Emma Frost has been a fan-favorite Marvel character for decades, and a lot of people are excited that she’s going to be a playable character in Marvel Rivals.
Ever since her reveal though, there have been some complaining about how oversexualized the character is, making comparisons to her appearance in Fortnite. What they don’t understand is, that’s kind of a huge point about Emma’s character.
Emma Frost Oversexualized?
Ever since Frost had been revealed in the game, a lot have been talking about her appearance and debating on ‘jiggle physics’ and her ‘thicc thighs’. Here’s one post:
What some fans don’t realize about the character of Emma Frost is that her sex appeal is kind of key to her character in the comics, and also part of what made her so popular—not just with straight men, but people who are pro-LGBTQ+ as well.
If anything, Emma’s penchant for all kinds of outfits has become very signature to the character, and some even justify that the exposed skin is also done to show off her diamond form in the comics. Even Colossus ends up looking extra 'spicy' when he’s not covered in metal like he usually is.
Though there are some people who like to defend Emma Frost’s use of sexuality in the comics, the people who do complain about her getting oversexualized are not entirely wrong. For a good long while, Emma—in fact, every woman character in comics—was designed with the male gaze in mind and was hyper-sexualized around the 2000s.
click to enlargeOnly in modern comics has Emma been shown to really have a more feminist sense when it comes to her fashion choices and sexuality. And her love for all kinds of outfits has been rewritten to emphasize empowerment rather than sexualization.
What’s funny is, the discourse around Emma is being compared to some gamers’ reactions to Bayonetta—another hypersexualized video game character, but one that is celebrated for their more empowering take, rather than something that was created to satisfy the male gaze.
“Kneel, Peasants!”
If anything, the Marvel Rivals take on Emma has been pretty tame with the exposed thighs. She used to just be in a white corset and underwear for the longest time before they started giving her more clothes—and even then it felt like it was a rule that her chest would be 80% exposed.
By the looks of it, anyone complaining about Emma online does feel like they really just want to stir up the hornet’s nest. Any longtime fan who was even remotely aware of Emma Frost knows that being a fashionable hag has always been part of her character, and people celebrate her because of it.
Then again, there are some fans who aren't a fan of Emma's look in the game despite their support of her 'Dommy Mommy' image. They say that it's because she needs to be wearing thigh-high boots; but the devs probably knew that they should save Emma's best skins for the store because that's where they'll really get the money from.
Emma Frost comes to Marvel Rivals when Season 2 starts on April 11. Marvel Rivals is now playable for Xbox Series X|S, PC, and PS5.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Features and Marvel Rivals page.