6 Greatest Squirrel Girl Moments in Marvel History
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Will Murray’s passing on August 24, 2026, at age 73 marks the loss of one of the writers who helped shape Marvel’s strangest and most enduring cult characters. Murray co-created Squirrel Girl with artist Steve Ditko, and Doreen Green made her debut in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 in January 1992. That first story established much of the joke: she looked wildly out of place beside Marvel’s biggest heroes, yet she somehow kept proving herself.
More than three decades later, Squirrel Girl has become famous for victories that sound increasingly ridiculous on paper. She has crossed paths with Iron Man, defeated Doctor Doom, solved a problem for Galactus without simply punching him, and even became friends with Kraven the Hunter. Her greatest moments are memorable because they embrace the idea that heroism does not always require being the strongest person in the room. Sometimes it requires being the smartest, nicest, or weirdest.
6 First Meeting With Iron Man
Squirrel Girl’s first appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 is still one of her most important moments because Will Murray and Steve Ditko immediately gave her a personality that separated her from the rest of Marvel’s young heroes. Doreen approaches Iron Man hoping to become his partner and launches into an enthusiastic sales pitch about her abilities, including her communication with squirrels and her pet Monkey Joe.
Iron Man, understandably, is not convinced. The meeting gets even funnier because Doreen has already picked a fight with Doctor Doom before she even properly introduces herself to Tony Stark. Tony realizes from her description that she has encountered Doom, meaning this supposedly inexperienced teenager has stumbled into a confrontation with one of Marvel’s most dangerous villains. It is an excellent first demonstration of Doreen’s confidence and complete lack of conventional superhero logic.
What makes the sequence especially meaningful now is Murray’s role in creating it. He wrote the script for the story that introduced Squirrel Girl, making this the clearest possible example of his contribution to Marvel history. The original Marvel Super-Heroes issue runs 23 pages, and it established the character more than a decade before she became a breakout favorite in the Great Lakes Avengers.
There is also something wonderfully fitting about Squirrel Girl beginning her career by trying to impress Iron Man rather than simply waiting for recognition. Doreen sees herself as a superhero before anyone else does. That confidence became one of her defining traits, and later writers built entire stories around the same basic idea: underestimate Squirrel Girl, and you are probably about to have a very bad afternoon.
5 Taking On Doctor Doom
The Doctor Doom encounter in Marvel Super-Heroes #8 is the story that made Squirrel Girl’s future reputation possible. Doreen does not defeat Doom through superior technology, cosmic power, or some secret martial-arts technique. Instead, her squirrel-related abilities become the key to turning the encounter around. Marvel itself later highlighted the story as the beginning of the long-running joke that Squirrel Girl could defeat villains far beyond her apparent power level.
That original victory is also a perfect example of how Murray approached the character. Doom is treated as a legitimate threat, while Squirrel Girl’s solution is gloriously unconventional. Rather than trying to imitate Iron Man or another established hero, Doreen succeeds by being exactly who she is. Her ability to communicate with squirrels, initially treated as a novelty, suddenly becomes an advantage against one of Marvel’s greatest villains.
Doctor Doom would eventually return to Squirrel Girl’s world in the 2015 series, although under much stranger circumstances. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4, published January 27, 2016, sends Doreen into the 1960s after Nancy Whitehead travels through time with Doom. Marvel’s synopsis promises Squirrel Girl versus Doctor Doom over the fate of the planet, demonstrating just how far the character had come since her introductory battle.
The funniest part is that the Doom matchup never really stops being funny precisely because Doom remains Doom. Marvel can place him against Thor, the Avengers, or the Fantastic Four and play the story as a massive event. Put him against Squirrel Girl, and there is always an extra layer of absurdity. That contrast became one of the central pleasures of the character.
4 Befriending Galactus
One of Squirrel Girl’s most famous achievements came in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #4, published April 22, 2015. The issue builds toward a confrontation between Doreen and Galactus, with Marvel jokingly billing the clash as the “Power Cosmic” versus the “Power Chestnut.” The premise sounds like another impossible Squirrel Girl victory, but the actual resolution is much smarter than a simple knockout.
Doreen discovers that Galactus is coming to Earth because he needs to feed, and she realizes that fighting him is not necessarily the best solution. Instead, she finds an alternative source of sustenance and persuades him to leave Earth alone. It is a crucial Squirrel Girl distinction: she does not technically defeat Galactus. She saves the planet by solving the problem rather than winning a fight.
That approach is why the Galactus story remains one of her greatest accomplishments. Doreen is faced with a cosmic entity capable of consuming worlds, yet her answer is essentially to talk things through and find a better option. It is ridiculous, but it is also genuinely heroic. The story shows that Squirrel Girl’s greatest weapon is often her ability to think differently from everyone expecting a conventional superhero showdown.
The moment also established a surprisingly touching relationship between Doreen and Galactus. Their encounter did not leave him as a defeated monster or embarrassed villain. Instead, it created mutual respect, with Galactus later intervening to save Squirrel Girl’s life. The joke becomes sweeter because Doreen’s compassion toward an incomprehensibly powerful being actually matters.
3 The Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Issue
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #7, published April 27, 2016, might be the clearest demonstration that the series understood what made Doreen special. Rather than presenting a standard superhero story, Ryan North and Erica Henderson turned the issue into a choose-your-own-adventure experience in which the reader decides what Squirrel Girl should do. Marvel later collected the story as part of the first trade paperback.
The opponent is Swarm, the bizarre villain whose body consists of bees, and the issue repeatedly asks readers to choose Doreen’s next move. Some paths produce victories, while others produce wonderfully terrible outcomes. The entire gimmick plays with the word “unbeatable,” because readers are given multiple opportunities to make Squirrel Girl extremely beatable through spectacularly bad decisions.
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01
The Avengers first assembled in Marvel Comics in 1963. In the original comic, the team formed to battle a villain who had been manipulated by his adopted brother. Which villain brought the original Avengers together?
✓ Correct! In Avengers #1 (September 1963), Loki manipulated the Hulk into going on a rampage, which led Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp to band together. They defeated Loki and decided to form a permanent team — the Avengers were born.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Loki. In the original 1963 comic, Loki tricked the Hulk into a rampage, which brought together Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, and the Wasp. Ultron came later, Thanos is a cosmic threat, and Kang is a time-traveling villain.
02
In the MCU, Tony Stark famously declared “I am Iron Man” at a press conference, breaking the superhero tradition of secret identities. In which year’s MCU film did Tony Stark first appear as Iron Man?
✓ Correct! Iron Man (2008) launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and starred Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. The film’s post-credits scene with Nick Fury teased the Avengers Initiative, kicking off the most successful film franchise in history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is 2008. Iron Man premiered on May 2, 2008, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. It was the first film in the MCU and set the stage for everything that followed.
03
Thanos, the Mad Titan, sought to collect all six Infinity Stones to achieve his genocidal goal. In Avengers: Infinity War, he succeeded in his plan. What did Thanos do with the completed Infinity Gauntlet?
✓ Correct! With a single snap of his fingers, Thanos wiped out half of all living creatures in the universe. Known as “The Blip,” this devastating act erased trillions of lives and set the stage for the Avengers’ desperate time heist in Endgame to undo the damage.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is that Thanos snapped away half of all life in the universe. His twisted philosophy of “balance” drove him to commit universal genocide with a single snap, making it one of the most shocking moments in cinema history.
04
In Avengers: Endgame, Captain America proved worthy of wielding Thor’s enchanted hammer during the final battle against Thanos. What is the name of Thor’s hammer?
✓ Correct! Mjolnir, forged in the heart of a dying star, bears the inscription “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” Captain America wielding it in Endgame was one of the most celebrated moments in MCU history.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Mjolnir. Stormbreaker is the axe Thor forged in Infinity War, Gungnir is Odin’s spear, and Jarnbjorn is an axe Thor used in the comics before Mjolnir. Mjolnir is the iconic enchanted hammer.
05
Black Widow, born Natasha Romanoff, is one of the founding MCU Avengers. Before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., she was trained as an assassin in a secret Soviet program. What is the name of this program?
✓ Correct! The Red Room was a covert Soviet training facility that turned young girls into elite spies and assassins known as Black Widows. Natasha was subjected to brutal conditioning and sterilization. Her escape and defection to S.H.I.E.L.D. was explored in the 2021 Black Widow film.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is The Red Room. HYDRA is a separate evil organization, the Winter Soldier Program created Bucky Barnes, and Department X is from the comics. The Red Room is the infamous Soviet program that forged Natasha into Black Widow.
06
The Hulk was created when Dr. Bruce Banner was exposed to massive amounts of radiation during a weapons test. What type of radiation transformed Banner into the Hulk?
✓ Correct! Dr. Bruce Banner was caught in the blast of a gamma bomb he designed, absorbing a massive dose of gamma radiation. This transformed him into the Hulk — a being of near-limitless strength whose power increases with his rage. Gamma radiation remains central to the Hulk’s mythology.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Gamma Radiation. Cosmic Rays gave the Fantastic Four their powers, Pym Particles are Ant-Man’s shrinking technology, and Terrigen Mist activates Inhuman abilities. Gamma radiation is what created the Incredible Hulk.
07
In the MCU, after Steve Rogers retired as Captain America, he passed his shield to a new hero to carry on the legacy. Who became the new Captain America?
✓ Correct! At the end of Avengers: Endgame, an elderly Steve Rogers chose Sam Wilson — the Falcon — to carry on the Captain America legacy. Sam’s journey to embrace the shield was explored in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, and he fully took up the mantle as Captain America.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Sam Wilson. While Bucky Barnes was Captain America in the comics, Steve chose Sam in the MCU. John Walker was temporarily given the shield by the government, and Isaiah Bradley was a forgotten super soldier from the past.
08
Ultron is an artificial intelligence who becomes one of the Avengers’ deadliest enemies. In the MCU’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, which Avenger inadvertently created Ultron?
✓ Correct! Tony Stark created the Ultron program as a global peacekeeping AI, using technology from Loki’s scepter (which contained the Mind Stone). The AI became sentient and immediately decided humanity needed to be eradicated. In the comics, Hank Pym created Ultron, but the MCU shifted this to Stark.
✗ Even the Hulk couldn’t smash that answer! The correct answer is Tony Stark. While Hank Pym created Ultron in the comics, the MCU changed this to Tony Stark. Bruce Banner assisted but it was Tony’s initiative. Vision was actually created from Ultron’s technology, not the other way around.
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What makes the issue such an important Squirrel Girl moment is the willingness to experiment with the comic-book format itself. North had already played with interactive storytelling elsewhere, but Squirrel Girl was particularly suited to the idea because Doreen routinely breaks the fourth wall and treats impossible situations as ordinary problems. The unusual structure feels like a natural extension of her personality.
It is also a reminder that the best Squirrel Girl stories are not necessarily about a stronger punch. Sometimes the joke is simply watching a reader discover that every available option is ridiculous. The issue turns Doreen’s optimism and resourcefulness into something interactive, making the reader part of the chaos rather than merely watching her solve it from the sidelines.
2 Befriending Kraven
Squirrel Girl’s friendship with Kraven the Hunter is one of Marvel’s most wonderfully unlikely character relationships. Their connection grows out of repeated encounters in The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, where Doreen sees something redeemable in Sergei Kravenoff rather than treating him solely as Spider-Man’s longtime enemy. Marvel has specifically described the two as “besties,” noting that Doreen believes there is still good in him.
Instead of simply fighting Kraven, Doreen tries to redirect his obsession with Spider-Man. She argues that continually chasing Spider-Man is not solving Kraven’s deeper problem and encourages him to pursue more dangerous prey instead, including underwater monsters. It is a bizarre intervention, but it works within Squirrel Girl’s worldview: sometimes the best way to stop a villain is to help that person become slightly better.
The friendship eventually becomes surprisingly sincere. In The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #32, Doreen, Nancy and their friends invite Kraven to an escape room, only for the game to turn into a real death trap. The issue was published May 9, 2018, and turns a former villain into a legitimate member of Doreen’s social circle.
The relationship reaches another memorable point in issues #34 and #35, when Kraven’s criminal history catches up with him. Squirrel Girl ends up caught in the legal fallout, and Spider-Man becomes involved because of Kraven’s long-standing history with him. The story proves that Doreen’s friendship was not merely a punchline; she genuinely cares about Kraven, even when caring about him gets her into trouble.
1 Defeating Thanos
Few Squirrel Girl moments have become as famous as her encounter with Thanos because the matchup is so absurd. During the Great Lakes Avengers era, Doreen and Tippy-Toe take on Thanos in GLX-Mas Special #1, a 52-page comic released in February 2006. The same special also includes encounters involving MODOK and other villains, but the Thanos battle became the standout example of Doreen’s supposed unbeatable status.
The most famous part is not merely that Thanos loses. It is the fact that Uatu the Watcher is present and declares that Doreen really did defeat the genuine Thanos rather than some simple duplicate. That detail immediately elevated the joke into Marvel continuity and helped turn “Squirrel Girl defeated Thanos” into one of the most persistent pieces of trivia associated with the character.
There is an important wrinkle, though. Later stories introduced uncertainty around whether Thanos had developed clones capable of fooling even cosmic observers, and the circumstances surrounding the revelation create legitimate ambiguity about exactly what happened. That contradiction is part of why the feat remains so entertaining: Marvel has never been entirely comfortable making the answer straightforward.
Even with the continuity complications, the scene captures everything people love about Squirrel Girl. She is standing opposite one of Marvel’s most terrifying villains and somehow comes out on top, with a squirrel by her side and none of the usual gravitas attached to a cosmic battle. It is the kind of wonderfully ridiculous victory that made Doreen Green unlike almost anyone else in Marvel Comics.
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