Pop culture writers are always looking for timely hooks to hang their stories on. A current event, a trend re-creating the zeitgeist, that something that’s in the air that everyone’s talking about.

That’s why every March, you can’t swing an I’m Feeling Lucky Google search without hitting some type of non-sports, pop culture-specific feature that plays off the NCAA’s college basketball tournament bracket. Best candy? There’s a bracket for it. Best NPR program? Who hasn’t wondered how Terry Gross and Fresh Air should be seeded? Hell, there’s even a bracket for the brackets.

But instead of picking random topics to run through a bracket, we decided to coordinate our trending topics like a snazzy, mix-and-matched Garanimals ensemble and build a tournament around two other front-of-mind topics:

+ Marvel Comics recently announcing A-Force, it’s first all-female Avengers comic book series, which will be released in June
+ March being National Women’s History Month

With that in mind, Myspace unveils its Greatest Female Avenger Sweet Sixteen Tournament.

We’ve seeded 16 superheroines who have been members of Marvel’s premiere “beat up the bad guys” team and had them face off against one another based on their character traits, popularity and legacy. Keep in mind: This isn’t about the power—it’s about the people. It’s not important if the character has the super-strength to kick Galactus in the ‘nads and save the world. It’s more important that she’s the kind of character who has the chutzpah to save the world by planting a knee into Galactus’s galacta-groin, even though she doesn’t possess a lick of super-ability.

Agree or disagree with the seedings and the results? Who do you think should take home the title? Leave your thoughts and opinions about the bracket in the comments section. And check back later this week for our Final Four and championship rounds.

Click to enlarge! (Marvel / Myspace)

ROUND 1

AVENGERS MANSION BRACKET

(1) WASP (Janet Van Dyne)

Wasp gets a bad rap because her codename doesn’t just describe her superpowers, it also describes her ethnicity: White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. And in many cases, she’s been portrayed somewhere in between a stuck-up, privileged, only child of old money and a ditzy, privileged, only child of old money. But Wasp was a founding member of the Avengers and came up with the team’s name (comic book universe only). Plus, she ably led the Avengers on more than one occasion as its chairwoman. It’s hard to call a top seed an underdog, but this Avengers vet doesn’t get the respect she deserves.

Game-Winners: The Avengers #273-277. Although Wasp headed the team during one of its darkest moments—the Masters of Evil took down the Avengers through force of numbers, putting Hercules in a coma and holding Captain America hostage and torturing him in Avengers Mansion—she’s also responsible for them defeating the bad guys through strategy and being a bit of a badass. Writer Roger Stern, along with great art from John Buscema and Tom Palmer, shows why Jan’s as worthy of leading the Avengers as an alcoholic who wears a weapon of mass destruction.

 

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(8) ECHO (Maya Lopez)

You know how Daredevil is blind, but he’s actually more physically adept a crimefighter than any sighted person could ever be? In Maya’s case, take the previous sentence and replace “Daredevil” with “Echo,” “blind” with “deaf” and “crimefighter” with “assassin-turned-crimefighter.” She joined the Avengers disguised as a mysterious male hero named Ronin because readers immediately guessed Ronin was really supposed to be Daredevil in disguise (no, seriously, the comics industry, everyone). As soon as Echo outed herself to the team, however, she decided to get outta the team. Echo occasionally popped up during team adventures, before being murdered in an issue of Moon Knight in order to give that book’s star the emotional fortitude to defeat the villain against impossible odds. Because that’s what you do with potentially interesting female characters in comics. But hey, Ant-Man’s getting a movie.

Game-Winners: Daredevil (vol. 2) #51-55. Echo’s introduction to the Marvel Universe—written and drawn by David Mack—is probably her finest moment. Her time as an Avenger, not so much.

WHO WINS? Wasp. Do you really expect a founding member to get bounced in the first round by an Avenger who didn’t even join under her real codename?

 

(2) SCARLET WITCH (Wanda Maximoff)

Problematic doesn’t even begin to describe the Scarlet Witch’s Avengers legacy, given all the times she’s been mind-controlled and manipulated. In the best of those situations, Wanda is characterized as a powerful mutant (or is she now an Inhuman as of five shameless, corporate, money-hoarding minutes ago?) with a delicate mental state that’s easily exploited. In the worst of the situations, she’s a volatile, mentally unstable superhuman capable of destroying her (android) husband, her friends and even all mutantkind. Despite that, the Scarlet Witch has been a cornerstone in almost every incarnation of the Avengers and, in many ways, the compassionate soul of a group that is more or less a military strikeforce. Wanda went from terrorist to hero, loved a robot unconditionally and is even the mother to twin boys … sorta, kinda (don’t make me explain this). Ironic that a mutant (or should that be Inhuman?) represents the humanity in the Avengers.

 

Game-Winners: The Vision and Scarlet Witch (vol. 1) #1-4. This miniseries by Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi takes Wanda and her android husband out of the Avengers and the big city and into domestic life in the suburbs. Don’t worry. More happens in the series than run-ins with the homeowners association.

 

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(7) SERSI

Sersi is part of a race of human hybrids known as the Eternals who are as old and as powerful as Asgardians like Thor. An occasional ally of the Avengers, she joined the team on a full-time basis after a personal invitation from Captain America and served for a healthy, if unimpressive, stint.

 

Game-Winners: The Avengers #314-315. Her first mission as an official Avenger—written by John Byrne and illustrated by Paul Ryan and Tom Palmer—as she’s the key to helping the team defeat Nebula (remember her from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie?). Plus, Spider-Man guest-stars in those issues.

 

WHO WINS? Scarlet Witch. As troublesome as her history might be, Wanda has had the resiliency to bounce back, and May’s upcoming Avengers movie might be the proper reclamation project the character needs.

 

(3) SHE-HULK (Jennifer Walters)

She-Hulk is one of the most popular Avengers, male or female, and certainly a more valuable and stable member than her cousin, the Hulk. Her Jennifer Walters side makes her a fine lawyer, while her She-Hulk persona is unapologetic about enjoying the freedom her superhero stature and lifestyle afford her. But it’s her flaw of not always being able to balance the two that define her as such a relatable character. There’s something to be said about a woman who feels comfortable in her own 7-foot, green skin.  

Game-Winners: She-Hulk (vol. 1) #1-4. This is a tough one to pick because She-Hulk has had quite a few memorable adventures as an Avenger, a member of the Fantastic Four and as a solo heroine. However, the first four issues of her 2004 series, written by Dan Slott and gorgeously illustrated by Juan Bobillo perfectly capture what defines her as a character.

(6) HELLCAT (Patsy Walker)

Back in the 1940s, Patsy Walker started life as a teen comics character in the mold of Archie Andrews. In the 1970s, though, writer Steve Englehart turned the fictional teen model into a fictional adult superhero whose first adventure in costume was fighting alongside the Avengers. Technically, she’s never been an official active member of the team—only maintaining probationary and reserve memberships at various points—but her moxie and fiery nature have made her an ally that regular members enjoyed having around during the 1970s and 1980s. Plus, she was married for a long time to Daimon Hellstrom, a dude who bills himself as the straight-up Son of Satan. (To be fair, though, Hellstrom has fought on the side of angels for the most part; it’s his sinister twin sister Satana who’s the real bad apple of the family—or would that make her the apple of the family’s eye?) Anyone who could live through that marriage (well, technically, she was briefly dead, committing suicide after being driven mad upon seeing Hellstrom’s true satanic form) was probably going to do just fine against guys like Egghead or the Hood.

 

Game-Winners: Patsy Walker: Hellcat #1-5. While Patsy’s donning of the Hellcat mantle—running in The Avengers #144-151—is a nice superhero introduction, this 2008 miniseries written by Kathryn Immonen and illustrated by David Lafunete is a much more entertaining look at the character. Patsy is a dynamic hero in this series who shows that literally having been to Hell and back doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy life.

 

WHO WINS? She-Hulk. It’s appropriate that these two should square off, given their refreshingly spirited personalities and given Hellcat’s co-starring role in She-Hulk’s recently cancelled series. She-Hulk pulls ahead, however, thanks to her legacy in the Marvel Universe.

(4) SPECTRUM (Monica Rambeau)

As a character, Spectrum is the Sister Rosetta Tharpe of modern superhero comics: an almost-forgotten pioneer on the short end of history’s stick for not being considered one of the best Avengers of all time. Spectrum was a combination of Miles Morales and Carol Danvers when she was introduced in 1982 as the new Captain Marvel, an African-American woman taking up the title of a revered white, male hero. Under the guidance of writer Roger Stern, readers saw Monica mature as a hero, going from Avengers trainee to valued core member to leader of the team. She also was an immensely powerful heroine—she can control and transform her body into all forms of energy across the electromagnetic spectrum—who wasn’t portrayed as a hysterical head case because of those abilities (paging Scarlet Witch, paging Jean Grey). Unfortunately, editorial interference from Marvel undermined all of Stern’s brilliant work by making her an incompetent leader in order to put Captain America back on the team. After that, she drifted through identities—Photon, Pulsar—until writer Warren Ellis and illustrator Stuart Immonen put her back on the map in their 2006 Nextwave series.

 

Game-Winners: The Avengers #279. Monica, as Captain Marvel, must decide whether to accept her nomination—by Captain America, no less—to be the next leader of the Avengers. This standalone issue, written by Roger Stern and illustrated by John Buscema and Tom Palmer, follows Spectrum through her decision-making process as she talks it over with her parents and deals with objections from her own teammates. It’s the perfect example of just how layered and relatable the character is.

 

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(5) FIRESTAR (Angelica Jones)

Like her first-round opponent, Firestar was a bit of an audience surrogate during her time as an Avenger. And like Spectrum, Firestar’s tenure also showed her maturation as a character. She also pushed all the nostalgia buttons for older fans who fell in love with her when she was introduced in the 1980s Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon.

 

Game-Winners: The Avengers (1998) #7-9. Early on as a member of the Avengers, Firestar worried that the radiation from extreme uses of her heat powers would give her cancer or cause sterility. These issues, written by Kurt Busiek and illustrated by George Perez and Al Vey, show what happens when Angelica put others’ safety before her own and how she deals with it.

 

WHO WINS? Spectrum. In a sense, both characters are Cinderella stories in this tournament. But Spectrum is Gonzaga to Firestar’s Valparaiso University. Ask your sports friends.

 

AVENGERS TOWER BRACKET

 

(1) BLACK WIDOW (Natalia “Natasha” Romanova)

As the only female member of movie Avengers, Black Widow probably holds the distinction of being Marvel’s most popular heroine (although fans of the X-Men’s Storm and a certain No. 2 seed in the Tower bracket might argue that point), with many of her backers wondering why she hasn’t received her own solo film yet (but hey, Ant-Man’s getting a film). During her different tenures as an Avengers associate, team member and even team leader, she’s gone from Cold War seductress to tortured-yet-sexy, uber-competent super spy in the Batman-James Bond mold.

 

Game-Winners: Secret Avengers #20. For a character without a singular, long-running series, the Widow has had an embarrassment of riches when its come to entertaining stories. This done-in-one, time travel tale by Warren Ellis and Alex Maleev is not only a great example of how resourceful Natasha can be it, but the creators also have a lot of fun using the structure and form of a single-issue comic book to play with the concept of time travel.

(8) SMASHER (Isabel Kane)

Smasher is part of the current era’s trend of anyone with superpowers receiving Avengers membership. Because of that, she’s become more of a plot mover than an actual character.  

 

Game-Winners: The Avengers (2013) #5. Writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Adam Kubert tell Smasher’s origin story as an Iowa farm girl who is granted superpowers and chosen to become the first Earthling to join the peacekeeping force of an intergalactic empire. Unfortunately, one of the best parts of the story—the fact that Smasher is actually the granddaughter of British sci-fi hero Dan Dare—has been eliminated, possibly because of legal reasons.

 

WHO WINS? Black Widow. Does this really need any explanation?

 

(3) CAPTAIN MARVEL (Carol Danvers)

Say hello to the darling of the tournament. SPORTS ANALOGY ALERT: If Black Widow is a perennial tournament powerhouse like Duke, Carol Danvers is like Kentucky, a program that embraces both its history and its look-to-the-future personality as the young gun on the block. Carol has done several tours as an Avenger, as Ms. Marvel, Warbird and now as Captain Marvel. But her current popularity—she’s set to get a solo film in 2018, and there are rumors she’ll make a cameo in Avengers: Age of Ultron—can be attributed to the work writer Kelly Sue DeConnick has done in the heroine’s solo title, as well as the writer’s efforts to support a vibrant, vocal online community of fans who go by the name of the Carol Corps. Plus, the sleek costume redesign she got from artist Jamie McKelvie’s hasn’t hurt either.

 

Game-Winners: DeConnick’s 2012 and current Captain Marvel series. This is the place to start for anyone wanting to find out why everyone is talking about the character.

(7) CRYSTAL (Crystal Amaquelin)

Much of Crystal’s claim to fame comes from her association with two other franchises: the Fantastic Four and the Inhumans. But she also served as an Avenger in the 1990s, a less-than-auspicious time in the team’s publishing history.

Game-Winners: Fantastic Four #45-48. Crystal’s first appearance is still her best in this Stan Lee-Jack Kirby masterpiece that also introduced the Inhumans.

 

WHO WINS? Captain Marvel. Either you’re on the Captain Marvel bus or you’re getting run over by it.

 

(3) SPIDER-WOMAN (Jessica Drew)

Although she’s been an on-again, off-again associate of the team, Spider-Woman’s recent history with the Avengers as an official member is a little complicated. A bit like how Azealia Banks’s relationship with Iggy Azalea is a little stormy. The Spider-Woman who originally joined the New Avengers was actually the queen of the Skrulls, an alien race of shape-changers out to take over Earth. After being liberated from her Skrull kidnappers, the real Spider-Woman became an official member of the team and only recently stepped down to deal with personal issues (and got a spiffy costume change, too). While many of her modern adventures with the Avengers aren’t really hers, Spider-Woman still has a reputation in good standing thanks to her tough-as-nails persona, as well as her strong relationships with fellow members like Carol Danvers.

Game-Winners: The Avengers Annual #10. Spider-Woman isn’t a member in this appearance, but she does help the team defeat the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in this classic issue written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Michael Golden. Although it’s best known for being the first appearance of X-Men star Rogue, this annual also establishes the close friendship between Carol Danvers and Jessica Drew.

(6) TIGRA

Maybe it’s the fact that her design is basically that of a furry wearing a bikini, but despite being an Avenger in long-standing, as well as a founder of the team’s West Coast branch, Tigra is probably one of the most poorly handled characters the team has had. She’s continually been portrayed as the team tart whose libidinous, ditzy nature puts her in the role of victim more times than victor.

 

Game-Winners: West Coast Avengers (1984) #1-4. Most Tigra-centric stories are airballs, but the four-issue miniseries—written by Roger Stern and drawn by Bob Hall—that introduced the West Coast team does a nice job of playing down her sexpot persona and emphasizing her struggles as an inexperienced heroine trying to make the right decisions.

 

WHO WINS? Spider-Woman. Tigra’s in desperate need of a character makeover that stops portraying her as either a fetish object or a punchline to a double entendre.  

 

(4) MOCKINGBIRD (Bobbi Morse)

Mockingbird is another example of a female Avenger with a complicated and problematic history on the team (imagine that). She was married to longtime member Hawkeye and was founding member of the West Coast Avengers until she was told it was against team bylaws to let the man who raped you die. Her husband left her, and she was kicked off the team. Then she was abducted by the Skrulls in the same plot that involved Spider-Woman. Since then, she’s been part of the regular team, as well as the Avengers’ secret, covert ops arm, thanks to her pre-superhero S.H.I.E.L.D. experience. Mockingbird’s future is looking brighter, however, thanks in large part to the character appearing (without the codename or costume) as a regular on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While she might come across as an off-market Black Widow or Spider-Woman, that’s certainly a step up from being an emotionally unbalanced woman who’s punished for being a victim.

 

Game-Winners: Hawkeye & Mockingbird #1-6. Writer Jim McCann and artist Dave Lopez cast the two Avengers as the Mr. and Mrs. Smith of the Marvel Universe, while also trying to resolve some of the more troubling aspects of Mockingbird’s past.

(5) JEWEL (Jessica Jones)

Remember Jewel’s adventures with the classic lineup of Avengers? Yeah, no one did until writer Brian Michael Bendis retconned her time with team when he was writing Jessica Jones as retired superheroine-turned-private eye in the Marvel MAX series Alias. It was a move that could’ve backfired, but it created a connection that has worked well for the character and the team. Now a mother, Jessica hasn’t returned to the costume full time, but she has fought with the team when needed, and she’s been a cornerstone of some of the more recent rosters, even if she’s left the spandex in the closet.

 

Game-Winners: Alias by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Gaydos. The series that brought Jessica Jones to the Marvel Universe shows a woman slowly coming to terms with her superheroine past as she struggles to accept the person she is now. As a sidenote, Alias also will be the basis of the upcoming A.K.A. Jessica Jones Netflix series, starring Kristen Ritter.

 

WHO WINS? Jewel. Mockingbird might have the history, but Jewel has the depth of character.

 

ROUND 2

AVENGERS MANSION BRACKET

Click to enlarge! (Marvel / Myspace)

 

(1) WASP vs. (3) SHE-HULK

WHO WINS? She-Hulk. There’s something to be said about a character who has the intelligence and discipline to be a respected legal mind, as well as the self-awareness to embrace—and even better, enjoy—the personal freedom her Hulkiness affords her. Peter Parker could learn some lessons about great powers and great responsibility from She-Hulk.

 

(2) SCARLET WITCH vs. (4) SPECTRUM

WHO WINS? Spectrum. The Scarlet Witch might represent the heart of the Avengers, but it’s Spectrum who you want as your teammate both when you’re battling the bad guy or unwinding after saving the world on one of Tony Stark’s expensive sectionals in Avengers Tower.

 

AVENGERS TOWER BRACKET

 

(1) BLACK WIDOW vs. (3) SPIDER-WOMAN

WHO WINS? Black Widow. In this war of the webs, Black Widow is the queen bee.

 

(2) CAPTAIN MARVEL vs. (5) JEWEL

WHO WINS? Captain Marvel. They might be friends in the comics, but in our bracket Carol shows no mercy handling Jewel.

Click to enlarge! (Marvel/Myspace)