Over the last 75 years, superheroes have been portrayed most often as male, heterosexual, white and able-bodied. Today, a time when many of these characters are billion-dollar global commodities, there are more female superheroes, more queer superheroes, more superheroes of colour and more disabled superheroes - but not many more. This book investigates how and why female superhero characters have become more numerous but are still not-at-all close to parity with their male counterparts; how and why they have become a flashpoint for struggles over gender, sexuality, race and disability; what has changed over time and why in terms of how these characters have been written, drawn, marketed, purchased, read and reacted to; and how and why representations of superheroes matter, particularly to historically underrepresented and stereotyped groups.

Specialized.