Captain Marvel and the 25 most empowering female superheroes of all-time

14. Jean Grey – X-Men

Who plays her: Famke Janssen, Sophie Turner, among others

Powers/Abilities: Astral projection, telepathy, psychokensis

Why she’s so empowering: Jean Grey is one of the strongest mutants you will find in the X-Men universe. That should push her further up this list, but it’s not all about physical strength that can make a woman empowering.

There’s still more to come for this character with the upcoming Dark Phoenix movie, but we can look at the comics for why Jean Grey does deserve to be on this list. As one of the strongest mutants, she certainly has plenty to offer but there was always the fear that the powers would control her instead of vice versa.

She’s a woman who has shown mental strength in controlling her powers. Training herself from a young age, she’s focused on being the best she can be. But that isn’t without its faults. She’s made some bad choices and they’ve strengthened her character.

While she has focused on controlling her powers, she’s not afraid to admit when she’s inexperienced. This has taken time, but includes an element of empowerment. She’s continually tries to improve, showing to everyone that there’s nothing wrong with admitting a weakness as long as you’re willing to work on that weakness. There’s an element of humanity to her.

Then we can’t forget her willingness to sacrifice herself for her team. While it didn’t actually happen in the end, she was willing to put her life on the line to make sure the X-Men got away. There’s a certain mental strength that comes with that willingness to sacrifice yourself, which we can all learn from.