5 Reasons Why Wolverine's Yukio is the Underappreciated Marvel Queen

The last few (okay…all) X-Men movies have as many anti-fans as they have fans. As a result, they’ve been both popular and ridiculed (and let’s face it, they ruined Deadpool – although thankfully we’ll be seeing more of him in his upcoming movie! Squeee!). I’m one of those people who can poke fun at the X-Men movies but still enjoy them (although I’ll admit, Days of Future Past really let me down – come on, Apocalypse! I have high hopes!). My favorite in the franchise is 'The Wolverine' - and not just because it’s set in Japan. (Although that may be a big reason why I like it more than the rest.)

One of my favorite things about the movie (besides Japan and all that) is Yukio. She’s an underrated, underappreciated female character who kicks serious gluteus maximus, all with awesome hair and fashion sense.

 

• She’s got serious skills. She is Wolverine’s self-proclaimed bodyguard, and she lives up to the title. With lightning-fast, sword-flipping martial arts and quick thinking, her fight scenes are enormously fun to watch.

• She’s both sassy and respectful. Female characters who can fight and have awesome skills tend to  be abrasive and annoying (in my humble opinion); very in-your-face about ‘yeah, this is me and I’m spectacular and everyone else is a peasant.’ Yukio is polite, respectful, and sassy – a great combination, if you ask me.

look at that face. that is the face of barely-restrained sass.

• She sticks with Mariko even though she constantly being told that Mariko has ‘outgrown her.’ She sticks with Wolverine even when things get life-threateningly dangerous. She’s loyal, and I place a high price on loyalty.

• Did I mention the awesome fashion sense? Because she has awesome fashion sense. I would kill (a mouse) for this girl’s style. (No, I wouldn’t. I’d catch the mouse and release it into the wild because they’re too adorable to kill. I’m sorry.) She wears striped socks! And killer boots! And graphic tees!

 

• She is, in fact, a ninja. While they excluded her from the Black Clan in the movie, if you go by her comic book origins she's a bona fide ninja. Stormshadow and Snake Eyes would be proud.

What about you? Do you have a favorite under-appreciated Marvel female? (Darcy from the Thor movies is probably my second favorite. She takes the proverbial cake and I love her to pieces.) Did you like Yukio, or did you dislike the way they deviated from the comics?