I remember one of the first times I was in a comic book store, and as I perused around looking at DC and Marvel superheroes, I found myself staring at a figurine of a young girl with a long bushy tail holding up an adorable little squirrel in her hand. I started giggling and pointed it out to my friend, who in turn looked at me very seriously and said, “Squirrel girl is a badass! She is one of the most powerful superheroes there is!”

I couldn’t believe it. A – Squirrel – Girl? Really?

The next thing I know, I am looking through her comics and reading up on her origin story.

It’s true. She is a badass. Let me tell you why.

All About The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

So, Squirrel Girl or Doreen Allene Green is a Marvel superhero that was first introduced in the Marvel Super-Heroes comics vol. 2 #8. In the comic, she and Iron Man collide in a forest. Hoping to attract his attention and become his sidekick, Doreen had put on a costume and hoped to demonstrate all of her cool abilities to him. She, along with her pet squirrel, Monkey Joe, eventually defeat Doctor Doom. Although Iron Man is impressed by Squirrel girl, he refuses to take her on as his sidekick, saying that she is too young. They part ways, but she remains determined to become a superhero and join a group of other heroes who will be more accepting of her than the humans who make fun of her.

Though keeping a humbler and smaller profile, she eventually does become part of the Avengers.

Well, one of the Avenger teams, at least. She fights alongside the Great Lake Avengers with Marvel superheroes such as Mister Immortal, Doorman, Flatman, and Good Boy. Steadily gaining a strong reputation for herself, she eventually becomes known by S.H.I.E.L.D, who regard her as one of the best superheroes in the nation.

So, what makes Squirrel Girl – Squirrel Girl?

Squirrel Girl is a human mutant with squirrel-like capabilities and the talent of being able to talk to squirrels, which comes in surprisingly handy. I know it sounds almost absurd, but didn’t we just discuss Aquaman and his communication with fish? I guess Aquaman isn’t sporting a huge fluffy tail. Unlike Aquaman’s telepathic ability to talk to marine life, Squirrel Girl can communicate back and forth with squirrels entirely. Mimicking their sounds, she often directs and commands large numbers of them to help distract, bewilder, and attack her adversaries.

Her Powers

Her squirrely powers and unique features include superhuman strength and agility with heightened reflexes, superior vision, hearing, and sense of smell. Along with her large tail, she has powerful teeth, sharp claws, and retractable spikes on her knuckles. So, besides jumping from tree to tree and slice and dice her enemies with her claws, her bite is also so powerful as to go through solid steel.

Squirrel Girl was always meant to be portrayed as a somewhat silly, fun, and light-hearted character. However, that doesn’t stop her from being capable of defeating some of the biggest and most powerful supervillains out there (including Thanos… yes, Thanos).

Some other fun facts about Squirrel Girl:

  • She was the nanny of Danielle Jones. Comic book heroes Luke Cage and Jessica Jones hire Squirrel girl as a nanny to their daughter.
  • She was co-created by artist Steve Ditko (who also created Spider-Man and Dr. Strange) and writer Will Murray. Murray said he created her because of an old girlfriend who liked “critters.”
  • She embarrassed a lot of bad guys. She not only defeated Thanos, but she also beat Deadpool, Kraven the Hunter, Baron Mordo, Korvac, and several other major evildoers.
  • Besides her little sidekick, Monkey Joe, Squirrel Girl was usually accompanied by one or more other squirrel friends who had some fun names like, Tippy-Toe, Nutso, Slippy Pete, and Mr. Freckle.
  • She keeps nuts and snacks in a utility belt known, funnily enough, as her “nut sack.” Always hungry, she was constantly snacking on nuts and feeding her squirrel friends.
  • She had a brief but unsuccessful relationship with Wolverine.
  • Instead of fighting Galactus, the eater of worlds, she ends up befriending him and convincing him to eat a world full of nuts instead of Earth.

Squirrel Girl the Movie?

Although we keep hearing about Squirrel Girl coming to the big screen, she has yet to make it there. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn is apparently a huge fan of Squirrel Girl and at one point talked about making her movie, but no luck yet.

Marvel’s New Warriors television series that they first started talking about in 2016 never came to fruition. Hoping that Disney Plus, Hulu, or ABC would eventually pick up the series, many fans have been patiently waiting, but it doesn’t seem very likely.

There have been a few top celebrities who have talked about starring as Squirrel Girl. Anna Kendrick, the star of Pitch Perfect, was quoted as saying that she would take on the role if Marvel ever had the desire to ask her. Several fans had even started taking photos of the star and dressing her up as Squirrel Girl.  Sadly, however, it doesn’t look like that will be happening, or at least not anytime soon.

Still, fans like myself haven’t given up hope and are optimistic about seeing a movie or television show in the future.

Personally, I think that Squirrel Girl would make a great animated television series either for adults or kids. Squirrel Girl is known for having a bit of a potty mouth, so it may be better to stick to adults. Either way, I believe that Squirrel Girl and her squirrel friends would be a major hit, particularly because it would be something more playful and funny compared to the more serious productions in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In the meantime, we will just keep our fingers crossed and hope that it eventually gets added to the long list of Marvel movies and tv shows that are being scheduled in the next few years.