017 movie Thor: Ragnarok. Actor Tessa Thompson stole the movie as the hard-drinking character Scrapper 142, previously a legendary Valkyrie warrior. A prequel series all about this character could show how the Valkyries came to be, and why they were ultimately defeated. 

Originally published Nov. 15, 2018. 
Update, Aug. 11: Adds new ABC information.