Female Counterparts of American Superheroes
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Kateřina Kováříková Women in Comics: Female Counterparts of American Superheroes Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to thank Mr. Pospíšil for his time and helpful advice, my parents for believing in me, and Tim for his endless emotional support. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 5 2. History and Development of the Superhero Genre ................................................................... 7 2.1 Golden Age: 1938 – 1956 ............................................................................................... 7 2.2 Silver Age: 1956 – 1970 ............................................................................................... 10 2.3 Bronze Age: 1970 – 1985 ............................................................................................. 11 2.4 Modern Age: 1986 – Present ......................................................................................... 13 3. Wonder Woman ...................................................................................................................... 15 3.1 Wonder Woman as Female Counterpart of Superman .................................................. 15 3.2 Wonder Woman and the Second World War ................................................................ 21 3.3 Post-War Criticism and its Influence on Silver Age Wonder Woman .......................... 28 4. Supergirl .................................................................................................................................. 34 4.1 Supergirl as Female Counterpart of Superman ............................................................. 35 4.2 Impact of the Code ........................................................................................................ 39 4.3 Symbolism of Supergirl’s Death ................................................................................... 42 5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 46 6. Appendix ................................................................................................................................. 48 Works Cited and Consulted ........................................................................................................ 57 List of Primary Sources ............................................................................................................... 57 List of Secondary Sources ........................................................................................................... 60 Resumé ........................................................................................................................................ 64 4 1. Introduction The title of Zack Synder’s new movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice promises an epic battle between these two superhero characters, but it also introduces another superhero character, namely Wonder Woman. The viewer gets to know her as a mysterious lady Bruce Wayne encounters at Lex Luthor’s party. The character is forgotten soon after, until she reappears on screen, reading an email from Bruce. There is an old photograph dated back to 1918 showing Wonder Woman in her superhero costume (see fig. 1). “Is that you?” asks Bruce afterwards and on the next line writes: “It is you!” After that he ads an hyperlink to several videos of Wonder Woman, sending a clear message – you have been watched. Then again Wonder Woman disappears and returns to join the final battle with Doomsday and shortly talks to Bruce at the very end of the movie. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman never stays on screen for long. In fact, Aliza Weinberger counts her total screen time and concludes that “throughout the film’s 2-hour-and-33-minute run time, Gal Gadot’s heavily hyped Wonder Woman only appears on screen for about 7 minutes” half of which “comes during the final fight scene, in which Wonder Woman only says 3 lines of dialogue”. The truth is Wonder Woman makes only small contribution to the movie as a whole. On one hand it is understandable, since, as the title already indicates, the main focus is on Batman and Superman, but on the other hand it shows there is certain policy applied towards female characters in superhero movies. The look at superhero movies from the last years makes it quite clear. The main starring characters are Spider-Man, Superman, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor. If there is any female superhero involved, she only appears as a part of some superhero team. In The Avengers as well as in its sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron Black Widow appears as the only female member of the superhero team. Similarly, Sue Storm is the 5 one and only female member of The Fantastic Four. But even if there are more superheroines involved as in the X-men series, the main focus is still on male characters such as Wolverine, Charles Xavier or Magneto. Even though nowadays the tendencies of the comics industry is to give more space to female heroines, the contemporary movies, which draw inspiration directly from comic books myths, give an impression they are still stuck in the 1960s when female heroines were mostly ignored and badly outnumbered. This thesis turns to the comic books which introduced the superhero genre. It concentrates on female counterparts of American superheroes, which is a special group of characters appearing in the genre. Since the definition of counterpart is “someone or something that has the same job or purpose as another” (Merriam-Webster), with the term female counterpart I am referring to characters which are viewed as female versions of the male heroes. I discuss these characters on the example of Wonder Woman and Supergirl, both of which can be understood as female counterparts of Superman. First, I examine the reasons for which Wonder Woman and Supergirl are understood as female counterparts to the Man of Steel. Then I have a look how the time during which they were created shapes and influences their characters and compare them to each other. The time at which these characters appear is crucial because its impact on these characters can be still visible decades later. While one is praised as an embodiment of feminine strength, the other is often perceived simply as “Superman with boobs” (Giordano qtd. in Misiroglu 330). I argue that since Wonder Woman and Supergirl each represents another type of female counterpart a different approach is visible towards female and male superheroes as well as Wonder Woman and Supergirl. 6 2. History and Development of the Superhero Genre Readers and scholars alike distinguish between several ages when discussing periodization and development of the superhero genre. This work employs a simplified version from Gina Misiroglu’s The Superhero Book: The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of Comic-Book Icons and Hollywood Heroes, which differentiates between four major periods, namely the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age and the Modern Age, and turns to it as a source of the information covered in this chapter, unless stated otherwise. This chapter offers an overview discussing the trends and tendencies in comic books during a given age, concentrating on the milestones in the development of the genre with an emphasis on female counterparts. The purpose of this chapter is to establish a timeline and offer wider context for female counterparts of male superheroes in American comic books. 2.1 Golden Age: 1938 – 1956 The superhero genre begins with Superman’s debut on the pages of Action Comics #1 in 1938. He was presented as an alien from outer space, gifted with an unnatural strength, ability to fly, and bulletproof skin, who used his amazing powers to fight crime and protect the innocent. At the time he was not performing heroic deeds, he was known as a rather shy and mild-mannered journalist Clark Kent. The Man of Steel was created during the Great Depression, yet he became an immediate success. As Johnson points out during the 1930s Superman was fighting against “common problems” and helped “average people” (15). In his early stories Superman “battled the everyday evildoers and problems that destroyed countless lives” (16). He offered “comfort, particularly to children during the hard economic times and the gathering storm clouds of Wold War II. Reality was becoming ever grimmer and so Superman became their light at the end of very long, dark tunnel” (“Superman’s History”). With 7 his regular job and family Clark Kent was the character readers could identify with, and when he changed into his superhero costume he represented hope for better times. Superman’s success encouraged other creators to follow his example and soon a wave of similar characters flooded the market. The most popular and notable superheroes from this era are Batman, first introduced on the pages of Detective Comics #27 in 1939, Wonder Woman, debuting in All-Star Comics #8 in 1941, and Captain America, who was first featured in Captain America Comics #1 also in 1941. Also the first superhero team named Justice Society of America is introduced during this era. As for the female counterparts,