10 Female Superheroes We Still Need to See Onscreen

The landscape of superhero movies has continued to change at a surprising rate, with the stories of iconic and lesser-known characters getting adapted into other mediums. Amid the flux of franchise reboots, universe-ending events, and online chatter, one thing that has changed for the better is the landscape of female-fronted superhero adaptations. Kickstarted in the late 2010s with projects like the Wonder Woman movie and The CW’s Supergirl, the taboo of a superheroine-starring solo movie or show has begun to be broken. Just within the past few years, DC has given us live-action iterations of Birds of Prey, Stargirl, and Batwoman. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, meanwhile, debuted the Disney+ shows Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law last year, and have multiple female-fronted projects — The Marvels, Ironheart, Echo, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos — in the immediate pipeline.

Now that female superhero stories are continuing to be told, and the MCU and the newly-rebranded DCU are making plans for the years to come, the heroines whose stories have yet to be brought into a movie or television show have begun to be even more apparent. So, here are ten of DC and Marvel’s female characters who, for various reasons, are long-overdue to appear in the modern superhero era.

Batgirl

Let’s start with the superheroine who came incredibly close to getting the spotlight onscreen — Barbara Gordon / Batgirl. After years of being in development, a Batgirl solo film was greenlit and completed production last year, only to be shelved in a surprise move of cost-cutting from Warner Bros. Discovery.

While the cancellation of the Batgirl solo film absolutely shocked many, there is a chance that its star, Leslie Grace, could reprise her role in a future DC project. That possibility would definitely be welcomed, as — outside of a loose adaptation of the character in Batman & Robin — Barbara’s decades-long, complex story of determination and reinvention has yet to really get the cinematic treatment.

Black Cat

Another character who has gotten somewhat close to a movie treatment is Felicia Hardy / Black Cat. Years after Felicity Jones portrayed a plain-clothes version of Felicia in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony repeatedly flirted with the idea of bringing Black Cat to the big screen — first in a scrapped team-up movie with Silver Sable dubbed Silver & Black, then in a solo Black Cat film that has not yet emerged from development hell.

The madcap life of Felicia Hardy, a cat burglar extraordinaire with a heart of gold, has only earned more fans over the years, especially following the success of her solo comic. As Sony’s Spider-Man universe continues to go into some unexpected places, it’s about time that Black Cat becomes part of that — or, at very least, gets lent to Marvel Studios for the next Spider-Man movie.

Silver Sable

We can’t acknowledge Silver & Black without the other half of that equation — Silvijja Sablinova / Silver Sable. A mercenary and the leader of the eclectic group the Wild Pack, attempts at a Silver Sable solo movie also have not come to fruition thus yet.

Silver Sable’s comic-accurate adventures with the Wild Pack were enough to fill some fan-favorite comics over the years. After the success of projects like The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey, there’s definitely an appetite for action-packed, morally-grey female superheroes — including Silver Sable.

Jessica Cruz

Jumping back to the DC side, one newer superheroine who has captured the hearts of many is Jessica Cruz / Green Lantern. Introduced during the DC Rebirth initiative of 2016, Jessica’s tenure as a member of the Green Lantern Corps has filled countless comics and graphic novels.

Jessica was poised to play a role in HBO Max’s Green Lantern series, before the project was significantly overhauled to focus on John Stewart. Still, she remains a character that deserves to appear in the new DCU — and whose Hispanic heritage could inspire so many people if it arrived onscreen.

Zatanna

Another DC character who fans have been eager to see hit the big screen is Zatanna Zatara, the legacy magician who has become a beloved member of teams like the Justice League of America and Justice League Dark. A live-action Zatanna movie has been in the works in some form or fashion since 2018, with Promising Young Woman‘s Emerald Fennell tapped to write the script, but it has yet to get any serious updates in the years since.

Zatanna is the type of character who can be interpreted in countless different ways, from macabre to spirited to somewhere in between — and it would be a missed opportunity not to explore that in the new DCU. And come on, we need to see how her backwards talking abilities from the comics could translate onscreen.

Nubia

Nubia’s star has burned brighter than ever in recent years, thanks to DC publishing a number of miniseries and one-shots centered around her adventures as the new Queen of the Amazons. The character, who has a close connection to Diana Prince’s Wonder Woman in the comics, has grown beloved for bringing more queer black representation to the Amazon lore.

While it’s unclear exactly what the specifics of Wonder Woman’s onscreen future entail, Nubia feels like a character who absolutely needs to be included in that new chapter — and possibly lead her own solo spinoff as well.

Hellcat

Yes, Patsy Walker / Hellcat did make a memorable live-action debut in the MCU’s Jessica Jones television show. But the show only scratched the surface of Patsy’s wild and entertaining Marvel tenure — going from a young romance hero, to an optimistic superhero, to a woman who literally endured Hell.

Christopher Cantwell, who has been expanding upon Patsy’s story in Iron Man and the upcoming Hellcat miniseries, took to Twitter in late 2020 to advocate for a Hellcat adaptation that encompasses all of those elements. Honestly, it needs to happen.

Dazzler

Another Marvel heroine who desperately needs her own solo project is Alison Blaire / Dazzler. A disco pop star-turned-superhero who has remained a cult classic, Dazzler has endured as a member of the X-Men, but has only appeared as a brief supporting character in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. 

Since Dazzler was originally created to star in a movie that never came to fruition, it would be a bit of karmic justice to give her her own solo project. Disney+ also already has a perfect template for the format of a Dazzler Special Presentation, already hosting concert movies and documentaries for real-life pop stars like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.

Power Girl

Karen Starr / Power Girl has remained a unique fixture of the DC Comics world — originally an alternate-universe version of Supergirl, Karen thrives as a member of the Justice Society of America, and has her own array of zany solo adventures.

It’s unclear exactly what the future holds in the DCU for the larger Superman family, especially with regards to Sasha Calle’s version of Supergirl who is set to appear in this year’s The Flash movie. But either way, there are a number of avenues to introduce Karen in the new normal — either as a member of the JSA, the Birds of Prey, an ally of Harley Quinn, or her own full-fledged heroine.

Squirrel Girl

And finally, it is still a travesty that we have yet to see Doreen Green / Squirrel Girl thrive in live-action. A version of the character, portrayed by Milana Vayntrub, was set to be the star of a New Warriors cable television series, which was ultimately scrapped by Freeform.

While Vayntrub has gotten to play the character in a recent podcast series, it’s hard to deny that the butt-kicking character should still appear in live-action in any capacity..

***

Which female superheroine do you most want to see get her own solo