The Real Superpower of Marvel’s Squirrel Girl
How the joke character Squirrel Girl became a true superhero and what we can learn about embracing our own insecurities to gain self-confidence.
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The world of superheroes is filled with characters who have astonishing powers: super-strength, incredible speed, unbreakable skin, heat vision… the list goes on. Even characters that are ostensibly ‘normal’ humans have some kind of wild advantage over their peers; Batman is impossibly rich, Iron Man is an unrivaled tech genius, and Captain America was enhanced by a super-soldier serum.
On rare occasions, we get to see the in-betweens: people who have powers, but not particularly impressive ones. I’m talking about characters like Explodey Boy, the mutant with the power to, well, explode. These characters usually show up to provide comic relief by being in over their heads in the superhero game, or they simply sidestep superheroes altogether and find a mundane use for their fantastical (but not fantastic) power.
Over the last decade or so, however, one such character has notably bucked the trend, going from a wacky joke character to a bona fide, beloved superhero: Doreen Green, better known as the unbeatable Squirrel Girl.
When she first appeared in 1991’s Marvel Super-Heroes Winter Special, Squirrel Girl was little more than a joke–the punchline, being that, despite her ridiculous power (the ability to talk to squirrels, as well as a bushy squirrel-like tail), she managed to defeat Doctor Doom. After that, she pretty much dropped off the map, popping up occasionally to join the Great Lakes Avengers or babysit for Jessica Jones.
“We're here to kick butts and eat nuts”
- Doreen Grey, Squirrel Girl
Finally, in 2015, Squirrel Girl got her own series, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, and writer Ryan North showed the world that there was a lot more to Doreen than easy gags about squirrel-based superheroic.
The book is hilarious, don’t get me wrong–but what really makes Squirrel Girl stand out is her positive attitude and sense of confidence. Doreen isn’t self-conscious about who she is; she knows she has a weird superpower, and she loves it–she doesn’t let other heroes talk down to her or make her feel insecure about herself.
It’s not that Squirrel Girl doesn’t have insecurities–it’s just that she’s found a way to use those insecurities to motivate herself. This is best illustrated by one of my favorite Squirrel Girl scenes, in which she’s facing off against Ratatoskr, a Norse god who happens to look like a squirrel. In the story, Ratatoskr is stirring up trouble by amplifying the jealousies and insecurities of the people of New York. Once she realizes what’s going on, Doreen addresses Ratatoskr’s victims with the following words of wisdom:
“I know how Ratatoskr works, how she preys on your insecurity and jealousy to make you attack others because you feel bad about yourself. But you don’t have to let that happen! The only reason you'd do that is if you're ashamed of your insecurities! I am a superhero and I am here to tell you that feeling insecure is nothing to be ashamed of. We all have anxieties, but--and this may sound crazy--they're actually kinda what makes us awesome! Real talk: I was insecure about my own fighting and jealous of other people's skills. So you know what I did? I got better at fighting!”
As someone who has spent most of his life struggling with insecurities and anxieties, I can’t tell you how much it meant to me to see that sentiment expressed. I’ve always thought of my insecurities as a weakness–something that made me somehow lesser than other, more confident people. As Squirrel Girl points out, though, our insecurities can actually be a powerful tool for self-improvement–if we let them:
“Envy isn't about the person you're jealous of: it's about yourself. It's your mind telling you exactly what you want, and you know what that is? That's friggin' self-knowledge, and it's the most important thing in the universe. It's how we tell ourselves what we need to work on in order to make ourselves the better, happier, more awesome version of us that we deserve to be!”
That’s a beautiful idea, isn’t it? By adopting a more positive outlook, Squirrel Girl has managed to transform what most people think of as a weakness into one of her greatest strengths.
“I am a super hero and I am here to tell you that feeling insecure is nothing to be ashamed of.”
- Doreen Grey, Squirrel Girl
It’s also important to note that Doreen doesn’t just have self-confidence–she also has confidence in others. In fact, that’s arguably her greatest superpower; more often than not, she isn’t defeating her foes by summoning an army of squirrels, but by convincing them that they have the power to be a better person. (Admittedly, sometimes she does need an army of squirrels… but usually, the power of positivity gets things done!)
For instance, look at how she talks to the classic Spider-Man villain the Rhino. Rhino is most commonly depicted as a brute, not good for much of anything besides smashing through walls and robbing banks. That’s not how Squirrel Girl chooses to treat him, though. Instead, she tells him this:
“Listen, when I look at you, do you know what I see? Because I don’t see the irascible, territorial, unpredictable brute you’ve named yourself after. I see a man with gifts, special powers that nobody else on the planet shares. I see an even more magical beast, a unique and legendary animal too perfect for this world. I don’t see the Rhino. I see the Unicorn.”
So often, all we can see of ourselves are the negatives–the things we can’t do as well as we’d like or the mistakes we’ve made in the past. We give ourselves labels like “dumb” or “clumsy”--we think of ourselves as Rhinos, and we envy the Unicorns of the world. The truth is, though, we can all be Unicorns! All we have to do is turn those insecurities into motivation, focus on self-improvement, and learn to love the things that make us unique–because no matter who you are or how you feel about yourself, you have something that makes you special.
Author:
Ethan McIntyre is a writer and podcaster with a deep love of comic books, horror movies, and giant robots. You can find him on his blog, It Came From Off Panel, or on Twitter @offpanelpod, where he discusses nerdy topics like tabletop games and the weird skull bear from the film Annihilation.
Read more on what we can learn from superheroes: X-Men and the Power of Being True to Yourself and The Divinity and Humanity of Superman, Captain America, and Ourselves
