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

21. Karolina Dean – Marvel’s Runaways

Who plays her: Virginia Gardner

Powers/Abilities: Solar abilities

Why she’s so empowering: I’ll admit I almost overlooked Karolina Dean at first because I haven’t seen Runaways yet or read the comics. I know, I know! But the more research I do and the more I look into who she is, she more than deserves a place on this list.

Karolina Dean quickly became a fan-favorite in the Marvel series on Hulu. She looks like a typical All-American teen, but on the inside, she has deep-rooted secrets and a personality to impress.

This is one of those characters that comes from a shady background. Her parents are evil, sacrificing innocent girls. Yet, Karolina is able to step away from all that. It’s proof that it’s not all about nature or even nurture. There can be an element within yourself or personality traits that come from the social circles around you.

We’ve only seen the start of Gardner’s interpretation of the character on-screen. We’ve seen that eagerness to learn and control her powers, while also wanting to do things for good. The comics have shown us much more.

She can take on the leadership role when necessary. Yet, she certainly has her flaws, which makes her far more human that some of the other whole-human characters (Karolina is actually an alien).

In the comics, she’s one of the few lesbian superheroes. The storylines haven’t quite been focused on in the way they could, but there’s hope this continues in the Hulu live-action series. If that does happen, Karolina would certainly move further up this list.