The DCU
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Comic Books
Comic Books
- In Arak: Son of Thunder, Arak's most constant travelling companion is Valda, the Iron Maiden. Valda is the daughter of Bradmante, the legendary female knight, and became the only female knight in Charlemagne's court.
- Batman
- The Bat Family has a record of having some downright awesome Action Girls (Bette Kane as the first Batgirl and Flamebird, Kathy Kane as the first Batwoman, Barbara Gordon as the second Batgirl and Oracle, Cassandra Cain as the third Batgirl, Black Bat and Orphan, Stephanie Bown as the Spoiler, the fourth Robin, and 4th Batgirl, Huntress and Catwoman, just to name a few) and tending to go through long periods where those girls are Stuffed in the Fridge or misused in some other way, before making returns.
- When creating Kate Kane, the second Batwoman introduced in 52, the writers were afraid that she would quickly become a Faux Action Girl, especially since, though important, she is not the hero of the story. The Real Life furor surrounding the fact that she was a gay character caught them completely by surprise (They expected a response, of course, but not nearly of the size they got) and they wanted to make sure she was more than a token-anything. As such, they wanted the few action scenes she was in to be explicitly cool, they did not want to just talk about how cool she was. To this end, when writing one fight scene they scripted it as simply "Batwoman is finishing off the last two Intergangers with a devastating move that will have people saying 'holy ***, she's cool!'" When looking at the finished product, Greg Rucka observes what she is doing and points out that the injury she is causing is something "the Batman himself would think twice about before inflicting." Even before becoming Batwoman, Kate was a highly skilled cadet and boxing champion at West Point.
- Black Canary fluctuates between Action Girl and Faux Action Girl, depending on the writer. Chuck Dixon and Gail Simone, in Birds of Prey, were frustrated at the fact that she always seemed to end up as a victim/hostage, and devoted much of the comic to re-establishing Canary's Badass credibility. Sadly, the Green Arrow/Black Canary title utterly evaporated all that martial arts street cred. She regained it for a two-issue guest appearance in Wonder Woman (2006) written by Gail Simone.
- Gotham Central has a cast split almost 50/50 between male and female police officers, and each and every one of the women is an action girl (At least, we are told they are. Some simply never get enough time in the spotlight to confirm or deny these findings). Being cops they have to be, especially since they regularly deal with supervillains that fight Batman, and thus have to be Badass Normals in their own right.
- Detective Romy Chandler is probably given the first real action moment. Having discovered the secret identity of Firebug and trapping him within the police station, Firebug activates a hidden flamethrower to burn his way out; however, instead of burning Marcus Driver to a toasty crisp, he is instead instantly buried in foam. The next panel shows Romy standing there, holding a fire extinguisher and glaring at him.
- Renee Montoya gets the next reveal of her action potential. Apart from "minor" incidents throughout the series (Like beating the crap out of a rapist when he starts following her with a video camera) she gets to beat up a few "freaks" (supervillains) singlehandedly, starting with Two-Face. He has ruined her life (Framed her for murder, outed her to friends and family, kidnapped her, etc.) and is now holding her prisoner, but she knocks him down and goes right after his gun, and she does not stop until the Batman himself shows up.
- Montoya built up enough of a reputation that she became the new Question when Vic Sage died.
- In Hunter's Hellcats, Heller—the sole female in the squad—is at least as dangerous as any of the male Hellcats.
- Legion Of Superheroes has had a massive female cast since day one, and they've always been able to handle themselves in a fight, with or without their powers. Back in the early Silver Age days when the Invisible Girl was little more than a hostage, and Wonder Woman was losing her powers, Saturn Girl, Phantom Girl, Duo Damsel, Princess Projectra, and the other female Legionnaires were regularly sending villains to the hospital.
- Lois Lane definitely counts as well. She's a journalist, rather than a superhero, by trade, but her crusading idealism as an investigative reporter has frequently put her in the crosshairs of Lex Luthor and other corrupt elements, as well as various other supervillains. A Military Brat ever since the 1986 Post-Crisis reboot, Lois has enough martial arts skill to hold her own in most fights. In modern times, she usually only needs Superman's help because she often ends up going up against aliens, mutants, and cyborgs. Lois's courage and never-ending willingness to fight for justice and make trouble for the bad guys of the DC Universe has often required that she display her fighting skills in modern times.
- Kate Spencer of DC's Manhunter has become an example of this. Add the fact that she stole the weapons and costume she wears and isn't afraid to kill anyone in her way, and you have one crazy woman.
- From New Gods, Big Barda who's a beautiful seven-foot walking tank. And her husband, Mr. Miracle, loves her that way.
- Power Girl -a. k. a. Kara Zor-L, Supergirl of an Alternate Universe and cousin of Golden Age Superman- is a Kryptonian powerhouse who has fought some of the worst evils of The DCU, and has survived.Power Girl: Atlee, I fought Superboy Prime, Black Lanterns, mad New Gods and survived multiple Crises.
- Supergirl. Being a member of the Super-family, she can mix it up just as well as Kal-El, sometimes even better. In her origin story, Superman hints that she will become the world's greatest heroine.
- In Red Daughter of Krypton she gets a Red Lantern Ring and she becomes even more badass. During that storyline she blew spaceships up, crushed whole armies and defeated eldritch abominations single-handedly.
- In the first issue of Supergirl (Rebirth) Kara flies from Sun to Earth in a matter of seconds and wrestles a super-powerful werewolf.
- All female characters in Elseworld's Finest: Supergirl & Batgirl are action girls. The two main characters Supergirl and Batgirl are the world's greatest heroes. Wonder Woman leads the Justice Society and is the only hero whom Batgirl showed some modicum of respect.
- In Krypton No More, Kara is perfectly willing to fight back against an Alien Invasion on her own if she must.
- Many Happy Returns has two Supergirls: Pre-Crisis Kara Zor-El and Post-Crisis Linda Danvers. Linda becomes a mentor to Kara, who is less experienced but more powerful by several orders of magnitude.
- In The Supergirl from Krypton (2004), Wonder Woman takes Kara to Themyscira with the purpose of teaching her how to control her powers and fight in preparation for her becoming a heroine.
- In Superman: Brainiac Kara fights a legion of killer androids and stops a missile from detonating the Sun.
- In War World Superman needs a capable ally in order to stop a formidable machine of relentless destruction. So who is he going to call? His cousin. Supergirl is instrumental to destroy Warworld. Kal observes that Kara "has nerve enough for an army".
- In Bizarrogirl Supergirl has to fight a planet eater alien aided by her Bizarro counterpart.
- Teen Titans: Donna Troy and Starfire have been devastating combatants since their earliest days on the team, when they were easily its most powerful members. Both continue to kick ass regardless of which team they are currently serving with, and the Titans have since added Donna's successor as Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, to their lineup.
- Wonder Woman: The archetypical comic book Action Girl is, of course, Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman, created for just that purpose in 1941. Not the first female superhero, but a true cultural icon and never out of print since the 40s (since until recently, if DC didn't keep making it they would lose ownership).
- Her rival and foil, Artemis of the Bana-Mighdall also qualifies as well. She may not be as powerful as Diana but she's a ruthless and efficient fighter in her own right and even served as Wonder Woman for a time.
- Amanda Waller, unlike most in the list, is at most a Badass Normal with no special abilities other than brute intellect, enough Heroic Willpower to break a Green Lantern ring and guile. She's well past her prime, black, fat and menopausic. She's the mistress of the Suicide Squad and not even the Bat crosses her lightly. And no, she's not hiding behind superpowered operatives - old and slow she might be, but she's still skilled to the point she can lead her team on site and carry her own weight and canny and strong enough to go toe to toe with Granny Goodness and walk away.
Films
Films
- DC Extended Universe:
- Wonder Woman, of course. She's introduced in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where her major contribution to the film is to jump in during the climactic fight scene where she holds her own at least as well as the similarly-powered Superman. Later on, she's one of the Justice League's best fighters.
- Her first solo movie introduces the rest of the Amazons, a literal Amazon Brigade of Action Girls, including her mother, Hippolyta and her aunt, Antiope. They also appear in both versions of Justice League. The latter films also have the goddess Artemis during the battle in ancient times against the armies of the New Gods, in which she shoots divine arrows that are powerful enough to down spaceships.
- In Suicide Squad (2016), there's Katana and Harley Quinn (although Harley blurs the line between this and Dark Action Girl).
- Aquaman (2018) has Mera, a Lady of War, who kicks butt and control water.
- SHAZAM! (2019) has Mary and Darla, once Billy shares the power of SHAZAM with them.
- Birds of Prey (2020) introduces the titular Amazon Brigade, feating Action Girls Black Canary, the Huntress, Cassandra Cain and Harley Quinn. Subverted with Cassandra however as unlike the comics, she's just a little girl who doesn't do any fighting.
- Wonder Woman, of course. She's introduced in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where her major contribution to the film is to jump in during the climactic fight scene where she holds her own at least as well as the similarly-powered Superman. Later on, she's one of the Justice League's best fighters.
Live-Action TV
Live-Action TV
- Arrowverse
- Arrow: A number of examples-the Huntress, both versions of the Black Canary and Shado.
- There's also trained assassin Nyssa al-Ghul, and Diggle's special forces/ A.R.G.U.S. field agent ex-wife/current-girlfriend/wife again Lyla Michaels.
- The spinoff-series Vixen, The Flash, and Legends of Tomorrow bring us Vixen and Hawkgirl as heroes, and villains from the setting have included China White, Plastique, Killer Frost, Trajectory, Peek-a-Boo, Isabelle Rochev/Ravager, and Cupid.
- Vixen sums up the subject in her introductory live-action scene when she takes down a group of heavily-armed mooks one by one:
Last mook standing: Why don't you come out and fight like a man?
Vixen: How about I kick your ass like a woman?- And the count continues with Artemis, Jesse Quick, Thea Queen/Speedy, more introduced metahumans...at this point, it seems like anyone who tries to attack a random woman in the Arrowverse runs a high-risk of getting their ass handed to them by the sheer number of butt-kicking women there are.
- Batwoman (2019):
- Kate is quite skilled in combat.
- Ryan's a martial artist who takes up the Batwoman name and mantle.
- Supergirl (2015):
- The main character -Kara Zor-El/Kara Danvers alias Supergirl- is the world's strongest and most powerful woman. An important subplot deals with her becoming a hero and learning what it means while she kicks butts.
- She's aided by her adopted sister Alex, who kicks much butt as a DEO agent, and they've run into multiple female alien threats, not to mention superpowered humans Livewire and Silver Banshee. During the crossover with The Flash when Supergirl and the Flash faced off in a fight against the latter two, Barry joked they would settle this like women.
Barry: "What? There's more of you than there is me."- Nia also turns into one upon discovering her powers and becoming Dreamer. She is taught how to fight, not only with them but by martial arts.
- Arrow: A number of examples-the Huntress, both versions of the Black Canary and Shado.
- Smallville: Lois Lane, probably helped by her Military Brat status. Most of the female superheroes (like Black Canary and Supergirl) obviously qualify as well. Tess Mercer after her Heel–Face Turn, as did Chloe Sullivan after she Took a Level in Badass.
- Titans (2018): Any woman who is part of the team, can and will kick your ass, whether they are an alien Warrior Princess, an Amazon, a McNinja metahuman, a human-demon hybrid or a Badass Normal.
- Wonder Woman from Wonder Woman (1975). At the time, an action girl was such new ground for broadcast TV that the producers had huge concerns about how the audience would react if a woman was punched by a man in prime time. This ended up making Wonder Woman even more of a badass since the result was that they decided her opponents would be so physically overwhelmed by the Amazon Princess that they would rarely even land a punch before she beat them.
Western Animation
Western Animation
- Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman, Justice League. In Unlimited we gain Huntress, Black Canary, and Vixen.
- Teen Titans (2003) Starfire and Raven are particularly awesome cases, as well as pretty much any female "Honorary Titan," such as Terra or Bumblebee.
- Artemis, Batgirl, Wonder Girl, Zatanna, Miss Martian, Bumblebee, and Rocket in Young Justice (2010). Wonder Woman and Black Canary also appear in the show, as well as a minor character named Sam.
