DC’s Superheroines of Color Talk Having Powers IRL

We’ve all thought about what we would do if we had superhuman meta abilities like the powered characters in our favorite comic books. During the BAWSE Females of Color Within the DC Universe panel at DC’s Fandome virtual event, the BIPOC female stars of DC superhero TV tell us what they would do if they had their heroes’ powers in real life.

Tala Ashe, who plays Zari in DC’s Legends of Tomorrow says, “I’m on a time travel show, so I have a lot of changes I’d love to make to history. There’s a lot of dates. There’s a date in like 2016 in November, I’d go back there first.” We can all agree that 2020 is the worst timeline, so really, what can go wrong? Chantal Thuy, who plays Grace in Black Lightning says “I would use shape shifting power to swap some people out of the office.” Maybe they could work together.

Anna Diop, who plays Starfire in Titans, reminds us that “Kory can set people on fire, which sounds really violent and terrible.” And she’s not wrong, but the supervillains among us can probably find something useful to do with that. In the words of Shazam!‘s Meagan Goode, “Why not?”

Candice Patton who plays Iris West-Allen on The Flash, says: “If I had super speed, I would clearly super-speed a lot of people out of precarious police interactions.” Similarly, Nafessa Williams, who plays Anissa Pierce a.k.a Thunder a.k.a Blackbird in Black Lightning says: “I’d use my super strength to arrest the police officers who took the life of Breonna Taylor and countless others.” It’s awful that we have to consider protecting people from the very people who are supposed to protect us, but Patton and Williams are gentlewomen and scholars who’d opt to use their powers to protect and provide justice.

Damaris Lewis, who plays Blackfire on Titans, says she’d “give everybody the ability to go inside, and truly ask yourself how we got here.” Self-reflection, both individually, and as a culture could really improve how we engage with each other, and move us toward more empathy and understanding.

It’s clear that all of our heroines would use their powers to fix our government and protect our people from its corruption in whatever ways they can. Whether it’s standing between violent law enforcement, holding police accountable for their misbehavior, or removing harmful politicians, the women of DC would use their power for good.