Ten female superheroes to remember

New Delhi: Gal Gadot-starrer Wonder Woman that arrived in theatres last Friday is the rare superhero film with a female protagonist. In an industry that still prefers portraying men as all-powerful figures, here are 10 female superheroes to remember.

Scarlett Johansson: Johansson played Black Widow, a Russian spy, in films like Iron Man 2 (2010), The Avengers (2012), Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Captain America: Civil War (2016) as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. An antagonist of the superhero Iron Man, Black Widow defected to the US, becoming an agent of the fictional spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D., and a member of the superhero team, the Avengers.

Anne Hathaway: Christopher Nolan’s British-American superhero film The Dark Knight Rises (2012) introduced Hathaway as Catwoman, an addition to the Batman narrative. The film made $1,084 million worldwide.

Jennifer Garner: Garner played the lead in 2005 Canadian-American superhero film Elektra, directed by Rob Bowman. The film that made $56 million worldwide was a spin-off from the 2003 film Daredevil, starring Marvel Comics character Elektra Natchios, an assassin who must protect a man and his daughter from the villains.

Jessica Alba: Alba played Invisible Woman, a Marvel superheroine in the 2005 American-German superhero film Fantastic Four. Directed by Tim Story, it made $330 million worldwide.

Halle Berry: Berry played the protagonist in Catwoman (2004), the film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Directed by Pitof, the critically panned film made $82 million in worldwide box office collections.

Angelina Jolie: Jolie played the central character in action adventure film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) based on a popular video game. The Simon West-directed film earned $274 million worldwide and spawned a sequel called Lara Croft: Tomb Raider—The Cradle of Life in 2003.

Alicia Silverstone: The actor-producer played Batgirl in DC’s 1997 superhero film Batman and Robin that earned $238 million worldwide. The character came into existence in the 1960s when DC editor Julius Schwartz had called for a new female counterpart to Batman at the request of the producers of the Batman television series.

Rebecca Romjin: The actor and former model plays Mystique in the first three instalments of the X-Men film series, a mutant who can mimic voices and appearances. Typically known as a super villain, the character first appeared in Ms. Marvel #16 published in 1978.

Halle Berry: Berry played Storm in the X-Men film series, a mutant who can fly and control the weather. The character first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 in 1975.

Lynda Carter: The American actor and beauty queen played Wonder Woman in the television series that ran from 1975 to 1979. The last two seasons of the three-part series were titled The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.

All figures have been sourced from movie website Box Office Mojo.