Within the Nineteen Nineties, comedian e book fan Gail Simone created an inventory of feminine comics characters who “had met premature and infrequently icky ends” after it occurred to her that “being a woman superhero meant inevitably being killed, maimed or depowered, it appeared.”
Simone shared that listing on her web site Girls in Fridges, named after a storyline within the Inexperienced Lantern comics during which supervillain Main Drive murders Kyle Rayner’s girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, and stuffs her physique right into a fridge for Kyle to search out.
A lot has modified because the Nineteen Nineties — Simone has develop into a prolific comedian e book author, for one — however the trope of fridged feminine characters endures, particularly on display. TV Tropes defines the “Stuffed Into the Fridge” trope as “when a liked one is harm, killed, maimed, assaulted, or in any other case traumatized so as to inspire one other character or transfer their plot ahead,” and it’s usually the ladies that suffer.
On social media, TV followers are fast to level out fridging once they see it, and the next reveals have all drawn their ire. (Warning: Spoilers forward!)
Andor
Andor followers railed in opposition to the demise of Cinta (Verada Sethu) by pleasant fireplace in Season 2, particularly as a result of the character had simply gotten again with girlfriend Vel (Faye Marsay).
The Star Wars present “actually simply fridged her for Vel’s character growth,” @Jbandos wrote on X.
“Us lesbians might be mad that our rep was fridged after which the brown girl will get killed to additional the story of the white girl,” @Pandastarling39 added. “Sure, nobody is invincible on this present, however they might have completed that so a lot better.”
Arcane
On X, Arcane followers listing each Felicia (Jeannie Tirado) — mom of Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder (Ella Purnell) and a casualty of the Zaunite revolution in opposition to Piltover — and Sky (Kimberly Brooks) — who’s vaporized as she tries to drag Viktor (Harry Lloyd) from the Hexcore — as fridging victims.
“I do know Felicia is a background character, however I nonetheless want she had been greater than only a ‘lifeless mother’ [plus] ‘fridged girl’ trope,” @G3rtvi_ wrote.
And @gcldquartz wrote that Arcane “fridged Sky twice to additional the plot of a white man.”
The Boys
In The Boys, superhero Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) seems to sacrifice herself in a combat with Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles). She survives the ensuing explosion however then disappears to guard herself from the wrath of Homelander (Antony Starr).
“Fairly certain I’m going to lose her tomorrow so I wish to say: I really like you, #QueenMeave. I’m so sorry, Dominique McElligott. Watching a personality get fridged episodically was the literal worst,” X consumer @laurenlamango wrote forward of that Season 3 episode.
Breaking Dangerous
In a Reddit thread about fridged TV characters, JoeBethersonton50504 wrote, “I forgot her title, however Jesse’s [Aaron Paul] girlfriend in Breaking Dangerous.”
That remark led a deactivated consumer to ask, “Jane or Andrea? They did ’em each soiled.”
Jane (Krysten Ritter) is the girlfriend who fatally overdoses at Jesse’s facet, the identical girlfriend Walt (Bryan Cranston) decides to let die. Andrea (Emily Rios), whom Jesse dates later, is killed by Todd (Jesse Plemons) after Jesse refuses to prepare dinner for him.
On Reddit, boringdystopianslave wrote, “Jane’s demise despatched each Walt and Jesse down a darkish path. Andrea’s demise straight up broke Jesse.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Tara (Amber Benson) meets her destiny in Buffy’s sixth season, felled by a stray bullet fired by the villainous nerd Warren Mears (Adam Busch). Her demise sends girlfriend Willow (Alyson Hannigan) right into a mad rage, resulting in the rise of the alter-ego Darkish Willow.
@UlyssesVentura wrote on X that Tara was fridged in an instance of Bury Your Gays, a trope during which queer characters are handled as expendable in narratives.
Dexter
The unique Dexter collection reached a controversial finish in Season 8, however X consumer @harocats stated the present “really ended once they fridged Rita.”
Season 4 ended with Dexter (Michael C. Corridor) killing the Trinity Killer (John Lithgow) solely to return dwelling and uncover that the serial assassin had dispatched Rita (Julie Benz), Dexter’s spouse.
The Final of Us
In The Final of Us Season 1, Tess (Anna Torv) is bitten by a clicker, and with the data that she’s a lifeless girl, she lets Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) escape whereas she hangs again to face an undead horde. One of many undead “kisses” her, infecting her with cordyceps fungi.
“Tess’s demise was completed so ham-handedly (actually, a neck chunk and a mycelial kiss?) that it somewhat weakened her company in her personal demise,” Reddit consumer Kaurifish declared. “I’d severely advise any author killing a feminine character for the sake of the plot to step again and rethink their technique.”
Legislation & Order: Particular Victims Unit
As Christopher Meloni returned to Legislation & Order: Particular Victims Unit in Season 22, his Stabler avoids a automobile bomb planted by his organized-crime foes. His spouse, Kathy (Isabel Gillies) isn’t so fortunate.
“Yo, they only straight up murdered Stabler’s spouse in his comeback episode, most likely simply to arrange a transparent excuse for him to lastly be with Liv [Mariska Hargitay],” FaronTheHero wrote on Reddit.
NCIS
In the identical Reddit thread that accused Breaking Dangerous of fridging, consumer Violet351 talked about Jackie (Paula Newsome), spouse of Leon (Rocky Carroll) on NCIS, as one other fridged character.
Jackie is fatally shot in NCIS’s tenth season, caught within the crossfire throughout the assassination of Eli (Michael Nouri), father of Ziva (Cote de Pablo).
One other commenter, who has since deactivated their account, added, “So many ladies round Gibbs [Mark Harmon],” probably referring to how Gibbs’ former wives Shannon (Darby Stanchfield) and Diane (Melinda McGraw) and ex-fiancée Ellen (Erin Cummings) have all died on the present.
Secret Invasion
Within the Secret Invasion collection premiere, Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) fatally shoots his deputy director, Maria (Cobie Smulders), within the stomach.
Solely, it’s not Fury — it’s the Skrull evildoer Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) in disguise.
“I feel the actress probably wished out, therefore the large paycheck for just one episode. However there [are] methods to kill a feminine character with out fridging them. Unbelievable that they only did the trope,” dogecoin_pleasures wrote on Reddit. “Even worse … technically they deviated from the trope by forgetting about it [in the] subsequent episode, as a substitute of utilizing it to gas Fury’s vengeance. So it was a fridge with no character payoff.”
Supernatural
In Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Ackles), Supernatural “has principal characters who’re primarily motivated by the demise of fridged feminine characters (mom and girlfriend, who dies in the very same approach as their mom),” hedgehogwriting wrote on Reddit.
Within the present’s first episode, Sam’s girlfriend Jessica (Adrianne Palicki) dies when a demon pins her to the ceiling, slices her throughout the stomach, and units her ablaze, echoing the slaying of the Winchester boy’s mom, Mary (Samantha Smith).
The Wheel of Time
X consumer @BadCodeShoot raged in opposition to The Wheel of Time for killing off Siuan (Sophie Okonedo), who’s executed in a coup orchestrated by Pink Ajah sorceress Elaida (Shohreh Aghdashloo) within the present’s Season 3 finale
“How [the f***] do [you] do that setup [and] take a personality who canonically helps win the final battle [and] humiliate/torture/slaughter her earlier than she’s received!” @BadCodeShoot wrote. “Ebook Siuan received. As a substitute [The Wheel of Time] decreased her to Moraine’s [love interest and] fridged her after all the things she sacrificed.”