Super IMPACT25
What do you get when espnW IMPACT25 honorees Carli Lloyd, Lydia Ko, Serena Williams, Ronda Rousey and Misty Copeland join forces with Ms. Marvel, The Black Widow, Thor, She-Hulk and Medusa? A #SUPERSQUAD, that's what. And below, see more original renderings as Marvel artists turned our illustrious list of 2015 Influencers and Athletes into super versions of themselves.
Illustration by Jamal Campbell
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Impact Athlete
Simone Biles
(Air Apparent)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The 18-year-old became the first gymnast since 1992 to win a third straight national title, then went on to win her third consecutive world all-around title -- the first gymnast ever to accomplish this feat.
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Kevin Wada
Impact Athlete
Tamika Catchings
(Fever Rising)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The 14-year WNBA veteran and 10-time All-Star led the Indiana Fever to the WNBA Finals, where she became the first player in WNBA history to score 1,000 career playoff points.
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Afua Richardson
Impact Athlete
Lauren Chamberlain
(The Slugger)
2015 HIGHLIGHT Called "the Babe Ruth of softball," the Oklahoma star broke the NCAA Division I softball career home-run record with a grand slam for No. 91. She finished her collegiate career as a four-time All-American with 95 HRs.
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Sana Takeda (pencils & inks); Jessica Kholinne (color)
Impact Influencer
Misty Copeland
(The Principal)
2015 HIGHLIGHT In June, the American Ballet Theatre promoted Copeland to principal dancer, making her the first African-American woman to hold the title in the company's 75-year history.
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Annie Wu
Impact Athlete
Elena Delle Donne
(Full-Court Goddess)
2015 HIGHLIGHT After battling Lyme's disease last season, the Chicago Sky forward had three 40-point performances this year (one in the playoffs) and received 38 of 39 first-place votes to grab the WNBA MVP title.
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Marguerite Sauvage
Impact Athlete
Erica Enders
(Racer XX)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The Pro Stock driver not only secured her second consecutive NHRA championship, but her nine wins made her the new record holder for most wins by a woman in a single season. What's more, she passed legend Shirley Muldowney on the NHRA's career victory list.
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Marco Chechetto (pencils & inks); Andres Mossa (color)
Impact Influencer
Lauren Greenfield
(Shoot Like A Girl)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The documentarian worked with Leo Burnett and the Always brand to create a memorable Super Bowl ad aimed at turning the phrase "like a girl" into a power theme.
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Joelle Jones (pencils & inks); Rachelle Rosenberg (color)
Impact Influencer
Becky Hammon
(The Mastermind)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The six-time WNBA All-Star and last year's IMPACT25 Woman of the Year coached the San Antonio Spurs D-League team to an NBA summer league title.
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Marco D'Alfonso
Impact Athlete
Chloe Kim
(Teenage Pipe Dream)
2015 HIGHLIGHT At the ripe old age of 14, the snowboarder rode her way into X Games history, nabbing gold in the superpipe and, in doing so, becoming the youngest gold medalist in a winter event.
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RB Silva (pencils); Walden Wong (inks); Rachelle Rosenberg (color)
Impact Athlete
Lydia Ko
(Girl Wonder)
2015 HIGHLIGHT Ko climbed to No. 1 in the LPGA rankings at the age of 17 (breaking Tiger Woods' record by almost four years) and became the youngest golfer to win a major.
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Gyimah Gariba
Impact Athlete
Katie Ledecky
(Power Stroke)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The freestyler dominated the field at the FINA world championships, winning five gold medals and setting three world records. She also became the first woman to win four individual swimming titles at one world championship meet.
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Jeff Dekal
Impact Athlete
Carli Lloyd
(The Boss)
2015 HIGHLIGHT Lloyd is one of soccer's most prolific and dangerous scorers. During the United States' 5-2 win over Japan, Lloyd became the second soccer player in history to score a hat trick in any senior FIFA World Cup Final.
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Ema Lupachino (pencils & inks); Rachelle Rosenberg (color)
Impact Influencer
Loretta E. Lynch
(FIFA Slayer)
2015 HIGHLIGHT Just three weeks into her post as U.S. Attorney General, Lynch led the charge in the FIFA corruption investigations, announcing indictments of 14 top FIFA officials and the unsealing of a $150 million case full of bribery, fraud and money laundering.
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Kate Niemczyk
Impact Influencer
Simone Manuel
(Splash!)
2015 HIGHLIGHT One of the few black women swimmers on the national stage, the Stanford sophomore won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events (setting an American record in the latter) at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships.
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Laura Braga
Impact Influencer
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo)
(Senators of Steel)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The duo co-sponsored the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, which would require schools to have a uniform process for dealing with assaults, then survey their students regularly and make those findings public.
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Jenny Frisson
Impact Influencer
Jessica Mendoza
(Major Leap)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The former softball Olympian and current ESPN analyst became the first woman to call an ESPN MLB game as an in-booth analyst, and the first to work a playoff game when she called the Yankees-Astros wild-card game.
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Phil Noto
Impact Athlete
Olivia Quigley
(Pegasus)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The 24-year-old sprinter from Wisconsin has stage-4 breast cancer, but put off chemotherapy to compete at the Special Olympics World Games, where she won gold in the 100 meters.
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Alti Firmansyah (pencils & inks); Jessica Kholinne (color)
Impact Athlete
Ronda Rousey
(Rowdy's Revenge)
2015 HIGHLIGHT A true cultural phenom, Rousey's one loss doesn't diminish her insane accomplishments. She made UFC history in February with a 14-second takedown of Cat Zingano, and handily beat Bethe Correia in August. We can't wait for the Holly Holm rematch.
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Kate Niemczyk
Impact Influencer
Dani Rylan
(Ice Queen)
2015 HIGHLIGHT With co-founder Angela Ruggiero, Rylan debuted the four-team National Women's Hockey League, based on what she calls a "new business model," where players are paid an average of about $15,000 per 18-game season.
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Kalman Andrasofszky (pencils); Jim Charlampidis (inks & color)
Impact Athlete
Breanna Stewart
(Baller On Fire)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The UConn senior, who's projected to be the top pick in the WNBA draft by a landslide, will go for an unprecedented fourth NCAA championship (and MVP) with the Huskies this season.
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Michael Gaydos
Impact Influencer
Diana Taurasi
(Ruble Rebel)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The Phoenix Mercury star decided to sit out the WNBA season at the request of her Russian Premier League team, sparking debate about players' pay and year-round schedules in the U.S.
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Natacha Bustos
Impact Influencer
Sarah Thomas
(The Penalizer)
2015 HIGHLIGHT After coming up through college football, Thomas became the NFL's first full-time female referee and made her NFL regular-season debut on Sept. 13, 2015.
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Nicole Virella (pencils & inks); Rachelle Rosenberg (color)
Impact Influencer
USWNT
(Who Run The World)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The women's national team brought soccer fandom to a peak: 20 million viewers watched the U.S. romp Japan 5-2 in the World Cup final -- the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history.
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Goran Sudzuka (pencils & inks); Miroslav Mrva (color)
Impact Influencer
Jen Welter
(The Ball Buster)
2015 HIGHLIGHT A veteran of several women's professional and semi-professional football teams, Welter became the first woman to coach in the NFL as an Arizona Cardinals preseason coaching intern.
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Natacha Bustos
Impact Athlete
Serena Williams
(Super Galactic Slam)
2015 HIGHLIGHT The sports icon is the most dominant tennis player today: Williams was 53-3 in matches this year, and she is the only player to rank in the WTA top 10 in wins on clay, grass and hard courts.
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Elizabeth Torque
