Am I The Only One Who Finds This Odd?

All of this month on the CGU Facebook pages I've been doing a girl power theme. In doing this I've been highlighting female heroes showing not only artwork, but how they have been portrayed by actresses. It was in showing who has played what heroes that something occurred to me.

Two of DC's most recognized and powerful female heroes haven't been portrayed as much as others. Am I the only one who finds that odd? Two of the most recognized heroines haven't gotten as much screen time as others. Sure they've had plenty of animated parts, but not enough live action screen time.

Supergirl has had one big screen movie, which many consider a flop. Considering that you could see the strings of her flight harness you can understand why fans were disappointed. Especially after having gotten such spectacular effects from Superman the Movie. Supergirl was done in 1984 and starred Helen Slater as Supergirl. It isn't until 26 years later that we see Kara brought to live action again. This time it was to the small screen on the series Smallville. On Smallville Supergirl was played by Laura Vandervoort for one episode. So only two live action appearances by Kara. One on the big screen and one on the little screen.

Now let's take a look at another DC heroine who has been portrayed three times in live action. Granted they have all been on the small screen, but even still that's one more time than Supergirl. Who is the character? Huntress, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman. Not only was she a major role on two series, but has also had a guest appearances on one other. In Legends of the Superheroes (1979) Huntress was played by Barbara Joyce. Later in 2002 Huntress came back as part of the trio The Birds of Prey. In that series Huntress aka Helena Kyle was played by Ashley Scott. Most recently Huntress had a guest spot on the series Arrow (2012) and this time she was played by Jessica De Gouw.

Even Batman's female protege Batgirl has had three different portrayals. One on the big screen and two on the small screen. In Batman & Robin (1997) Batgirl was played by Alicia Silverstone. Course they changed Batgirl and her origin so much that the only thing that made her Batgirl was the costume. Then again we come back to 2002's Birds of Prey where, admittedly, it was very little Batgirl and more Oracle, but even still the portrayal of Barbara Gordon was wonderfully done by Dina Meyer. In any case who could forget the original portrayal of Batgirl on the small screen in the series Batman (1966). Yvonne Craig donned the purple spandex costume bringing Batgirl to live action for the first time.

Let's take a look at one last heroine who has had not one, not two or three, but four live action portrayals on the small screen. Black Canary, while a fan favorite, isn't as visually iconic (in general outside of the geek community) as Supergirl and Wonder Woman, but she has gotten more screen time than either of them. Again in Legends of the Superheroes (1979) Black Canary was a main character on the show and there she was played by Danuta Rylko Soderman. Then we go back to Birds of Prey (2002) where there were two Black Canaries. The main canary that was focused on was the daughter who is technically Black Canary 2 (played by Rachael Skarsten), but the original Black Canary came on for an episode complete with the Canary Cry. That Black Canary is the one I'm going to focus on for comparison purposes. The actress who played her is Lori Loughlin (yes, Uncle Jesse's wife from Full House). Later in 2007 on Smallville Black Canary was played by Alaina Huffman. The most recent portrayal of the Canary was in 2013 when she appeared on Arrow being played by Caity Lotz.

Here's the score thus far: Supergirl-2, Huntress-3, Batgirl-3, and Black Canary-4. The Birds of Prey gals have gotten more live action portrayals than the last daughter of Krypton or the mighty Amazon princess. Speaking of which, how does Wonder Woman stack up against the others? Not very well I'm afraid.

Wonder Woman has only had two different live action actresses play her. Even sadder is that the second one never made it to air. The most successful and beloved Wonder Woman is of course Lynda Carter in the 1975 Wonder Woman television series. The other series that was supposed to air in 2011 never did. After the pilot episode was leaked fans everywhere rejoiced that it never did. However, at the same time those of us who saw it wished we hadn't. Adrianne Palicki was cast this time as the famed super heroine. Visually she looked good in the costume, but that was about it.

Ok, final score for everyone: Supergirl-2, Huntress-3, Batgirl-3, Black Canary-4, and Wonder Woman-2 with one never truly seeing the light of day. Wow. Although there is hope for Wonder Woman seeing as how Gal Godot has been cast to play her in the upcoming Batman vs Superman film. We'll see how that turns out and how well she'll do.

So here's a final question I will pose to DC and Warner Brothers: why is it you can make Superman and Batman movies till we're sick of them, but you can't make a decent Wonder Woman or Supergirl movie? Am I the only one who feels this way? Please share your thoughts.