Superhero Female Counterparts: The Top 5

Don’t Send a Man to do a Woman’s Job

Superhero stories are often a male-dominated genre. Hundreds of brave men face off against the vilest villains, but women are treated as damsels in distress. How do you get women interested in these stories? One way is by introducing a female counterpart. 

Female counterparts are some of the easiest spinoff characters to create. Take a popular character and make them a woman. The best female counterparts rework the same role through a different lens, like a time traveler being accused of witchcraft while her male counterpart would never be questioned. How about the berserker with better emotional control than her male associate after enduring daily microaggressions?

Who are the female counterparts that keep up with the male superheroes? Let’s find out.

#5 Galacta

Counterpart of: Galactus
Voiced By: Cassandra Lee Morris

Cosmic entities rarely have genders, but present as one for the viewer’s benefit. That usually translates to masculine gods and a handful of goddesses. This semi-divine daughter is closer to humanity than her dad.

Galacta is the daughter of Galactus, cursed with his endless hunger. She refused to kill innocents for her own survival and developed an eating disorder. Galacta only ate extraterrestrial threats to Earth that heroes didn’t know about, such as dormant weapons or parasites. Those tiny, ethically-sourced meals left her constantly starving.

Galacta discovered a parasite inside of her that she dubbed the Tapeworm Cosmic. It drove her hunger out of control , forcing her to see everything around her as food. Galacta broke into her father’s ship and stole a superweapon, planning suicide because she couldn’t cope with her hunger. Galactus fed her his own energy and revealed that the tapeworm wasn’t a parasite. Galacta was pregnant.

She was ignored after her series, but Galacta recently returned in Marvel Rivals. Two Doctor Dooms shattered history by waging war on each other. Galacta began eating fragments of damaged time while commenting over the heroes’ battle against the Dooms, sating her hunger and protecting the universe. Eternal dinner and a show? How could she say no?

#4 Female Counterpart: Miss Martian

Counterpart of: Martian Manhunter
Voiced By: Danica McKellar, Sharon Leal

Superhero female counterparts need to be more than the girl version of a character to remain popular. What is their big story hook, the thing that makes them stand apart and gets fans interested? This counterpart has identity issues.

M’gann M’orzz is a Martian who fled from her planet to escape a civil war. She traveled to Earth and studied pop culture to acclimate. Inspired by the Martian Manhunter, M’gann became a superhero and joined the Teen Titans as Miss Martian.

Miss Martian worked alongside Martian Manhunter often, but he could tell she was hiding something from him. M’gann eventually admitted to being a White Martian, the evil counterparts of Green Martians who had waged war on his kind. Miss Martian had shapeshifted into a Green out of shame and fear of his response. 

Martian Manhunter helped M’gann come to terms with her self-loathing and kept her secret. Writers pushed her as his niece, either adopted or from an unknown sibling. Miss Martian’s secret eventually came out and she began openly working with him as the token heroic White Martian.

#3 She-Hulk

Hey pal, mind if I take this one?

We don’t need to indulge your fourth-wall breaking every time. We already did that in your backstory.

Sure, and link to that, but do you want to deal with Deadpool and the others who’ll be running though that hole I just punched? Like the heading said, this is a woman’s job.

…Aw, dang it. Gotta run! Just ask next time!

Got it. Name’s Jennifer Walters. Way back in the Seventies, Marvel was scared that CBS would spin-off The Incredible Hulk and own the rights to “She-Hulk.” It worked with The Bionic Woman. They got me into the comics lickitey split. I was your everyday crusading lawyer who tried to spook a mob boss into screwing up. He put out a hit and I got tagged. Lucky thing Bruce was in town and transfused some of his irradiated blood. One startling metamorphosis later and bam, the She-Hulk was born!

I stuck to Bruce’s playbook for my first several appearances, smashing whatever was bugging me as Jen. Eventually, I decided to stay in Hulk mode all the time. My personality shone through, making me a glamorous party girl when I wasn’t in court. I often messed with my creators when they made me a sex symbol to draw readers in. Can’t deny it worked, though.

It ain’t all fun and games. There was a recent run of Avengers where I absorbed a ton of gamma radiation and became a girl version of Bruce’s Savage Hulk. It made me stronger, but big, gruesome, and lacking in witty repartee. It took a few years to get back to normal, just in time for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Who knows? I might return to the MCU in the future. Till then, ciao!

#2 Female Counterpart: Captain Marvel

Counterpart of: Captain Mar-Vell
Played By: Brie Larson

Superhero female counterparts often play second banana to the male characters. They were there first, so the guy gets the spotlight and fans, right? On rare occasions, the woman can become more popular than their inspiration. This one eclipsed her predecessor.

Carol Danvers was a U.S. Air Force officer in love with the base’s doctor, Walter Lawson. She quickly discovered that he was an alien superhero called Captain Mar-Vell. Danvers helped Mar-Vell on several missions until she was exposed to alien technology that gave her superpowers. She began blacking out, allowing an alter ego called Ms. Marvel to fight crime.

Ms. Marvel had a tumultuous career. Mar-Vell died from cancer, she was raped by supervillain Marcus Immortus, and before she could cope with that, Rogue stole her powers. No matter how many setbacks Ms. Marvel suffered, she got back up and kept fighting. That drive led Captain America to suggest she take Mar-Vell’s title. Carol accepted and became Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel’s luck turned around. She led the Avengers and took command of a space defense organization called Alpha Flight. Mar-Vell is often written out of her story or downplayed in modern times. The MCU movie killed him off in the same scene he was introduced because Mar-Vell was now in Captain Marvel’s shadow.

#1 Supergirl

Counterpart of: Superman
Played By: Milly Alcock, Melissa Benoist, Kiana Madeira

This shouldn’t be a surprise. 2026’s Supergirl helped the title character reach this spot, of course, but she was also the first and best superhero female counterpart.

Kara Zor-El was an average Kryptonian teenager. When Krypton began self-destructing, the explosive pressures shot her city to safety. Advanced technology allowed Kara and the others to survive until Kryptonite pierced their force field. Her father built a rocket and sent Kara to Earth.

Arriving on Earth, Kara was found by her cousin Kal-El. Superman helped her acclimate to the new world and gain control over her powers. After rigorous training, Kara made her debut as Supergirl. She had many adventures, found love in the far future, and sacrificed her life to help end the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Our Supergirl Backstory has the details.

Who is your favorite superhero female counterpart? Tell us in the comments.

Jared Bounacos

Jared Bounacos has written for Movie Rewind since 2016.