Villainess Review: Petra (Destroyer)

This week, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law hits Disney+, and it's a show I've been heavily looking forward to for a long time. I am a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and have been since it began with the theatrical release of Iron Man on May 2, 2008, but the #1 reason why I'm excited for She-Hulk comes in the from of just two words: Tatiana Maslany. I'm a huge fan of Tatiana Maslany, and honestly, the fandom began when I saw promos to a show I still have yet to see: Orphan Black. Maslany played a plethora of different characters on the hit BBC America series, and regarding her other work, I did see Maslany on an episode of the short-lived Canadian series, Cracked, as Haley Coturno, a teenage girl who was revealed to be abducted by the woman who raised her.

Tatiana Maslany recently recurred on HBO's Perry Mason series as the enigmatic Sister Alice; again, she was the #1 reason why I tuned in to that show. Because of the enigma of the character, I was hoping that Sister Alice would turn out to be a villainess. It would not be the case, but I didn't mind or care; I was too busy drinking in Maslany's amazing character and performance which, IMO, stole the entire show. Though while Maslany's character wasn't evil, I would see her as a villainous character a few years back, doing so in the 2018 film, Destroyer.

I had been wanting to see this film for a while and I finally saw it back in 2019. Nicole Kidman starred in the film as Erin Bell, a LAPD detective who was looking to take down a gang of bank robbers who she had pursued years prior, with that attempt resulting in the death of her partner/lover, Chris. Regarding Tatiana Maslany, she played Petra, the lone female member of the faction, which was led by Petra's boyfriend, Silas Howe. The group committed a robbery 16 years prior, and this was the same robbery that Erin and Chris infiltrated as part of an undercover sting. The robbery went sideways because Silas killed a bank teller, and he was also the person who shot and killed Chris.

The money was given to lawyer Dennis DiFranco (who was revealed as Petra's illicit lover) to launder, but in the film's events, the evil Petra participated in another robbery, because the money from their last robbery ran out. She was spotted by a young boy and later by Erin, who fought with Petra and captured her by placing her in the trunk of the car. What followed was Erin demanding the whereabouts of Silas, as well as Petra uttering the following words to Erin:

"You wanted to be one of us. You wanted the money just as bad."

Those words and a flashback revealed that Erin actually became a willing participant in the years-old robbery, as during the undercover sting, she discovered that she and Chris were about to become parents. The plan was to for Erin and Chris to take their shares, claim to have lost contact with the gang, and quit the force, though the botch in the robbery derailed the plans. Petra ended up giving Silas' location to Erin, who later killed Silas to complete her revenge, but Erin ended up succumbing to the internal bleeding she suffered during the fight with Petra, whose location was given by Erin prior to her death.

Unsurprisingly, Tatiana Maslany excelled in this film as Petra, who was quite an amazing villainess. All of her scenes were memorable and acted out very well, including Petra revealing Erin's heel turn from years prior as a biting response. I loved everything about Petra, including the masked disguise in the flashbacks, and the efforts to "age" the character in the present-day scenes. Maslany's appearance in Destroyer is why I'm hoping that she plays more villainesses, and it's also increased my fandom of the actress overall. I just know she'll show out as She-Hulk, that's a guarantee.

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Check out Petra's profile on Villainous Beauties Wiki!