SMARTER FOR 10
As Wonder Woman returns to the big screen. MARION McMULLEN checks out some other famous females with super powers
1 WHO IS MISS WONDERFUL?
WONDER WOMAN, complete with her bullet-proof bracelets lands in cinemas this weekend. Gal Gadot plays the DC Comics warrior princess in the new movie after a cameo in last summer’s superhero smackdown, Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
2 IS SHE A POWER DRESSER?
FORMER Miss World USA title holder Lydna Carter, pictured, was the face of Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, in the 1970s TV series. She once said: “I tried to play her like a regular woman who just happened to have superhuman powers.” The character’s magic belt gave her super strength, her bracelets could stop bullets and her tiara was a flying weapon.
3 WAS THERE A WOMAN OF STEEL?
HELEN SLATER starred as Superman’s cousin in the 1984 Supergirl movie. She was just as strong as her relative from Krypton and was also an ally of Earth. Publicity for the film declared: “She has all the power of the universe, but she still has to learn about love.”
4 WHO EPITOMISES GIRL POWER?
MELISSA BENOIST is the current face of Supergirl in Sky TV’s drama series. She plays Kara Danvers who is part of the secret Department of Extra-Normal Operations, battling alien threats to Earth. 5 ANY OTHER STRONG FEMALE ROLE MODELS? XENA was another warrior princess who regularly clashed with gods and ruthless baddies. Lucy Lawless played the formidable fighter in the long-running TV series.
6 WHO REFUSED TO BE BROKEN?
HAYDEN PANETTIERE played a cheerleader who just happened to have a staggering super power in US TV series Heroes. Her character Claire Bennet could not be killed and could regenerate from any injury.
7 WHO HAD X APPEAL
HALLE BERRY could control the weather as whitehaired mutant Ororo Munroe, better known as Storm, in the X-Men movies. 8 IS THREE A CROWD? FIRST there was Batman, then Robin and finally Batgirl. Alicia Silverstone made her appearance as the young daredevil heroine in the 1997 movie Batman & Robin with George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell as her crime-fighting partners. She took on Uma Thurman as the villainous Poison Ivy.
9 WHO WAS WELL ARMED?
THE Bionic Woman’s super-powers were man-made and Lindsay Wagner starred as Jaime Sommers, the world’s first cyborg hybrid, in the 1970s TV series. Jamie battled crime with the help of her bionic legs, arm and ear.
10 WHO DOESN’T LOVE MANHATTAN?
MALIN AKERMAN played Silk Spectre in the 2009 film Watchmen about superheroes in an alternative reality. Shr was initally involved with Dr Manhattan until an experiment gone wrong transformed him into a godlike being.