Distaff and Spear Counterparts in comic books.
The following have their own pages:
Distaff Counterparts
In general:
- Immensely common in comic books. The first one was probably Mary Marvel, spun off from DC's Captain Marvel in the 1940s, and it continues to the present day, with characters like Supergirl, Batgirl, She-Hulk, Spider-Woman and Stargirl (both a female Star-Spangled Kid and a female Starman). Some of these are also Legacy Characters. They can also exist in Alternate Universe Fics that are written by fans or Elseworlds published by the companies themselves, where different female characters receive the Call to Adventure in lieu of their male counterparts in the mainstream universes.
- In comics, this is necessary for the purposes of trademark and copyright protection, since if the comic companies don't publish the obvious derivative characters then others would be legally able to do so. One well-known example of a company losing a counterpart trademark is how one of DC Comics's most famous characters is Wonder Woman, but Marvel Comics was able to secure the trademark to Wonder Man. Stan Lee specifically mentions the Wonder Woman and Wonder Man trademarks as a reason why Marvel created Spider-Woman to secure rights to the Spider-Woman trademark.
Specific examples:
- The Authority featured several issues where the team recruited distaff counterparts from alternate dimensions.
- The graphic novel Camelot 3000 features Sir Tristan reincarnated as a woman, forcing him to re-examine his medieval views toward gender roles, especially since the feelings between him and Isolde, also reincarnated as a woman, are unchanged. Their enduring passion for each other ultimately transcends gender, and the two remain together.
- From the British Fleetway stable: Cor!! featured Ivor Lott and Tony Broke, which was about a rich boy who was endlessly mean to his poor neighbour but inevitably got his comeuppance. Jackpot featured Milly O'Naire and Penny Less, which was about a rich girl who was endlessly mean to her poor neighbour, but inevitably got her comeuppance. Both comics were ultimately merged into Buster, where Milly and Penny were made co-stars in Ivor and Tony's strip.
- Season 9 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer introduces Billy Lane in the aptly named Billy the Vampire Slayer. He is a gay teenage vampire hunter who joins Buffy against the outbreak of zompires (zombie-vampires). The possibility of him gaining actual Slayer powers is brought up in season 10, but nothing comes of it and he is yet to make a reappearance.
- The German comic series Die Abrafaxe eventually spun off their protagonist trio of Abrax, Brabax and Califax into a quarterly series starring their female counterparts Anna, Bella and Caramella.
- The Darkness universe has a triad of both Distaff and Spear Counterparts: The Darkness itself is a male entity in a male host and is diametrically opposed to the Angelus which is a female entity in a female host. In between the two is the Witchblade, a male entity in a female host.
- In Italy Disney Ducks Comic Universe Daisy get a superhero alter ego, Paperinika (Super Daisy), who is a female counterpart of Paperinik (Duck Avenger), the famous Donald alter ego. Like Donald, she takes this identity initially just to avenge personal insults. While the character was prominent in Brazilian comics in the '80s, in Italy she was quickly Demoted to Extra because she was Always Someone Better to Donald and an unlikeable Straw Feminist. Thankfully this trait is dropped in her modern appearances.
- NOW Comics The Green Hornet had a female Kato, who went on to become the Hornet-inspired Crimson Wasp.
- Ghost World can be considered to be this for American Splendor if you take into account that both stories are about misantropic cynical nerdy individuals who are very skeptical of the absurd world where they live until The Power of Friendship makes them realize they just want some company like everybody else.
- Josie and the Pussycats started out as a distaff counterpart to Archie Comics named She's Josie. It was eventually retooled into a more adventurous, music based comic.
- Noob has a couple of cases.
- One short story from earlier comics has a Coalition player who happens to be Omega Zell's boss in real life turn out to be a Straw Feminist version of Omega Zell ; the fact even gets lampshading by Gaea.
- Couette started out as this to Sparadrap. While Divergent Character Evolution is on its way personality-wise, both remain interchangeable if one needs a an adorable, childish, Stupid Good, semi-competent healer.
- Near the end of Quantum and Woody, Quantum ends up partnered with a female black lesbian version of Woody.
- The lead character of CrossGen's Sigil was a man called Samandahl Ray. Marvel's relaunch starred a girl named Samantha Ray.
- Spygirl is this to SpyBoy.
- Strontium Dog -> Durham Red (whose first solo story was called "Strontium Bitch").
- The Terminator comic "End Game" has Jane Connor, which is apparently what you get if Sarah Connor gives birth in a hospital. The birth of Jane Connor apparently cuts the war against Skynet's timeline in half, with the humans winning earlier.
- In the '90s, the producers of the Zorro comics introduced spin-off character Lady Rawhide, who, although sharing his quest for justice, was otherwise decidedly not a distaff counterpart. In the interest of being accurate to the Wild West setting, she was rather plain and wore a demure, tasteful costume. Or not.
- Golden Age series Golden Lad added a female counterpart, Golden Girl, after five issue.
- Marvel UK's Combat Colin had Combat Kate, who took Colin's place while he was "faffing about on Mars". She turned out to be working with a tabloid to discredit him, but later repented and decided there was room for them both (she moved Oop North, while he stayed down South).
Spear Counterparts
- Black Widow: Natasha Romanoff is a secret agent who was exposed to one of the super-soldier serum variants in a Soviet Union program to replicate Captain America’s powers. The first Silver Age Red Guardian was Natasha's husband, who served as a KGB pilot and who later was exposed to an imitation super-soldier serum to be the Communist answer to Captain America.
- X-23, the Distaff Counterpart of Wolverine, has Daken as her spear counterpart.
- In another recursive example, the "merged" or "Professor" Hulk is essentially a spear counterpart to She-Hulk. As with SH and Jennifer Walters, he retains Bruce Banner's intelligence and articulateness, even if his personality might be somewhat different.
- Gamma Corps includes Griffin, a Spear Counterpart to Betty Ross' brief time as the Harpy.
- Squirrel Girl has Chipmunk Hunk.
- Wonder Woman:
- Wonder Woman (1942): Steve Trevor gained powers and styled himself as a male superhero counterpart to Wondy named Captain Wonder. His stint as a costumed hero was short lived however as it turned out to be a villain plot to undermine and depower Wonder Woman and corrupt Steve's mind.
- Wonder Woman (1987): Wonder Girl Cassie Sandsmark had a male counterpart with a similar backstory to hers (fan of Wonder Woman, mother who tries to limit his actual exposure to her and heroics) introduced named Bobby Barnes, who was given the title Wonder Boy but quickly disappeared from the title after a writer change up.
- On the villain side, after different female versions of Cheetah, a male one named Sebastian Ballesteros was introduced in 2001.
