10 more female-led Marvel movies we'd like to see after Captain Marvel

All week, EW is giving you exclusive details about Captain Marvel, the upcoming superhero movie starring Brie Larson. Captain Marvel will be the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to focus on a female lead, but it shouldn’t be the last. MCU chief Kevin Feige says there are plans for more. We’ve got some ideas. 

Captain Marvel is the first female superhero to headline her own MCU movie, but the 20 previous installments have introduced a bevy of interesting and inspirational superheroines in supporting roles. A good way to give them their own spotlight would be to pull them together into a “no boys allowed” Avengers team, similar to the all-female A-Force introduced by writer G. Willow Wilson in 2015. Although the exact lineup of Wilson’s team isn’t yet replicable in the MCU (Captain Marvel will soon be the only member to have appeared on screen) the general dynamic certainly is — just look at that scene from Avengers: Infinity War when Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and Okoye (Danai Gurira) all teamed up to take down Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon).

There’s some interest in this one already — Riz Ahmed and Mindy Kaling have both expressed interest in working on a movie for Marvel’s Muslim superhero. And who knows, maybe Kamala Khan will get a subtle shout-out in Captain Marvel the way Miles Morales did in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Let’s hope she gets her own spotlight. As EW has explained before, Ms. Marvel is a thoroughly modern superhero who faces many of the same struggles as her fans. A big-screen version could be rewarding for everyone.

Though she was a member of the original roster in The Avengers, Scarlett Johansson’s Russian super-spy still hasn’t gotten the solo adventure she deserves. Marvel finally seems to be making moves in that direction, but until it’s a reality we’ll just keep banging the drum for a superhero spy movie.

Logan won acclaim for giving Hugh Jackman’s version of Wolverine a Western-style send-off, but the real star of the show was Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23. The young female clone is the closest thing Logan has to a daughter, but she’s more than that. When Wolverine recently died in the pages of Marvel comics, Laura stepped up to take on his mantle — so why not do the same now that he’s died in the movies as well? If Disney successfully buys Fox and has interest in building off Logan, Laura would be the character to follow. Just don’t forget about her lovable sister-clone Gabby!

Captain Marvel will soon establish herself as the most powerful hero in the history of the MCU. But if Marvel is interested in pushing that envelope further, America Chavez could probably give Carol a run for her money. This interdimensional superhero is capable of punching holes through space and time, and has already served on big superhero teams like the Young Avengers and the Ultimates. But the best way to put her on the big screen might be to pair her up with her best friend Kate Bishop, the younger and cooler Hawkeye, perhaps for a crime-fighting road trip.

“What if Gwen Stacy was bitten by the radioactive spider instead of Peter Parker?” has become more than just a thought experiment. Every day, Spider-Gwen becomes a bigger part of the Spider-canon; just check out her upcoming part in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, not to mention her starring role in Marvel Rising. Why not bring her onto the big screen, too? Spider-Gwen’s parallel-universe origin means she’s more than capable of being introduce alongside more traditional versions of Spider-Man. That costume design is just too cool to resist.

The most important reason it would be cool to see Marvel’s newest Exiles team on screen would be the starring role it gives to the Tessa Thompson version of Valkyrie (first seen in Thor: Ragnarok). But thanks to team leader Blink’s dimension-hopping powers, an Exiles movie could be a tour of fun alternate versions of beloved characters. Hayley Atwell could show up as Captain America Peggy Carter, though a Ms. Marvel movie would probably have to happen first so fans could fully appreciate the team’s battle-scarred post-apocalytpic version of Kamala Khan.

Even after years of trying, Channing Tatum’s solo Gambit movie still hasn’t gotten off the ground. Maybe what it’s missing is a romantic co-lead, in the form of the character’s long-time on-again off-again love interest Rogue. Amidst the current resurgence of interest in romantic comedies, a superhero movie that was just as interested in romance as punching bad guys could be a winning bet.

Jennifer Walters can power a lot of different stories. As an experienced lawyer she could handle a superhero legal drama, and as a survivor of post-traumatic stress syndrome she could also sustain a grittier movie in the mode of Logan. She’s also had starring roles on superteams like A-Force and the Avengers. Solo Hulk movies haven’t come to much, even in the MCU; maybe they just need a slightly different character in the main role.

Granted, Doreen Green doesn’t seem like a blockbuster superhero star. But then, she didn’t seem like she could sustain a critically acclaimed solo series, either. Don’t count out Squirrel Girl’s combination of the powers of a squirrel with the powers of a girl; it can be an irresistible formula.