I figured I would put this in the X-men forums since most of the top tier women of Marvel are X-men/have been X-men/Mutants.
Collectively, overall, influence in comics, media, and in general who would you say is Marvel's Top Woman?

Storm?
Rogue?
Jean Grey/Phoenix?
Emma Frost?
Mystique?
Scarlet Witch?
Ms. Marvel /Captain Marvel?
Invisible Woman?
Elektra?
Black Widow?
She-hulk?
Other?

Honorable mentions:
Kitty, Psylocke, Spider-woman, Wasp, and Black Cat

Ms./Captain Marvel- by design

Jean Grey/Phoenix- by infamy

Mary-Jane Watson - by marriage

Invisible Woman

Mary Jane Watson

Sue Storm > Jean Grey > Mary Jane > Storm

I am a X man fan above all but Sue is the winner of the Miss Marvel Pageant

Sue Storm and Mary Jane?? Omgawhh Really?? That's a surprise on my end

I was going to put Mary Jane under honorable mentions. But I thought people would've thought it as a joke. Mary Jane is more the Marvel equivalent of Lois Lane in DC. Her claim to fame is dating an top tier character that everyone knows. To call The Queen of Marvel is... a bit of a stretch. If that's the case, then Pepper Pot's is well on her way to becoming the Queen of Marvel. LOL

Ms.Marvel/Captain Marvel- If Marvel had it their way.

Storm- By fanbase, appearances, media, breaking barriers & generally being the most popular in my opinion.

Sue Storm/Invisible Woman- By marriage, imo. (The Fantastic Four being the first family of Marvel and all)

I feel Jean, Rogue, and Elektra each came close to being the #1 woman of Marvel if they all hadn't fallen off due to death or lack of current day popularity. :(

A shame, because I love each of them.

Overall, I gotta stick with Storm. Comics aside, she has represent the women & minorities of Marvel for years now (sometimes just by herself.) And she was a member of the 3 biggest teams (X-men, Fantastic 4, Avengers.) Plus she is Wonder Woman's rival grudge match-up. Why they keep matching these two up-- the world may never know. But we still get a kick out of it. ( Edited: It just seems silly that DC's Queen would fight someone other than Marvel's Queen. That's why I identify Storm has Marvel's Queen.)

I think it's safe to say that Storm is the Queen of the X-men-- Especially more than ever now that she's headmistress

Better yet--

Of this list who can we rank and who can we just eliminate from the list entirely?

Storm

Rogue

Jean Grey/Phoenix

Emma Frost

Mystique

Scarlet Witch

Ms. Marvel /Captain Marvel

Invisible Woman

Elektra

Black Widow

She-hulk
Mary Jane

Marvel doesn't have a top-tier heroine; as a cult favorite, probably Storm, but it was IW in the Silver Age where the FF where A-listers.

Not Storm.

Possibly Jean, Everyone's mad about her, heroes, villains, fans, writers, everyone. Whenever she's around you know something big is going to happen. She was even a big part of The Wolverine, X3 was literally about her, leading lady of X2.

jean. the marvel games posters lately features jean alongside captain america.

@poisonfleur: part of me wants to say the Invisible Woman, but to me she's indivisible from the rest of the FF, who are mostly relevant as a group. As much as I love Storm, she basically falls into the same category, but for the X-men.

For me it would be She-hulk. She's the female character who not only had her own books and themes separate from the other characters, but has also been a dynamic defining character of both the Avengers and the FF multiple times.

She was the last classic marvel character co-created by Stan Lee, and is an alternate version of the first. And, like Lee, or Spider-man (who I would consider the king of marvel, I guess), she speaks in a voice that's just classically irreverent, almost parody of her own situation, which to me is just way more marvely than most other iconic female characters.

@oldnightcrawler said:

@poisonfleur: part of me wants to say the Invisible Woman, but to me she's indivisible from the rest of the FF, who are mostly relevant as a group. As much as I love Storm, she basically falls into the same category, but for the X-men.

For me it would be She-hulk. She's the female character who not only had her own books and themes separate from the other characters, but has also been a dynamic defining character of both the Avengers and the FF multiple times.

She was the last classic marvel character co-created by Stan Lee, and is an alternate version of the first. And, like Lee, or Spider-man (who I would consider the king of marvel, I guess), she speaks in a voice that's just classically irreverent, almost parody of her own situation, which to me is just way more marvely than most other iconic female characters.

That's a pretty strong argument. I'll have to agree with this.

Jean Grey, her name alone strikes fear in people due to her being the phoenix.... dead or alive the marvel universe will always remember Jean Grey

eh, that just puts her in the same league as Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, or the Hulk.

And Jean's kind of only got that one good story, which they then retconned her out of.

She's notable, for sure, but hardly representative of the MU beyond that.

I think Storm is still the best contender for this title, though Marvel has not been pushing her that way for some time.

I think Storm's the only contender from the X-men, both in terms of iconic quality and that she's the only(?) character to have been on all three of the big teams (FF,Avengers, and X-men). But she's still never made much of an impact on the larger MU.

She's still definitely associated most with the X-men (classically, the underdogs of the MU) and, besides her marriage to the 'Panther, doesn't really have much of her own story outside of that.

Captain Marvel, she actually has an ongoing and basically co-leads the Avengers

True. I am looking more from the terms of her popularity, being recognizable and a household name across the various media mediums, the big part she represents as part of the X-Men, being one of the most popular female characters in comics, and being the most popular/recognizable black super-hero. I don't think Sue or Carol, though Jen and Natasha are on their way IMO, have achieved that level of acclaim yet outside of comics, or have had impacts in their respective universes (Avengers or FF or the MU in general) as Storm has had in the X-Men.

Despite the push that characters like Captain Marvel (or other female characters that were connected to an original male counterpart) had had and continues to get, and even being connected to the MU as a whole, she still has not had the impact that Storm has had in general, even with her only being tied to the X-Men brand.

According to CBR it's Jean Grey. Marvel's Wonder Woman

if you're talking about being iconic and recognizable outside of the comics, I guess maybe it would be Storm.

(Though, if you're saying that Storm has had more impact on the X-men than the Invisible Woman has had on the FF, I think you're fooling yourself; there's just no comparison).

yeah, I do see your point there, I guess. But there's really very few iconic female characters in the MU who aren't based on or connected to another male character by design. Captain Marvel, Spider-woman, and She-Hulk are the obvious examples, Invisible Woman got her powers in the same accident as the rest of the FF, Wasp was basically Ant-man's sidekick starting out, Scarlet Witch was part of a duo with Quicksilver (and they're both connected back to Magneto). So, of the really classic, iconic characters, only Black Widow and Storm stand out as being especially singular in that regard.

Despite that, I'd still say She-Hulk stands out as the most singular and marvely of all of them though.

The first Family of Marvel - FF, the First Lady of The FF, Sue Storm!

Sue Storm is the Female face of Marvel in Every story she is a power house, she is always included in the big Crossovers (Age of Ultron, The Civil War, ect) And she is always a force and major plot device. I really think Sue, if you take away all your bias (this is an X man forum after all lol) and really think about it Sue Storm is the real Miss Marvel so to say

Agreed. And I honestly think Sue has had great characterization, a generally consistent personality and there really is no question that she is a powerhouse. She seems very realistic (in terms of a comic character) compared to all of the ninjas/assassins/secret agents/spies/etc. Plus her personality and history really lends itself to great stories. She gets my vote.

I would place Jean as the closest runner up, even though I know Marvel is really pushing Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel right now.

@phoenixofthetides: Cheers mate i agree, Also i hate people who seem to think you have to have a solo title to be a real character. Just because she is consistently part of the FF does not mean she isn't her own character, she has butted head with Reed and the rest of the group several times proving she just doesn't follow blindly and normally when only one member of the FF is shown its her.

IHMO the only contenders are Storm and The Invisible Woman. No other females marvel has produced can rival them.

Marvel would prefer that Ms/Captain Marvel would be, but thats just NEVER going to happen. Same can be said for any of the females that marvel tries to push... She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, def Black Widow.

I'd vote for Storm. But i wouldn't be entirely offended is Sue took the title. Both are the most dominant women in their teams (of course that's easy for Sue). They have had significant impacts during SOME cross-overs. Its NOT true to say that Sue always makes a big impact in cross-over events. Occasionally she does. like Storm occasionally does. Reed is always the FF star that DOES things in cross-over events. Only Storm can claim membership in all three of Marvel's major team. She was co-leader of the FF, all-but leader of the Avengers during her very brief tenure, and has led the X-Men longer than anyone except Cyclops.

Sue is the heart and soul of the FF. One of, if not the, (in-universe) most respected women in the world. her powers are easily the deadliest of the FF's and also the very strongest. Virtually every major villain has wanted her as their queen. She juggles motherhood, marriage, heroing and makes it look easy.

Storm is the heart &/or soul of the X-Men... the position switching depending on whether Jean is alive. If Jean is alive, Storm is the soul, Jean the heart. If Jean is dead... Storm is the heart and soul. She is also one of the most respected women in the (in-universe) marvel world - and as a mutant of just sub-Omega level powers... one of the most feared people on the planet. Virtually every major villain has wanted her as their queen, not to mention half the men on her own side of the battle-line. She has juggled marriage, heroing and mentoring - but it was made to look NOT so easy.

The biggest difference between the two characters, and why Storm would get my vote... During the silver age of marvel - when the FF were unquestionably the top-dogs of marvel... the Invisible GIRL was easily the damsel in distress of the team. Sure she very occasionally got to save the day. But like Original Jean Grey... they had the powers, but not the will and ended up being the one being rescued by the boys. Sue isn't the same character anymore, but for me it takes Queen points away from her. She has always been well characterized. and that consistency as a "person" makes her one of the most believable of marvel's women.

Storm has never been the damsel. I will concede she, like all heroes, has been rescued. But these circumstances are almost always after a defeat where she fought. ((lets forget the awfulness of The Doom War and her being locked in a cell with Victor to be rescued by her d-bag "husband")). Storm is a hero. And has never been the damsel that heroes prove themselves to save. Storm has also been well characterized MOST of the time. Depending on the writers, and the cast they favoured, Storm has usually been a powerhouse, goddess figure - and often a glass-cannon. Better writers, particularly those who like her a lot (Claremont in particular) have made her one of the most interesting and dynamic women in marvel. She's perhaps less "believable" but i think Storm has become something of an aspirational/inspiration character. As much a hero as she is a statement about Diversity, Self-Belief, Triumph over adversity and discrimination. Representing both women and those of colour - but also because of those things, reaching out beyond to all who feel different. She is the X-Men's message in a single person.

Its clearly Black Widow. She's in the most books and has her own book unlike people like Storm

That place has a damn CULT dedicated to Jean Grey, so it's not that surprising.

I know everyone doesn't feel this way, but I agree with the argument above.
Women that mooch off the fame of other previous male counterparts are nothing but Batgirl/Supergirl level to me.
That includes: She-Hulk from Hulk, Captain Marvel from Captain Marvel, Wasp from Antman, Spiderwoman from Spiderman, X-23 from Wolverine-- etc...

So, I believe it's either Storm, Sue Storm, or Jean Grey.

-Negative points to Jean for being dead for so long and never being a much of a core character in media. Movies, games, etc. She tends to usually an NPC, plot device, an antagonist, or Scott's girlfriend with cool powers a lot of the time. :(
-Negative points to Sue for not being in enough things. (She wasn't in Marvel's biggest event AvX, She is rarely in video games, etc.)
-Negative points to Storm for marrying Black Panther at the peek of her popularity and pretty much going M.I.A. for years. Thank God that's over!

3 way tie between these gals?
(You know if Marvel had the movie rights to either of these women, Ms.Marvel & Black Widow would be on the back-burner. lol)

I am glad Marvel doesn't have one. At least one that wouldn't be heavily disputed. DC only has one (Wonder Woman) because she has over 600 issues to her name, a successful TV solo series, has been around for decades more than most other DC female superhero characters, and is a part of DC's Trinity on top of the fact she is an awesome character.

Marvel has a bunch of awesome female characters, but they are a competitive bunch with each other. Some have a strong historic legacy (Sue Storm, Wasp, Jean Grey). Some were a part of one of comics biggest franchises and highest selling points and moments of global popularity (90's X-Men craze, and Storm, Rogue, Jean, Psylocke) and some have really impressive and multiple series (She Hulk and Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel) some have massively iconic stories and moments (Jean Grey/Dark Phoenix Elektra/Death and Resurrection) and there is some overlap and a lot of other variables where some characters stand out more than others. Conscious effort by the company, influence and really its in Marvels best interest to have multiple viable contenders for such a role. If one character out of ten were to stand out more than the rest, thats not one success, thats nine failures.

Same applies to the Marvel and DC male characters, and why although Batman, Superman, Spider-man will be milked heavily, there are always efforts to bring up other characters to that level, and depending how we define such things, they may be succeeding (see Iron Man and Avengers and Green Lantern, who effectively is a franchise now given how many Green Lantern offshoot titles there are now compared to a decade ago)

I think all the names mentioned thus far are a pretty good representation of great Marvel female characters. ^_^.

Jean grey is Marvel Girl

since Ms Marvel is not famous, the crown goes to JG. Marvel needs a powerhouse queen since the king is not powerful. let's all admit, the ling is captain america, just because he has america in his name.

@darthphoenix said:

Jean grey is Marvel Girl

since Ms Marvel is not famous, the crown goes to JG. Marvel needs a powerhouse queen since the king is not powerful. let's all admit, the ling is captain america, just because he has america in his name.

But that isn't true. Spider-man has always been Marvel's King. I'm not even a Spider-man fan and I know that. Captain America just recently became well known. Don't let Marvel's Avenger's crazy push in our faces fool you.

An article on CBR discusses this very thing using some pretty interesting criteria. In the end basically Jean Grey came in number one, with Storm,I think coming second and Rogue in third.

YOU ARE AWESOME FOR POSTING THIS^


My only issue with this is that Marvel top contenders are all White Males...... At least DC has Wonder Woman and is always actively pushing Black Characters: Cyborg and Green Lantern--Heck even Vixen and a Black Catwoman (Ertha Kitt & Halle Berry)

I feel like Marvel needs women and people of color. I miss the days of the 90s where the tops were: Spider-man, The X-trinity: Cyclops, Wolverine and Storm. That made so much more sense. Heck-- even there was a push for Blade and Elektra back then!

Marvel now days is...
Hulk
Captain America
Iron Man

& Thor
With Ant-man & Doctor Strange already in production.

Where are the women? Where are the minorities that aren't token characters? ...I feel there is a need for that. Especially when Marvel was pushing and pushing and pushing to make Thor, Captain America, and Thor the big 3. It never crossed their mind to pick a woman or minority? smh.

X-trinity will always be Legends.

@poisonfleur: Thanks and I agree about more diversity.

One day I want to do a painting of all my favorite X-Woman, and its going to include… Rogue, Storm, Dani Moonstar, Nocturne, Karima Shapander, Blink, Psylocke, Jubilee, Monet, Cecilia and Emma. Thats a lot of woman of different color, ethnicity and nationality. All different shades of complexion and thats what I have always liked about X-Men. They felt like a global team. Plus those are just my favorites, you can add in Frenzy, Lifeguard, Karma, Siryn, Kitty, Magik, Dust, Noriko, etc etc more diversity. I love DC and its female characters, and its not a bad thing per say, but when one thinks about the iconic Women of DC by Adam Hughes poster? Only has one woman with different skin color? If Marvel ever just did an X-Men poster in the same style? It would have a lot more color. Potentially a lot more. Which again wouldn't make it better, but I find that interesting and neat for various reasons.

@poisonfleur: i also want spiderman as king but he gets orders from CA. I hate how marvel thinks

The benefit of being in a small group like the FF is that the characters get a lot more attention and development, compared to a group of 50+ characters like the X-Men. Despite being a member of a group/family, I feel that you could take each member of the FF alone and do a great job telling a story. "FF: The End" was largely about how the family had fragmented (similar stories about possible futures touch on this, as well), and despite being separated, each character really shines through on their own. I don't really think most of the X-Men are capable of holding a story like that by themselves.

I think it is because the X-Men play off each other, relying each different team member to serve as a foil or contrast, whereas the family dynamic of FF allows each team member more room to grow as an individual. Sue, for example, is a mother, sister, wife, friend and leader; Johnny is a little brother, uncle, friend, adopted little brother, husband, etc. - the roles merge and strengthen each other giving each character more room to grow and mature. In comparison, the X-Men tend to inhabit the same roles they always have. Looking back, I'm not surprised this is the case - the FF broke out of the superhero mold precisely because they were a family first, and this is what gave Marvel a different dynamic than the superhero teams over at DC.

and out of those people u named jean was revered long before any of them... jean coined it!!!! & my vote is still for jean grey, she has more influence in the MU

Yeah, I do definitely agree with this. Though, I would argue that X-men was similar in that regard during the classic late 70's/early 80's period, when the team was much smaller and more like a family, and have periodically come back to that style several times since, just with a more extended cast over time (which the FF also had).

Like I said, Invisible Woman was where my mind went first, she is basically the first marvel super heroine and even now among the most singular as a character. And, yeah that is largely because she was in the FF, each member of which is consistently a main character in those stories.

Again, I do agree with this, but I feel like if you look at the classic X-men characters, they have those same strengths in the dynamics of the characters. Similarly, to imply that each member of the FF are not also in many ways foils for each other seems incorrect to me. Basically, I feel like most of what you say in that first sentence does apply (in different ways) to both groups.

The X-men may not be a family like the FF are, but if you look at the classic stories that really defined them as a group, it's still a key theme. It's not a theme that's always present in X-men, but it's very much a part of the classics in much the way it is with the FF. I would credit the FF with starting that theme, but to me it's classically been like that for all of the three big teams in some form, if to a lesser and less constant degree of importance.

Kind of a grab-bag, but I'm strongly influenced by their out-of-comics exposure (e.g., films, cartoons, games) for things like this:

• Jean Grey (total appearances),
• Storm (total appearances),
• Black Widow (Marvel films),
• Mystique (X-Men films),
• MJ Watson (total appearances), or
• Carol Danvers (past & recent marketing pushes).

Gallery

Other contenders include Elektra, She-Hulk, Invisible Woman, Wasp, Spider-Woman, Kitty Pryde, Emma Frost, Rogue, etc.

Marvel doesn't really have a "Wonder Woman" type character, so no clear winner (except maybe the X-Men, who beat the hell out of any other superteam for female representation).

Avengers women are not famous.

X-women are definitely the only contenders here. It's either storm or jean. Jean came first, She had MARVEL in her alias, More Powerful than storm, more story arcs than storm and she is the heart of the x-men. Crown goes to Jean.

White Queen can be ms photogenic or whore of the year

In the canon of the Marvel Universe, I think the highest profile/most in charge member of the main superhero team(Avengers) would be queen. Not sure who that is though. Maybe Wasp, Scarlet Witch or Captain Marvel(Carol)?

In terms of solo sales it's She-Hulk.

As far as I know, the only female Marvel hero with their own film or T.V show is Elektra. Even though it doesn't seem to have gone down well, it's still a point she has above other characters.

For general popularity in things like general public awareness and merchandise, I have no idea, as it's pretty difficult to see much influence in mainstream society, compared to male Marvel heroes. Female X-Men may be the best known, but it's hard to know how popular they actually are when they're only on teams, unlike someone like Wolverine who's popular enough to have solo films.

Black Widow seems to be kind of popular at the moment, and Sue Storm gets points for being one of the first, and longest running female Marvel heroes.

It's a tricky question. For DC, Wonder Woman is queen by being top of several categories, but Marvel women seem to be get more mixed, being best in different categories. I don't think there is a true queen yet, and we could all easily argue about it for ages based on our own personal interpretations of what criteria must be met.

For me it's Carol, but I'm fine if anyone doesn't agree. :)

I don't think that word means what what you think it means.

CAPTAIN MARVEL...F*** yeah.

Marvel brass loves Cap Marvel, She Hulk, Black Widow firstly

too bad so few others do... none of them can claim the title. Never can, never will. As much as marvel tries... not gonna happen.

never fear, she will only reign for a short time. Once Days of Future Past is released, Storm will be back on top. Like she was last year. With CBR's rating system i think it would be difficult for any non-X-Man to take the title. Its pretty fair if you read it all the way through. And the weighting per category certainly seems fair.

Okay seriously...? What's with the Ms/Captain Marvel hype??? Is it because she has Marvel in her name???? Or is it because Marvel has their try hard panties on in pushing and promoting her? Which one? I don't get what so amazing about her. @_@

Help?

LOL at a the Jean Grey Cult!! I am dying over here!! But seriously though... When days of future past hits-- and believe it will hit-- Storm, Mystique and even Blink are going to be all the rage all over again. ;)
And besides I think Halle has her try-hard-panties on this time as Storm. lol

Besides the only Avenger chick most people know is Black-Widow and maybe She-hulk. Captain Marvel can't even keep a name down, let alone a mainstream audience... YET.

Maybe some of us just like her personality, background, powers, storylines, etc, just like how other people will like these things about other characters.

Also, I think you're exaggerating how much she's being pushed and promoted. Apart from her solo series, she's only a regular in one other title(Avengers), and has only appeared in 18 comics this year.

She's appeared in less issues this year than:

Invisible Woman: 22
Rogue: 23
Jean Grey: 22
She-Hulk: 18(tie)
Black Widow: 38
Kitty Pryde: 31
Emma Frost: 19
Storm: 47

Okay, with that being said.
I do count the solos, plus she will be in the next Black Widow/Punisher animated movie.
It seems almost random considering more characters are worthy of the support.
And did anyone try and give her a solo when she DIDN'T have Marvel in her name??
Binary? Warbird? I don't remember those being solos. So it does come off like most of her fame is coming from the fact that she has Marvel in her name. It seems like that played a big part in getting her to where she is today. And truthfully.. I don't find that very interesting. And honestly her most memorable stories are with Rogue (I'm biased tho, being an X-men fan.)