Actress Emilia Clarke Creates Comic Superhero with Menstrual Powers: ‘She Can Swing Like Spider-Man from Her Armpit Hair’

Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke is debuting a comic book series about a single mother whose superpowers manifest from her menstrual cycle.

M.O.M.: Mother of Madness introduces on Maya, a busy single parent whose life is turned upside down by the discovery of the superpowers she gets from her period, according to a report by Variety.

“She’s so ashamed of her powers at the start. It’s mental,” Clarke explained of the comic book, which aims to celebrate the single mom, who is typically depicted as someone who is sad, struggling, and seeking a man, Variety reports.

“She’s a single mum that’s got to get shit done,” the actress elaborated. “This was born from the idea that single mothers are superheroes. You need superhuman strength to do that. When you get into your 30s and your friends start having kids, you’re like, ‘Oh my god. I was not aware of what it took. Holy shit.'”

“The bloating, the hair growth, the mood swings, the [acne], all of it. We hate that when it happens, speaking for myself and everyone I’ve ever met who has had a period,” Clarke said. “What if we turned that around and made the period something that we can feel as this unique, crazy, superhuman thing that happens in our body?”

“When Maya is scared, she goes invisible, when she’s angry, she has superhuman strength,” she added. “She can swing like Spider-Man from her armpit hair.”

In upcoming editions of the three-part comic miniseries, Maya will use her “inflated boobs” to help thwart a human trafficking ring, the report adds.

Clarke — who says she read comic books as kid — recounts that she got the idea after realizing that the comic book industry is heavily male-dominated, despite about half of comic book buyers being female.

“In doing my research, I found that 16% of comic book creators are female, according to a 2019 study, and only 30% of comic book characters are women,” she said. “On the other hand, roughly half of comic book buyers are female — something did not sit right with me in that exchange, and all these signs were telling me to go make my own.”

“When I went to Comic-Con for the first time at 22 with Game of Thrones, I was amazed at what I saw — almost entirely men,” Clarke added. “Later, as tides turned in the industry and #MeToo emerged, I began to look at the community through those eyes and it was arresting.”

M.O.M.: Mother of Madness will debut in July from Image Comics, co-written by Clarke and writer Marguerite Bennett, with art by artist Leila Leiz.

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