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Last time, I discussed the evolution of Marvel's superheroines, from Stan and Jack's Sue Storm and Jean Grey by way of the slinky femmes fatales (like green-haired Lorna Dane, daughter of Magneto, above) to the "Glamazons" of the Seventies.
In the mid-70s, Roy Thomas had retconned a lady liberator into WWII and I was struck by her because she was a Brit. She was an aristo too and one corner of a love triangle with Cap and the Original Human Torch:

 Rejuvenated in the early 90s, I understand she's a vampire now and in a relationship with that mutha, Blade. Strange choice, Paul Cornell. Meanwhile, the Red Guardian, a short-lived Avengers villain, was revived as a female and had a criminally short career:

Two of the longest-serving Bronze Age heroines made their debut in the late 70s; one was originally an evolved spider; the other, a distaff version of tv's David Banner.

The Dark Angel was an agent of Hydra who went on to star in a series of gothic adventures in Hollywood, with lush pencils by Carmine Infantino. The strip had a unique flavour but I preferred it when Chris Claremont made her a private investigator and tied her to the X-Men. Spider-Woman also had a cartoon tv show but was practically depowered in the 80s. She was revived by Bendis, still with a slightly untrustworthy vibe and even starred in her own motion comic. The She-Hulk, on the other hand, was played very effectively as a slightly satirical character and has been utilised to comment upon many of the more absurd tropes in comics. However, I liked her best as a substitute member of the Fantastic Four:

Like Ms. Marvel, these were characters spun off from more famous male counterparts. But Claremont and Cockrum worked to develop an individual look and identity for Ms.M:

By the early 80s, however, Ms. Marvel had been undone by the "Demon Seed" trope of alien impregnation in an infamous storyline. Marvel's other "Ms. Sash Belt", Phoenix, had been killed off in a celebrated storyline at the beginning of that decade. Her replacement, a young teen called Kitty Pryde, would open the door for a number of bright and shining young mutant heroines, including a chronically late cash-in to the Disco craze:

Given the success of shows like America's Got Talent, I'm surprised Dazzler doesn't have a comic.

Claremont and Byrne also introduced the sinister dominatrix Emma Frost (modelled on Faye Dunaway's look).While I find it difficult to swallow, she's been a Good Girl for several years now, part of the X-Men's Villain Rehab program, which was originally a feature of the Avengers under Stan and Roy:

Unlike Sabretooth, Juggernaut and Magneto, Rogue successfully migrated to the side of the angels; she was even the field leader of the X-Men for five minutes in the 90s.
Claremont and Cockrum also got the opportunity to remodel Rogue's nemesis Carol Danvers as a Phoenix-level cosmic heroine:

...and by the early 80s, more of those bright, shiny mutant girls were having sleepovers in Westchester: , proud, defiant Dani Moonstar; displaced Roman Magma; winsome Scottish werewolf Rahne; tragic and withdrawn Karma (briefly) and demon sorceress Magik:

 One other female mutant got her start on tv but would be included as a trainee Avenger nearly twenty years later:

A member of popular young hero team the New Warriors in the 90s, Firestar has battled cancer and recently returned to the Marvel Universe.

John Byrne, meanwhile, a real Marvel traditionalist, was developing a number of memorable super heroines for his cult hit Alpha Flight but Aurora, Marrina and Snowbird were all driven, unstable personalities. Young  magic-user Talsiman was very reminiscent of the mutant Mirage and didn't even want her powers:

 My favourite new heroine of the 80s was yet another male-to-female creation but in name only. Although she had a complex power-set, she also had a career as a police officer and became leader of the Avengers!

But again, the concept of a powerful, confident heroine seemed to run contrary to Marvel's vision. CM gradually reached acceptance as a major contender in the 80s until her powers were drastically reduced when Walt Simonson was deconstructing the Assemblers. Since then she's been known as Photon and Pulsar and depicted as an annoying satirical character or simply incompetent. Monica deserves to lead the Avengers again-certainly far more than Bendis' man-crush Luke Cage.
Female characters were relegated to team membership, rather than solo series, in the mid-to-late 80s: like the man-hating second version of Ms. Marvel (later the She-Thing!) and, mirroring Black Canary, Hawkeye's wife, the martial artist/spy Mockingbird:

It seemed that as the Me Decade progressed, Bad Girls were becoming more popular; the rise of comics shops and the Grim'n'Gritty era were popularising two female sterotypes: the sultry and the lethal:

There was one other Marvel heroine of the 80s who bucked that trend- the Mexican Phoenix replacement originally called Firebird, who returned as super-nun La Esperita:

The Dark Age of comics in the 90s didn't spawn too many new heroines: the disabled Silhouette and Wildstreak come to mind. Kirby's voluptuous Sersi went insane in the Avengers:

 I wear a jacket now. Jackets are cool.

Byrne used Bill Everett's Namorita in the Namor solo book and ex-villain Songbird's been around for a long time, even though sonic powers don't work that well in comics:

Then of course, Captain Britain's sister Psylocke was Elektra-fied at the height of the X-Men's popularity. Wolverine sidekick (and Dark Knight homage) Jubilee brought attitude to the naive teen "Kitty Pryde" role as did  Jolt:

None of these gals had the staying power of "Mayday" Parker, however:

Spider-Man's daughter became, ironically, the sensation that Stan was looking for in Ms. Marvel (who  returned to the Avengers in the late 90s as Warbird-eww-with a drink problem).Bright, charismatic and  popular, Spider-Girl was the longest-running comic book featuring a girl that Marvel has ever produced. Think about that. The MC2 line also released a solo book for the daughter of Wolverine and Elektra, Wild Thing, who was a much more fun character than the living weapon X-23 (created for a cartoon series!)

A second Spider-Girl (the former Arana) has recently come and gone, as has Mayday Parker, despite a vocal campaign from her fanbase that saw her pull back from the brink of cancellation numerous times. Meanwhile,the shrewish Femizons of the Seventies have been referenced in the person of Lyra, the new She-Hulk; and the madder she gets, the weaker she gets. Par for the course for the superheroine.

A surprisingly successful revived character is Namora, the Sea Beauty. A late 40s heroine apparently killed off at the start of the Bronze Age, she eventually returned alive in 2007's Agents of Atlas and is curently appearing in a flashback sequence in New Avengers. Equally remarkable are the appearances of the Blonde Phantom in the young-readers Marvel Adventures Spider-Man imprint:

Nonetheless, for Marvel, any female- fronted book is a hard sell. It seems incredible, having lived through the Bronze Age, that we haven't got past that now. DC titles such as Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Birds of Prey have struggled at times but are (languishing) in the Top 100. Quite an achievement in the shrinking market. Despite critical acclaim and regular appearances in the highly successful Bendis- Avengers franchise, Ms Marvel's solo book was not loved by the comic buying public and she joined She-Hulk Jen on the cancellation pile. In the 21st century, these are the images of Stan's Superhero Women. Equal rights don't seem to have reached the fanman's basement:

Next: Bring On The Bad Guys


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