20 Lesser-Known Female Superheroes

Big Barda (Image via DC Comics)

1. Big Barda

Big Barda is, in the world of comics, a strange character. Unlike many other female characters, she is a physical powerhouse, tall and strong and fearless. She’s also from an exceedingly strange world called Apokolips and raised by a frightening villain called Granny Goodness. Much of that is already enough for some of you to have left the figurative room, but there’s more to Barda than 1970s psychedelic craziness by Jack Kirby.

Big Barda is a member of an alien race called the New Gods. They inhabit two planets, New Genesis and Apokolips. New Genesis, a near-Eden, is locked in seemingly endless battle with Apokolips. The planet of Apokolips is covered by a vast city and dotted by gigantic fire pits. It is, as you may have guessed, the “bad” planet.

Barda is born on Apokolips, though she is taken away from her mother early on to become a the leader of the Female Fury Battalion, a formidable group of warriors. Things seem all set for her to become a true villain until she meets Scott Free, Darkseid’s adopted son. They fall for one another and rebel against the totalitarian government of Apokolips. Eventually, they escape to Earth and join up with the Justice League.

What is really fascinating about Barda are the contradictions in her life. At first glance, she appears to be living a quiet Earth life as a housewife and magician’s assistant (Scott later becomes a magician/superhero called Mister Miracle). Yet, there is always an undercurrent of her old life running beneath the surface. She is unafraid of becoming a strong warrior again, and often is just unworldly enough to skim past silly human concerns about gender or femininity.

But maybe what’s most fascinating about Big Barda is her journey, sometimes through obvious metaphor, from hell to something like normalcy. If Barda can make it out of a terrifying planet called Apokolips into a life centered on good and justice, then maybe we can, too.