meh i always thought kate kane to be severely out of place in the bat-family. she's just some bored little rich girl who knows some kung-fu. no dead parents. no discernable motivation to fight crime... in my books she definitely did not earn her place in the bat-family. especially considering the amount of flak huntress used to get from bruce.

i'd have put barbara gordon at no.1 instead of kate kane. but other than that good list.

Nice, wasn't expect Batwoman making the top of the list.

i'd have put barbara gordon at no.1 instead of kate kane.
----------------------------

This isn't a list of best female bat character, it's best female version of a male hero. Babs is great but her Batgirl compared to Batman was pretty crappy.

I always liked She-Hulk, especially when John Byrne brought her in to the Fantastic Four to stand in for the Thing. Like you said, it was just fun. Especially when a girly magazine gets naked photos of her sunbathing. She gets revenge by crumpling the publisher's safe into a tiny ball, thus keeping his precious money even safer.

runnerx13: You have to realize that the only reason why Bab's Batgirl wasn't that great in comparison to Batman is because the writers at DC clearly weren't too thrilled with having a female version of Batman, and idea that (if I understand this correctly) they were required to do as part of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl's intro into the 1960s series. If they actually had writers who believed in Batgirl as a concept, Bab's Batgirl could've been just as awesome as any other superhero. Case in point: Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, who was brought back because a prominent comic writer, Brian Michael Bendis, wanted her back and put her in good stories.

Furthermore, in terms of merchandising, I'm sure that DC has sold more action figures, posters, and t-shirts with the Babs version of Batgirl than any other version of Batgirl (or Batwoman, for that matter). Thus, DC keeping Babs from coming back as Batgirl makes absolutely no sense.

Batwoman? Sorry man but she not that good. Heck Batgirl is a more interesting character than her. At least her general appeal wasn't that she was a lesbian.

She-Hulk and Super-Girl are about the only female versions of established male super heroes that I can enjoy. Super-Girl is cool because she's basically a fan-girl trying to live up to her cousin's aura. She-Hulk is awesome because, well she's just awesome. She's strong, sexy, and confident compared to her more normal and somewhat geeky real-life persona. That's what makes her cool. She "hams" it up when she goes into super hero mode.

Only 5? Sort of a truncated list. And no love for Spider-Girl, the daughter of Spider-Man (in an alternate dimension)?

And yeah, Barbara Gordon as Batgirl is superior. I liked Carol Kane, especially in 52 and her interactions with Montoya, but I'm afraid Babs' tenure as Batgirl, especially when they view it in retrospect after The Killing Joke, is more memorable. Give Batwoman some time to grow beyond this whole "Crime Bible" ludicrousness.

Sorry, but I've got to disagree with almost this entire list.

5. If Jessica Drew had been worth anything, they wouldn't have kept trying to create other Spider-Women after her.

4. Carrie Kelly can stay, even though I think its a bit of a cheat to use alternate future versions.

3. First, if you think the current version of Supergirl sucks, you obviously haven't been reading since Sterling Gates took over. Second, you know why the Peter David version was given the boot? A combination of low sales, poor reviews and one executive reading the summary of Linda's origin (it was the longest one painted on the wall on the Six Flags gift shop) and saying "This is too confusing."

2. Shulkie can stay. Would that Dan Slott was still writing her.

1. You're kidding me, right? You chose the gimmick lesbian? Please tell me you got confused and meant to say Barbara Gordon.

Shulkie is awesome. She represented Spider-Man and sued J. Jonah Jameson for defamation of character.

Jessica is awesome, no reason to hate on her.

Carrie..Meh never gave a crap

The New Supergirl is better then that supergirl ever could be

She Hulk is awseome as well

Batwoman, no intrest, just decided to become part of the bat family for no reason other then she felt like taking the name and her only appeal is to have her hooking up with she question.

Actually add some depth to her and I would dig her

I thought this list was supposed to be about terrible female versions at first, and got very confused when I saw Jessica.

But we honestly don't know anything about Jessica Drew. At least, not recently. The entire run of New Avengers is Veranke, not Jessica.

But a lot of these characters were made just to maintain control of copyrights.

I just remember when I was a kid thinking that the "Spider-Woman" cartoon was better than the "Spider-man" cartoon. Other than that I don't know anything about her.

Sorry to double-post, but anything with an evil "bionic midget" is awesome.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2jnqr_spiderwoman-spiderwoman-the-fly_fun

nice list though i would have put babs as oracle on the list. as for spider woman. her orgin was suppose to be wolverines . but otherwise all good choices. espically she hulk.

Cassandra Cain Batgirl should've made the list. Her original run was great, you just have to ignore what happened to her later.

5) While I have fond memories of Spider-Woman 2 (Arachne) from Force Works, I have no problem with Jessica Drew on this list. Hell, she's more interesting than Spider-Man.
4) All of the Robins have been weak sauce kidnapper bait so Carrie being Captain Sensible didn't make including her on this list a high bar to hurdle. Dick Grayson only became interesting when he upgraded to Nightwing (then Batman).
3) The current incarnation of Supergirl sucks. She dresses like a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader (how noble!) and is officially the worst DC character with her own book. David's Supergirl may have faded due to lack of sales but the concept was strong and the Linda Danvers/Matrix combination allowed her to be a Supergirl without horning in on Superman's Last Survivor of Krypton schtick.
2) She-Hulk is awesome. She's the working everywoman who also knows how to have a good time. Anyone who hasn't read Slott's run on the title missed good work. Trying to shoehorn her into some serious female Bruce Banner role is a huge mistake and misses the point.
1) The most interesting thing to happen to Barbara Batgirl was getting shot in the gut by the Joker. She brought absolutely nothing to table and has been more effective as Oracle than Batman's girl-cheerleader (which was the origin of the character). Kathy Kane's sexuality is almost a minor point with me. She's a strong enough character that she doesn't need Batman's support, her dad's in the military, and she has, y'know, real problems... like dating.

This list is sorely missing a top 5 shittiest female version of a male superhero. Um...whose responsible this? IM COOL TOO

I think the person who wrote this list got caught up in the here and now. You know, whatever is shiny and new must be awesome? People don't dislike Batwoman because she's a lesbian. They dislike her because the lesbian aspect of her seems to be incredibly gimmicky. That's not bigotry.

The best female version of a male hero is She-Hulk. She's the one that has endured and evolved over many years. She has staying power that no one else on the list besides possibly Spider-Woman can claim. Even Spider-Women wasn't treated well until recent years. She had a TV show and she had a great background but for whatever reason it took Bendis to make her seem cool.

How is Spider-Girl not on the list? She's been a cult favorite forever. She's not even from our real Marvel Universe yet she manages to endure. That omission makes this list hard to swallow. How can she miss the cut yet a Robin that's only really appeared in a couple of mini-series make the cut?

In a few years Batwoman won't be the new hottness and I'm sure that if this writer redid this list she wouldn't even make the cut. You've got too much love for the Flavor of the Month.

This list is sorely missing a top 5 shittiest female version of a male superhero.

What are you talking about? This is the top 5 shittiest female versions of male superheroes list. You can tell because they put "Batwoman" in it.

I have to like She-Hulk because she and I HAVE THE EXACT SAME NAME and no, it wasn't on purpose. That being said, "Slip and Fall? I'm the one to call" is hilarious. I was always under the impression that She-Hulk hated being her "normal" self. If she's one of THOSE lawyers then I don't blame her. Am I wrong here?

Wow Admiral, being called "She-Hulk" must have been hell at school.

Shulkie should be #1 'cause she's the only one of the 5 to show her nipples.

Yes, I'm that pathetic.

Powergirl. Nuff said!

She-Hulk has ALWAYS been a hottie as far as I'm concerned. Would I be like Captain James T. Kirk and screw the green skinned girl? You're damn right I would!!!!

I am deeply saddened by the lack of inclusion of the new question on this list.

I don't know if Power Girl counts because she is somehow related to Superman (?) in a another dimension or something (?) or from the past (?). Confusing origin aside, she is awesome because she is just so self confident. I love that she has mentioned that if she was a man, no one would mind that she is gutsy and outspoken, but because she is a woman, she has a reputation for being a bitch. Very true.

@Admiral, yeah one of the many reasons, She Hulk is great is because she actually ENJOYS being a super heroine, none of that mopey "I must carry the burden of being a hero alone" crap. If she had her way, she would be She Hulk all the time and never go back to being mousy plain jane Jen Walters.

I'll second Power Girl (she's related by way of being the Earth-2 Supergirl, IIRC) and throw Stargirl's name in the ring.

No love for Mary Marvel?

Batwoman at #1?!? That's so insane, that only brickhousebunny21 would agree to that! How can a character who is only a few months old be at the top of the list?? Barbara Gordon as Batgirl was much better and had a history behind her.

Bad, bad list...all due to the #1 flavor of the month choice.

C'mon, Shulkie should be first if we are talking about "worthwhile female versions of male superheroes".

No love for Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel (female quasi-version of Mar-vell)? I did like the pre-moonstone-as-ms-marvel-in-Dark-Reing run with Carol Danvers trying to have a "normal life" mixed with busting Hydra secret bases...

linda danvers was shit, not made better by the fact her artist drew her completely slutty (even by comic book standards). i wasn't offended by it, but it was certainly laughable.

PLEASE NOTE — These are FEMALE VERSIONS of MALE superheroes. So characters like Ms. Marvel and Power Girl and Oracle do not count, as they are not female versions of male superheroes. Got it?

She-Hulk rules. I remember a comic where She-Hulk and Juggernaut have wild sex, and it was just awesome.

@Michael Hartman

I am calling shenanigans, there was no such book. Surely. I mean, come on now.

Was there??

To anyone calling Batwoman "flavor of the month" and "terrible":

1) She is three years old. So I think the month has passed.
2) Apparently, you have never read a Batwoman comic in your life. Because nobody here seems to know the actual plot.
3) The "gimmick" of her being a lesbian takes a backseat to, you know, crime-fighting. It's like saying that John Stewart is a "gimmick" version of Hal Jordan.

How about a reverse list? The top five male versions of female superheroes:

5. ???

4. ???

3. ???

2. ???

1. The Wasp (Hank Pym)

Anybody care to fill in the blanks? Or am I right that there aren't any other female superheroes who came first and then spawned a male variant later?

Yes,Juggernaut and She Hulk went at it,resulting oin a two page spread of the motel bedroom completely demolished. :)

I was about to say Power Girl when I saw others already said it.

The problem with Power Girl is that she's a riff on a riff. She's not a direct opposite of Superman. Supergirl is. It's all in the name people. Powergirl and Babs would make a great super-chick list though. That one could be 20 names since there are a lot of ladies to cover!

Holy jumping jackalope in a thong, Batman!
Is that Batwoman fighting Furries?

On Batwoman, you need a better pic like one of the J.H. Williams' versions of her.
http://22.media.tumblr.com/TDtcuTiAMosu4yv6ciYaAc2Po1_250.png

I do agree that her lesbianism comes off more gimmicky than just being who she is, but she's pretty kick ass.

Glad to see some love for Spider-Girl. I really loved that series when Pat Oliffe was penciling. (I started to lose interest when Ron Frenz took over. I didn't like his art much in the '80s and '90s, and I think it's only gotten worse.) It reminded me of the comics I used to read as a kid and had a nice, self-contained universe.

I also would like to have seen either Babs or Cassandra's Batgirl on here.

if one more person spews rage about jessica drew I will personally drive a train through their house, set the remains on fire, and send my henchmen to kick the ashes.

Batwoman is fighting the mods of Yffstar! That's why she got the first place, my friends. Next panel was a splash page of her saying "Whose responsible this!".
Calling her "gimmicky" means... well, that no one has read Detective Comics lately, right?

@MaxtotheMax God, thank you. Seriously, Batwoman is a really interesting character. The only reason that people think she's a gimmicky lesbian character is because there are so few gay characters (female or male) in comics that it automatically comes across as a cheap ploy for attention when one shows up. And that's indicative of a big, ugly barrel of monkeys that I'm not even going to open.

Also? Babs as Batgirl was basically a glorified kung fu cheerleader for Batman. She's much more interesting as Oracle because she gets to have her own identity and she's doing something unique that only she can do. So quit whining about DC bringing her back as Batgirl. It would be a sucky cop-out.

Jessica Drew is the bomb. She's cool as Spider-Woman, and she's cool as the triple-agent spy. She's just plain cool. She's also the only Spider-Woman who asked Pete's permission to use the name.

She also has one of the coolest costumes, ever.

Anyway, her costume is certainly better than Spider-Girl, who (as the toon up there points out) looks like Spider-Man with tits.

I can't take She-Hulk seriously, but I do like how creative artists get when drawing her. I'd say that from an artistic point of view, She-Hulk is Marvel's Power Girl. It's all about muscles, height, and big bazooms.

Power Girl can shut up about people staring at her tits, though. Anyone who wears a costume with THAT design on the chest is fully aware that she's trying to distract people with her cleavage. If she really worried about it, she'd cover them and beat up people while wearing a sports bra under a neck-to-toe outfit.

I would love to see some artist give Superman or Batman an outfit to match Power Girl's promiscuity. Picture Superman in a costume that has assless chaps.

@ZeroCorpse Dude, come on. First of all, Power Girl never complains about people staring at her chest. The most she ever does is gently remind people where her face is because she knows they're going to be fixated on her chest. Second of all, she shows some cleavage. That does not equal promiscuity. Grow up.

I'm not sure how Supergirl counts, but Powergirl and Ms. Marvel don't? Powergirl and Ms. Marvel are female versions of Superman and Captain Marvel. Oh well.

I forgot about Zatanna, who is so great, no one cares about the male verison.

The new Supergirl is awesome and her book is the only Superman related title I'm currently liking.

Batwoman is a great character too. She might have started as a gimmick, but Greg Rucka has turned her into a real character. You should give Detective Comics a try.

And, the Wasp is a female variation of Ant-Man, so um, that list zero made makes zero sense. BAM! POW!

Seconding thegreenronin--Renee Montoya/The Question II should've been on the list! The combination of Gotham Central and Fifty-Two make an amazing origin story, and her training by Vic Sage connects her to the history of the Question.

Besides, even if Detective Comics is making Batwoman more interesting, Renee's still more awesome.

My top 5 would include:

5. Ravager(Rose Wilson). Like her daddy, Deathstroke the Terminator, Rose is a walking death squad. However, underneath the chain mail and scary eyepatch, there's a heart. She's a totally f***ed chick with major daddy issues and a drug habit, but there's an inner conflict in her that makes her so interesting. Does she have what it takes to shed her born bad image? Can she be redeemed? Does she want to?

4. X-23 (Laura Kinney). Female clone (literally) of Wolverine. Yeah, power-wise, she's just Wolverine. However, whereas Logan is a man trying to control a raging beast within, Laura was bred & trained at a very young age to be a cold & emotionless assassin. Unlike Wolverine who's trying to hold onto his humanity. Laura is searching for humanity she has never been allowed to explore. She's been a student, wetworks op, and even protitute. By all rights, fans should hate her. However, having had 2 or 3 miniseries and starred in 3 or 4 ongoings, Laura is as popular as her genetic twin brother.

3. Spider-Girl (May Parker). Daughter of alternate universe Spider-Man, May has managed to hold on for 12 years as a cult heroine. No matter how many times they try to cancel her series or erase her existence, fans seem to save her. Unlike Peter, who was that stereotypical Charles Atlas sand covered nerd, May's a smart and popular jock. She's not the stereotypical comic gal, all whored up in thong & push up bra. While she, and her universe, started off as shameless What-If? ripoffs of the regular Spidey continuity, Spider-Girl has evolved into a likable character who has earned the right to wear the webs.

2. Batgirl (Barbara Gordon). Before you all throw stones at me, Babs has become so, so, SOOOOO much more interesting since she hung up the cowl. As Oracle, she's one of the best female comic characters of all time. As Batgirl, she was great too. However, her moment in the cave ended far too soon. Had she still been Batgirl, Babs would have captured #1 easily. Since Oracle doesn't count as "female Batman" the legend of the late great Batgirl comes in at #2.

1. She-Hulk (Jen Walters). Was there ever any doubt? Granted, her 4th wall shattering humor is part of the appeal, but her personality is what catapults her to the top. Instead of sobbing about being a gamma mutated freak like cousin Bruce, Jen loves everything about it. Even with her brief stint as a savage brute, Jen has never once managed to truly be seen as anything other than a true hero - unlike Bruce who is often the scourge of humanity.

HONORABLE MENTION: The Question (Renee Montoya). The She-Q is a fascinating character. She's a bitchy cop turned super sleuth. She never asked to be a hero. She never wanted it. Now she's stuck with it thanks to a promise made to the terminally ill, cancer stricken male Question. Renee would have made my top 5 list, but she hasn't made that great of an impact outside of her Big Q debut in 52 from a couple of years back. Given enough proper exposure, she could crack the top 5 in the future.

I don't really like the batwoman character, but still, the art in the detective comics arc in wich she is the central character is the best i've seen in a mainstream comic in several years.

J.H. Williams is a fucking genius.

Damn - with the exception of no. 3, of whom I've never heard anything before, I can't fault this this list...

Howzabout Captain Janeway?

Butts_McCracken said:
runnerx13: You have to realize that the only reason why Bab's Batgirl wasn't that great in comparison to Batman is because the writers at DC clearly weren't too thrilled with having a female version of Batman, and idea that (if I understand this correctly) they were required to do as part of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl's intro into the 1960s series.
-----------------------

DC was forced to introduce Better Kane, Bat-Girl in the 1950s, not Barbara Gordon, Batgirl. Babs has and always been loved by fans and writer alike. I was just pointing out that this list was highlighting female characters who are much more than there namesacks and Babs just doesn't fit the bill.

Okay, as far as I can see, this is a list of 'Female counterparts that have the biggest chests, hence pandering to the male audience.'

Really?

I agree with Rob-> X-23 and Ravenger are both brilliant and characters that actually has some depth.

Agr

I think Batwoman did start off as a gimmick,
but the real reason I hate her is that they killed the original Question to put her ex-girlfriend in a tension
filled balance with her. This to me is just bad writing.
Question II is a lazy excuse for a formerly interesting
character.

lesbians?
in MY comics?

I was impressed in Jessica Drew's splash page describing her power-origin flashback, Cho snuck a pair of mondo breast implants onto the HYDRA operating table among all the tubes and wires that were giving her her power back. I guess they held the flight generators?

I don't see what Jessica Drew is doing on this list because as Matt Wilson himself points out that really the only thing she has in common with Spider-Man is the Spider-name - she has an unrelated origin and very different powers and costume. She is no more a female equivalent of Spider-Man than DC's Spider-Girl (Sussa Paka) is (even though "Paka" does sound a bit like "Parker").

Spider-Girl (May Parker) would indeed have been a much better part of this list. Let's not forget that she not only proved to have a lot more enthusiastic popularity and staying power than people expected (becoming Marvel's only superheroine so far to reach #100 with her solo title), she became the germ for one of Marvel's more successful alternate-universe family of titles (the MC-2) line. Well, maybe she does not have a chest that's big enough to be considered for this list ;-)

Another female version of a male superhero I really dug was the 1980s/1990s Dove. (No, still haven't forgiven DC for the ending of Armageddon 2001). Come to think of it, they too once made a joking reference to being comparatively flat-chested.

I effing love She-Hulk. My favorite super-heroine.

I don't think Robin fits here; she really isn't a female version of a male character. Carrie Kelly didn't become a "version" of male Robin - she just became Robin. It's a superhero mantle that can be assumed by either gender, with a conveniently neutral moniker.

I'm trying to think of a complaint to make so I can fit in, but everyone's just been so thorow already (and I actually kind of agree with you anyway, which makes the internet complaining more difficult, darn it).

You had me until you're #1 choice. It's utterly pathetic. Batwoman is by no means at the top. Here are the reasons:

1.) She's a third stringer. Hell she's sidekick to Question II for 52 and for most of her appearances. She's even had a relationship with her "partner". Every other appearance since 52 has been or around Renee. It's only recently she's finally had her own spotlight and even then guess who shares the co-feature to Tec? The Question II.

2.) Origin. Three years and not even a hint of what driven her to this. She just does it. Yeah...

3.) Failure. Her first ongoing didn't even make it out of the starting gate. The second one, a mini was demoted to being in Detective Comics. Other female Bat characters Catwoman, Barbara Gordon, and Cassandra Cain have had longer and better ongoings (Selina with two, Babs with Birds of Prey, and Cassandra whose a minority character a seventy-three run that was only canned to make way for this version of Batwoman).

Truly the Babs and Cass deserve to be on this list more than Kathy. Sure they've had hiccups recently in bad writing, but they're still far more superior characters than Batwoman. Still, if you want to go into Babs' career as Batgirl. Then why is it she's the one always remembered as such? Not everyone else?

4.) 3 Years. She hasn't done jack squat in three years save 52 and the current Tec stuff. Even in 52 she had a minor role. She-Hulk deserves the #1 spot.

5.) Lesbian. Let's face that's the only enduring quality to the character. It's what made her famous and that's it. It'll be the only thing she'll ever be known for.

6.) Background. Again it's taken three years to get even a
background to this character. She was a one note character until this recent Tec run.

7.) Hal and Ollie's Justice League. Three issues in and not even an appearance even though she was confirmed to be in this book. We're halfway into the story and for a supposed character to be involved in it she's not even into the plot yet. Show's how much the actual writer of the book even thinks of the character as well. Even more it was confirmed by the writer he was forced to put this character into this story. And usually when things like that happen in DC books currently, bad writing is sure to follow.

8.) The Crime Bible. For such a much talked about part guess who been having more of a spotlight on that particular story? It sure ain't Kathy Kane. It's Question II. For all you're talk it's really the Question II whose been doing the digging and being the true thorn in said villain's side.

My comments (and comments on some of the comments):

5) No. Her origin is ridiculous; neither her creators nor Chris Claremont nor even BENDIS! could ever decide what to do with her, although Bendis' version tends to get a lot of attention mostly because of Frank Cho. Remember, she was created solely so that Marvel could lay claim to the trademark. Substitution: Spider-Girl. MC2 blah blah alternate universe whatever, she's great.

4) No. Carrie Kelly saved Bruce only because Frank Miller handed Bruce the idiot ball. Substitution: Stephanie Brown, who was pretty awesome before she was fridged (and then un-fridged) in the most egregious manner.

3) Yes.

2) Yes, at least when Slott was writing her (although his second volume wasn't nearly as good as the first).

1) Yes, and I really have to wonder about all the people who are down on Kate because she doesn't have the origin... and then nominate Barbara Gordon instead. What's Babs' motivation for being Batgirl, again? She wanted to be a crimefighter just like Daddy, only not like him at all? (Yes, Babs is awesome as Oracle, but that's a different ID.) Also, I don't think that Kate is popular just because she's a lesbian, although that seems like the reason why a lot of people here don't like her.

@Halloween Jack:
Speaking as someone who hasn't read that much of Batgirl I and no story involving Batwoman, I'd say that even though Barbara Gordon's Batgirl origin isn't much more impressive than Kate Kane's, she does win out on her longer track records across several media and larger recognizability. (Not that I think that nostalgia-laden Babs-Batgirl or flavour-of-the-month Batwoman truly would deserve the #1 spot). The argument of "if you don't like Batwoman you hate lesbians" is tired, as for many people the problem is not that they dislike her being a lesbian but that DC chose to make her sexual orientation her distinctive selling point and that is really all that is known about her to a wider public (that doesn't know or much care what a frigging crime bible is). (On the concept level, I find Question II the more interesting lesbian version of a male superhero).

As things are, I'd personally give Mary Marvel, Ms. Marvel I, She-Hulk, and Spider-Girl (in no particular order) ranks above Batwoman. And if this list also included villains, I'd also mention Harley Quinn (more of a female version of the Joker than Spider-Woman I is a female version of Spider-Man).

I still find it a bit funny on how the Linda Danvers Supergirl supporters always seem to have a chip on their shoulders towards the current Supergirl even though it took the previous one over 10 years before she even got the least bit interesting and anyone who really looks at her history can't help be confused at it.

Here is an entire gallery of "Cross Gender Superheroes"

http://www.gunaxin.com/cross-gender-superheroes/9945