The Marvel Cinematic Universe would be nothing without its powerful heroines. From actresses such as Scarlett Johansson, Brie Larson, Natalie Portman, Zoe Saldaña, Zendaya, Gemma Chan and Elizabeth Olsen, the epic superhero multiverse is gradually reaching new heights in diversity and inclusion. While the dedicated ladies have spoken out about the pressures of body image standards and the sexualization of female characters, some of them have also encouraged fans to embrace their natural physiques by sharing vacay or beach photos wearing a stunning bikini or swimsuit!
Ant-Man star Evangeline Lilly once shared a strong message about self-confidence via Instagram.
“#waspworkout Recently, I had a day where I was really feeling myself and my body in a new way,” Evangeline wrote in June 2021 alongside photos of her rocking a sexy black one-piece. “That day, bed-head, no make-up, sticky in the Hawaii heat, I felt connected to myself, my power and my beauty in way that felt unapologetic, grown and autonomous. I snapped some posey pictures, until a song swept me up in movement [sic].”
The actress then concluded that she “thought [she] would post” these photos “with a caption that basically said, ‘My body is not a trend.’”
“Whatever the trend of the moment says — skinny and twiggy, slender and elegant, tough and Tom-boy, curvy and sensual, voluptuous and banging, always young — none of them dictate me,” Evangeline added. “My athletic, strong body has always been my friend, my companion, my servant, my queen and my guide … and I [honor] her.”
Fans of the mega-famous franchise recall that infamous ending scene in Avengers: Endgame when all of the super heroines join the others to defeat Thanos. Brie, who portrays Captain Marvel, opened up to Variety about how many of her castmates have expressed an interest in creating an all-women movie.
“I will say that a lot of the female cast members from Marvel walked up to [president of Marvel Studios] Kevin [Feige] and we were like, ‘We are in this together, we want to do this,’” she explained. “What that means, I have no idea. You know, I’m not in charge of the future of Marvel, but it is something that we’re really passionate about and we love, and I feel like if enough people out in the world talk about how much they want it, maybe it’ll happen.”
Fellow MCU star Scarlett, however, once touched on how she felt that her character Black Widow was “so sexualized” in Iron Man 2.
“I’m more accepting of myself, I think,” she told Collider in June 2021 regarding the evolution of the perception of women in film. “All of that is related to that move away from the kind of hyper-sexualization of this character and, I mean, you look back at Iron Man 2 and, while it was really fun and had a lot of great moments in it, the character is so sexualized, you know? Really talked about like she’s a piece of something, like a possession or a thing or whatever — like a piece of ass, really. And Tony [Stark] even refers to her as something like that at one point.”
As the rest of the Marvel actresses continue to soar in both their careers and in this franchise, they inspire the fans to embrace self-love.
Scroll down to see some of the Marvel ladies’ hottest bikini and swimsuit photos!
