Why are so many women in DC Comics 5 11 In Height?

[gwhh]

I was reading the official DC comics reference guide. I have notice that a lot of women in the DC Comics World are all the same height. 5 feet 11 inches tall!

For example:

Huntress
Raven
Barbara Gordon

just to name a few!


Anyone have a guess to why this is?

[Lee Stone]

It's the heels.

They're actually all different heights.

But the girls got together and made a pact to where one girl wouldn't seem taller than the rest. 5'11" was agreed to be the best height, as one was 5'10" and only need a 1" heel.

One of the many mysteries of comics, solved...

[Mia]

I was reading the official DC comics reference guide. I have notice that a lot of women in the DC Comics World are all the same height. 5 feet 11 inches tall!

For example:

Huntress
Raven
Barbara Gordon

just to name a few!


Anyone have a guess to why this is?

Most likely because their physical attributes are based on 'pinup' models (ie. Victoria's Secrets). And that's the height of most of those models (5'9-5'11) because they show off the clothes better and look more statuesque and powerful.

[gwhh]

Batwoman is also 5 11 in height

[Hawkman]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's because 5'11" is the tallest, "realistic" height a woman could be. Not to say that there aren't taller women out there, but anything over that artificial 6' foot limiter might be a little harder to swallow. Might also be a turn-off to a lot of men: "6' tall is an amazon. No thanks."

For what it's worth, Kendra Saunders (pre-relaunch, anyway) was 5'6", Shayera Thal was 5'7", and Shiera Hall was a relative little person at 5'4".

[DochaDocha]

I wrote something about this on the old boards, and I'll repeat it here.

Wonder Woman is 6' these days. She's supposed to be the tall woman, with a few exceptions (e.g. Big Barda, who's supposed to be ridiculously tall). Most other ladies are supposed to be shorter than WW. It's kind of like with Superman: he's 6'3" and with a few exceptions, most heroes are going to be a bit shorter.

Also, 6' is pretty tall for a woman (and a man, for that matter). The average (American) woman is about 64" tall, standard deviation of anywhere from 2.7-2.9 inches (let's call it 2.8"). The average man is about 69 or so inches, similar standard deviation. So Wonder Woman's height percentile, assuming normal distribution, would be nearly 99.8th percentile (only about 2 out of 1000 are taller) for women, and nearly 86th percentile for men.

[RLAAMJR.]

Batwoman is also 5 11 in height

Storm from the X-men is too. I think that's like the best height for women since most male superheroes are given a height of 6'2" or more

[RobinFan4880]

6 foot tall feels like a nice heroic height, so most heroes (whom are all above average compared to the normal populous) seem to be clustered around it.

[GlennSimpson]

It's heightism and disgraceful.

[byrd156]

Is this really an issue or something that needs to be discussed?

[I'mNotDaredevil]

Is this seriously a thread about the height of imaginary comic book characters?

[The Odd Man]

As a 6'2 man, I notice tall women.

[SofNascimento]

Because they have to be shorter than Wonder Woman.

[titanfan]

The same reason that they are all right-handed.

Left-Handed folks are by far the most under-represented people in comic books today.

[Tupiaz]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's because 5'11" is the tallest, "realistic" height a woman could be. Not to say that there aren't taller women out there, but anything over that artificial 6' foot limiter might be a little harder to swallow. Might also be a turn-off to a lot of men: "6' tall is an amazon. No thanks."

For what it's worth, Kendra Saunders (pre-relaunch, anyway) was 5'6", Shayera Thal was 5'7", and Shiera Hall was a relative little person at 5'4".

DC most popular female character is an Amazon.