Women in Refrigerators

History

One day it occurred to comic book writer Gail Simone that women in comics are so commonly misused to define a story after one of her favorite female characters was killed off. She decided to call this term 'Women in Refrigerators' after a panel in the Green Lantern #54 (1994) comic book. The scene in question featured Kyle Rayner returning home to his apartment. There he found a note informing him to look inside the fridge, where he found the mangled remains of his girlfriend, Alex DeWitt. Gail says that she realizes that some that are on the list have already been resurrected, but the reason why they were included on the list still remains true.

The Original List

This list was originally compiled and written by Gail Simone in alphabetical order:

• All of Savage Dragon's girlfriends : Dead.
• Allen, Dawn : Dead.
• Amethyst : Blinded. Merged with Gemworld. Destroyed in Legion of Super Heroes; became a power-hungry witch in Book of Fate.
• Apparition : One of her three bodies dead. Soul bound to boyfriend.
• Aquagirl : Dead.
• Arisia : Depowered and then murdered. Resurrected, mourning lost love.
• Aurora : Multiple Personality Disorder. Depowered.
• Banner, Betty : Abused. Changed into a harpy. Multiple miscarriages. Dead. Resurrected. Currently Red She-Hulk.
• Banner, Mrs Rebecca ( Bruce's mother) : Murdered by her abusive husband.
• Batgirl I : Paralyzed. This is no longer the case in her new 52 series.
• Batwoman : Dead.
• Black Canary I : Dead.
• Black Canary II : Tortured. Made infertile. Depowered.
• Blink : Died using powers to defeat Phalanx. Dead.
• Bluebird : Dead.
• Buf (from X-Man) : Crippled.
• Captain Marvel / Photon : Depowered. Ceded code name to a male hero. Repowered.
• Celsius : Insane. Dead. Called delusional liar.
• Chandler, Marlo ( Rick Jones' wife) : Former prostitute. Killed and brought back mindless.
• Crimson Fox : Both sisters dead.
• Dart : Crippled.
• Dawnstar : Wings cut off. Possessed by another persona.
• DeWitt, Alex : Killed for dating Green Lantern and stuffed into a refrigerator.
• Diamond Lil : Kidnapped. Experimented on by her own government. Developed benign breast tumor.
• Domino : Kidnapped & tortured for a year.
• Dove II : Dead.
• Dr. Midnight of Infinity, Inc : Dead.
• Elasti-Girl : Only original Doom Patroller to stay dead.
• Electrocute : Dead.
• Elektra : Dead. Replaced by Skrull.
• Element Girl : Hideously deformed by powers. Dead.
• Enchantress of Suicide Squad : Originally a heroine. Turned evil. Insane. Depowered.
• Firebelle : Dead.
• Firestar : Powers were sterilizing her. Contracted breast cancer.
• Fury II : Child kidnapped. Husband killed twice. Insane.
• Gand, Laurel : Dead.
• Grey, Jean / Phoenix : Died. Resurrected/replaced. Destroyed planets. Self-sacrifice. Resurrected. Ignored by lover. Absorbed clone's memories. Died & resurrected various times.
• Hawkwoman : Depowered.
• Hellcat : Dead. Resurrected.
• Helvin, Christine of ' Troublemakers' : Victim of date rape. Discovered she could never have children because she was no longer human.
• Huntress I : Dead.
• Huntress II : Sexually abused.
• Ice : Dead. Resurrected to avenge her own death. Dates Guy Gardner.
• Invisible Woman : Miscarriage of second child.
• Jade : Lost natural powers. Dead
• Jarella : Dead.
• Jean DeWolff : Dead.
• Jet of New Guardians : Died in battle after contracting HIV.
• Jocasta : Deactivated repeatedly.
• Kane, Frances / Magenta : Stalker complex.
• Katma Tui : Dead.
• Kent, Laurel : Shot. Replaced by an evil robot. Dead.
• Kinetix : Depowered twice. Catatonic. Dead.
• Kole : Dead.
• Lady Flash : Evil. Raped by Vandal Savage. Dead.
• Lady Quark : Dead.
• Looker : Now a vampire.
• MacTaggert, Moira : Couldn't save her reality warping son or husband. Possessed by Shadow King. Only human to contract the Legacy Virus. Shot protecting adopted daughter. Dead.
• Mantis : Child taken away. Dead.
• Marrina : Insane, dead.
• Mentalla of Legion of Super Heroes : Dead.
• Mera : Insane. Child murdered.
• Mirage of Team Titans : Impregnated by rape.
• Mockingbird : Abducted and mind-manipulated into a relationship. Believed Dead. Imprisoned on Skrull homeworld for years.
• Ms Marvel / Warbird : Mind-controlled and impregnated by rape, then 'gave birth' to her rapist/mind-controller. Powers and memories stolen by Rogue. Gained cosmic powers via abduction and torture. Depowered again. Became an alcoholic. Killed and replaced by a former villainess. Resurrected.
• Mystek of Justice League Task Force : Dead.
• Namorita : Clone of her mother. Exiled from Atlantis. Reverted to a primal Atlantean form. Turned pink again. Turned blue again. Dead.
• Negative Woman : Depowered.
• Nightshade : Depowered.
• Nightwind : Dead.
• Nova / Raye, Frankie : Dead.
• Page, Karen : Drug addiction. Low budget porn star. HIV positive. Dead.
• Palmer, Jean Loring : Nervous breakdown
• Park, Linda : Kidnapped. Removed from history.
• Power Girl : Depowered. Magically impregnated. Made vulnerable to unprocessed natural materials (i.e. sticks).
• Pryor, Madelyn : Cloned from Jean Grey. Abandoned by husband. Brood mare. Demon queen. Dead. Resurrected. Dead. Dead body possessed.
• Psylocke : Blinded. Eyes replaced by cameras. Body-swapped. Eviscerated. Depowered. New shadow powers. Swapped powers with Jean Grey. Dead. Resurrected. Powers altered yet again.
• Rasputin, Illyana : Kidnapped & raised by demons. De-aged. Dead. Resurrected without her soul.
• Raven : Sometimes evil. Sometimes dead.
• Red Guardian II : Kidnapped and brainwashed into the love-slave of a super-villain.
• Redwing of Team Titans : Dead.
• Revanche : Body swapped & believed she was Betsy Braddock. Contracted Legacy Virus. Committed suicide. Dead. Body resurrected & possessed. Still dead.
• Rogue : Absorbed life of first boyfriend. Can't touch anyone else. Depowered & raped. On-Off again relationship with Gambit. Generally messed up. Currently stable.
• Ross, Courtney : Dead.
• Roulette : Dead.
• Scarlet Witch : Married a machine. Phantom pregnancy. Children 'died' when born because they were figments of her imagination. Various mental breakdowns. Cause of both House of M and "no more mutants."
• Serpentina : Dead.
• Shrinking Violet : Abducted and impersonated. Lost a leg.
• Shvaughn Erin : Turned into a man.
• Silver Sorceress : Dead.
• Snowbird : Child & husband murdered. Insane. Dead.
• Southern, Candy : Kidnapped. Ignored in favor of Jean Grey. Kidnapped again. Tortured. Brain dead. Murdered. Resurrected as a Phalanx. Dead.
• Spider-Woman : Dead. Resurrected. Depowered. Replaced by Skrull queen. Re-established.
• Stacy, Gwen : Dead. Cloned.
• Star Sapphire : Turned into a villain by the Zamarons. Possessed by the Predator.
• Starfire : Raped. Tortured. Enslaved. Forced into marriage twice. Dumped at the altar.
• Storm : Depowered. Repowered. Various bouts of insanity.
• Stuart, Alysande : Dead.
• Summers, Rachel / Phoenix : Lobotomized. Forced to hunt down her own kind. Lost in the time-stream. Lost in space.
• Supergirl, pre- Crisis : Dead. Erased from history.
• Supergirl : Lost her invisibility & most of her shapeshifting.
• Projectra : Dead.
• Tarot : Dead. Resurrected & bound to an evil man.
• Threnody : Forced to work for Mr Sinister. Contracted Legacy Virus. Dead.
• Tigra : Devolved into cat-thing. Kept as a pet by Molecule Man, Graviton, Kraven and Puppet Master. Shrunken in size and lived with stray cats on the streets. Filmed while brutally beaten in her home; footage posted on internet. Impregnated by Skrull who posed as Pym.
• Triplicate Girl : One body killed. One presumed dead but revealed to be Glorith's pawn.
• Ventura, Sharon: Became a monster in Fantastic Four. De-monstered but enslaved by Doctor Doom. Depowered.
• Wildcat II : Dead
• Wolfsbane : Raised to fear God and believe she was a devil. Traumatized over death of boyfriend. Stripped, depowered & locked in werewolf form for a while. Lost powers. Repowered. Fired as a teacher after an affair with a student. Kidnapped & brainwashed. Ate her biological father. Pregnant with an Asgardian's child who she birthed by couching him out of her throat, and seconds later witnessed how it killed a man.
• Wonder Girl / Troia / Darkstar : Identity and powers stripped from her multiple times.
• Wonder Woman : Killed. Revived, but lost her Goddess powers.
• Zatanna : Powers severely limited following distressing battle against the reanimated corpse of her father. Huge loss of confidence. Currently back to full power.

Source location: WiR

Updated List

Characters who are worthy of being added to the list, but were not originally included by Gail Simone.

• Ant : Picked on and beaten as a child. Forced to eat dog feces. Memories altered. Put into Asylum. Hand cut off, reattached later.
• Artemis: Killed. Forced to marry a monstrous demon in the afterlife. Resurrected. Depowered, kidnapped and enslaved. Repowered.
• Betty Brant: Attacked and beaten silly by a random thug in ASM#665 for the sole purpose of getting Peter on the warpath and bringing Flash Thompson her boyfriend into the next story arc.
• Black Cat : Beaten up. Powers messed up. Date raped.
• Big Barda : Murdered in her own home by God Killer. Husband Mr Miracle found her body sprawled on kitchen floor. Might have been brought back to life.
• Cain, Cassandra / Batgirl III : Ignored by villainous parents. Bred to be weapon. Mute. Drugged & brainwashed to be a criminal.
• Catwoman : Retconned into a prostitute. Discovered that her "boyfriend" was a serial killer. Became good, but discovered that the change was because Zatanna altered her mind. Impregnated. Daughter was kidnapped several times. Decided to give daughter up for adoption. Her heart was stolen, but soon returned. She survived the process.
• Cheetah, of DC : Kidnapped to be bride to demon. Sold her soul to get her friend back. Devolved into mindless beast. Power once stolen by a male.
• Diamondback: Beaten and raped by Crossbones as a teenager. Later kidnapped and beaten by him again. Injected with serum that made her mentally unstable. Impersonated by a Life Model Decoy, who slept with unsuspecting boyfriend Steve Rogers and was then graphically killed.
• Dibny, Sue : Raped. Dead.
• Dr Light II : Severely beaten. Lost her powers. Has recently recovered said powers.
• Heatmonger, of Aryan Brigade : Dead.
• Hit-Girl : Raised to be an assassin by Big Daddy. Witnessed her father's murder.
• Illyana Rasputin : Kidnapped as a child & raised in Limbo. Lost her soul. Died. Resurrected without her soul.
• Inertia, of Squadron Supreme : Abused. Raped.
• Jubilee : Tortured for information. Crucified. Died. Resurrected. Impaled on various occasions. Depowered.
• Klara : Forced into under-age marriage & raped.
• Knockout : Killed by God Killer.
• Lane-Kent, Lois : Severely injured during Final Crisis, but survived.
• Liberty : Repeatedly raped by invading martians.
• Marrow : One of her hearts ripped out. Mortally injured by Gambit. Lost control of her powers. Brainwashed. Hypnotised into sleeping with Mesmero. Depowered.
• Maxima: Dead.
• Nocturne : Miscarried. Suffered a stroke. Suffers memory loss. Partial paralysis of one leg & arm.
• Pantha : Turned into a half animal hybrid. Decapitated. Dead. Risen as Black Lantern.
• Pixie : Savagely beaten. Self-sacrificed soul. Possibly becoming half-demon. Brutally beaten again. Father revealed to be Mastermind.
• Mary Marvel : Molested. Coma. Ignored. Became evil.
• Parker, Mary Jane : On-again off-again relationship with Spider-Man for many years before they got married. Told her child had died during birth. Kidnappings & divorce. Retconned to erase marriage.
• Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight): Abducted while pregnant. Left for dead and fetus stolen from womb. Recovered, but never reunited with husband or lost child. Retired from crime-fighting.
• Phantom Lady (Dee Tyler): Brutally murdered via impalement by Deathstroke, who told her it was 'just business.' Mangled body put on public display.
• Phantom Lady (Stormy Knight): Became alcoholic and drug addict after father was murdered. Attempted suicide by slitting wrists. Recovered, but retired from crime-fighting for a time. Currently back as Phantom Lady.
• Rapture : Unborn baby's super strength kicks caused internal injuries which made her go into premature labor.
• Raya Vestri: A love interest for Nightwing was introduced in the new 52 series, and then promptly killed in the return of the Joker arc, dying in Grayson's arms.
• Reynolds, Lindy : Killed by Bullseye/Hawkeye and thrown into the sea.
• Shadowcat : Kidnapped. Stuck in 'phased' condition. Unfulfilled relationship with Colossus. Mourned deaths of best friend and Colossus. Trapped in a planet-sized bullet and unable to be saved by teammates.
• Silhouette, of New Warriors : Shot. Crippled.
• Silhouette, of Minutemen : Killed for being a lesbian.
• Silk Spectre I : Attempted rape & severe beating by Comedian.
• Silver St.Cloud : Retconned into a sex fiend and murdered brutally by Onomatopoeia .
• Siryn : Raised by Black Tom & Juggernaut who told her that her father had died. Coached to be a criminal by her uncle. Alcoholism. Childhood sweetheart denied having a relationship with her. Had throat slit. Her son was absorbed & therefore killed by his father on day he was born.
• Spider-Woman III : Abused. Drugged. Used to make Mutant Growth Hormone
• Spoiler, girlfriend of Tim Drake : Nearly molested as a child. Teenage pregnancy. Kidnapped & tortured by Black Mask. Killed by Leslie Thompkins. Received no memorial. Resurrected. Current Batgirl.
• Takeru : Hand cut off. Catatonic.
• Tana Moon, Superboy's girlfriend : On-again-off-again relationship. Caught in explosion set up by Amanda Spence after re-established relationship.
• Tara, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Killed by random bullet. Death caused lesbian lover Willow to descend into madness and villainy.
• Tigra, of DC Comics : Dead.
• Wasp: Kidnapped and brain used as template for robot duplicate ( Jocasta). Beaten by husband Hank Pym, causing divorce. Dead. To date, the only founding member of the Avengers to remain deceased.
• Windfall : Drugged. Raped. Pictures of rape posted on internet. Dead.
• X-23 : Raised to murder her biological father. Violently beaten for each mistake. Was made to kill her own mother. Underage prostitution.