Why areMarvel's Superheroines Less Popular than DC's?

[Sutekh]

The thing with the Justice League is usually the team staring DCs biggest and most iconic characters, who happen to be all male except Wonder Woman.
Btw. the classic pre crisis Justice League had upto 4 female members (Wonder Woman, Canary, Hawkgirl and Zatanna), but they had much more than 7 members.

That's one of several reasons I like the satellite-era League *without* the 'big seven.' With Hawkwoman, Black Canary and Zatanna, alongside Green Arrow, Atom, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Red Tornado, it feels like less of a sausagefest, and those eight (not counting Hawkman, who I feel is redundant and less interesting than Hawkgirl/woman, or Sue Dibney, who comes as a package deal with Ralph, but is more a 'stay at the base' sort of character) cover all the bases, powerhouses, street-fighters, detectives, financiers, advanced/alien tech suppliers, scientists, etc.

[Atlanta96]

That isn't why Marvel is lagging in sales. DC's writers have been weaving political commentary into their stories since the very first issue of Superman. And Marvel still outsells DC

But not as obnoxiously or patronizingly. There's a reason most people love the political commentary of a good X-Men or Captain America story, but hate the messaging of a Nick Spencer comic.

[Citizen Kane]

That isn't why Marvel is lagging in sales. DC's writers have been weaving political commentary into their stories since the very first issue of Superman. And Marvel still outsells DC

As stated by another user, it is not done quite as "obnoxiously". They have an agenda to push, while DC has comics to sell. This is why Rebirth storylines have been outperforming most Marvel prints recently.

[Desean101101]

As stated by another user, it is not done quite as "obnoxiously". They have an agenda to push, while DC has comics to sell. This is why Rebirth storylines have been outperforming most Marvel prints recently.

Also write for the characters. If I want super Left wing shit I'm going to Green Arrow because that is who he is and what he is about.
Batman is about crime and is fairly moderate overall with Liberal Ideas on the poor and corruption.
Superman is a New deal democrat type and is best when is like that, also has an affinity for the poor and down trodden.

If you want to push an Idea is cool and all but don't break the main character to push your story. People like the drug story with Roy because Roy was always kind of a fuck up of a side-kick, and also Highlighted that While Green Arrow had good ideas he didn't practice what he preached awt home and shit caught up with him and his family.

[Aahz]

That's one of several reasons I like the satellite-era League *without* the 'big seven.' With Hawkwoman, Black Canary and Zatanna, alongside Green Arrow, Atom, Elongated Man, Firestorm, Red Tornado, it feels like less of a sausagefest, and those eight (not counting Hawkman, who I feel is redundant and less interesting than Hawkgirl/woman, or Sue Dibney, who comes as a package deal with Ralph, but is more a 'stay at the base' sort of character) cover all the bases, powerhouses, street-fighters, detectives, financiers, advanced/alien tech suppliers, scientists, etc.

But the big seven were all team members in that era even if they weren't all in every issue, but that's imo what makes this team still feel like the real thing.

Btw. I don't see what makes the satellite-era Hawkgirl/woman more intersting than Hawkman.

[Punisher007]

Does anyone really want that? She's so obnoxious on Avengers Assemble .

Now, if we were talking about Wonder Woman on Justice League Action, she totally deserves her own cartoon .

Yeah I do, just not written by the same people.

WW deserves her own cartoon period. It's LONG overdue.

[nightrider]

Beyond Batgirl, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn, I would argue that DC doesn't really have any other female characters that eclipse Marvel's in terms of popularity. Squirrel Girl, Ms. Marvel, America Chavez, and now x-23 all still have tremendous potential.

Whats with this moving of goal post? "Outside of xx, DC has nothing" Its like saying without Superman and Batman, DC don't have any good heroes.

Once you get past WW, SG, Babs, Harley, Black Carney & Catwoman-the rest of your females are in traction because of the folks in charge.

Isn't that really because Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Catwoman have potentially been one of the female superheroes with the highest publishing number of comics? I don't see whats the issue with continuing their legacy. In fact, DC is doing so well with female superheroes, the create a powerhouse in Harley Quinn and continued building up female characters like Lana Lang, Batwoman, Black Canary and Starfire. In terms of having female leads, I don't see what DC has done poorly in and out of comics.

[Atlanta96]

Isn't that really because Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Catwoman have potentially been one of the female superheroes with the highest publishing number of comics? I don't see whats the issue with continuing their legacy. In fact, DC is doing so well with female superheroes, the create a powerhouse in Harley Quinn and continued building up female characters like Lana Lang, Batwoman, Black Canary and Starfire. In terms of having female leads, I don't see what DC has done poorly in and out of comics.

Many of those female leads you mentioned, despite their potential, just aren't very well written at the moment. Batwoman's solo is mediocre, Black Canary is fine in Green Arrow but pretty bland in her 2 other books, Starfire is fairly bland in TT (although apparently she's leader now so that could change) Supergirl and Batgirl are painfully generic in the comics, Supergirl in other media is an obnoxious abomination, Catwoman hasn't had a good run in forever, obviously they've made some good decisions with their female characters but they are wasting a lot of potential.

But they are doing better than Marvel. LOL, their female led books are so bad. Maybe there's 1 or 2 good ones but all the ones I've read were hilariously awful.

[Black Angel]

For me the DC heroine are just written better most of the times and alot are associated to major heroes which gives them an extra boost.

[Wissenschaft]

One of the issues is having a super-heroine that appeals to both males and females. If you write a book thats seems geared towards only woman, the book is going to suffer sales wise because frankly not that many women are into comics. Its hard enough finding MEN into comics.

[Aahz]

Many of those female leads you mentioned, despite their potential, just aren't very well written at the moment. Batwoman's solo is mediocre, Black Canary is fine in Green Arrow but pretty bland in her 2 other books, Starfire is fairly bland in TT (although apparently she's leader now so that could change) Supergirl and Batgirl are painfully generic in the comics, Supergirl in other media is an obnoxious abomination, Catwoman hasn't had a good run in forever, obviously they've made some good decisions with their female characters but they are wasting a lot of potential.

You could probaly say that about a lot of DCs male characters to at the moment.

But they are doing better than Marvel. LOL, their female led books are so bad. Maybe there's 1 or 2 good ones but all the ones I've read were hilariously awful.

I that DCs makes partly the same mistakes as Marvel. Like going for an audience that isn't really big enough generate big sales (for example Batgirl) or this diverse characters need to be written by diverse writers nonsense (for the record I have nothing against diverse writers, but I just don't think that a writer needs to have the same race/gender/sexuality/... as the character they are writing to write a great stroy).

[Atlanta96]

You could probaly say that about a lot of DCs male characters to at the moment.

I that DCs makes partly the same mistakes as Marvel. Like going for an audience that isn't really big enough generate big sales (for example Batgirl) or this diverse characters need to be written by diverse writers nonsense (for the record I have nothing against diverse writers, but I just don't think that a writer needs to have the same race/gender/sexuality/... as the character they are writing to write a great stroy).

I think they're either A) Playing it extremely safe with most of their female led books because they're afraid of generating a sexism controversy, or B) Are just really out of touch with what readers want. I mean, I'm not a fan of DC Superhero Girls but at least I can understand why young girls (and probably some boys) would enjoy it. But stuff like Squirrel Girl, the current Batgirl and Supergirl books, I have no idea what the hell they were thinking with that stuff.

[Caivu]

Isn't that really because Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Catwoman have potentially been one of the female superheroes with the highest publishing number of comics? I don't see whats the issue with continuing their legacy. In fact, DC is doing so well with female superheroes, the create a powerhouse in Harley Quinn and continued building up female characters like Lana Lang, Batwoman, Black Canary and Starfire. In terms of having female leads, I don't see what DC has done poorly in and out of comics.

Agreed. They're not all doing equally well, of course, but all these characters are in pretty good spots at the moment from what I've seen. I think DC could stand to market them a little more, but that's it.

[Osiris-Rex]

The Black Panther movie is also putting females at the forefront with the significant emphasis given to both Shuri and Nakia. While the latter may end up becoming a villain in future installments, as she does in the comics, Marvel will have two more prominent females in its universe by the end of that film. So there's an argument to be made that Marvel is definitely beginning to realize the benefits of good female representation in its franchise.

Isn't that sort of the problem with Marvel though. None of their female character shine on their own, they are just relegated to being supporting characters for the male hero.
Now if Black Panther were a woman, then there would be something of note.

Many of those female leads you mentioned, despite their potential, just aren't very well written at the moment. Batwoman's solo is mediocre, Black Canary is fine in Green Arrow but pretty bland in her 2 other books, Starfire is fairly bland in TT (although apparently she's leader now so that could change) Supergirl and Batgirl are painfully generic in the comics, Supergirl in other media is an obnoxious abomination, Catwoman hasn't had a good run in forever, obviously they've made some good decisions with their female characters but they are wasting a lot of potential.

But they are doing better than Marvel. LOL, their female led books are so bad. Maybe there's 1 or 2 good ones but all the ones I've read were hilariously awful.

Whether they are well written or mediocre or not is a matter of opinion. And Supergirl has one of the best live action superhero shows on television, plus Supergirl is an important member of the animated show
DC Super Hero Girls. So there are two examples of DC doing a fantastic job with Supergirl outside the comic books. And Catwoman is playing an important role in Batman Rebirth, so likely this is why Catwoman
isn't getting a solo series right now.

[Confuzzled]

Like going for an audience that isn't really big enough generate big sales...

Hate to break it to you but no comic out right now has consistent sales that can legitimately be called "big". Not even Batman.