The average person could probably name a few female superheroes, or super villain even if they are just from the movies: Batgirl, Black Widow, Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy, Catwoman, Harley Quinn... But are they more than just eye candy service for fanboys?
Well, I guess that would depend on what you look at. As a fan of some of these females, I can tell you that some of their costumes will totally show the eye candy service. Some are easy to nod your head and say yup there's not much reason for this character other than making the male readers drool; while others have been well thought out to have a big fan base of females behind them. I'm going to give you a look at my opinion on some of these Superheroines and Supervillainesses:
Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston in 1941. This heroine from the beginning was branded as a Feminist Icon since she fights for justice, love, peace, and gender equality.
Empire magazine named Wonder Woman as the 20th greatest comic book character and placed 5th in IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of all Time. However, she was ranked 6th in
Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women in Comics, this completely points at Wonder Woman to be an eye candy despite psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's claims in his book
Seduction of the Innocent (1954) of Wonder Woman being Lesbian due to her strength and independence. I personally have never liked Wonder Woman, I feel that she just hasn't been presented well over the years. Her Rogues gallery leaves something to be desired, and I've always viewed her as we needed a female founder of the Justice League, so um how about Wonder Woman? She's just about as old as Superman and Batman. Honestly this girl doesn't want to read about a mythical goddess/warrior who runs around in a strapless bathing suit and high heal boots, to me that's just selling sex and impractical. It wasn't until DC's new52 line where Wonder Woman gained a more realistic outfit for a warrior in modern day. And I have sorely disliked DC's recent idea of pairing her off with their other god like character, Superman. Wonder Woman has been in several of DC's other media titles with the most noted actresses being Linda Carter ("Wonder Woman" TV show) and Gal Gadot who will be playing Wonder Woman in the 2016 movie "Superman vs. Batman: Dawn of Justice".
Unlike Wonder Woman, Batman's female counterpart, or rather sidekick, doesn't have the sex appeal outfit. This is not to say that males haven't twisted this set of independent, strong heroines into something wrong on so many levels... Three ladies have been Batgirl: Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown. Barbara Gordon, created by William Dozier, Julius Schwartz, & Carmine Infantino, is the daughter of Commissioner Gordon with a background in gymnastics and library science. Her costume was fashioned out of a Batman costume that she was wearing to a costume party, which she wears up until her she is paralyzed by Joker in
The Killing Joke at this point Barbara starts utilizing her skills as a hacker for Batman and the rest of the Batman Family as Oracle. She resumes her role as Batgirl in new52, and now currently resides in Burnside with a more practical outfit for a girl on the go. In the events of
No Man's Land Cassandra Cain was given the mantel of Batgirl by Batman. She's the daughter of assassins David Cain and Lady Shiva, making her Eurasian. Naturally, Casandra is a well adapt fighter due to her being trained up from a young age to be an expert martial artist while being mute. She learned how to talk, read, and write over the course of her time as Batgirl, however after the events of
Final Crisis Cassandra gives up on being Batgirl giving the mantel to Stephanie saying that there's no reason for her to continue being Batgirl since she did it for Batman. Stephanie Brown, the daughter of villain Cluemaster, started out as a self claimed superheroine out to put her father away for good as Spoiler, she soon seeks Batman's approval by fighting to become Robin after her boyfriend, Tim Drake, is forced to retire. During her time as Batgirl, Stephanie pushed herself to be the best she could be as Batgirl so no one would force her to give back the mantel. She has returned to comics in the new52 in
Batman Eternal as Spoiler. While Barbara has been the most depicted Batgirl in other media, Stephanie Brown made an appearance in the cartoon "Young Justice: Invasion" and in "Lego Batman" (1) players can create Spoiler in the custom characters and she is also appears in "Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham" in the DLC as Spoiler, plus she is shown to be in "Sribblenauts: Unmasked" in a three of her pre-new52 roles. Likewise, Cassandra has had a few other media cameos as well: In the "Justice League" episode "The Savage Time" a girl is seen with Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, and Dick Grayson this is an uncredited cameo, she is also a character that can be custom made in "Lego Batman" and appears in "DC Universe Online" and as a variant obtained by online challenge on the mobile version of "Injustice". Barbara Gordon is ranked 17th on
Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 sexiest women in comics list.
Catwoman is a Batman villain and love interest. Over the years her outfit has changed to reflect her thief trade while still keeping her sex charm by having skin tight leotard to her current black leather. And who can't forget her whip, you can't get more kinky than that. Catwoman has been more of an Antihero rather than a villain since the 90's. She is ranked 23rd in
Comics Buyer's Guide 100 sexiest women in comics list. And let's not forget that there has been a Catwoman in almost every Batman media outside of the comic books:
Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, & Eartha Kitt in "Batman" ('66 or the TV show)
Michelle Pfeiffer in "Batman Returns" (1992)
Anne Hathaway in "The Dark Knight Returns" (2012)
Camren Bicondova plays a young version of Catwoman in the TV series "Gotham"
Voiced by Melendy Britt in "The New Adventures of Batman"
Voiced by Adrienne Barbeau in "Batman the Animated Series" & "The New Batman Adventures"
Voiced by Nika Futterman in "Batman: Brave and the Bold"
Voiced by Gina Gershon in "The Batman"
Voiced by Grey DeLisle in the video game "Infinite Crisis", the "Arkham" game series, & "Injustice: Gods Among Us"
Voiced by Laura Bailey and Vanessa Marshall in the "Lego Batman" game series
Power Girl is the Earth 2 counterpart to Supergirl who becomes stranded in the main universe. Despite only having one costume that doesn't show cleavage, at one point the Artist for Power Girl started drawing her boobs a little bigger each issue seeing how big they would get before the editors notice: writer Jimmy Palmiotti stated, "Okay. When the character was created, Wally Wood was the artist that
drew Power Girl, and he was convinced that the editors were not paying
attention to anything he did. So, his inker said every issue I’m going
to draw the tits bigger until they notice it. It took about seven or
eight issues before anyone was like hey, what’s with the tits? And
that’s where they stopped. True story."
In her new52 debut, Power Girl's breast deflated a bit and she gained a more modest costume for a short while. Unfortunately this costume was destroyed and she returned to a costume similar to her pre-new52 look with a circle showing her cleavage. In other media, Power Girl has been in the "Justice League" and "Superman the Animated Series" cartoons, a version of her is in the "Smallville" TV show, she's a main side character in the animated film "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies", a cameo characters of the Crime Syndicate of America as Supergirl's evil counterpart in "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths", and appears in "DC Universe Online" and "Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham" video games. She is also ranked 9th in
Comics Buyer's Guide 100 Sexiest Woman in Comics list.
Unlike her "twin" Supergirl has had a pretty modest look having only one low cut top and showing only leg and sometimes the stomach. Ranked 13th in
Comic Buyer's Guide 100 Sexiest Woman in Comics list, Supergirl has proven that Blonde hair and blue eyes really do something to a person when on a skinny female who has superpowers. In other media, Supergirl has not had too many roles in live action with her first being portrayed by Helen Slater in the not so well known film spin off "Supergirl" in 1984 which spun off of the 1978 "Superman" film. She was originally set to be a character in "Superman II" but was scrapped due to the flop of her movie. While her movie roles haven't been anything to write home about, Supergirl has had some success in TV with being a major character in "Smallville" and gaining her own series set in the DC universe as "Arrow" and "the Flash" played by Ali Adler. And she has appeared in several of the animated DC features including several video games.
Let's take a break from DC's good girls to talk about Poison Ivy. Where to begin with this Eco-Terrorist, she was created by Robert Kanigher as a temptress with no real origin. Ivy was promoted after the rise of Feminism pointed out the need for a greater number of more independent female villains. In the late 1980's Neil Gaiman linked her to Swamp Thing and his original Black Orchid as a human-plant hybrid. IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Villains of all Time list ranked Ivy 64th, and she's ranked 21st in
Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 Sexiest Women in comics list. Poison Ivy's most common costume consist of a green "bathing suit" that's drawn to look like it's made out of leaves. For a while she was colored to have green skin due to her powers, and has over the years learn to control that part of her abilities allowing her to look more like her human self. Her Ame Comi version returns to having green skin and has a leaf bikini with leaf leg warmers rather than a one piece suit, and her new52 look is that of a black jumpsuit with leaves covering part of it. In the new52, Ivy was recruited to the Birds of Prey to be an Antihero of sorts, but she never fully made the move to be good in anyway. Although Poison Ivy was never in the Batman TV show, DC brought her into the comic series that was started up with the 75th anniversary of Batman and the DVD/Blu Ray release of the show
(pictured top right). She is also depicted at times to be in a Lesbian relationship with fellow Batman Villain, Harley Quinn, who is said to be her best friend. In "Batman the Animated series", Ivy is left unable to bear children due to her hyper-immune system.
Harley Quinn is an interesting character since she didn't have origins in comics, rather having starts in "Batman the Animated series". Her comic book debut is
Batman: Mad Love, where her origin is relived in the style and continuity of "Batman the Animated Series". Her costume for most of her career is a red and black jester like Halloween costume that she steals in order to free Joker from Arkham. Harley's new52 look takes on the more revealing look of her "Arkham" game design giving her well wanted eye candy appeal. Although Quinn is madly in love with the Joker, after has a moment of sanity and becomes fed up with Joker trying to kill her, she becomes a love partner with her best friend Poison Ivy. In her solo new52 comics, Harley is now an Antihero picking what side she's on based on how she's feeling. Like Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn wasn't created yet to be in the "Batman" TV show, so she became a member of Batman '66 via the comics as a roller derby villainess and love interest to the Joker of the series. Her Ame Comi version places her in a slightly less modest version of her original outfit and she is depicted as crazy because her "hat" talks to her, and it's hinted that she's in Lesbian relationship with Ame Comi's Joker, Dulea Dent. IGN listed her as 45th in the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of all Time and she's 16th on
Comics Buyer's Guide 100 sexiest women in comics list.
And To think anyone in DC could beat out Wonder Woman, well according to
Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 sexiest women in comics list this magician heroine did. Zatanna ranked in at 4th place, and who wouldn't be taken in by the charm of a showgirl superhero.
Ranking 26th in the 100 sexiest women list of the
Comics Buyer's Guide and IGN's 81st greatest all-time comic book hero, Black Canary shows the sexual love of a slim model body with blonde hair female. At first Canary had no superpowers and was just a prodigious fighter belonging to Earth-2, and she's still considered to be one of DC's top martial artists. She's also an expert motorcyclist, I'm not sure how this adds to her sexiness but it does. When Canary crossed dimensions to Earth-1, she developed her superpower, the Canary Cry. This later translated into the non-superpowered Canary becoming the mother to the superpowered daughter Black Canary we all know and love that's partners with Green Arrow (pre-new52). DC's new52 has reset this making Black Canary one single person again wiping her relationship with Green Arrow right out of existance, and she develops her Canary Cry as a Metagene via experiments done of her and her fellow Team 7 members.
For some reason, Starfire was only ranked 20th in
Comics Buyer's Guide's 100 sexiest women in comics list and placed 21st in IGN's top 25 superheroes of DC. While I'm a fan of the Teen Titans, which Starfire is a member of, I see no true reason for Starfire's outfit other than sexual appeal to males, which start showing less in her new52 look in
Red Hood and the Outlaws. Luckily her solo story has some clothing on. I understand that she's an alien, but she should learn to dress like humans can't she? And as a Manga artist myself, I find it funny that her Anime version in Ame Comi has more clothes on than her american comic self. I guess it's understandable that she's sexually drawn since her creators, Marv Wolfman and George Perz based her off of Red Sonja, who happened to take the top spot in
Comics Buyer's Guide list.
Huntress ranking 42nd in
Comics Buyer's Guide's list, is either Helena Wayne from Earth-2 or Helena Bertinelli. While Huntress' costumes have been relatively modest, like most females in the Bat family, there's just something about the baddish girl out for revenge that attracts males. Originally Helena Wayne, daughter of Catwoman and Batman, is out for revenge of her mother's death. After she does this she decides to become a crime fighter and is erased from existence along with her Earth's Robin at the end of
Crisis on Multipule Earths. In the third Robin comic series, Helena Bertinelli makes her debut as Huntress. Bertinelli is the daughter of one of Gotham's mafia bosses who's out for revenge after witnessing the death of her family, and becomes a member of the Birds of Prey. In new52 Huntress is once again Helena Wayne, who along with Power Girl, is trapped on Earth Prime and Helena Bertinelli is one of her aliases. In other media, Huntress has been in quite a few things, including being the only other heroine along side Black Canary to appear in the 1979 NBC show "Legends of the Superheroes" (played by Barbara Joyce). Helena Wayne was the insperation for the Huntress in the short lived "Birds of Prey" show, and Helena Bertinelli's Huntress, played by Jessica De Gouw, became a side character in the CW's "Arrow". Along with these live action roles, Huntress appeared in both the "Justice League Unlimited" and "Batman: Brave and the Bold" cartoons as well as being in several DC video games.
In 2013, DC published a short series called
Ame Comi Girls based off of the anime style statues of the same name. In this series several of the DC women were re-imaged into Anime characters.
Ame Comi Girls includes the following heroines: Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Supergirl, Batgirl, a female Robin (Carrie Kelly), a female Flash (Jessie Quick/Chambers), Steel (Natasha Irons), Green Lantern (Jade Yifei), Alanna Strange (female counterpart to Adam Strange), Hawkgirl (Shayera Thath), Atom (Avril Palmer female counterpart to Ray Palmer's Atom), Raven, Beast Girl (female counterpart to Beast Boy), a female Cyborg, Tempest (female counterpart to Lagoon Boy mixed with Garth: Aqualad I & Tempest), Metra (female counterpart to the new god, Metron), Tomara Re (female counter part to Tomar Re), White Canary, Stompa, Lashina, Mad Harriet, Mera, Big Barda, and Miss Miracle (female counterpart of Mr. Miracle).
And includes the following villainess: Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Dulea Dent (female counterpart to the Joker), Brainiac/Indigo (female counterpart to Brainiac), Cheetah, Sinestra (female counterpart to Sinestro), Star Sapphire, The Silver Banshees (group of armored villainess based off of the Silver Bashee), female versions of the Manhunters, Grand Goodness, Mistress Darkseid (female counterpart to Darkseid), and a female Black Manta.
Again another series of statues was created into a comic series, DC Bombshells. These statues are inspired by 1940's pin up art and dieselpunk, and first made their comic debut a comic book cover variants along side a series of steampunk ones in August of 2014. DC decide to launch a full series of the DC Bombshells in Oct. 2015. the Bombshells show the sex appeal of the 1940's pin ups which were used to encourage soldiers fighting WWII.
In addition to the Bombshell variant covers, DC put out a series of Steampunk variant covers. Like many Steampunk things, most of the females had more of a sexual look than they would have in the Victorian era that Steampunk grows out of. Although Harley Quinn's Steampunk design is a lot more modest than her normal costume!
If you are interested in the full list from
Comics Buyer's Guide please look here:
http://comicvine.gamespot.com/comics-buyers-guide-presents-2-100-sexiest-women-i/4000-463770/
Next time I will be talking about the Women of Marvel.
-FoxCat ya later.
