Top 10: Comic Book Characters Ruined by A-List Writers

Women in Refrigerators is a term coined by comic book legend Gail Simone and is used to describe a group of female characters who have been abused, depowered, and killed as a plot device to create drama. Unfortunately, it seems like no woman has been safe from this trend and the sad truth in the matter is that many of the worst perpetrators are some of the most successful creators in the comic book industry. More often than not, most of these instances occur in some of the most celebrated works in comics.

In this top ten list, I've counted down some of the worst instances of Women in Refrigerators where A-list writers have seen it pressing to use and abuse female characters as a way of heightening the drama of their stories. This list isn't meant to shame these writers (okay, maybe it is just a little), but it is meant to force us to re-examine the way writers treat women in fiction and to realize that something can be amazing narratively if a woman can make it through a story without being raped, tortured, or killed.

10. Talia al Ghul (DC Comics)

The Perpetrators: Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison

Originally created by Dennis O'Neil and Bob Brown, Talia al Ghul was a brilliant femme fatale whose characterization was inspired by the Bond Girls and the Fu Manchu stories. She was consistently portrayed as one of Batman's greatest love interests and was depicted as being torn between her feelings for the Dark Knight and her loyalty to her father.

In the 2003 story Death and the Maidens, Talia becomes a pawn in her sister Nyssa's schemes to destroy their father's empire. Nyssa repeatedly kills Talia and revives her using the mystical Lazarus Pits. This process drives the character crazy and turns her against not only her father, but Batman as well. This is a rare example where Rucka betrays the female sex by depicting Talia as a helpless victim in Nyssa's schemes.

Several years later, Grant Morrison got his hands on the character and single-handedly destroyed her. Once a viable love interest for Batman, Morrison revealed that Talia drugged the Dark Knight and raped him in order to conceive a child sired by him. From then on, she was consistently portrayed as a stereotypical conniving bitch and was responsible for the death of her son. Dear Grant Morrison, thanks for turning Batman's most complex love interest into a rapist and murderer.

09. Elektra (Marvel)

The Perpetrator: Frank Miller

During his seminal run on Daredevil, Frank Miller introduced the enigmatic Elektra Natchios, a love interest and antagonist for the titular hero. She's largely depicted as a cold, unfeeling assassin who ultimately meets her demise at the hands of Bullseye. She is subsequently resurrected and Miller then takes it upon himself to reveal that she was molested as a child (though this is later recanted).

While Elektra is celebrated as one of Miller's most successful female creations, he does her little justice. She's downright mean and has very little agency. On top of that, she's supposed to be one of Marvel's greatest assassins and yet she's easily made mince meat by Bullseye. Thankfully, Larry Hama and Greg Rucka would rescue the character from the pile of generic ice queens at Marvel in subsequent adventures.

08. Scarlet Witch (Marvel)

The Perpetrators: John Byrne, Brian Michael Bendis

Arguably one of Marvel's most powerful super heroines, Scarlet Witch was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby as part of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Years later, she became a member of the Avengers and has been with the team ever since.

During her tenure with the West Coast branch of the Avengers, Scarlet Witch is put through hell at the hands of John Byrne. She loses her children and turns evil on more than one occasion. In the process, he also puts her in some pretty hideous outfits to emphasize the fact that she's teetering on the brink of insanity.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Brian Michael Bendis would revisit the "Wanda goes crazy" narrative for Avengers Disassembled. In this story, Wanda's powers go awry and she nearly kills the Avengers. She subsequently blames mutants for all the terrible things that have happened in her life and she alters reality to negate the mutant gene. It's also worth noting that Bendis treats She-Hulk and Wasp with just as much "respect" as Scarlet Witch. She-Hulk gets turned into a lean, mean, green murdering machine and Wasp is depicted as a loose-lipped drunk.

07. Catwoman (DC Comics)

The Perpetrators: Frank Miller, Paul Dini, Judd Winick

Second only to Wonder Woman, Catwoman is one DC Comics' most iconic heroines. Unfortunately, that hasn't saved her from the incapable hands of some writers.

In Frank Miller's Batman: Year One, he takes it upon himself to give Catwoman a new origin story. This time around she is a "dominatrix" (let's be honest, she's a hooker) who operates out of the city's dirty East End and she dons the cat costume as a way of escaping her life. He'd revisit this in The Dark Knight Returns where Selina is portrayed as a fat, aging madame at a brothel who is attacked and trussed up in a Wonder Woman outfit. Oh yeah, this guy so respects women.

While Paul Dini may have proven himself as a capable writer of female characters with his depictions of Harley Quinn and Zatanna, he fumbled while writing Catwoman in Heart of Hush. She became little more than a plot device when he had Hush surgically removed her heart as a way of driving Batman insane.

Catwoman's lack of luck with decent depictions continued in 2011 when Judd Winick was assigned to write her title. While his characterization would improve with later issues, he initially depicted Selina as a reckless and rather stupid character who blindly sleeps with Batman in his first issue. Why must writers treat Catwoman as if she's little more than a blow-up doll?

06. Dazzler (Marvel)

The Perpetrator: Brian Michael Bendis

Introduced in the 1980s, Dazzler starred in a groundbreaking solo series and eventually became an integral member of the X-Men. The character would largely disappear from publication in the 1990s and dropped into the D-list. In more recent years, she's returned to prominence.

After stints in New Excalibur and X-Treme X-Men, Dazzler was scooped up by Brian Michael Bendis for his run on Uncanny X-Men. She became a S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison and was given a super chic outfit… then things got weird. Bendis had Mystique shoot Dazzler in the head and then hold her captive in order to harvest Mutant Growth Hormones from her. Now angry and bitter, Marvel's Lightengale has cut her hair and dresses like she belongs on a street corner. Hey Bendis, Dazzler isn't a character of darkness… she's not Lisbeth Salander, she's Kylie Minogue. Kay thanks.

05. Black Canary (DC Comics)

The Perpetrators: Mike Grell, Frank Miller

Let's be really honest here, Black Canary has been done wrong a lot. She's been continually victimized and hadn't been written right until Chuck Dixon's Birds of Prey. Two of the worst instances of poor characterization come from the desks of Mike Grell and Frank Miller.

During Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters, Black Canary was relegated to a background player and was depicted as little more than Green Arrow's hapless girlfriend. While investigating a drug ring, she was kidnapped and tortured. This left her emotionally and physically scarred, without her Canary Cry and unable to have children. For a character who is supposed to be one of the greatest martial artists and detectives, it seems unfathomable how she would have even been kidnapped in the first place.

For his alternate reality title All-Star Batman & Robin, Frank Miller introduced Black Canary as a scantily clad bartender whose violent tendencies were only matched by her sexual appetite. As usual, Miller continues his streak of depicting women as violent nymphomaniacs.

04. Jean Grey (Marvel)

The Perpretrator: Grant Morrison

As one of the founding members of the X-Men, Jean Grey is one of the most recognizable female characters at Marvel. She's been consistently depicted as the team's den mother and is portrayed as one of their universe's most powerful characters.

During his run on New X-Men, Grant Morrison seemed to have a personal vendetta against Miss Jean. She went from being one of the more compassionate members of the X-Men to being rather careless and cold. She seemed unconcerned with what her husband Cyclops had been going through after being consumed by Apocalypse and instead went off to play superhero. When she discovers that Cyclops has been engaging in an affair with Emma Frost, she directs her anger towards Emma and subsequently forces her rival to live through all her most painful memories. Shortly after this, Jean hooks up with Wolverine and is then brutally murdered by an imitation of Magneto. All in all, Morrison single-handedly turned the matriarch into a vengeful shrew and then kills her off.

03. Barbara Gordon (DC Comics)

The Perpetrator: Alan Moore

The Killing Joke continues to be cited as one of the greatest Batman stories of all time, but it is also one of the most disgusting displays of disregard towards the female sex. In the pages of this graphic novel, Alan Moore takes one of DC Comics' most influential heroines and does despicable things to her.

During his one-man crusade to drive Commissioner Gordon crazy, the Joker targets his daughter Barbara and uses her in his schemes. He invades her apartment, shoots her, and molests her. He takes pictures of the degrading event and shows them to her father. In the end, Barbara is left barely holding on to her sanity and is confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Let's get this straight, the vast majority of the comic community cites this story as the best and it is a story that features the injuring and rape of a character strictly for the emotional torment of another character. This isn't okay and it should never be. It would take the combined efforts of John Ostrander, Chuck Dixon, and Gail Simone, as well as two decades worth of storytelling to wipe the smear of Alan Moore's contempt towards women off of Barbara Gordon.

02. Wonder Woman (DC Comics)

The Perpetrators: John Byrne, Frank Miller

As the most iconic superheroine of all time, Wonder Woman has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions. However, she's also been the victim to many crimes committed against her by supposedly talented writers. From her eye-roll worthy Silver Age depictions to the degrading thong costume of the '90s, Wonder Woman has never been more wronged than when John Byrne and Frank Miller got their hands on her.

During his run on Wonder Woman, John Byrne tore through the Amazing Amazon's world like a bulldozer. He removed her supporting cast and replaced it with inferior carbon copies, sacrificed Themyscira, and turned the title into a rotating guest starring book. As if that weren't enough, he killed off Wonder Woman without a fight and then messed with her continuity by having her mother take up the mantle.

For The Dark Knight Strikes Again and All-Star Batman & Robin, Frank Miller fell into the tried and true Wonder Woman as feminazi characterization. He presented her as a violent and irrational man-hating Amazon who turned into putty in Superman's manly arms. Many other writers would portray her this way, but Miller's just too easy a target here. Maybe he should start writing women like multi-dimensional characters instead of sexually aggressive hero-hookers.

01. Carol Danvers (Marvel)

The Perpetrators: James Shooter, Chris Claremont

As Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers was Marvel's very first feminist heroine. Her title regularly subverted stereotypical portrayals of women in comic books and she became one of the most capable heroes in the Marvel Universe. Then she joined the Avengers and she was sucked into a vacuum of victimization.

In Avengers #200, it was revealed that Carol had been raped by an otherworldly being known as Immortus and gives birth to a baby boy after a gestation period of only a few days. Her teammates seem unconcerned with her health and sanity, as they gush over the pregnancy while simultaneously ignoring Carol's pleas for help. In the end, they allow her to be carted off to another dimension by her rapist and show zero regard for her well-being. By and large, this storyline continues to be one of the most disgusting instances of the mistreatment of women at Marvel and the company has long tried to act like it never happened.

Former Ms. Marvel writer Chris Claremont would attempt to rectify this event, but only ended up doing more damage. He has the then-evil mutant known as Rogue attack Carol. Rogue absorbs too much of Carol's abilities and memories, then dumps her seemingly lifeless body off the Golden Gate Bridge. Carol is subsequently saved by Spider-Woman and is then taken in by the X-Men. It is then revealed that this event has left Carol without an emotional attachment to her memories and she has lost her superpowers. Shortly after this, Carol regains her abilities and receives a major power upgrade. While it seemed like Claremont was building towards Carol joining the X-Men full-time, she would leave the team when Professor Xavier allowed Rogue to join. Even though the X-Men stood with Carol and threatened to quit the team, Professor X pulled rank. His lack of loyalty towards Carol proved to be the nail in her coffin. Unfortunately, it seems like Claremont's decision to write Carol off denied her A-list status and allowed Rogue to take her place instead.

Thankfully, most of the women on this list have been taken in by more capable writers who have the utmost respect for them. The lesson to be learned here is that women are not objects to be maimed and injured for the sake of shock value. Beyond that, it is a matter of consistency as well. More often than not, many of the women landed on this list due to a lack of concern towards established characterization.