Fan Creation:Women in Refrigerators

Women in Refrigerators
Charlie Andrews was killed shortly after her introduction to develop Hiro's story.

Women in Refrigerators is the title of a list compiled by American comics author Gail Simone. It details occurrences of the victimization of female characters as a plot device in comics throughout the years.

About

Taking its name from an infamous event in Green Lantern where the hero returned home to find his girlfriend's dismembered body stuffed in his refrigerator by an adversary, the list originally merely provided a listing of events without much in the way of commentary or analysis, although on its face the list speaks volumes. The authors of the list submitted it to various other comic book creators for comment. Responses ranged from denial to disgust, and explanations offered ranged from poor writing to misogyny to the imbalance of secondary (and thus disposable) female characters compared to secondary male characters.

Heroes Characters in Refrigerators

List of Victimized Female Characters

The following female characters have been subjected to physical, psychological, emotional, or sexual violence.

• Charlie Andrews—blood clot in brain, murdered by Sylar
• Au Co--killed by Dallas
• Claire Bennet—repeatedly injured (both accidentally and intentionally), sexually assaulted, murdered, attacked by Sylar
• Sandra Bennet—repeatedly brainwashed on her husband's orders; beaten by Sylar; developing severe neurological disorder
• Simone Deveaux—codependent relationship, father dead, accidentally shot and killed by Isaac (possibly named after Gail Simone?)
• Hana Gitelman—female relatives killed by Nazis and terrorists; betrayed by AWI to become a vigilante, killed by satellite "virus" and re-entry
• Virginia Gray—killed in a struggle with her son Gabriel, her blood used for fingerpainting
• Eden McCain—abused and abandoned by her father, abused by her stepmother, former addict and thief, committed suicide when assaulted by Sylar
• Angela Petrelli—handed her son's "dead" body, attacked by an unseen enemy
• Heidi Petrelli—crippled in an accident, spousal infidelity
• Niki Sanders—abused as a child, alcoholic, forced to strip by Linderman's thugs, assaulted by Linderman's henchman, forced into non-consensual sex with Nathan Petrelli by her alter-ego, possibly psychotic, imprisoned in a padded cell, finally "trapped" in a mirror by Jessica, repeatedly beaten by Candice (mimicking Jessica)
• Dale Smither--murdered by Sylar
• Karen Sprague—dead from cancer due to husband's powers
• Shanti Suresh—dead from incurable genetic anomaly
• Lori Tremmel—raped by Brody Mitchum
• Molly Walker—parents brutally murdered, nearly abducted by Sylar, held at gunpoint by Mr. Bennet, emotionally hurt by seeing the various assaults of her fellow evolved humans, terrorized in her dreams by an unseen foe.
• Mrs. Walker—pinned to a wall and murdered by Sylar
• Jackie Wilcox—murdered by Sylar
• Candice Willmer—punched by Niki Sanders, killed by Sylar
• Dr. Witherson—attacked by Jessica

List of Victimized Male Characters

For purposes of comparison, the following male characters have been subjected to physical, psychological, emotional, or sexual violence.

• Lyle Bennet—brainwashed by orders of his father, witnessed his sister's "death"
• Noah Bennet--thrown against a cell wall by Sylar
• Crash--driven insane by Betty's illusions
• Dallas—shot by sniper, career damaged by Austin's actions
• Brian Davis—bludgeoned to death by Gabriel
• Charles Deveaux—spends the first episodes of the series dying
• D.L. Hawkins—framed by Jessica for theft and murder, falsely imprisoned, beaten and shot in the chest by Jessica, shot (possibly killed) by Linderman
• Mr. Linderman—pressured into action by Dallas, Punched repeatedly by Dallas, killed by D.L. Hawkins
• Aron Malsky—brutally murdered by Jessica
• Ando Masahashi—severely beaten by the high roller's thugs; injured in shootout between Hope and Steve Gustavson, neck cut by Sylar
• Isaac Mendez—kidnapped by the Company, forced to use heroin by Eden, brainwashed, emotionally disturbed by Candice, murdered by Sylar
• Brody Mitchum—car wrecked by Claire, mind-wiped by the Haitian, seriously handicapped by car crash
• Hiro Nakamura—knocked unconscious by the high roller's thug
• Matt Parkman—kidnapped by the Company, painfully handcuffed by Audrey, cuckolded, thrown out a window, knocked out by Mohinder, backfired by Sylar
• Nathan Petrelli—punched by Peter, abducted by Mr. Bennet; forced into a car accident by Mr. Linderman's men, (possibly) killed by Peter
• Peter Petrelli—thrown into pillar by Nathan's bodyguards, attacked by Sylar, repeatedly beaten and thrown off building by Claude, "killed" by Claude and Sylar
• Claude Rains—kidnapped by Mr. Bennet, tagged and possibly brainwashed in the past, shot repeatedly by Mr. Bennet, thrown off a roof by Peter
• Hal Sanders—beaten and threatened by Jessica
• Micah Sanders—arm smashed by Jessica, witnessed attack on Niki Sanders, kidnapped by Linderman, forced to commit crime by Candice, seen father grievously harmed twice
• Theodore Sprague—kidnapped by the Company, widowed, shot by Thompson, murdered by Sylar
• Chandra Suresh—killed by Sylar
• Sylar—kidnapped by The Company, drugged to near death; drugged and tortured by Mohinder Suresh; shot at by Matt Parkman, Mr. Bennet, and Mohinder Suresh, hit with parking meter by Niki Sanders, stabbed by Hiro
• Zane Taylor—murdered by Sylar
• James Walker—killed by Sylar
• Zach—brainwashed by order of Mr. Bennet, teased by Jackie Wilcox

External Links

• Women in Refrigerators
• Women in Refrigerators — Wikipedia