Squirrel Girl - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

Squirrel Girl is originally from the Los Angeles, California, area. She is first seen ambushing Iron Man in a forest. She hopes to impress the veteran hero, wishing him to take her under his wing as his sidekick. The 14-year-old mutant introduces herself and her pet squirrel, Monkey Joe, and displays her various abilities (all of which are squirrel-themed).

Unimpressed, Iron Man politely declines, when suddenly the duo is attacked by Doctor Doom in a large aircraft. Doom captures and subdues Iron Man, and flies over the ocean where he plans to dispose of Iron Man's body once he kills him. Underestimating her, Doom leaves Squirrel Girl to her own devices. She devises a plan and uses her ability to communicate with squirrels through an open air vent as the ship passes over a forest. Hundreds of squirrels answer her call and flood Doom's ship, chewing through the wires and swamping the evil dictator with their furry bodies, causing Doom to exclaim: "Confound these wretched rodents! For every one I fling away, a dozen more vex me!" Iron Man is subsequently freed and the duo emerges victorious. Despite being impressed with her taking down Doom, Stark states that she is too young to fight crime but that he would put in a good word for the Avengers when she is older. Squirrel Girl, still disappointed, bids farewell and the two heroes go their separate ways.

Squirrel Girl is next seen years later, having relocated to New York City for what is acknowledged as no clear reason. While fighting crime in Central Park, she encounters Flatman and Doorman, members of the Great Lakes Avengers, on a membership drive. In addition to appearing in the G.L.A. miniseries starting with the second issue, Squirrel Girl introduces each issue, providing a disclaimer or opinion piece about the contents of the series. Her sidekick Monkey Joe is also added to the team (at Squirrel Girl's behest), and comments upon the series as well, appearing in a circle at certain moments to make comic and smart-alec remarks.

After Squirrel Girl ensures that Monkey Joe is made an official member of the G.L.A., he is killed by an assailant dressed as Dr. Doom. His killer is a rejected member of the G.L.A. named Leather Boy (actually a non-powered leather fetishist), who had been dressed in a variation on Dr. Doom's costume. Enraged by the death of her friend, Squirrel Girl assembles a squirrel army and helps stop Maelstrom from destroying the world. Squirrel Girl finds a new squirrel companion during this battle—the only one of her squirrel army who survives Maelstrom's wrath, whom she names Tippy-Toe.

Squirrel Girl and Tippy-Toe later defeat MODOK, Terrax, and Thanos all by themselves. Uatu, the Earth's Watcher, is on hand to confirm that the Thanos she defeated was the real thing, and not a clone or copy of any kind (an explanation that has sometimes been used to excuse some of Thanos' more embarrassing performances over the years). After MODOK is defeated, Dum Dum Dugan offers her a position at S.H.I.E.L.D., explaining that the organization had been watching her for some time, impressed by her effectiveness in defeating powerful supervillains. Squirrel Girl declines the offer, saying she is happy with the G.L.A. Later, while visiting Central Park she teams up with Ben Grimm (Thing) to take down Bi-Beast, after defeating the villain, he invites Squirrel Girl and the rest of her team to a poker game he had set up later that night.

During the Civil War storyline, Squirrel Girl and the rest of the newly-renamed Great Lakes Champions (who took the name after winning Ben Grimm's poker game) register under the Superhero Registration Act the morning the law is enacted. However, mercenary-for-hire Deadpool, assuming the Champions are un-registered, attacks the team at their headquarters (Deadpool seeks to ingratiate himself with the government by capturing un-registered heroes). Deadpool is bested in combat by Squirrel Girl; his distraction at her appearance and name contribute to his inability to mount an adequate defense to her attacks.

Squirrel Girl and the again-renamed Great Lakes Initiative team up with Deadpool a few months later to take down AIM agents who have kidnapped a wayward Olympian god and fashioned an inebriation ray that makes every superhero on the planet (save Deadpool and the GLI) drunk. After the battle, Deadpool decides to hang around the GLI's new government-funded headquarters for a while as a "reserve member."

Squirrel Girl is a huge fan of the New Warriors, especially Robbie "Speedball" Baldwin, on whom she has a crush. While visiting one of his tours promoting his New Warriors show, Squirrel Girl was able to defeat Speedball's arch-nemesis Bug-Eyed Voice before he could harm him, after which Speedball thanked her with a kiss. When the events of Civil War broke out, Squirrel Girl learns of Speedball's transformation into the darker hero codenamed Penance after Deadpool provided her with a copy of Civil War: Front Line #10. Squirrel Girl travels to Thunderbolts Mountain to convince Robbie to lighten up and stop being Penance. Frustrated by his current attitude and unwavering determination to remain as Penance, Squirrel Girl travels to Latveria to use one of Dr. Doom's time machines to travel to the past and prevent Speedball from ever becoming Penance. Wanting to avoid another defeat by her, Doom reluctantly shows her the way to the machine but, instead of transporting her to the past, it instead takes her into the year 2099. There she encounters an alternate version of Speedball, whom she unsuccessfully tries to get to travel back to the past with her, and Mr. Immortal, who tells her that she has an important task to perform in the past: to kick Deadpool out of the Great Lakes Initiative's headquarters.

During the Heroic Age following Norman Osborn's time as Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. as seen in the Dark Reign storyline, Squirrel Girl fights and defeats Fin Fang Foom. Afterwards, wondering why the rest of her team had not helped her in the fight, she comes to the realization that the again-renamed Great Lakes Avengers had the potential to be a great team, but are instead simply relying on her to defeat any villain that comes along. As a result, she decides to leave the team and set out on her own, so that she would not continue to "hold them back".

When Luke Cage and Jessica Jones are looking for a nanny for their daughter, they eventually settle on Squirrel Girl, after interviewing several less-than-promising candidates. When Wolverine notices her in the mansion, the two reveal that they have some sort of prior relationship. This relationship apparently ended with them promising never to see each other again. She states that she hopes they "can be professional" concerning her new job. Emma Frost later delves into the mind of Wolverine and comes across various women whom he had once lusted for, one of them being Squirrel Girl.

During the Fear Itself storyline, Squirrel Girl ends up having to protect Danielle from the attacking Thule Society soldiers. After dodging the various attacks the enemies bestowed on her and the infant, Squirrel Girl is able to get herself and the baby to safety, soon after the mansion goes into lockdown mode sealing the entrances. When dozens of soldiers approach the mansion nearing the location of the two, Daredevil jumps in and defeats them all, before they could open fire. He subsequently leads Squirrel Girl and Dani to a panic room that was located within the mansion that he was able to sense.

Squirrel Girl later appears in the Spider-Island story arc where Dani Cage (like most of the population of New York) attains powers like Spider-Man's and humorously wraps her to the roof in web. Doreen is last seen leaving the New Avengers with Luke Cage and his family, with Cage contemplating reforming Heroes for Hire.