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A combination of Double Standard and Stuffed Into The Fridge. Female characters, for some reason, tend to be the most common throwaway victims. This may be a carryover from the Distressed Damsel days into the Dark Age; a Darker And Edgier form of sexism, if you will. Unlike the Disposable Woman, who isn't particularly well-developed or objectively important to the plot, these women are/were intended to be prominent characters.
Female characters tend to hold Distaff Counterpart / Sidekicks / C List Fodder status (itself a rather interesting phenomenon) making them more vulnerable to being treated as props. Ignoring that representation problem, Women In Refrigerators notably occurs to prominent character, up to and including those carrying their own books without necessarily the predicted return to the status quo most heroes get. It also may occur in series not otherwise known for Anyone Can Die situations.
Most infuriatingly, it often occurs for purely meta-textual reasons; female characters aren't marketable enough if they're strong, and make for good drama when they suddenly become weak - and it (unintentionally or not) reinforces archaic gender politics. Compared to the sordid fates of these women, the Faux Action Girl has gotten off lucky.
Named for the website .
Compare: Men Are The Expendable Gender. Contrast: The Chick - Low Deadness Rating (especially horror movies)
Examples
Comic Books
- DC Comics luuurves this trope and uses it whenever they need some Drama to happen. Some of the more egregious examples:
- Named after Kyle Rayner's first girlfriend, found literally Stuffed Into The Fridge, murdered in sickening fashion by minor villain Major Force.
- This is the incident that led to the name of the aforementioned site. And the straw fanning the justified anger.
- First Batgirl, Barbara Gordon. The Joker shot her in the spine (leaving her paraplegic), took naked pictures of her and showed them to her father, Commissioner Gordon, as the crux of his attempt to give Gordon his "one bad day" in the Batman story, "The Killing Joke." Nowadays she makes an excellent name for herself as super-hacker Oracle.
- Fun Fact: Oracle gained much of her current popularity due to authors Chuck Dixon and then Gail Simone, who in turn wrote the Oracle-led team Birds of Prey. Gail Simone was also website founder of "Women in Refrigerators".
- Sue Dibny, wife of the Elongated Man, stamped in the brain and then burned with a flamethrower by suddenly-gone-completely-bonkers Jean Loring, ex-girlfriend of the Atom. And, of course, Sue Dibny was pregnant. Also, after her death, it is reveal that she had been raped years before and had her memory wiped.
- Sue Dibny's fate is particularly egregious because of the Executive Meddling behind it. According to former DC assistant editor Valerie D'Orazio, the entire Identity Crisis miniseries grew out of DC's desire to depict a rape.
- Matrix Supergirl's tale is one of mind-controlling, depowering, repowering, retconning, and finally losing her husband and child before vanishing from the comics forever.
- Donna Troy's actual backstory is that she has to live hundreds of lives and suffer great horrors in all of them.
- It may be worth noting that the Donna Troy character never actually had a coherent backstory for the first couple decades of her existence. Rather, DC gave her a new 'origin story' every few years, with each new 'origin' containing a number of details that contradicted various aspects of one or more of the past 'origins'. Writer/artist John Byrne, attempting to make sense out of this intractable morass of Gordian continuity knot, came up with the tortured-and-raped-thru-various-lifetimes schtick as an attempt to (a) "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", while also (b) not just throwing yet another 'origin' onto the pile. While said schtick does have the benefit of accepting all the past 'origins' as valid continuity, the 'squick factor' suggests that perhaps Mr. Byrne might have been better advised to leave well enough alone.
- Power Girl gave parthenogenical birth to a boy who aged super-fast, then romanced her. Seriously.
- Marvel Comics upped the ante by doing this story (first) with the added feature of having Avengers member Ms. Marvel be "subtly influenced" by her son/lover's machines, yet still running off with him to another dimension after learning the truth. Thankfully, another writer realized how idiotic this was and, upon her return, had her deliver a rather justified speech against what boneheads the Avengers were for not attempting to stop an incestuous rapist with Mind Control from running off with her.
- Stephanie Brown: so quickly disposed of after becoming Robin that there is no memorial to her in the Batcave, and Bats and Tim Drake barely take the time to mourn her passing after the first plot arc.
- Not so forgotten. Check out the last half-a dozen issues (each) of Robin and Gotham Underground.
- Spoiler version for those who haven't the time: She was off recovering. She's back. The lack of memorial was because Batman suspected this, though, not knew - so he's still a dick.
- Big Barda's death wasn't quite this — after all, it was part of Death Of The New Gods, she was going to die some time — but it set off enough red flags to leave a bitter taste in some fans' mouths (let's see, dead in a kitchen? Check. No signs of struggle, despite the fact that she's a goddess of war? Check. Husband finds her, and her death serves to motivate him? Check).
- Written by Jim Starlin. So, Yeah.
- The female Dr. Light was beaten and depowered by the villainous male Dr. Light in Green Arrow's book, so that GA and Black Lightning could play the heroes. It's made abundantly clear that the writer Did Not Do The Research, as he downplays her intelligence (she is a physicist and a medical doctor, and knows her powers), and her status as a hero (she came out of retirement in a solo story, and appeared in an issue of Wonder Woman during the period of inactivity he claims), all for the sole purpose of painting her as inferior. And, as mentioned in this discussion, after Arrow and Lightning find her and are properly motivated, she is left sprawled on the hospital floor◊, her situation never to be addressed again in the story. Also, this being the same villain who raped Sue Dibny in the previous example, he later compares this depowering to rape. AND, if ALL THAT weren't bad enough, the villain gets away scot-free at the end of the story. Did I mention that the female Dr. Light is Japanese, and the writer has said that he's concerned about the lack of powerful Asian females in comics?? You better believe this is a case of actions speaking louder than words. It's all spelled out in this blog.
- The mostly stupid Ambush Bug: Year None has at least one good joke in it - it deals with the murder and fridge-stuffing of a little cartoon girl with the DC Comics logo for a body who used to appear on DC covers. In the beginning, Ambush Bug is shopping for refrigerators, and each model's selling point is how many female supporting characters it can hold.
- Marvel Comics is quite fond of the trope as well.
- Gwen Stacy is the ur-example. Just as Gwen and Spider-Man were getting their act together as a couple, the Green Goblin dropped her off a bridge (partly so the writers wouldn't have to marry them off). In 1972 it was pretty much unthinkable for a long-running comic book superhero's love interest to die, so it was a bit of a surprise.
- I would say that that is not a refrigerator moment, as she was not in any way a throwaway character. Her death had an impact on everyone, and she did not die for the sake of a plot. Just because a woman dies does not equal double standards.
- Spider-Man's aunt May Parker is pretty much the punching bag of the comic. She's been killed, discovered not to be dead, implanted with a bomb, sniped, attacked, everything but made pregnant, probably only because she's way past menopause by this point. And if they hadn't chosen to Ret Con Trouble out of the timeline, she would have had that covered, too.
- This troper notes that not only was Trouble never canon, it could never have been canon — the May of that series has a teenage pregnancy, and Spidey's Aunt May is canonically more than fifty years his senior.
- That didn't stop them from wanting it to be. There's interviews out there where the editor at the time said he hoped the fans would be happy to accept this as the true origin of Spiderman.
- That was during a period where Jemas and Quesada said anything to get media attetion, hype etc.. You shouldnt believe them.
- In a recent comic, a young superheroine named Gadget, who had an interesting premise — she found herself inspired by Tony Stark and built a suit of Powered Armor in her garage — was on her very first adventure, encountered a bad guy with gravity powers, and was crushed into a ball the size of a melon (this was not shown, but was described as the result by another character) — but not fast enough to stop her from shrieking "Noooooo!" off-panel.
- Psylocke is the X-Men whipping girl. She's had her eyes removed, been brainwashed, died, brought back to life, brainwashed again, severely injured, died again, and then resurrected. Her powers have gone through so many variations that some comic book fans don't know what the hell she can do anymore. (Though psychically powered Action Girl sums it up pretty nicely.)
- Just Psylocke? You speak as if the X-Men has non whipping girls.
- Look at Jean. The excuse of correcting her coming back doesn't fly when the writers are forced to kill her off in continuities where DPS never happened. The only one they are allowed to keep her is Ultimate, where she has the same hair and costume as Rachel.
- Or boys. They must have one hell of a fridge.
- What, does no one remember Storm's tenure without her abilities, after one of Forge's inventions stripped them from her? This actually went down very well with the fans, and remained for an extended stint, during which she gathered many survival skills that enabled her to continue leading the X-Men, instead of ceding the leadership to Wolverine. Anyone who's been reading before Gambit showed up already knows where she learned her burglary.
- That depowered Storm was too Bad Ass to fit this heinous trope. Even as a child...after being an adult, I mean. Being depowered didn't make her a weaker person or have terrible things (well, extra-terrible; she IS an X-Man, after all) suddenly start befalling her.
- I've mentioned this before, and will mention it again....The Wasp, in all of her incarnations (except as Giant-Girl in the Lighter And Softer Marvel Adventures), is honestly the most put upon female in comics I've seen, period. It's like humiliating her, to death, even, is quid pro quo.
- Probably to match her ex.
- Tigra is a strong, confidant, brash woman who doesn't so much fail to defend herself when a lone thug breaks into her home as fail to even try to defend herself. Not only does she do nothing but scream while he brutalizes her and tapes the whole thing, but she gets shot in the back because she was trying to run away. Keep in mind that this is a woman who once threw herself headfirst into a platoon of fully-armed guards and proceeded to hand them their collective asses. Made all the worse by the author straight-up admitting that he just doesn't like the character.
- Considering how many Comic Book Tropes are subverted in Invincible, Atom Eve's death is played surprisingly straight - she rushes to her boyfriend's defense against a one-off villain and is promptly killed so that we can get an Its Personal moment from him.
Film
- Many fans consider The Dark Knight the most spot-on depiction of Batman yet, and it certainly doesn't falter in this area, despite his back story already invoking a more genuine version of tragedy in regards to his parents.
Literature
- In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, this was done with Mara Jade Skywalker to prove just how evil her nephew Jacen Solo had become.
- But to be fair, Jedi die like dogs all the time. She just happened to be killed by some emo kid with God Mode powers.
- Elizabeth, the Love Interest in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, making this trope Older Than Radio.
- Subverted in the novel Fools Die by Mario Puzo (yes, he wrote The Godfather). The protagonist is a writer and his mistress makes a comment to him that he isn't to have her die like the women always do in the stories. Later in the novel, she dies from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Live Action TV
- Both played straight and inverted in Supernatural: The deaths of Jess and Mary served to spur Sam's and John's respective revenge hunting. However, all of the Winchesters have died at least once, Gordon was vamped and killed and even Bobby (okay, a god disguised as Bobby) was shot dead. Yet the two female hunters Jo and Ellen never died.
- Tara on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. She acts as a valued member of the team and a Lipstick Lesbian love interest for Willow—then Glory drives her insane and Willow goes on a Roaring Rampage Of Revenge. The following season, it happens again: Warren shoots and kills her, and Willow's Roaring Rampage Of Revenge is so severe it causes a Face Heel Turn.
- Earlier in the second season Jenny Calendar is killed by Angelus and left in her lover Rupert Giles' bedroom, along with a number of things to make the latter initially believe that she has arrived in his home for a romantic rendezvous. It is debatable whether this is a case of schlock or effective writing in line with Whedon's usual tropes, as her planned death had been merely delayed due to fan popularity.
- Now, for an unambiguous example, just look at the many, many Potential Slayers killed off in season 7. Young Female? Check. Killed off by the Big Bad to show how evil they are? Check. Serves the main purpose of giving the hero something to wangst over? Oh, you better bet that's a check.
- They're somewhere between minor characters and extras, they're in an Anyone Can Die show in which there is, in fact, a lot of the dying, and Slayers can only be female. There was no plausible way of them all making it out alive or being male, and they weren't main characters unexpectedly offed. I wouldn't really call that one unambiguous...
- Introducing a dozen female characters for the sole purpose of killing them off in brutal ways to sustain drama and make it Its Personal for Buffy is pretty unambiguous. The question is whether any individual potential was developed enough to go beyond Disposable Woman, which isn't much better as a trope.
- In the BBC version of Robin Hood Maid Marian herself was killed off for what was (by the writers' admission) nothing more than shock value. Needless to say, this creative decision backfired spectacularly, and the combined forces of fan outrage and a crummy time slot meant that ratings for Season 3 plummeted through the floor. The show was then axed.
men In Refrigerators.
- Happens literally, yet subverts the trope, in Dollhouse. A kidnapped girl is stored in a refrigerator, but she's still alive, and gets rescued.
- Later on DeWitt sends Hearn to kill Mellie. Then she remotely activates Mellie's active programming, whereupon she gets up, fights Hearn off, and breaks his neck on a coffee table.
- NCIS: Invoked. Ari kills Kate, and goes after Jenny and Abby, just because he knows it'll hurt Gibbs more. (Gibbs' first wife and daughter were murdered while he was deployed in Desert Storm.)
- Less deliberately, or at least without apparently considering the Unfortunate Implications, most of the recurring characters killed off on NCIS have been female: Kate, as mentioned above, Jenny, Paula Cassidy, and Michelle Lee. Compare male recurring characters: Gerald (shot but not dead), Ari, and La Grenouille, and consider the latter two were villains.
Video Games
- Subverted by Star Craft. Kerrigan is betrayed by Mengsk and left for dead. It initially appears that she has been stuffed into the fridge to motivate Jim Raynor, but after briefly addressing Raynor the bulk of the game (and its expansion) shift focus almost entirely to Kerrigan. And oh, is she pissed.
- And its sequel. She is now, in fact, the Big Bad. And oh, is she still pissed.
- Both used and inverted in Baldurs Gate II: Just before the game starts, Minsc was forced to watch as Irenicus murdered Dynaheir. This kind of backfires, as his rage at the act, stoked by main character's words, allows him to escape. Meanwhile, the party discovers Khalid, who was mutilated after being killed. Jaheira, his wife, naturally gets a little...intense.
- Two party members get rather arbitrarily killed in Neverwinter Nights 2. No points for guessing their genders.
- Otacon, from the Metal Gear Solid series, is best described as a walking refrigerator. Any female character that has anything to do with him will get killed off in a cruel and horribly unnecessary way just so he can suffer beautifully.
- In one of the Coldarra quest chains in the Worldof Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Keristrasza ends up one of these. Captured, subdued (and possibly about-to-be-raped by Malygos, then has to be mercy-killed in the Nexus instance.
Webcomics
- Subverted heavily (as well as lampshaded) in this strip from the webcomic Super Stupor.
- Jovia in Starslip Crisis, who was 'killed' when an accident involving FTL permanently sent the cast into an Alternate History where she was dead and everything else was otherwise the same. Ouch.
- However, in this case, she is NOT quickly forgotten.
- The mother of one of the two leads from Abstract Gender is killed in an implausible way in order to make the reconciliation of the leads more dramatic.
- In Shades we have Rebecca: Female, check. Looked like she was going to be a major charachter, check. Death is used as characterization for a male charachter, check. Defeated implausibly, well no. She was defeated while running distraction against a supervillain way out of her league. as of the latest update she might just be a prisoner
Anime
- Averted in the Street Fighter II animated movie; yes, Action Girl Chun-Li ends up battered into unconsciousness by Vega - but right before she passes out she puts him through a wall and kills him. And she actually lives to tell this, too.
- The Samurai Gun exist to avenge the evils of the Shogunate, but somehow always ends up avenging the deaths of large-breasted prostitutes.
- The Pokemon anime, though maintaining its two original male leads (Ash and Brock), has gone through three different female leads (Misty, May, and now Dawn (who is also, if all hints are considered, not going to make the next season). It could also be noted that each female lead has been more feminine and 'weak' in nature than her successor)- although, as this is a childrens' show, none were actually killed. May's obnoxious younger brother Max was introduced and disposed of alongside May, however, it's hard to say that his dismissal had any relation to his gender, as he was (for good reasons) extremely unpopular with fans.
WebAnimation
- Sandra Telfer from Broken Saints meets a grisly end just to push Raimi into near-Heroic BSOD territory for a couple acts, and to establish that Anyone Can Die. However, her death plays an important and logical enough role in the story to just avoid this.
Mythology
- In one Hindu tradition, the goddess Sati, wife of Shiva, throws herself on a fire and burns to death. The grief-stricken Shiva abandons his duties and wanders the world with her corpse over his shoulder. He's too distraught to notice when Vishnu sneaks up behind him and starts cutting off bits of Sati's body; only when she's completely dismembered does Shiva realize that she's gone and return to sanity. Meanwhile, the places where the parts of Sati fell become sacred sites. Dates are sketchy, but this is probably Older Than Dirt.
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