In the past two years, Marvel Comics has pushed strong female characters to the forefront of its multiverse. These characters vary in age and race, offering relatable role models to a global audience. For example, throwback do-gooder and future film star Captain Marvel is a former Air Force pilot modeled after Chuck Yeager and Gloria Steinem, while current Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan is a Muslim teen of Pakistani descent and a star-struck fangirl. Even established characters have changed with the times—Jane Foster (Natalie Portman’s character in the movies) now possesses the hammer and powers of Thor.

Among this influx of women characters is one who is not just strong—she’s unbeatable! Wide-eyed college freshman Doreen Green possesses squirrels’ varied and surprisingly useful powers and can talk actual squirrels into doing her bidding. Thus, she’s Squirrel Girl when it’s time to kick bad guy’s butts (and also eat nuts).

Here’s 8 reasons why the lead hero of Marvel’s funniest title is no joke. Instead, she’s a beacon of friendship and feminism for the social media age.

She’s In Good Hands

Before unraveling the character’s many qualities, it’s only right to acknowledge the talents behind both Squirrel Girl solo series. Writer Ryan North (Dinosaur Comics, Adventure Time) has the right puns, jokes, and story ideas to keep the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl from being the Unreadable Squirrel Girl. Throw in Erica Henderson—the artist that’s also bringing us asexual Jughead—and you have the right outlook and look for Earth’s quirkiest hero.

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Her Circumstances Parody Superhero Tropes

Doreen Green is not the first teenager to balance crime fighting with an Empire State University course load. Spider-Man started that trend in the 1960s. She’s also not the first super hero to struggle with hiding her secret identity, as that problem is as old as super hero comics themselves. Unlike better-known characters, Doreen has a heightened sense of self-awareness (must be a squirrel thing?) absent from comics when most mainstream heroes debuted. I mean, has a Golden Age product like Superman ever drawn this much attention to his lack of a mask?

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She Practices Self-Love

Twenty years ago, many women in mainstream comics had unrealistically long legs, slim waists, and huge chests. Nowadays, Marvel does a much better job crafting characters that look realistic. Squirrel Girl is a great example of this realism. She’s an average looking college student—with a tail she passes off as an unusually large derrière. Doreen doesn’t let that, or her rodent-like buckteeth, lower her self-confidence. Instead, her unflinching self-love hopefully teaches readers of all ages and body types a thing or two about accepting themselves and others.

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She Avoids Fighting When Possible

It’s a joke to some that Squirrel Girl has wins over the likes of Kraven the Hunter, Dr. Doom, and even Galactus. Yet these victories happened in a way that didn’t completely bury established super villains. Instead of defeating these foes in typical good guy versus bad guy fashion, Squirrel Girl uses her smarts and wit to stop a fight from escalating. Through those means she convinced Kraven to leave her land-loving friends alone and hunt creatures of the sea; outsmarted Dr. Doom via time travel and befriended the feared devourer of worlds.

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The Same Squirrel Girl Logic That Disarms Evil Defeats Her Anxiety

Even the best self-help tape series of yore can’t match this legitimately empowering string of panels.

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She Kicks Butt When Fighting is Unavoidable

During her days with the Great Lakes Avengers, Squirrel Girl soundly defeated Thanos. Yes, that Thanos: the presumed main villain for the film version of the Avengers once they stop bickering with each other. Perhaps Marvel Studios should give Doreen a call?

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Her Friends Are Pretty Rad, Too

Doreen has a great supporting cast helping further stories. Her mom is a loud and proud Squirrel Girl fan without blowing her daughter’s cover—the soccer mom of the Marvel universe. Roommate Nancy Whitehead writes fan fiction in which her cat, Mew, is Thor. Occasional sidekicks and fellow Empire State students Chipmunk Hunk and Koi Boy keep the animal puns rolling. These four characters are lovable and established enough to carry an issue or two if Squirrel Girl gets amnesia.

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She’s a Social Media Savvy Fan Girl

Each issue of the current series, outside of a recent story that found Doreen and Nancy trapped in the World Wide Webless ‘60s, has opened with tweets by various Marvel characters. Many of Squirrel Girl’s tweets expose her as a love-struck Iron Man mega-fan. It’s a reference to her first appearance in the 1992 Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special. In that story, a 14-year-old Squirrel Girl attacks Iron Man to prove her skills to a potential crime fighting partner. A slightly older and wiser Doreen Green still pesters Tony Stark online and IRL. Though she’s a little pushy at times, Squirrel Girl’s social media use reminds us in its own peculiar way that we don’t have to outgrow comic books once we’re college age or beyond.

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