Why is fridging female characters popular again? (Spoilers)

[Spiderfan001]

Thanks for the info. I think fridging is before my time really getting deep into comics, i hear it quite a bit but i don't really get it.

Same, I hear about it a lot but I don't get it.

One of the reasons I do get is because a majority of titles are male lead and hence it's the female characters that die for the plot.Which makes sense as in side characters die for the plot as in for the main character.So really the problem isn't the "friding" but needing for female leads so that they can be the focus.Ofc heroes like Spider-man, Batman, Superman etc. are male lead but I feel in comics like X-men, Justice League, etc. give female characters the lead along w/ whatever female characters have their solos.

I get it if it's lazy but a decent to great executions/story are also called fridging which annoys me.Something like Death of Jean Dewolfe would be called frdiging but it's one of the best stories so I think it gets a pass.People will label any female death as friding , case in point people saying Wolverine fridged Jean when it was an entire group and death doesn't even matter.

And for the domino thing it was her own story, Peter in his last run was tortured/tormented w/ nightmares and then killed brutally 9 times(beaten to death w/ some stone, being ripped in half, heart being taken out of chest, being held under water/some other liquid until he drowns,neck snapped etc.) and then brought back to life by who he thought was his best friend.

I feel fridging and other terms/tropes loose their meaning because they are applied in every possible scenario .It's a legit complaint but it's used to criticize so much that has nothing to do w/ it.

[jwatson]

Same, I hear about it a lot but I don't get it.

One of the reasons I do get is because a majority of titles are male lead and hence it's the female characters that die for the plot.Which makes sense as in side characters die for the plot as in for the main character.So really the problem isn't the "friding" but needing for female leads so that they can be the focus.Ofc heroes like Spider-man, Batman, Superman etc. are male lead but I feel in comics like X-men, Justice League, etc. give female characters the lead along w/ whatever female characters have their solos.

I get it if it's lazy but a decent to great executions/story are also called fridging which annoys me.Something like Death of Jean Dewolfe would be called frdiging but it's one of the best stories so I think it gets a pass.People will label any female death as friding , case in point people saying Wolverine fridged Jean when it was an entire group and death doesn't even matter.

Yes! this makes a lot more sense to me. It is more about needing diverse leads than who is dying in the plot. That makes a lot more sense to me. My first thought was literally so if someone killed Steve Trevor to hurt diana would that be considered fridging even if that was the intent from the start of the planning of the story.

[RamaBird]

probably gonna end with a genocide again at some point, anyway.

Oh my. Prob true though.

So I think Kayla def counts as fridging especially since they kept hyping this issue as the greatest Colossus moment in years.

If Wolverine killed everyone in his solo, I guess that's not fridging.

or Domino (the story was about her, not about someone else)

It wasn't about her if they dropped her after that issue and what she went through then became a build up story as to why Colossus is acting weird (shocker he's possessed).

[WallStreeter]

Oh my. Prob true though.

So I think Kayla def counts as fridging especially since they kept hyping this issue as the greatest Colossus moment in years.

If Wolverine killed everyone in his solo, I guess that's not fridging.



It wasn't about her if they dropped her after that issue and what she went through then became a build up story as to why Colossus is acting weird (shocker he's possessed).

I think Kayla does count as fridging.

But lately Marvel has just used X-Force pretty much for throw away characters like Beast and Colossus who lost all their popularity. Beast has become Dark Beast basically. Colossus has been mediocre for ages. It’s sucked. I loved him in the 80s. The last time I really liked him was with Juggernaut powers.

They ruined him with the one again off again romance with Kitty Pryde, kind of leaving him nothing.

Maybe he should join Excalibur. He has a sister who is a mutant sorceress. So he too has ties to magic.

[Spiderfan001]

So I think Kayla def counts as fridging especially since they kept hyping this issue as the greatest Colossus moment in years.

If Wolverine killed everyone in his solo, I guess that's not fridging.

It wasn't about her if they dropped her after that issue and what she went through then became a build up story as to why Colossus is acting weird (shocker he's possessed).

I think the reveal that he was a puppet was the reveal.As for Kayla, she's basically the person who walked into the house w/out knocking in winter soldier and got shot.I don't think she has enough character to be considered fridging.Same as people who die in battles in NYC in 616 have women but they aren't considered fridged.

Only diff. is they wanted some emotional weight so they gave her the girlfriend role.Her entire character was just that, I feel that is the wrong being done here.Her death isn't the problem as much as her whole character being the good girlfriend who wants the hero to stay home.She's a walking trope and they never bothered to flesh her out.

[RamaBird]

Yes! this makes a lot more sense to me. It is more about needing diverse leads than who is dying in the plot. That makes a lot more sense to me. My first thought was literally so if someone killed Steve Trevor to hurt diana would that be considered fridging even if that was the intent from the start of the planning of the story.

I think it's fridging it the females only point is to die. If Kayla had a story outside of dying at Colossus hands, then maybe it wouldn't be fridging? Or if she even had an impact. For example, would've using Colossus baby momma have been better. Her death would cause consequences for years since now his son would know about this... So she'd still be mentioned in stories. With Kayleigh, people won't even remember her.

If someone killed Steve to get to Diana, then that wouldn't count cause Steve's point of view will already be told in his OWN BOOK (I think you can't get fridged if you have your own book or if you are so popular that everyone knows you'll come back from the dead.)

[PyroFN]

The characters total value being reduced to a single moment of trauma for a more important character is kinda one of the defining points of Fridging.

I love OSP. I learn a lot from them.

[PyroFN]

I hate that "fridging" concept that is basically used every time a female character is killed.
Of course Kayla didn't have any agenda and was created to stir emotions from Colossus. And that's fine. She was created for that, which is better than sacrifying some C-list pre-existing character. The same can be said of Beak's parents or Psylocke's daughter.

I'd rather complain when characters like Rockslide are killed so that bug name characters can pretend they are sad for one issue. Now that could be considered as "fridging" or any another buzz word one may stick on it.

You know, that would hold up if not for the fact that the origin of the term came from the death of a basic no-name character. Not a popular character.

[Spiderfan001]

I think it's fridging it the females only point is to die. If Kayla had a story outside of dying at Colossus hands, then maybe it wouldn't be fridging? Or if she even had an impact. For example, would've using Colossus baby momma have been better. Her death would cause consequences for years since now his son would know about this... So she'd still be mentioned in stories. With Kayleigh, people won't even remember her.

If someone killed Steve to get to Diana, then that wouldn't count cause Steve's point of view will already be told in his OWN BOOK (I think you can't get fridged if you have your own book or if you are so popular that everyone knows you'll come back from the dead.)

Funny because even though this started w/ no-names IIRC people would loose their minds if a popular character was fridged.

You know, that would hold up if not for the fact that the origin of the term came from the death of a basic no-name character. Not a popular character.

Yeah, but people loose it when it happens to popular ones.I think basing it on popularity is not a good idea, I think agency(I think) is.

How much did their death play a part in their story/arc, no-names or side characters and specially their deaths will almost always be part of the main characters story so not much agency, same w/ male side characters.The problem is lack of female main characters which is being addressed as we speak and a lot has already been done

[PyroFN]

Yeah it's a stock character for one time use, not every character in a story can or should be important.

Also they live on resurrection island, death is nothing more then being hit by a lead pipe really. I expect everybody on Krakoa to die a couple of times, probably gonna end with a genocide again at some point, anyway.
.

It’s not about making every character important, it’s about writing compelling stories that don’t revolve around the author taking advantage of the shock value or to simply move the story along.

Yeah, Krakoa has a new resurrection system, but we can’t say that this has been free range for characters to die left and right beyond Percy’s writings.

In Way of X, Kurt was deeply disturbed about the X-kids committing suicide because of them knowing they can just come back. When Gabby was killed, it brought up the problems of neglecting the friends you had, trusting people with a negative history, and what qualifies as a clone. Even minor characters can serve some sort of meaningful use for the plot beyond a cheap emotional moment that won’t impact anything. In the Empyre tie-in issue, they brought a no-name kid to talk to his zombie self to show what the island is doing for those that perished in the Genosha-incident and displaying how he is getting his second chance to grow up and experience life.

It’s not always the best writing, but they at least serve a true purpose with impact on the characters beyond simply torturing the protagonist or subject.

[PyroFN]

Yeah, but people loose it when it happens to popular ones.I think basing it on popularity is not a good idea, I think agency(I think) is.

How much did their death play a part in their story/arc, no-names or side characters and specially their deaths will almost always be part of the main characters story so not much agency, same w/ male side characters.The problem is lack of female main characters which is being addressed as we speak and a lot has already been done

This.

I am not saying popular characters can’t be fridged. I’m more countering his idea that it’s not fridging a character if they were specifically created to be killed off.

[RamaBird]

This.

I am not saying popular characters can’t be fridged. I’m more countering his idea that it’s not fridging a character if they were specifically created to be killed off.

So what if in his solo, Wolverine had killed just Jean and not the whole team? Would that be fridging a popular character? We know she's not staying dead overall and that she's being well used by other writers on an often basis, but if her only purpose in the Wolverine comic was to die and send Wolverine on a hero's quest, it'd count?

[The tall man]

How about when a male character is killed to further a female character's development, it goes both ways. Also it seems we have reached a point where female characters must be treated with velvet gloves. They have to be written and presented a certain way, they cannot be shown to be needing help from a man, they cannot lose to a male character, can't be seen as less competent than a man, if they are a villain it is because they were the victim of a man in the past (Emma = Shaw, Harley = Joker) respectively. People call for more female villain characters in fiction but then criticize the villainous portrayal of said characters. Any valid criticism of female characters in general is met with cries of sexism, misogyny and patriarchy. Moira chose to keep herself hidden and out of the spotlight but Xavier and Magneto are seen as misogynistic for deliberately keeping her on the sidelines, despite it being her decision. Basically the default setting in pop culture is Male =bad, female = good. The fact is characters die in fiction both men and women, simply because a female character dies doesn't mean there is some anti-female agenda. Female characters don't always have to win or succeed in everything. Females are equal to males in both good and bad aspects, they can be as heroic, virtuous, powerful, inspiring and competent as any man. But they can also be as evil, vicious, vindictive, manipulative and destructive as any man also. But if the negative aspects are highlighted for story purposes it's seen as sexist. It goes both ways, not every female character's death is fridging.

[Spiderfan001]

This.

I am not saying popular characters can’t be fridged. I’m more countering his idea that it’s not fridging a character if they were specifically created to be killed off.

Oh okay

I'd the problem w/ that it the creation of such a character in the first place rather than their death but I see your point

[RamaBird]

How about when a male character is killed to further a female character's development, it goes both ways.

If this happens so much please list some examples... You make it sound like Captain America, Wolverine and Superman get fridged and ignored...

I'll actually help with an example. Gambit. He always seems to get the short end of the stick so Rogue can shine.

Still for this to be an issue there must be lots of examples right?