She-Hulk: 3 Marvel villains that could be the MCU show’s Big Bad
2. Man-Killer
The name speaks for itself – the woman eventually known to the world as Man-Killer is an outspoken, staunch feminist: A militant one at that. Formerly a professional skier called Katrina Luisa van Horn; she came into contact with a male chauvinist skier who found the idea of women participating in athletic sports like skiing “absurd.” Katrina, who was around when this conversation was discussed between other male skiers, challenged those outdated views with a battle during the Winter Olympics.
During the ski run, the male skier cheated and cut her off, foolishly causing them both to tumble down into a ravine. The man was killed while Katrina was forever traumatised and crippled by that fateful event. She grew to oppose men. A group of militant feminists managed to finance her with an exoskeleton that granted her superhuman strength and durability.
In her first appearance in an issue of Marvel Team-Up No.8 in 1973, now dubbed the Man-Killer, she assassinated a mayor in Chicago during a flashback and confronted Greer Grant aka Tigra (once under the costumed identity of The Cat) with the likes of Spider-Man. Sooner or later, Katrina found out her exoskeleton was created by scientists that worked for a think tank organization called A.I.M.
When Man-Killer appeared once again in a separate issue of Marvel Team-Up, Jennifer was representing female revolutionary Hildy Dawes as her lawyer and the villain attempted to seize Dawes in the courtroom. Spider-Man intervened and Jennifer changed into the Jade Giantess in order to rescue Dawes from Man-Killer and her task-force. She was defeated – in the midst of She-Hulk coming to blows with the Wall-Crawler – when Dawes grabbed some power cables and electrocuted Man-Killer and herself.
Not just a She-Hulk villain, Katrina is formidable in her own right and the creative team at Marvel could make her more integral to the Disney+ series. Not only is she a worthy opponent in terms of strength and power, she has an interesting conflict with Jennifer in terms of their viewpoints. This would provide some great television in terms of hands being thrown together in battle and gravel being smacked in the courtroom.
However, like Ultima, Man-Killer may not be this teased social media influencer. This character does not quite fit the rumored description. Moreover, the character was criticised a great deal for being a “caricature of feminists” because she despised all men. However, Marvel could seek to correct that portrayal of her with a less divisive and more modern take on the character.