The Rise, Fall and Rise of the Female Superhero

'Rosie the Riveter' recruitment poster

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned war to kickstart the imagination. Stories are spun of valour and treachery, of drama and even comedy. But the story of the Second World War is reflected in more than just the pages of history. 

The US stayed out of it for a year until one fateful day in 1940 when the country was dragged into a largely European war. With hordes of American men being shipped off to fight,  factories were suddenly left seeking workers, especially those in the all important munitions industry. An ambitious move was made to recruit women, resulting in women building everything from ships to cars to bombs. 

Suddenly women were independent and empowered. Fashions changed and in came shoulder pads and tailored trousers. The film industry also shifted gears, producing movies with strong women’s characters often at the centre of the films; from sassy working women to femme fatales. 

And girls began reading more comic books than boys.

Miss Fury

Enter Marla Drake, who fought crime in a catsuit as her alter ego Miss Fury. Created by (June) Tarpe Mills in 1942, a design graduate of the Pratt Institute and a fashion designer by profession. Miss Fury wasn’t just the first female superhero but also the first superhero created by a woman. Tarpe Mills came under some flack for unashamedly objectifying women which didn't seem to have bothered her one bit. Not surprisingly, Miss Fury’s adversaries were dastardly Nazis who were trounced in every edition. 

Little did Miss Fury know that her real adversary, the one who would eventually take away her glory as a female superhero was going to be a fellow American.

Dr. Marston

DC Comics sensing the change in tide introduced Wonder Woman just six months after Miss Fury. The creator of Wonder Woman was Dr. William Moulton Marston, a noted psychologist with three degrees from the prestigious Harvard University. Until his foray into the comic world he was best known for inventing the lie detector test and a rather unconventional personal life – a polyamourous home and children with a legal wife as well as a common-law wife (who he masqueraded as his 'brother's widow'). 

About his creation Dr. Marston said: ‘Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe should rule the world.’ He named his heroine Diana Prince (after the divine huntress) and made her an Amazonian who left her kingdom to fight intolerance and injustice in ‘America, the last citadel of democracy and of equal rights for women’. Dr. Marston’s legal wife was a lawyer and via his common-law wife he had family connections with the legendary Margaret Sanger who advocated better birth control and sex education for women.

Wonder Woman took on Nazis, evil demi-gods and supervillains alike with intelligence and some superhero gadgets. She was an instant hit. As Marston said: ‘Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength and power’. Regarding her appeal to men: ‘Give them an alluring woman stronger than themselves to submit to, and they’ll be proud to become her willing slaves!’.

In 1945 the war ended and the men started coming back home. Within a few years, women slid back into their roles as wives and mothers, keeping the home fires burning. Fashions changed to reflect their new roles, feminine dresses with pinched in waists and neatly coiffed hair.  On the screen, the archetypes vacillated from the sweet, angelic and always supportive wife to the blonde bimbos. 

Goodbye confident. Hello coy. And girls moved from comic books to Barbie dolls.

When women conformed to adopt identities attached to the men in their lives, it is not surprising that the only female superheroes of note created in the 1950s were also weaker reflections of their male counterparts – Supergirl and Batwoman. There was a new war to fight. One that even threatened to put superheroes out of business. The war against Communism. Championed with great fervour by Senator McCarthy and everyone was suspect. 

In 1954, a psychiatrist called Fredric Wertham, testified in front of a Senate committee that he believed that comics were corrupting children and took special offence to Wonder Woman who he accused of ‘a strikingly advanced concept of femininity and masculinity’ and that ‘women in these stories are placed on an equal footing with men and indulge in the same type of activities’ (values ironically dear to Communism and therefore anathema) - all evidently too much for his fragile ego. Governed by the rather amusingly named Comics Code Authority, superheroes became conservative and subdued. Wonder Woman all but vanished. Miss Fury went out of print in 1951.

Wonder Woman’s avowedly feminist creator Dr. Marston was unfortunately not there to defend his creation as he had passed away by then. Wonder Woman persisted in near obscurity until a revival in the late 60s, coinciding with the feminist movement of that time. Gloria Steinman championed her return, even putting her on the on the cover of Ms. Magazine in 1972, the same year as Roe vs. Wade the landmark law that legalized abortion. This was repeated in 2012 for the magazine’s 20^th year anniversary. Dr. Marston would have approved.

The mid 60s to much of the 70s witnessed a rejuvenation of the comic book industry, with superhero teams with the female superhero fighting crime alongside her male team members in X Men and Fantastic Four. Jean Grey evolved from Marvel Girl to Ms. Marvel to the present day Captain Marvel.  Invisible Girl aka Sue Storm seamlessly balanced a family life with her day job as a superheroine. Even Superman managed to regain his place with an iconic film series. 

It wasn’t until the new millennium that comics and superheroes valiantly rescued by Hollywood, experienced a rejuvenation. Superman, Batman, X-Men, The Avengers and Fantastic Four have reclaimed their rightful place in the public spotlight. 

Jean Grey, The Black Widow and Invisible Girl owe their resurrection to celluloid. In the comic world, too there are shifts of seismic proportions. Ms. Marvel (originally created as a super powered Gloria Steinem) got promoted to Captain Marvel. A new Ms. Marvel was introduced - the Pakistani Kamila Khan. There is a female version of Thor too, though polarising seems to be outselling her male counterpart. 

Traditionally, solo starring female superhero movies have not had the same impact at the box office. With a new avatar and not one but two movies out - an appearance in Batman Vs. Superman in 2016 as well as a movie of her own in 2017, perhaps Wonder Woman will change the tide. 

And guess what girls are reading comic books again. 

Here's to you, Dr. Marston.