Gender-Flipped Villain Pitch: The Hooded Claw (The Perils of Penelope Pitstop)

I had been sitting on something like this for over a year now. I had thought about writing a story about gender-flipping villains, because let's face facts: there are some iconic villains who do need a woman's touch. I still, to this day, remember when the first season of Elementary gave us Natalie Dormer as a female Moriarty, so very delicious. The inspiration for this came from an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, which saw the titular hero in a gender-flipped universe, which not only featured Spider-Girl, but also Norma Osborn, a gender-flipped version of The Green Goblin. The Goblin wasn't the only Spider-Man villain to be gender-flipped, we would later see a female Dr. Octopus, who was voiced by Kathryn Hahn, who is currently heeling it up in the MCU as villainess Agatha Harkness.

Originally, my plan was to write a top five list, but I realized I wanted more than five villains to be gender-flipped. I tried a top 10, but couldn't really fill the list. Finally, I decided to throw so pitches out there (fitting term due to this being World Series time), and one on Saturday in September while I was watching college football, and randomly, my first subject popped up in my head: The Hooded Claw.

Who here remembers The Perils of Penelope Pitstop? Once upon a time, Hanna-Barbera gave us a little show known as Wacky Races, which was an homage to the funny car races. The show was so popular when it aired in 1968, that a year later, H-B decided to gives us not one, but two spinoffs. One of them was the aforementioned The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, which took Wacky Races' lone female competitor and placed her in the spotlight. The series synopsis was as follows: Penelope Pitstop was portrayed as the heiress to a massive fortune and was often accompanied by her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly. Here's the twist: Sylvester was next in line for that fortune, and in order to get it, he plotted to knock off Penelope, doing so under the guise of his alter-ego, The Hooded Claw, who is basically a stereotypical villain in this typical "damsel in distress" tale.

The Claw was often assisted by his henchmen, The Bully Brothers, in his elaborate schemes. Penelope wasn't the only one from Wacky Races to appear, as the show also featured The Ant Hill Mob, who served as Penelope's protectors. So with that, the show had a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves vibe (that and the voice cast were the main reasons why I love this show), and because of this, The Hooded Claw is begging to be gender-flipped.

Now, here's the part where I state my dream casting ideas for this villainous role, but in this case, it's a tad different. I actually had an idea for who could play the titular heroine, and this was my vision:

Without hesitation, the actress I had in mind for Penelope Pitstop? Lili Reinhart. She's perfect. She has the look, she has the chops, and I think she can pull off doing a Southern accent (yes, the accent would remain in my vision). Now, of course, Reinhart's Penelope would be even more headstrong than the original, though the original is quite headstrong herself. Reinhart could definitely play Penelope Pitstop in a live action feature film version of H-B's short-lived animated series; she would absolutely nail it.

Because I have Lili Reinhart in mind as a live action Penelope Pitstop, I have to stay in the Riverdale family when it comes to casting a female Hooded Claw. I actually have two choices for this:

Option A: Camila Mendes

What could be more fitting than Betty Cooper as Penelope Pitstop? How about Veronica Lodge as The Hooded Claw? As someone who has read Archie Comics since the age of eight, having the actresses who played Betty and Veronica as foes is just, well, fitting. Camila Mendes in this role would be absolutely amazing as hell, and it would be very epic, because Mendes hasn't really done the true villainess thing in her acting career. There are a few ways I could portray Mendes' Hooded Claw; for one, she could be Penelope's BFF, but could secretly use her villainous alter-ego against Penelope out of both greed and envy. Another version could see her as a longtime rival, and she could target Penelope due to bitterness over Penelope's good life. In any event, Camila Mendes would definitely show out in this role.

However, as awesome as that would be, there is a second option that I would love even more, and if you read on, it'll be easy to see why:

Option B: Mädchen Amick

I'm dead serious, Mädchen Amick as a female Hooded Claw against Lili Reinhart's Penelope Pitstop would be iconic as hell. For Amick's version, since the show is basically a Snow White homage, this version would have to be portrayed as Penelope's stepmother, who carries a doting demeanor that masks her true evil and ruthless nature. In both visions, the Bully Brothers would be involved (and not gender-flipped), but I can see Amick's version really doing the whole "ordering henchmen around" thing to perfection. Another attribute that I think Amick would perform very well: the Claw's maniacal cackle. Mädchen Amick would be absolutely phenomenal as a female Hooded Claw for sure.

So that's my pitch for a female version of The Hooded Claw. More ideas to come! Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!