History TheSmurfettePrinciple / ComicBooks

* When ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' started in 1963, The Wasp was the only female of the five original members. All the original members left in 1965, but there was still only one female out of the nine-person team; the Scarlet Witch.

* ''ComicBook/TheFlash'': During the ComicBook/WallyWest era, the Flash Family was pretty well-developed and expansive, where besides TheHero Wally/The Modern-Age Flash, there was OldMaster Max Mercury, TeamDad Jay Garrick/Golden Age Flash, AnnoyingYoungerSibling Bart Allen/Impulse, and Jesse Chambers/Jesse Quick, the only girl in the team. Jesse's gender wasn't used to make her distinguished from the others at least, as she was also the only one with a career outside of superheroing, was a {{Workaholic}}, acted as a CoolBigSis, and was a DeadpanSnarker introverted nerd. She was also the only one to have powers outside of SuperSpeed, as she could also have short bursts of {{Flight}} and SuperStrength, which compensated for the fact she wasn't quite as fast as Wally.

* ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'':

* As of the ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}} reboot, ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon often serves as this in [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Batfamily]] stories such as ''Death of the Family'' and ''The Trial of Batwoman''. Whilst there are still other female members, stories like these use a six-man group comprised of Batman, the four Robins, and Batgirl. The fact that she's the only woman in the cave or at the table really does stand out. Especially noticeable when compared to the end of the Pre-Flashpoint era, which had several more female heroes involved in Bruce's plans for Batman Inc.

** Peyo (their creator) caught some flak by admitting Smurfette was not intended to be a real heroic character at all, describing her in mostly childish ways. Originally, the Smurfs were all male (or possibly asexual). One cartoon explained that smurfs did not reproduce the way most creatures did; [[DeliveryStork a stork magically delivered them as infants]] on nights when there was a blue moon. Thus, gender was a moot point. Smurfette's OriginStory was shown in the Creator/HannaBarbera [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs cartoon show.]] She was created by Gargamel to disrupt the lives of the Smurfs. (However, in the conclusion of that origin story, she rescued them single-handedly.)
** Later, another female Smurf, the younger and more tomboyish Sassette, was created by similar means as Smurfette, except "less clay" seems to equal "younger". She is usually accompanied by three boy smurfs of roughly the same "age", and the four are collectively reffered to as "Smurflings".

** [[Film/TheSmurfs2 The second movie]] expands Smurfette's story after ''Film/TheSmurfs'' stayed totally true to the original trope with Smurfette being the only female Smurf present in the movie. The sequel claims that Smurfette was originally something called a "Naughty" before Papa Smurf's spell, created as a DistaffCounterpart of Smurfs in general (not truly evil, but incredibly mischievous). In the actual movie, Gargamel creates two more of these creatures named Vexy and Hackus - one male, one female - in order to discover how to use Papa Smurf's spell to turn them into true Smurfs. [[spoiler: Gargamel's actual goal is to use a device to extract "smurf essence" from not only the real Smurfs, but from Vexy and Hackus as well once the spell is cast, considering them {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. The two eventually turn against him and are taken in by the actual Smurfs.]]

** [[Film/TheSmurfsTwo The second movie]] expands Smurfette's story after [[Film/TheSmurfs]] stayed totally true to the original trope with Smurfette being the only female Smurf present in the movie. The sequel claims that Smurfette was originally something called a "Naughty" before Papa Smurf's spell, created as a DistaffCounterpart of Smurfs in general (not truly evil, but incredibly mischievous). In the actual movie, Gargamel creates two more of these creatures named Vexy and Hackus - one male, one female - in order to discover how to use Papa Smurf's spell to turn them into true Smurfs. [[spoiler: Gargamel's actual goal is to use a device to extract "smurf essence" from not only the real Smurfs, but from Vexy and Hackus as well once the spell is cast, considering them {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. The two eventually turn against him and are taken in by the actual Smurfs.]]
** [[WesternAnimation/SmurfsTheLostVillage]] subverts the trope for the first time in the franchise as it introduces now the new idea of a whole other Smurfs-village which only consists of ''female Smurfs'', for once and all confirming there are natural born female Smurfs. The female Smurfs are also a big part of the movie and even included in the marketing.

** [[Film/TheSmurfs The second movie]] expands Smurfette's story, claiming that Smurfette was originally something called a "Naughty" before Papa Smurf's spell, created as a DistaffCounterpart of Smurfs in general (not truly evil, but incredibly mischievous). In the actual movie, Gargamel creates two more of these creatures named Vexy and Hackus - one male, one female - in order to discover how to use Papa Smurf's spell to turn them into true Smurfs. [[spoiler: Gargamel's actual goal is to use a device to extract "smurf essence" from not only the real Smurfs, but from Vexy and Hackus as well once the spell is cast, considering them {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. The two eventually turn against him and are taken in by the actual Smurfs.]]

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