6 Female Characters We Should See Soon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

With the number of characters being considered for The Avengers: Infinity War at a staggering 67, and the outcry for more female representation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I've been racking my brain as to which new characters we might be seeing and how they would fit into what we currently know about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So, here's a list of the 6 characters that I believe we could be seeing in the future and where they might show up over the next several years.

She-Hulk

As the cousin of Bruce Banner, Jen Walters received her abilities when she had a transfusion of blood from her gamma-powered cousin. She usually has the ability to change into her She-Hulk form on demand, and usually retains her intellect after the change as well. She's a strong character who tries to balance her life as a lawyer with her life as an Avenger and adventurer.

Powers:

- great strength,

- durability,

- endurance

- a healing factor.

- able to switch from She-Hulk to Jennifer Walters, but does not always have control of her transformation.

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Ant-Man and The Wasp, Iron Fist, The Defenders.

I think that the most appropriate place we would find She-Hulk in the MCU would be as a character introduced in The Defenders series (though, since both Iron Fist and Ant-Man have been involved with the Defenders, I could see a connection there as well). In the comics, Doctor Strange (who will get his own solo film in November) founded the Defenders to defend Earth from the extradimensional/demonic Undying Ones (with the Hulk and Namor the Submariner--this will not happen in the MCU for what would seem to be rights issues with Universal Studios). It's looking like Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage will start up the Defenders together (presumably after they each have at least one season of their own show released on Netflix). Now, at one point in the comics, Jennifer Walters did some legal work for the "Heroes for Hire," even going on some adventures with them, and dating Luke Cage for a short time. Henry Pym (as Yellowjacket) joins the Defenders at one point, so I could also see Ant-Man being brought into all of this (though that is much less likely, in my opinion).

Black Cat

Black Cat is a reformed burglar who continues to walk on the wild side as a detective and adventurer. She's the former girlfriend of Spider-Man, Flash Thompson, and the mercenary known as the Foreigner.

Powers:

- exceptional gymnastics and unarmed combat skills.

- "bad luck" power, which enables her to subliminally and psionically affect probability fields, causing "unlucky" events to occur to enemies within her line of sight.

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Spider-Man, Jessica Jones season 2

I can really only see this happening in Marvel/Sony's Spider-Man, due to Black Cat's obvious connection to Spidey; however, after the Superhuman Registration Act, Felicia Hardy registered and joined forces with Misty Knight and Colleen Wing (in connection with the "Heroes for Hire") to apprehend unregistered heroes and villains. I doubt we'll see anything like that coming to the MCU, but it's an option for the screen writers and maybe a friend/foe that could join Jessica Jones and Trish Walker (a.k.a. Hellcat) in Jessica Jones season 2, creating even more anticipation for Spider-Man.

White Tiger

Angela Del Toro is the heir to a heroic legacy that began with the Jade Tiger, a long-lost enchanted statue from the fabled kingdom of K'un-Lun. Broken into pieces, the statue's paws and head resurfaced in America, where the Sons of the Tiger wore them as amulets that enhanced their martial arts prowess. When the Sons disbanded, their discarded amulets were discovered by Angela's uncle, the young Hector Ayala, who transformed into the superhuman White Tiger through their power. In this guise, Ayala fought foes such as the Corporation crime cartel (whose members included his brother, Filippo) and teamed with heroes such as Daredevil, the Defenders, Human Fly, Jack of Hearts and Prowler, though his most frequent ally was Spider-Man (secretly Hector's Empire State University classmate).

Powers:

The White Tiger amulets augment strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility and reflexes to slightly superhuman levels, and endow her with formidable martial arts skills.

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Spider-Man, Iron Fist, The Defenders

This could be a long shot, being that Ava is a newer character associated with the Avengers Academy, but her role in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man makes me think they could easily introduce her into the MCU in a similar fashion in Spider-Man or The Defenders. She, or any of her four predecessors, could also be hinted at in Iron Fist, with the amulets' connection to K'un-Lun. Let me just add this: actress-singer Zendaya has landed an unknown key role in Spider-Man and, while she's supposedly playing a character named Michelle (perhaps love interest Michele Gonzales?), don't think for a moment that her resemblance to Ava Ayala hasn't been noticed.

Moondragon

An Earth girl adopted by the Eternals of Saturn's moon Titan after the rogue Eternal Thanos killed her parents, Heather was raised by Titan's Shao-Lom monks, whose tutelage awakened her latent psionic powers while helping her achieve physical and intellectual perfection. Unfortunately, she grew arrogant, a trait reflected by her adoption of the name Moondragon after she seemingly destroyed the cosmic demon Dragon of the Moon. The Dragon secretly survived inside her, bolstering and feeding upon the darker aspects of her personality. Thanos's assaults on Titan drove Moondragon to Earth where she allied herself with various heroes and joined the Avengers.

Powers:

- telepathy,

- mind control,

- personality alteration,

- memory modification,

- illusion casting,

- levitation

- force blasts.

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, The Defenders, Avengers Infinity War: Part 1 or Part 2

I would be shocked if we didn't see Moondragon surface soon due to her connection to Thanos and Drax. Heather Douglas was the daughter of Arthur Douglas, whose reanimated corpse was later made into Drax the Destroyer (which is another story). After her father's initial death, she was found by Mentor (Thanos' father) who took her to Titan where she gained her mental and physical powers after studying their ways. It would be easy to see her tied into either Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Avengers Infinity War: Part 1 or Part 2. A less likely, but equally interesting place we could see her introduced is in The Defenders. Moondragon sort of flips between hero and villain multiple times due to being possessed by The Dragon of the Moon, so she could very well become a villain saved by the Defenders and turned good at some point to help out later in Avengers: Infinity War (tying the Netflix world even more directly to the movies), but only time will tell.

Spider-Woman

When young Jessica suffered uranium poisoning in 1931, Dr. Drew [her father] was forced to inject her with his untested spider serum and seal her in a genetic accelerator. In stasis for decades, her aging greatly slowed, she awoke with no memories of her own past. Briefly cared for by the Evolutionary's cow-woman assistant Bova, Jessica sought human company in a nearby village where she accidentally killed her first lover with her new bioelectric powers. Fleeing a vengeful mob, she was rescued by Count Otto Vermis, who molded her into the terrorist organization Hydra's newest assassin. As Arachne, she fought S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, who revealed Vermis as a cold-blooded killer.

Powers:

- superhuman strength

- endurance and speed.

- focused bioelectric energy, known as "venom blasts," sufficient to stun or kill normal humans

- can adhere to almost any surface.

- immunity to all poisons, drugs, and radiation.

- pheromones which attract human males and repulse females

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Doctor Strange, Jessica Jones season 2

This is another character I would be shocked not to see in some capacity. With her connections to HYDRA, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be an easy place to see her pop up, but definitely not the best use of such a wonderful character. I'd love for some of her story to be hinted at during Doctor Strange (both characters spend some time in England, not to mention he had a large role in reuniting Jessica's spirit with her body after her death) or Jessica Jones season 2, as she was a character in the Alias story arc in 2003. Another fun thing that could come from this in phase 4, would be the Lady Liberators along with Black Widow, She-Hulk, Hellcat, some others Marvel doesn't have the rights to (yet) and, let's not forget, Valkyrie!

Valkyrie

Born into a wealthy family of eccentric philanthropists, Samantha Parrington grew into an idealistic feminist. When her parents adopted the monstrous Hulk as their latest pet cause, Samantha formed a rapport with the misunderstood brute and helped talk him down from the Statue of Liberty, though her father took all the credit for this feat in the media. Miffed, Sam led her women's group in an anti-patriarchal protest that attracted the attention of Hulk's enemy, Enchantress. Amora magically transformed Samantha into a raging, man-hating facsimile of the Asgardian warrior goddess Brunnhilde the Valkyrie, whose form and might Amora could replicate at will, having trapped Brunnhilde's soul in a mystical crystal centuries earlier. As the ersatz Valkyrie, Samantha battled the Hulk to a standstill until the spell wore off, returning her to normal just as Hulk reverted to his human form of Bruce Banner. The confused pair parted awkwardly, neither fully recalling their battle, with Samantha half-convinced it was all a dream. Brunnhilde was later reborn in the mortal host body of Barbara Norriss and, as the Valkyrie, became a mainstay of the Defenders.

Powers:

Samantha Parrington can magically assume the superhuman form of Valkyrie Brunnhilde, with all of her strength and durability, she is far stronger than the average Asgardian goddess.

Where I can see her joining the MCU:

Thor: Ragnarok, The Defenders, Avengers Infinity War: Part 1 or Part 2

I hope you took the time to read her lengthy summary above, because it's the crux of my argument. The reason I'm thinking she could very well show up in Thor: Ragnarok is because of the Hulk's involvement with the movie. Rumor is that Thor: Ragnarok will combine with the Planet Hulk storyline (in order to get around the issue of rights with a solo Hulk movie), so couldn't it be just as plausible to see the Hulk and Valkyrie go at it? Hoping for the character may be a long shot, but keep your fingers crossed, because she also is "a mainstay of the Defenders." You know, the Netflix project that started with Daredevil ultimately leading to The Defenders? Could we see Valkyrie battle with the Defenders to a standstill until a spell wares off? The possibilities are there, certainly, but I can't imagine not seeing her during Phase 3. And yes, with this guess, I would assume we'd see the Enchantress too.

Sources: Marvel, marvel.wikia, marvel-movies.wikia