List of female superheroes: Difference between revisions

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Criteria: See comic books. Individual women granted with extranormal powers, usually by cosmic rays, or mutations, or freakish accidents ... Ideally these women use their powers for good! This list will be heavy on alternative forms (i.e., lots of non-books).  
Superheroes are most associated with comic books & manga. However, the [[superhero genre]] spawns virtually all media: movies, TV series, text novels, games, and other works may all be spawned from comic books or created originally in some other media.  


Just because you fight and are a hero, doesn't mean you're a super-hero. You have to have supernatural or superhuman powers of some sort to be an actual super-hero. That's the difference between, say, Gabrielle and Xena. Or between Brenda Starr and Wonder Woman. Between Ripley in the "Alien" movies and ... and ... Xena.
Female superheroes, sometimes called superheroines, are individual women granted with extranormal powers, usually by cosmic rays, or mutations, or freakish accidents.  Superheroes use their powers for good; see also [[Female supervillains]].
 
Merely being extraordinarily skilled, trained, or talented, does not make one a superhero; only supernatural or superhuman powers make a superhero. Compare [[Brenda Starr]] to [[Wonder Woman]], or [[Ellen Ripley]] to [[Supergirl]]. [[Xena]] and [[Gabrielle]] are also examples: Xena has some deific intervention, some magical artifacts, and a lot of training and natural gifts.  
 
Common superhero power sources include:
*[[mutation]]
*[[magical or alien artifacts]]
*[[intervention by the gods]] - curses, gifts, gods watching over the person, etc.
*[[destiny]]
*[[alien or lost race powers]] - People with alien or lost race powers, such as Wonder woman or Superman, look human and may be normal among their own people, but have -- relative to humans -- superpowers.
*[[accidental superpowers]] - People who get electrified just as some phenomena is happening, or people who fall into vats of toxic substances, and so on, have accidental superpowers.  
 
These may be combined: Someone may accidentally stumble upon a holy relic, or some accident may cause them to "mutate", or mutation or whatever might be the instrument of some god or gods or destiny.


==Books==
==Books==
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* [[Batwoman]]
* [[Batwoman]]
* [[Catwoman]]
* [[Catwoman]]
* [[Duck-Girl & Crane]]
* [[Jean Grey (Phoenix)]]
* [[Jean Grey (Phoenix)]]
* [[Mystique]]
* [[Mystique]]
* [[Power Girl]]
* [[Power Girl]]
* [[Kitty Pryde]] (Shadowcat, etc.)
* [[Kitty Pryde]] (Shadowcat, etc.)
* [[Monica Rambeau]]
* [[Rogue]]
* [[Rogue]]
* [[Scarlet Witch]]
* [[Scarlet Witch]]
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[[Category:Characters by skill or ability|Superheroes]]
[[Category:Characters by skill or ability|Superheroes]]
[[Category:Lists of female characters|Superheroes]]
[[Category:Lists of female characters|Superheroes]]
[[Category:Characters with superpowers| List]]
[[Category:Superhero genre]]
[[Category:Superhero genre]]

Latest revision as of 10:18, 4 April 2011

Encyclopedia of
Female Characters
Issues in characterization:

Identities, representation, stereotypes
Roles, relationships, & character arcs

Indexes of female characters:

notable female characters ...
by occupation ...
by ethnic, sexual, other identity ...
by skill or ability ...
by series or work ...
Research and lists of female characters

Comprehensive:

A-G ... H-P ... Q-Z
browse index



Superheroes are most associated with comic books & manga. However, the superhero genre spawns virtually all media: movies, TV series, text novels, games, and other works may all be spawned from comic books or created originally in some other media.

Female superheroes, sometimes called superheroines, are individual women granted with extranormal powers, usually by cosmic rays, or mutations, or freakish accidents. Superheroes use their powers for good; see also Female supervillains.

Merely being extraordinarily skilled, trained, or talented, does not make one a superhero; only supernatural or superhuman powers make a superhero. Compare Brenda Starr to Wonder Woman, or Ellen Ripley to Supergirl. Xena and Gabrielle are also examples: Xena has some deific intervention, some magical artifacts, and a lot of training and natural gifts.

Common superhero power sources include:

These may be combined: Someone may accidentally stumble upon a holy relic, or some accident may cause them to "mutate", or mutation or whatever might be the instrument of some god or gods or destiny.

Books

  • Character name missing -Camarin Grae, Paz (Blazon Books, 1984) (A woman has an accident and finds that she now has the power to change what people believe.)
  • Character name missing - from Lindsay Welsh. Second Sight (Masquerade Books, 1997) - lesbian superhero! after a gay-bashing she gets super-powers (not just the usual superpowers, but also sexual superpowers!)

TV

Graphic novels & comics

See also