Off My Mind: Female Characters Made From Male Characters

Usually it seems like a real lazy way for someone to make a new character 
However if the female/male version of the character has their own unique personality, them I'm all for it 
However if they're just like their counterpart or the exact opposite, then fuck that

Yesterday I happened to look at how many comic book characters are female. According to what I could figure out from excluding the men from the list of total characters I got a figure of about 20% of characters being female. This number does not distinguish among heroes, villians, supporting characters, and derivative characters, or include characters not listed on the site. Nonetheless, two conclusions seem to be reasonable. 
 
1. In general, comic book stories tend to be about men and to reflect their interests. 
 
2. If comic books are to truly reflect women's experiences or to be more about women then about 50% of characters should be women.

forgot super boy and super girl

Finally, a topic I can sink my teeth into. I have notice this sort of thing mostly in DC Comics:
 
RAVAGER (ROSE WILSON from GRANT WILSON, BILL, WALSH, and WADE DEFARGE)
SPEEDY (MIA DEARDEN from ROY HARPER)
HAWK AND DOVE (HOLLY AND DAWN GRANGER from HANK AND DON HALL)
DR. LIGHT
CRAZY QUILT
ROBIN
 
It seems that FEMALE character grab MALE reader's attention for sexier attractions. Sometimes I wish that it were less women for MALE CHARACTER names.

"Not sure what's worse, the dude that looks like a lady or the lady that looks like a dude. Would Lady G-Man have a spotlight column here called 'The G-Spot'?  Oh and you forgot Superman, he's been femanized several times. "

Quick, someone make a "Lady G-Man" account. 
 
Anyway, yeah, it really is just publishers trying to capitalize on a character's popularity, making some "new" that's also pleasantly familiar. But also because of that familiarity, that character is more likely to be successful. 
 
And for the most part, female counterparts are usually only similar enough to the male counterpart in that they can gain popularity, but are otherwise usually different enough to be a completely different character besides superficial appearances. Like Hulk and She-Hulk, Hulk is a larger dumb bruiser whose answer to every problem is "smash." She-Hulk on the otherhand, while being more appealing to most male readers, is smart and skilled, the polar opposite of Hulk. Even Spider-Woman is completely different from Spider-Man. There aren't many that are almost identical, one of those is Lady Deadpool, but that's of course because she literally is Deadpool, lol. Of course the more I see of her the more female-oriented differences I see from our male Deadpool.

" @G-Man: Lady G-Man looked kinda creepy. Don't ever do that again. "

Yes most super powers have been done over and over again so I think its really the quality of the writing that makes any difference if the character is male or female. 

 It could be to attract more female readers to comics. It could be that guys like seeing women in tight clothing in their comics. Maybe it's to add a "softer touch" to all the superhero action. Or maybe it's just to cash in on a successful idea.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about too! LOL! Female versions of Male Superheroes!

" @Rheged: wrote the statement before I read your latest. SO I didn't catch on that you had mentioned it yet. "
 

" @Rheged: kind of happy that Ellis left the Thunderbolts. They were getting delayed too often. That annoyed the piss out of me. Plus to honest didn't much care for the writing while he was on board. "

I like it because it shows how the characters would be if the where made female at first.

" Quick, someone make a "Lady G-Man" account.   Anyway, yeah, it really is just publishers trying to capitalize on a character's popularity, making some "new" that's also pleasantly familiar. But also because of that familiarity, that character is more likely to be successful.   And for the most part, female counterparts are usually only similar enough to the male counterpart in that they can gain popularity, but are otherwise usually different enough to be a completely different character besides superficial appearances. Like Hulk and She-Hulk, Hulk is a larger dumb bruiser whose answer to every problem is "smash." She-Hulk on the otherhand, while being more appealing to most male readers, is smart and skilled, the polar opposite of Hulk. Even Spider-Woman is completely different from Spider-Man. There aren't many that are almost identical, one of those is Lady Deadpool, but that's of course because she literally is Deadpool, lol. Of course the more I see of her the more female-oriented differences I see from our male Deadpool. "

" @Rheged: I'm pretty sure you don't catch my meaning.  Wolverine, Punisher, Deadpool, etc. were not created out of some anti-indie creative surplus.  They were stock badguys made to order with all the inspiration it takes to dress a Canadian weasel in yellow, put a skull on a hitman, or give Spider-Man guns, pouches, and a mutant healing factor.  

The indie creativity has nothing to do with the new production (or investment) of characters at all.

I feel like you're moving the goal posts with the words of Ellis... he's still saying he paints other people's homes and I've said, it's the development that matters because homes are being continually built (again, the genre demands the creation of one-off villains, minor supporting characters, etc... any which have the potential to explode once invested into)... whereas you seem to be arguing that Ellis won't build houses when that's never been the argument... it's about painting them... fleshing them out and making them marketable... and he's doing that irrespective of whether its his house or not.

Anyways, this is a major derail.  Even if you assume you're right.  Somehow all of mainstream comicdom is suffering from creative hoarding because they're all waiting to jump ship to independent publishing... it basically has no bearing on the lady characters which are all trademark land grabs having nothing to do with the creative process.

Its REALLY NOT a problem to me as long as I like them and they have GREAT stories. I dont really consider most of them CLONES...most have completely different from their male conterparts.

If so, then we'd have female versions of ALL the established male characters, and we don't.  There's no Lady Daredevil, nor is there a Lady Human Torch or a Lady Stretcho or ... well, there's a lot of male characters in the Marvel universe.  As I said before, the one reason for these female versions that I think everyone can agree on is MONEY.  That the root of your point, and mine, and other posters who have offered their opinions on why we have these knock off characters. "

Well I intend to  favor she hulk more than the hulk so yeah it depends on the personally, sexiness and story aspect both villain wise and  character wise that could make a good female counterpart. I still favor the hulk but I like she hulk a little  better because she not as popular as her cousin ha ha but she is funny and full of life oppose to the hulk. 

I have no problem with a female version of a male superhero. Wait, if I looked at it THAT way maybe I would. I think G-Man's approach is wrong. I don't think it's lame, lazy and cheap to do this other-gender-version (although granted, it can be) because I see great potential in this. 
 
I think it's interesting to see how a woman deals with her powers and it gets interesting whenever gender plays a part in this. How does a woman deal with feral instincts? What about female super villains and being morally corrupt? It all feels way to clean and pretty whenever women are involved in doing bad stuff. It's always some magic projectile or they kick and punch someone who hardly shows any bruises afterward. Give me Batgirl going overboard, breaking Batman's rule and killing someone. Show me how she beats the Riddler to a pulp and sticking a knife in his heart. Let the girls be nasty bloody and beaten up and not just a little blood on the corner of the mouth. Writers and artists are being too protective of their female characters especially when they create these 'female versions' of male superheroes. The differences between the female and the male version of the same hero/villain has the potential to be extremely interesting. It's rarely explored though. What a shame.
Ps. an example for good gender difference exploration is She-Hulk, I think that stuff is pretty neat.

Many of the examples he used are already completely different characters though, such as She-Hulk (as he said), Spider-Woman (who has a different origin story, different powers, and nothing to do with old Peter Parker), Namora (who's existed for a long time), Harley Quin (separate yet complementary character to the Joker), etc... And with beings such as Ultron or Loki, they don't have fixed gender anyway, so having them *switch* isn't all that weird. And for She-Deadpool, that's just Deadpool stuff being silly, it's not to be taken seriously :p  
 
Point is, many times when they've made alternate sex versions of characters it's been done really well, and that's the important thing to look at, quality. As long as it makes for a good character they can do whatever they want.

I think female counterparts are cool, and vice versa.

" I have no problem with a female version of a male superhero. Wait, if I looked at it THAT way maybe I would. I think G-Man's approach is wrong. I don't think it's lame, lazy and cheap to do this other-gender-version (although granted, it can be) because I see great potential in this.   I think it's interesting to see how a woman deals with her powers and it gets interesting whenever gender plays a part in this. How does a woman deal with feral instincts? What about female super villains and being morally corrupt? It all feels way to clean and pretty whenever women are involved in doing bad stuff. It's always some magic projectile or they kick and punch someone who hardly shows any bruises afterward. Give me Batgirl going overboard, breaking Batman's rule and killing someone. Show me how she beats the Riddler to a pulp and sticking a knife in his heart. Let the girls be nasty bloody and beaten up and not just a little blood on the corner of the mouth. Writers and artists are being too protective of their female characters especially when they create these 'female versions' of male superheroes. The differences between the female and the male version of the same hero/villain has the potential to be extremely interesting. It's rarely explored though. What a shame. Ps. an example for good gender difference exploration is She-Hulk, I think that stuff is pretty neat. "

That goes to show you... a good enough writer can bring back any concept.

X-23 is not at all like wovie! but she is still my fav!

I think Harley is more of a sidekick than a female Joker but regardless it's an interesting issue. Also lady G-Man is terrifying as hell.

most of the time it works sometimes...not so much

I agree with almost everyone here, its kind of overdue the fact of making a female version of a male character. But if its well done then I think one must give it a chance at least.

As of creating an original Superhero is reallt hard, I know, mostly because aside from original idea one must also not make the mistake of making it overpower gary stu. But is not Impossible, in fact, I created one, and a Marvel one