One of the annoying things about a blog format is that general interest pieces disappear after awhile, while folks would still be willing to discuss them. So I thought of an idea for it - bumping up old general interest blog pieces!! This one is from January of 2006.
My pal Jake asked me recently, "Does Spider-Man have any female villains?" And when I answered, "Well, there's the female Doctor Octopus and Man-Killer," he retorted, "I mean, any GOOD ones?" The answer was, well, NO. This led to a further realization that there just are not very many decent female supervillains out there. What's up with that?
In addition, if you stretch it further to say, "Decent female supervillains who are not just female versions of male supervillains," then it gets even SMALLER!
I mean, seriously, what's the deal?! I get that female characters are more sparse in comics PERIOD, but there are still a sizable amount of female heroes...just not villains. Creepy.
In fact, it is almost as if the writers are so desperate for a good female character PERIOD that when a good female villain DOES show up, she gets turned into a hero (or at least "not so evil"). Catwoman, Scarlet Witch, Black Widow, Mystique, Destiny, Rogue, Emma Frost, Diamondback, Black Cat, Moonstone and Harley Quinn are all notable female villains who ended up becoming, if not HEROES, then at least not all that BAD.
I will allow that, at least recently, Cassandra Cain, who was a cool character specifically because she was a deadly killer who managed to be a good guy, has gone from good to being a villain - so that's one the other way [Edited to add now she's gone back the other way]
Let's see how many I can name (under the criteria of decent and not female versions of originally male villains):
Cassandra Cain
Talia (I don't count her as a female Ra's - she debuted at the same time, and even Talia has been tamed)
Deathbird (also has been tamed)
Poison Ivy
Cheshire
Viper/Madame Hydra
Shiva (sorta, but even SHE is leaning towards "not so evil")
Vapor (What? I liked the U-Foes!)
Circe
Cheetah
Selene (the Black Queen)
Morgan Le Fey
Lilith (even there, it is just "The daughter of Dracula")
Typhoid Mary (sorta)
Lady Deathstrike
Cassandra Nova
Star Sapphire
Queen Bee
Fatality
Emerald Empress
Phobia
Silver Banshee
Madame Rouge
Glorith
Queen of Fables
Saturn Queen
Glorith
Injustice Society's Huntress
Killer Frost
Female Furies
Granny Goodness
Am I missing any (and that bitch Maddie Pryor doesn't count)?
That is some slim pickins!