Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Are there any heroes who disguise their sex?

After the ProFem thread, I was trying to think if there were any women who were disguised as male superheroes or vice versa - it would be a great secret identity if you could pull it off with the right sort of costume - or body. I suppose guys might have trouble keeping the falsies in place.

Apart from Batman dressing up as an old crone a few times, I can't think of any, but I don't read that wide a selection of superhero books.

Saquatch of Alpha Flight died and came back in Snowbird's body after HER death... Upon returning to human form, Walter discovered he was now "Wanda", much to Aurora's dismay!

In the new Gaimen series 1602 (which is supposed to be in continuity) John Grey is obviously Jean. This is the only current one I can think of.

According to an old issue of Amazing World of DC Comics, there was a hero called Madame Fatal, who was secretly a man, and whose adventures ran, briefly, in Crack Comics (I think), circa 1942.

One can imagine what concerned parents groups must have thought of Mr. Madame.

And just think of the different meaning that Crack Comics would have in today's market.

Madame Fatal was Richard Stanton. First appearance was in Crack #1, May 1940. Was mentioned as deceased in JSA #1. Here's a peak:

Wow! LL, you are a man of amazing resouces.

That strip is so silly looking. Is he supposed to be an old lady? I guess that makes sense. Who would expect granny to deliver a donnybrook?

I try.

You wouldn't suspect your grandmother of hitting you over the head with a cane would you? I wonder how they killed him off though.

And I just realized we missed an obvious inclusion. Although not a superhero what about the Composite Legionnaire? Would s/he count?

Another obvious one: Ayla as Lightning Lad in Adventure # 308.

Wasn't there an episode of the original Dial H for Hero were the kid (whatever his name was....) turned into a character called something like Diamond Girl? I remember reading it at a very young age and finding it very odd!

D'oh! Ayla should have been the most obvious.

And Caroline just pointed out another one to me that some of you may not have heard of. A friend of ours is a writer/letterer/vice president for iHero Entertainment. They are publishing a new comic called Fishnet Angel who is known as the hard-luck goddess with the heart and soul of a heartbroken man. The comic's official site can be found here .

I think it was in the "Whatever happened to..." Backup feature in DC Comic Presents that showed Dian Belmont taking up the role of the Sandman (and ending up dead)

I remember Vicki Grant, after she turned evil, turning into a Diamond Girl, but not Chris King. If you want a list of all the heroes that have come from the 'H' dial (not counting the new series) go here for another list put together by the amazing John Censullo.

I remember seeing it in an issue of All-Star Squadron as well.

I don't think they've ever said. I had the idea it was natural causes.

In "Thunderbolts", the third (I think) Citizen V was Dallas Riordan who wore a padded suit to make her look like a man (though she ditched it for a more feminine look after she fought Captain America and he was able to tell she was really a woman from the way she moved).

In the Dick Tracy movie, the Madonna character dressed up as a man in an overcoat without a face.

In the early 90s, Malibu Comics launched a super-hero line which included Mantra, about a sexist-male-pig type who died and was reincarnated in the body of a gorgeous woman.

OK, so he wasn't dressed like a woman, except in the birthday suit sense.

There seem to be two approaches to the female/male switch - the disguise and the reincarnation as the opposite sex. When I asked the question, I hadn't considered the second approach, which really seems to be the more fascinating one from a story/character standpoint. In the latest H.E.R.O., one of the young guys playing with the dial worries that he will become a female superhero - Sonnie's mention reminded me of that - but it doesn't go any further.

The disguise is old as stories are themselves, and certainly accomplished in real life as well. Perhaps it's only our modern biotech - as well as heightened awareness or questioning of male/female roles in recent decades - that has brought the actual "sex change" story into our culture. (I suppose there is something like this going back to Greek myths or in the Hindu pantheon, but all I recall, vaguely, is someone who was male and female at once - Tiresias?).

Nope. Not Tiresias. He was the blind seer who prophesied Oedipus' doom in Oedipus Rex.

The being you're thinking of sounds familiar to me too, but I think it's in the Eastern mythos.

Before he became blind, Tiresias was changed into a woman and lived as one for seven years, after which he became a man again. It provided him with unique perspective to say the least. Among the Greek gods, Zeus was capable not only of fathering children but also giving birth to them himself (Venus sprouted from his head). Plus you have hermaphrodite divinities like Hermes and dual-persona brother-sister combos like Artemis/Apollo. Gender duality was a popular theme in ancient "superhero" stories.

In Peter David's run of Supergirl Comet (one of the three Earth Angels) was Andy Jones, a lesbian comic, in her 'regular' ID and Comet, a male hero in her angel id. I geuss that makes her/him completely transgendered rather than dusguising herself as a man but it sort of counts. And then there's Lord Fanny from The Invisibles.

At one point, Dr. Fate was both Kent and Inza Nelson, but manifested as a man.

I think it was Athena, goddess of Wisdom who sprouted from Zeus' head. Her Roman counterpart was Minerva (aka Merciful Minerva ala Wonder Woman)

Aphrodite (Roman Counterpart Venus) was born in sea mist.

You are correct, Quislet. Thank you for the correction.

Must resist being pedantic...

ach, what the hell, it's Helenistic mythology and that gets me every time.

You're right about Tiresias. When he was a young man he killed a pair of mating snakes and was turned into a woman. Then seven years later he killed another pair and was turned back into a man. As such when Zeus and Hera were arguing about which sex got most pleasure out of sexual intercourse they asked Tiresias, since he'd experienced it as both sexes. He said that women did and so Hera blinded him because she thought it was the wrong answer (I always find it interesting that after the Greeks it was pretty much taken that women got no pleasure from sex at all). To compensate for being blinded Tiresias then got his prophetic ability, either from Zeus or Apollo.

Quislet is right about Athena springing from Zeus' skull as well rather than Aphrodite. But Hermes wasn't hermaphroditic, it was his son with Aphrodite who was, Hermaphroditus. He fell in love with a woman (a nymph I think) and asked his mother that they could be as one. Only she took him literally and joined them into one body made up of both sexes, hence hermaphrodite. Oddly in some versions of the myth the transgender son is actually Eros, although there are so many different versions of his parentage that it's hard to know which was the most widely accepted one.

There's also the story that Sophocles (I think) had as to why there were different sexulaities. Basically he said when the world was first created there were three sexes, one wholy male, one wholy female and one both male and female. Only they were a challenge to the gods so they were split in two. So throughout our lives we are literally searching for our other half. Only with some of us we were once male and so our other half is also male and so on. There's a song in Hedwig and the Angry Inch based on the same myth (Origin Of Love). Personally I think it makes a lot of sense.

Right, we can get back to the original topic again. I've done obsessing.