Other Superhero Genderflips We’d Love to See

A hand reaches out of the darkness and grasps the handle of Mjolnir, the hammer that grants the power of Thor to an individual of rare strength, nobility, and courage. The inscription upon the weapon burns away, replaced with one that has been ever-so-slightly edited: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if she be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” With that, there’s a brand-new hero in Asgard. This isn’t “Lady Thor.” This is Thor.
It’s too soon to tell how enduring the change will be, and there’s been some debate about the virtue of creating new female characters vs. reworking older, male ones. The latter approach, though, definitely tends to generate buzz, and it’s cool to see new faces get a turn with classic powers. The critical and commercial success of the latest Thor storyline has us thinking: what other heroes might benefit from a gender-swap?

Iron Man
She inherited a multi-million dollar company, but turned millions into billions using her uncanny business acumen and genius for cutting-edge, next-level tech. She’s been known to drink too much, and her hard-playing lifestyle frequently gets her into trouble (as do her frequent, ill-considered one-night-stands). Still, she always manages to defy her detractors and beat the bad guys both on her own, and as one of the leaders of the Avengers.
Tony Stark/Iron Man was born as the epitome of ’60s-era Playboy-mansion cool in a very masculine mold. A woman with a similar combination of traits would traditionally be portrayed as misguided, if not as an out-and-out villain. It would be really interesting to see a woman with similar origin as the ultimate corporate exec/tech genius, while skipping sex shaming or any hints that she needs to get her priorities straight.
Alternately, former secretary Pepper Potts proved herself more than capable of handling a suit of armor as Rescue a few years back. If Tony ever needs a break or dies for a while, somebody should have Pepper on speed dial.
Wonder Woman
Making Wonder Woman a man and placing him among an island tribe of warrior men would be, well, kinda boring. It’s the type of thing that’s been done before, and you’d lose everything unique about the Amazing Amazon’s origin. So how about this? Queen Hippolyta molds a child from the clay, but instead of a baby princess, she makes a boy (small details make all the difference when sculpting clay babies). Growing up on paradise Island surrounded by women, our hero might have a very different experience than Diana’s. Would his Amazon sisters be resentful of the male intrusion into the feminist paradise, or angry at Hippolyta for bending her own rules? Maybe, but I prefer to think that the enlightened Amazons would learn to embrace their new brother, and that they’d help him to grow up to become a warrior and ambassador—one with many of Diana’s virtues, but also a valuable alternate perspective.
John Constantine
Part of the Constantine pitch is taking traditionally witchy abilities and putting them in the hands of a very male warlock. It’s not much of a stretch to flip that back, but the aesthetics of a female Hellblazer would be amazing. Whether as an alternate version of the same character, or as a distinct creation, the Joan Jett/Pat Benetar vibe would be killer when put to use vanquishing demons and reluctantly saving the innocent. A ’90s version could go full on riot grrrl in look and attitude, bringing a punk-feminist flavor to Ms. Constantine.

Superman
In Thor, there’s no change to the Odinson’s origin; instead we get a passing of the torch (er, hammer) and a brand-new wielder of Mjolnir, who might (no spoilers here) be a preexisting supporting character. So what if Lois Lane had the chance to take over as Superman? This kind of thing happened all the time in the ’50s and ’60s, but in those stories, Lois pretty much always used her powers in increasingly elaborate, doomed schemes to land a husband. A modern Lois taking over as Superman would be something very different: a tough, uncompromising superhero with a sarcastic streak. In Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, Lois gets powers for a day. Why couldn’t she just keep them? It’s not unheard of for Supes to disappear, travel to distant worlds, and even die for prolonged stretches. He’s going to want someone he can trust to wear the cape. Lois would be more cynical than Clark, but she definitely shares his burning sense of justice. It’d be brilliant to see one of the comics’ original supporting characters get a chance to soar.
Green Lantern
There are a lot of Green Lanterns in the Corps, many of them women (and, presumably, a glorious variety of asexual and intersex beings—it’s truly one of our most diverse superhero clubs). But save for a few very brief exceptions, there’s not been a primary Green Lantern of Sector 2814, which is where Earth (and therefore most of the action) can be found. The fact that the Corps is always recruiting those who are capable of overcoming fear provides plenty of opportunity for new characters, so there’s no need for any storytelling gymnastics. Instead of doing cool-but-barely-noticed stuff out in the distant reaches of space, it’d just be nice to see a tough, smart, fearless woman in the top job right here at home.
Those are just a few of many, many possibilities. There’s no question that we need fresh female characters, but a new face can do a lot to freshen up an old set of superpowers, even if only temporarily.
Which characters would you like to see swap genders?