Artist Bengal recently tweeted out a sketches of a potential lineup for a scrapped all-female Justice League project. Though the original Justice League has been a classic staple of the DC comics canon, it definitely has a primarily masculine bent in terms of gender ratios. Like most superhero teams that evolve over time, the membership has expanded significantly, but of its classic roster, Wonder Woman is the only female member. While several female heroes like Black Canary, Hawkgirl, and Zatanna become Justice League members themselves in one form or another in different iterations of the team, they’re still disproportionate to how many male superheroes fill out the team’s ranks.
In terms of DC’s female superheroes, there are plenty of dynamic and interesting characters who have plenty of story potential. The mantle of Black Canary is borne by two different women. The first is Dinah Drake, originally intent on following the footsteps of her father, a member of the Gotham City Police Force. Her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, later takes on the role. Hawkgirl has appeared most notably as Sheyera Hol, a law enforcement officer from the planet Thanagar. She and her husband, the Silver Age Hawkman, are two reincarnated lovers whose stories originated in Ancient Egypt. Zatanna Zatara was a performance magician born with a genetic predisposition to real magic, and a powerful one at that, and her relationship with John Constantine is a well-loved pairing in the DC canon.
While there’s nothing wrong with the Justice League as is, seeing a small, all-female Justice League ensemble, like the one Bengal sketched right after working on an issue for Batgirl, is a refreshing chance to see more from female characters working together in the comics. The co-ed Justice League and its high percentage of male heroes does not allow time for this. In Bengal’s sketch, while there’s no Zatanna or Black Canary, there is Hawkgirl—or, Hawkwoman, rather—as well as Batgirl, Supergirl, Big Barda, Vixen, Miss Martian, and even Daily Planet correspondent Lois Lane. This was a project that Bengal almost brought to life along with comics writer Brendan Fletcher several years ago. Newsarama reported that Bengal and Fletcher were ultimately too busy with other projects to pursue this potential.
It’s an interesting mix to say the least, especially since it brings to the spotlight some lesser-known heroines like Big Barda, Vixen, and Miss Martian, and gives Lois the chance to be a heroine in her own right rather than just the Earthling woman who fell in love with and supports the efforts of Superman. It would be cool to see more of her on the front lines using her brains. Big Barda was originally a New God from Apokolips who later fell in love with the hero Mr. Miracle and changed into a force for good, which is an interesting idea to play with considering Apokolips’s reputation. Vixen possesses the power to shapeshift into different animals, and Miss Martian, or M’gann M’orzz—”Megan Morse” on Earth—is a member of the Teen Titans and the protégé of the Martian Manhunter. These heroes are cool not just because they’re female, but because they also just have interesting character premises that would have better room to explore in an all-female Justice League scenario.
Unfortunately, this project wasn’t meant to be, at least not at the time that this sketch was drawn. But it’s fun to speculate. And there’s always a chance that a pitch for a project could bear more, better fruit in the future. With this being tweeted out at the top of Women’s History Month, it’s always possible this could circulate to the point of snowballing into an actual project this time. An all-female Justice League would definitely give some well-deserved credit for some DC heroines who rarely get the chance to shine in the spotlight as much.
Source: Bengal/Twitter
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