Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has reminded us all that when it comes to comics, its the women who have some of the most compelling stories. Forget Batman or Spider-Man or The Hulk, these girl gangs of badasses are ready to take on any adventure and kick serious ass while doing it. Below you'll find a list of the best female superhero teams, and we wouldn't want to pick a fight with any of them.
10. DC Super Hero Girls
DC’s Super Hero Girls aren’t a superhero team in the classic sense – they’re classmates at a superhero high school who solve problems together that don’t always involve fighting supervillains per se – but they are a cohesive group bound together by their relationship as heroes, and the core cast of the franchise is comprised of younger versions of DC’s most prominent female characters.
More or less, we’re considering the Super Hero Girls this generation’s version of the Super Friends. They may not exactly resemble their comic book counterparts, but for their target audience, they’re just as important as the Justice League – and deliver just as much silly superhero fun (even if it’s in a slightly different package).
9. Lady Liberators
The Lady Liberators may just be Marvel’s first all-female super team – though it’s a dubious distinction in a way. Created in 1970 in the early days of popular second wave feminism, the team was a parody of the feminist rhetoric of the time and its members were revealed to be under the mind control of the villainous Enchantress by their debut story’s end.
However, the team didn’t die there. The concept was revived in 2008 for a story in Hulk in which She-Hulk organized a furiously powerful version of the Lady Liberators to take on Red Hulk.
In that incarnation, the team was led by She-Hulk and included Invisible Woman, Storm, Valkyrie, Thundra, Spider-Woman, Tigra, Black Widow, and Hellcat – a practical who’s who of Marvel’s most powerful superheroines.
8. A-Force
Spinning out of an alt-universe Secret Wars tie-in, the mainstream Marvel Universe A-Force took its cues from the Avengers with an all-killer-no-filler roster packed with powerful heroines such as She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Medusa, Dazzler, and Nico Minoru.
A-Force’s eponymous series lasted two volumes and a total of 15 issues – not exactly a defining run – but with Marvel Studios regularly floating the idea of an all-female superhero team on film, this is a concept with plenty of wind still left in its sails.
Considering Marvel’s renewed focus on characters like Carol Danvers, Shuri, Black Widow, Valkyrie, and more, it only makes sense for there to be an A-Force to showcase them as a team.
7. Fearless Defenders
When Valkyrie was tasked to form a new Valkyrior of women from Midgard, she brought in Misty Knight, Dani Moonstar, Warrior Woman, and Annabelle Riggs to form the Fearless Defenders.
The team went on to square off against Morgan Le Fay and Doctor Doom in an alternate reality where they were married.
6. Danger Girl
The super-spies of Danger Girl aren’t exactly superheroes but in the end, it’s clear that Abby Chase and her allies are at most mere mask or cape away from qualifying.
An all female intelligence agency (think James Bond meets Charlie’s Angels), Danger Girl is dedicated to stopping global threats through their unique skills in espionage and combat.
Though Abby Chase and the members of Danger Girl aren’t the first female super spies, they carved out a unique niche in the genre but fully embracing the machismo-fueled tropes of the genre and flipping them on their ear.
5. Female Furies
The Female Furies of Apokolips are villains, to be sure, but there aren’t many all female villain teams out there, and this one is worthy of a spot on any list of lethal ladies.
Trained (and tortured) by Granny Goodness, the Furies are the elite enforcers of Darkseid’s empire, often coming into conflict with the heroes of the DC Universe.
That said, there are Female Furies that are or became heroes – Big Barda got her start among the Furies, and Harley Quinn is one of their most recent recruits.
4. X-Men
The women of the X-Men have always been some of the most compelling superheroes in all of comic books – so it’s a little amazing that it took until 2013 to put together an X-Men squad composed entirely of women.
Led by Storm and comprised of Rogue, Psylocke, Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, and Rachel Grey, this uncanny team is mutant for mutant one of the most powerful X-Men line-ups of all time.
3. Daughters of the Dragon
The Daughters of the Dragon are undoubtedly the smallest team on this list at only two members – Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. But the two women who comprise this dynamic duo more than make up for their lack of numbers with sheer badass fortitude.
In Colleen Wing, the duo has a nigh-unparalleled martial arts master with an ancient katana and a mystic streak, while Misty Knight brings her keen detection skills, hard-boiled street smarts, and cybernetic-arm-fueled as-kicking prowess.
2. Sailor Guardians
They may not often be lumped in with the western idea of the genre, but Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts are likely one of the first female superhero teams most fans would think of.
In the “magical girl” tradition, the Sailor Scouts are cosmically powered warriors who transform out of their secret identities when danger strikes. And when it comes to the Scouts, danger is wild and ever present.
For an entire generation of fans, Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts are a downright definitive superhero team. As a franchise, the manga, anime, movies, and more that depict the characters are as much a gateway to superhero comic books as anything – and the influence Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts have had on modern western superheroes is palpable as a result.
1. Birds of Prey
It’s tough to think of a more iconic all-female superhero team than the Birds of Prey – so we won’t try. Originally comprised of Oracle, Huntress, and Black Canary, the Birds of Prey have evolved into a full-fledged super-team with numerous members in their decades of adventuring.
Yeah, the Birds of Prey have occasionally welcomed a male hero or two to the team, but the core theme of the title has always been the relationships between the women of the team, and their unique approach to problem solving and world saving – unique propositions for a group of women in a genre that was even more dominated by men when they debuted.
But there’s more to them than that too – the Birds of Prey aren’t just characters who have often been used to explore the female side of superheroing to great effect, they’re one of DC’s longest running and most popular teams.
