Welcome back to another Webseries Wednesday where I take a look at a webseries out there whether it’s pro or amateur, even though I’ve been off my game for a few weeks. This time around I’m taking a look at the new DC Superhero Girls which is supposedly DC’s attempt at broadening their horizons to make superheroes appeal to girls as well as boys. But the real question is: don’t superheroes already appeal to girls, there just aren’t enough superhero girls to relate to? I watched the first five episodes which are available on YouTube and you can watch the first full episode right below.
Now, I did watch this with my daughter who is a fan of very similar webseries like Monster High, Ever After High and the like. This just feels like DC copying that format and forgetting what makes superheroes super in the first place, instead it replaces it with the same old high school comedy webseries with a superhero backdrop. It’s a shame because you can even tell that they are stretching to find enough women in the DC superhero universe as they are forced to include several popular villains like Cheetah, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy alongside the heroes. It’s really frustrating that they have yet to have anything that really feels like a superhero adventure, instead the series is just pandering to what they think of as tween girl interests. Like they have an entire episode dedicated to fashion/a makeover as one of Wonder Woman’s assignments is to design a new supersuit for herself. Even Wonder Woman herself doesn’t feel like Wonder Woman at all, she is essentially the main character and “new girl” at school. She is also a fish out of water since she apparently doesn’t understand social norms like handshakes, and yet has fully grasped the concept of a cell phone.
Now, I won’t spend this entire review bashing the series. While I completely disagree with the way they are approaching the material and how it’s marketed, it is reaching its target demographic. I watched it with my daughter who just turned 9 a couple days ago and she really enjoyed the series. We all enjoy Harley Quinn as a character and she is very much toned down, but is still a fun character. Of course, she is Wonder Woman’s roommate who she affectionately refers to as “Wondie” and seems likely to be the character with the second most screen time. There hasn’t been hide nor hair of Supergirl, but there has been a handful of nice nods to DC’s cast of characters, where Amanda Waller plays the principal, though she is the skinny version rather than “the Wall” version, there’s also Red Tornado as an instructor, and Hal Jordan as a student. For me to be more supportive of this webseries in the future, it really has to have some sort of action in it, and not just the obstacle course style action in the fifth episode. There’s a difference between catering to girls and pandering to girls, right now this series feels like it’s not just pandering to them, but also patronizing to them.
Channel: Superhero 