The Leading Lady in "The Man From UNCLE"

By Sydney Fromm
Forget James Bond and Jason Bourne. The spy you should be paying attention to is the phenomenal (and totally bad-ass!) Gaby Teller from the amazing movie The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 

via GIPHY

To give you an introduction, the movie opens with our two main male leads, Napoleon Solo (from the CIA) and Illya Kuryakin (KGB) fighting against one another to get to Gaby, a German mechanic stuck behind the Berlin Wall. Gaby aids Solo in an amazing get away with her killer car-driving skills, and eventually teams up with both Napoleon and Illya to stop super genius Victoria Vinciguerra from selling a powerful nuclear weapon to a few lingering Nazis. 

​We soon see how spunky and no-nonsense this German mechanic actually is. Like most of the ladies on screen we love, Gaby's got a sharp tongue and can fire witty comments to her partners with ease. And we see her and Illya start to form a fierce friendship that seems to be leading into a romantic relationship. Key word: friendship first! While the two male leads are interesting, Gaby steals the show by providing the important plot points, most of the humor, and eventually nearly all of the intelligence to the team of spies. 

As the movie continues (major spoiler alert coming up!!), the audience learns one more thing that makes us love Gaby Teller even more. You see, Gaby wasn't just teaming up with the CIA/KGB. Oh no. Gaby Teller was actually recruited by the MI6, and had her own undercover mission to save her scientist father (who was working with Victoria Vinciguerra on nuclear weapons).

That's right. Gaby Teller is a BA undercover MI6 agent, and so-called "super spies" Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin had no freaking idea. She played the best spies in the CIA and the KGB without breaking a sweat.

One of the truly amazing things about The Man From U.N.C.L.E is the way they treat their main female characters-- both Gaby Teller and super-evil genius Victoria Vinciguerra. Unlike this movie's counter parts (cough James Bond cough cough), both main ladies play a pivotal part in the movie with their own plot lines. Without them, in fact, the movie wouldn't even have a plot.

And what's more, neither Gaby or Victoria used are a romantic plot device. Neither of their stories rely on a male character, and neither characters are objectified like countless female characters in other spy movies (ahem, JAMES BOND). These ladies are completely valued for their brains, making a killer spy and a truly devious villain.

Both Gaby and Victoria prove that women can be just as fierce, if not more so, than their male counterparts. Here's hoping we get to see a sequel, so even more killer lady characters can have some screen time. Ladies, raise your glasses and here’s to hoping we get to see Miss Teller from Germany kick more butt alongside her two partners.

Do you love Gaby as much as we do? Comment below of your favorite movie scenes or other bad-ass females characters you think we should mention.