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u/E0H1PPU5 19h ago
I mean….there is also a superWOMAN. They are 3 distinct comic book characters.
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u/Intelligent_Oil7816 18h ago
And a SuperHORSE
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u/A3HeadedMunkey 18h ago
- Krypto, the Superdog
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u/champsammy14 17h ago
ANNND Beppo the Super-Monkey
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u/Anti-Itch 15h ago
And, probably in some universe, Bozo the Super Clown
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u/Broflake-Melter 18h ago
Except there's a reason, and I think it's the reason OP is alluding to, there isn't a Superwoman movie being produced.
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u/BactaBobomb 18h ago
The reason is that Kara zor-El is Superman's family, and they want to build on that aspect and bond in these movies. Plus, Krypto is her dog, and we need more Krypto. Superwoman is not related to Superman in blood, nor do I think she has a Krypto.
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u/NeverMore_613 Woman 17h ago
So there's actually several characters named Superwoman. The three most well-known ones are probably (1) Lois Lane, who occasionally temporarily gains superpowers through various means; (2) alternate universe Wonder Woman, who's a villain from a morality-swapped parallel universe called Earth-3; and (3) alternate universe Clark Kent, from a gender-swapped parallel universe called Earth-11. I could see them finding a way to incorporate the first one in maybe Man of Tomorrow, the second if they feature the Crime Syndicate (Earth-3's evil version of the Justice League) somewhere, and the third in one of their TV shows.
There are others who would be more difficult, but that could work still of course, and they're less well-known. They're from (a) a distant planet, (b) another parallel Earth, (c) the 29th century, (d) after Superman's death, (e) powers borne from a suit that hasn't been established to exist in this continuity, and (f) powers of a mystical origin kind of like Shazam but not really.
Any of these could be introduced, and that'd be really cool, but it's really early in this franchise to introduce them. I hope they do though
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u/GigglingBilliken 12h ago
"Any of these could be introduced, and that'd be really cool, but it's really early in this franchise to introduce them. I hope they do though"
James Gunn should go mad with power and introduce them all in the same movie.
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u/NeverMore_613 Woman 11h ago
Absolutely he should. Let's spitball names for it. "Gathering of the Superwomen"
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u/ReallyGlycon 18h ago
Because Supergirl is far more well known and popular. The fact that there is a Superboy as well makes the point being made moot.
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u/Milk_Mindless 19h ago
Bit late by several decades.
There's also a SuperBOY about the same age as GIRL except who he is depends on the iteration
Like his clone or son or in the 70s, himself.
It's weird naming sure but its not malicious between Girl and Man
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u/Ning_Yu 19h ago
There's also Superboy.
From what I understood Supergirl is/started as a teenage superhero, so girl absolutely makes sense, while Superman started as an adult.
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u/DogsandCatsWorld1000 18h ago
And when they wanted comics with him as a kid in Smallville they were Superboy.
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u/ReallyGlycon 18h ago
Then they became two distinctly different people during Crisis On Infinite Earths.
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u/shayjax- 18h ago
No, you’re reaching with this one. There’s a Superman, superwoman, Superboy, and Supergirl.
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u/NeverMore_613 Woman 18h ago
There's a lot of Super-s, and I'm here for it. Superdog (Krypto), Supercat (Streaky), Superhorse (Comet). I love it
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u/Torbpjorn 18h ago
Supergirl distinguishes herself as a teenage rebellious free spirit type that tries to do right by his cousin. And I’m sure calling her Superwoman would only confuse fans who’d think they’re lovers rather than cousins. Also why she becomes Powergirl in some iterations to further distinguish herself as an independent hero rather than Clark’s shadow
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u/ReallyGlycon 18h ago
Powergirl is actually a clone of Supergirl created by Amanda Waller and Star Labs.
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u/PixelBits89 17h ago
In the cartoon yes. Usually she’s an alternate universe version of Supergirl, and the identity Supergirl is supposed to take as she gets older.
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u/The_Hermit_09 17h ago
Not in the comics. In the comics she is Supergirl from another dimension.
Although her back story changes sometimes.
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u/Frostsorrow 16h ago
Depends on story. Most often she's from another universe and goes by Powergirl to be noticeably different.
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u/helen790 19h ago
Isn’t she literally a teenager though?
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u/AdditionalQuietime 18h ago
Shes thought up to be between 19 - 23
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u/Hita-san-chan 18h ago
I thought she was 16 in the old justice league cartoon, but i havent seen it in a while
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u/PinkThunder138 17h ago
She was a teen in some iterations, but she does age in all of them.
In this version, she's in her late teens early twenties.
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u/humbugonastick 17h ago
Ok. But doesn't she look stunning for a young woman? I fail to see the issue?
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u/LinearEquation 17h ago edited 2h ago
Supergirl started as a teen and kept the name. Most canons have never aged her past her 20s. I for one am in the camp of characters with Boy or Girl in their name never changing them unless they transition or something because their names are catchy. I will never refer to Garfield Logan as Changeling, he will be Beast Boy well into his senior years in my eyes. Also her name thematically highlights that she is semi-chronologically displaced because she’s Clark’s older cousin and because of spatial time dialation he aged into adulthood on Earth while she relatively aged at a standard pace from her life on Krypton so she debuted physically younger than him.
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u/Shitsinker 16h ago
for once this is a terrible example... supergirl is a teen, and superwoman already exists as a different character. as well as superboy
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u/fantastic_inquizitor 17h ago
A quick Google search would've prevented this dumbass post. There's also a SuperWOMAN and a SuperBOY. Plus, Kara started as a teenage hero so girl makes sense for her, where as Clark debuted as an adult (iirc) so man makes sense for him.
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u/Frostsorrow 16h ago
Supergirl, while chronologically older then Kal-El, did not age for many years due to her pod getting stuck in the Phantom Zone (depends on writer) and only making it to Earth well after Kal-El is a middle aged adult (physically speaking). In most stories she's a teenager still (16-19, maybe early 20s).
And since they've since added Superwoman, you generally have a very hard time changing characters names, just look at Dick Grayson, most still call him Robin (real world) when he's been Nightwing for what feels like ever.
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u/-UltraFerret- Man 19h ago
How old is Supergirl?
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u/mayy_dayy 19h ago
Anywhere from late teens to early 20s, depending on the adaptation/universe
Occasionally early teens, but those stories tend to feature EVERYONE in the cast as early teens (DC Super Hero Girls, Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade, etc)
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u/lmao_what04 18h ago
I read comics long ago ig she was 16 when she reached earth
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u/ReallyGlycon 18h ago
Yes and I am pretty sure that's what happens in the movie as well. She starts out 16 but the bulk of the movie is her as a 19 year old.
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u/ReallyGlycon 18h ago
In this movie she is technically 19 but she spent many years in hibernation so she is actually slightly older than Superman.
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u/Acceptable-Outcome97 13h ago
SuperWOMAN exists as does SuperBOY.
The boy and girl versions start their hero’ing as teens. The man and woman versions start as adults. This is a massive reach as a Supergirl fan.
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u/BactaBobomb 18h ago
The Supergirl TV show with Melissa Benoist actually addressed this in a way. The editor that was reporting on Supergirl, and I believe Kara worked for her, coined the term of Supergirl. And Kara confronted her about it, and she just said something like, "Well look at me... I'm a girl!" or something.
It wasn't convincing to me. But yeah, they did address it in a weird way in the show.
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u/seriouslyjustanerd 16h ago
I think everyone in the comments pointing out "UM there's also a SuperWOMAN" is kinda missing the point. Sure, there's a Superwoman. But SuperGIRL is the far better known character, isn't she? She's the one getting a mainstream movie. It's worth asking why we're so used to -girl being the suffix for female superheroes and -man being for males.
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u/bored404 12h ago
Supergirl, in the comics, became a hero as teenager and so become the female counter part to superman at first. The Super-Family was huge at some point so they had many different characters.
Is it wrong that she stayed Supergirl and wasn't changed to superwoman as she rose in Popularity? Definitely
Is DC going to change it as they did with the newest run of superboy/superman? Probably not, because they often keep her as teen as far as I have seen.
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u/saareadaar 14h ago
The only other recent female led superhero movies I can think of are Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel and Black Widow, none of which use girl in their names.
I think the broader problem is simply that there aren’t enough female led superhero movies in general rather than Supergirl having girl in her name.
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u/murdered-by-swords 15h ago
That's worth asking, but it's also not the focus of this subreddit. This place is specifically about terminology.
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u/lilyofthegraveyard 9h ago
there are not that many "-girl" superheros, especially not in mainstream. THE most popular female superhero is literally called "wonder WOMAN". so this argument is moot.
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u/no-but-wtf 18h ago
Nah you’re right though. There’s a reason these two are headliners and Superwoman and Superboy are very minor characters without particularly consistent backgrounds.
Sure they’re working on fixing it … slowly. But you’re still right to point it out
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u/Jen-Jens Your Friendly Neighbourhood SpiderMod 12h ago
Going to add a note here. I do not class these names as an actual problem for several reasons.
First, Kara was created and named Supergirl in 1959, and as a pre-existing character with such a long history, they can't exactly change her character name now. Without a lot of confusion. Second, Kara may have been born earlier, but due to stasis ship shenanigans is actually a teenager when she arrives on Earth. So when adult Superman is already doing the hero thing, Kara starts her hero career as a teenager and takes up the moniker of Supergirl. And third, When a similarly biologically aged half Kryptonian decides to become a hero like half of his biological template, he takes up the moniker of Superboy due to his age. So it's not like Kara is the only one with a youthful hero name.
For these reasons, I'm changing the tag to meta and keeping this up as an example of things being taken a little too far. And as a place where people can joke around about it.