Can a super hero be a loving mother, housekeeper, and cook, who also dons the mantle of power to battle the forces of evil? Can a superhero be a woman?
"Women can be anything, except fathers, I guess," says Stan Lee, the father of Marvel Comics. "A superhero is someone with an extraordinary power or talent that is used to fight evil-and that could be anyone young or old, male or female.
"Today, judging by what most of the superheroines in today's stories wear, the major talent seems to be getting as close to nudity as possible. It could be that they dress that way to make the guy they're fighting forget why he's there!"
Pop culture, it seems, demands that even the strongest women be beautiful and tightly costumed. One of the first female superheros was Princess Diana, daughter of the Amazon Queen. As Wonder Woman, Diana swore to fight for "America, the last citadel of democracy and equal rights rights for women" (All American/DC Comics;1942). Combining feminism with patriotism, Wonder Woman debuted in 1942, just 22 years after ratification of the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote.
Following Wonder Woman's success, Marvel Comics developed its own feminine superheroes, including Miss America(1944), The Blonde Phantom (1946), and Sun Girl (1948).
Now, more than 50 years after the first female superheroes appeared on comic-book pages, two new feminine forms grace the entertainment world: Rena Mero as Sable and Lucy Lawless as Xena.
Bombshell On stage for theWWF, Sable presents herself as a wild, opinionated, ego-driven vixen. Dressed to kill her opponents in stiletto-heeled boots and skimpy leather outfits, Sable sports a sexy, busty look that attracts hundreds of thousands of 18- to 34-year-old males to the world of professional wrestling- and beyond. Her appearance on the cover of Playboy helped make the April 1999 issue the fastest selling to date.
For Rena Mero, mother, wife, and Southern Belle, the brash self -centered Sable is simply an act-a superwoman with a serious attitude.
"I always try to present myself as a lady," Mero said in a previous interview. "[But] being a woman doesn't mean you have to be prissy. You can be classy and strong. I love being able to play both roles. Men don't have that option. They always have to be masculine."
Sable's alter ego is a native of Jacksonville,Fla., and a past model for L'Oreal, Guess?, and Pepsi. She's the mother of fifth-grader Mariah and wife to fellow wrestler Marc Mero. Her future goals include starring roles in Hollywood for both Rena and Sable. Later this year, Mero will appear in the Sci-Fi Channel's First Wave.
Princess While Sable/Rena is a bottle blond, Lucy Lawless as Xena has turned a darker shade for her Warrior Princess persona. And like her contemporary, Lucy Lawless also has graced the pages of numerous magazines, being named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People of the Year" by People magazine.
In her pre-Xena days, Lawless appeared in numerous television commercials, performed with a comedy troupe, and guest-starred in such episodic series as High Tide (1994) and the Ray Bradbury Theater (1985). Lawless' background also includes time spent with a gold mining company in Kalgoorlie, New Zealand, where she did the same digging, mapping, truck driving, and mining as her male coworkers. She is also a trained singer with a passion for jazz. Last summer,she showcased her dancing and singing ability as Rizzo in the Broadway production of Grease.
"Unlike the role of Hercules[written for actor Kevin Sorbo], Xena was conceived as a character and Lucy was cast to fill the role," says Robert Trebor, who plays Salmoneus an the Xena and Hercules series. "They were ready to start filming and they didn't have a Xena yet, even though Lucy had successfully taken on the role in a three episode arc on Hercules, as well as appearing as Lyla, the bride of Deric the Centaur, and Lysia in a telefilm Hercules and the Amazon Women."
Nearly six-feet tall, the 31-year-old, raven-haired Lawless is blessed with deeply piercing blue eyes and a natural athletic ability that allows her to fill the demanding role of Xena. Lawless describes her alter ego as "a woman with the devil on her shoulder, who is constantly fighting the darker side of her own nature."
Unlike Sable, who hides her character's darker aspects, Xena does episodic battle for her life as a warrior and harbinger of death and destruction. For fans and the media, she has emerged as a feminist icon and a pop-culture hero.
"I've always had a personal fondness for strong, sexy women-like Honey West and Emma Peel. The character of Xena has been a long time coming," says Trebor. "As for Salmoneus, Xena saved his life even though she had this terrible reputation as a warlord and murderer. So I'm drawn to her and see through her rough-and-tumble exterior to the person she is underneath-the person worth saving."
Princess or bombshell, warrior or vixen, today's new breed of female super heroes is certainly taking the entertainment world by storm. Sure they appeal to guys, but can heroines like Sable and Xena be role models for women as well?
"Well sure, though I am disappointed that most of them seem to need to be scantily clad," says Karen Johnson, vice president of marketing for the National Organization of Women. "But I do think it's great to have women [in popular entertainment] as modern- day heroes who are strong and tough.And it's true that popular entertainment does influence young people.
"In fact there's the story of a young girl who sees Lt. Uhura [Star Trek] on TV and runs to her mom and says, "There's a black woman on TV and she isn't a maid." That young girl was Whoopi Goldberg- so characters like Xena can provide a positive influence. I just wish they wore more clothes."
Whether your idea of a superhero worthy of the millennium is the raven-haired Xena or the buxomly blond Sable, both of these women prove that in today's world there is equality when it comes to being able to kick some serious butt.
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