The Women Behind These DC Super Hero’s Are Just As Remarkable Off Screen

Even if you're not a huge comic book fan, you can appreciate the superwomen of the DC Universe. They can kick butt, kill you with a kiss, and deliver quotable one-liners. Taking on a superhero character can be a lot of pressure but these incredible actresses are up to the challenge.

Not only are they incredible on the silver screen but these women are also models, UN ambassadors, and human rights activists. Take a look at what the women of the DC Universe look like outside of their super costumes.

Gal Gadot As Wonder Woman (Diana)

gal gadot as wonder woman preparing for battle
Warner Bros./DC
Warner Bros./DC

Gal Gadot starred as Diana, aka Wonder Woman, in the 2017 film by the same name. Diana is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and an Amazonian warrior. Believing the god Ares to be responsible for the current war, Diana takes Zeus's dropped weapon, the "Godkiller" sword, to end the suffering.

Wonder Woman is a strong, adaptable, inquisitive superhero.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gal Gadot In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
Premiere Of Warner Bros. Pictures'
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
Gregg DeGuire/WireImage
ADVERTISEMENT

Gal Gadot reached modeling success young when she was crowned Miss Israel at age 18. Before building up her acting career, she spent two years in the Isreal Defence Forces and studied international relations at IDC Herzliya College.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gadot has modeled for Gucci, the New York Post, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. Her most famous role may in the DC movies, but she's also acted in Keeping Up with the Joneses and The Fast and the Furious franchise. When she's not performing, she helps her husband run the boutique hotel Tel Aviv.

ADVERTISEMENT

Anne Hathaway As Catwoman (Selina Kyle)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
anne hathaway as selina kyle catwoman
Warner Brother/DC
Warner Brother/DC
ADVERTISEMENT

In The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, Anne Hathaway played Selina Kyle, better known as Catwoman. Selina began her career as a jewel thief but later developed into an antiheroine, doing the wrong things for the right reasons.

ADVERTISEMENT

She turned to crime after she survived a brutal plane crash which gave her amnesia. Later, though, she reveals that she made up the story to justify her thieving. She's funny, cunning, and not afraid to give Batman a taste of his own medicine.

ADVERTISEMENT

Anne Hathaway In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Actress Anne Hathaway attends the premiere of Disney's
Tommaso Boddi/WireImage
Tommaso Boddi/WireImage
ADVERTISEMENT

Although The Dark Knight Rises was Anne Hathaway's highest grossing film, she's also starred in The Princess Bride, Les Miserables, and The Devil Wears Prada. She has received several awards including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a British Academy Film Award.

ADVERTISEMENT

Outside of movies, Hathaway has donated to many charities. She went to Nicaragua to help vaccinate children in 2006 and later traveled to support women's rights in Kenya and Ethiopia. In 2016, she was appointed UN Women Goodwill ambassador for her donations to gender equality and same-sex marriage foundations.

ADVERTISEMENT

Uma Thurman As Poison Ivy (Pam Isley)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
uma thurman as poison ivy or pam isley
Warner Brothers/DC
Warner Brothers/DC
ADVERTISEMENT

In the 1997 thriller Batman & Robin, Uma Thurman played the brilliant and timid Dr. Pam Isley, later known as Poison Ivy. Pam was a botanist with a love of plants, so she rejected her boss's plant experiments. After a fight, she fell into a vat of toxic plants, where she acquired her powers.

ADVERTISEMENT

The supervillain is obsessed with environmentalism and suffers from violent mood swings. She releases toxic spores when Gotham citizens do not appeal to her demands. With toxin in her lips, she can kill with a kiss. Appropriately so, since she also has an infatuation with Batman.

ADVERTISEMENT

Uma Thurman In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Actress Uma Thurman attends the premiere of Netflix's
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT

Uma Thurman has acted in a variety of films, from romantic to sci-fi to comedy. You might recognize her from Pulp Fiction, Les Miserables, Kill Bill, The Producers, and the series Smash. She received a Primetime Emmy Award in 2012 and has been nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thurman is also a Democratic activist who has spoken out against child abuse and human rights issues.

ADVERTISEMENT

Malin Åkerman as Silk Spectre II (Laurie Jupiter)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
malin akerman as laurie jupiter aka silk spectre ii
Warner Brothers
Warner Brothers
ADVERTISEMENT

In the 2009 movie Watchmen, Malin Åkerman played Laurie Jupiter, the descendant to her later mother Silk Spectre I. Laurie always wanted to work with animals, but her mother pressured her into the "family business" of crime-fighting. She spent her early years training in the gym, alone.

ADVERTISEMENT

Silk Spectre II can break bones effortlessly and send opponents flying through the air. She could jump long distances and dodge knife strikes from her gymnastics training. In Watchman, she was able to head to Mars to prevent her old superhuman friend, Dr. Manhattan, from destroying all life.

ADVERTISEMENT

Malin Åkerman In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Malin Akerman attends the 2019 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT

Malin Åkerman is a Swedish-Canadian actress, model, and singer known for her roles in The Comeback, The Utopian Society, The Heartbreak Kid, and 27 Dresses. For her role in Watchmen, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

ADVERTISEMENT

Åkerman sang for the alternative band The Petalstones for a while. She is a self-declared feminist who speaks fluent English, Swedish, Spanish, and French. To memorize her lines, she has to battle through her dyslexia and ADHD, but pulls through to create compelling characters.

ADVERTISEMENT

Carla Gugino As Silk Spectre I (Sally Jupiter)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
carla gugino as silk spectre in watchmen
Warner Bros./DC
Warner Bros./DC
ADVERTISEMENT

In Watchmen (2009), Carla Gugino played Sally Jupiter, who would later become known as Silk Spectre I. Mother of Laurie Jupiter, Sally Jupiter is a Polish immigrant who worked as a waitress and burlesque dancer. She realized that battling criminals could enhance her goals in modeling and acting, so she created fake crime scenes with actors to boost her role as Silk Spectre. And yes, the police were in on the trick.

ADVERTISEMENT

But when the Liquidator murdered her friend Ursula, Silk Spectre moved into crime-fighting for real. She is a smart, savvy superhero not afraid of what others thought about her.

ADVERTISEMENT

Carla Gugino In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Actress Carla Gugino attends the New York Premiere for FX's
Nicholas Hunt/WireImage
Nicholas Hunt/WireImage
ADVERTISEMENT

You may recognize Carla Gugino as the mother in Spy Kids, or more recently, her role in The Haunting of Hill House. She's acted in several hits such Sin City, Sucker Punch, Night at the Museum, and The Space Between Us.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gugino remained an A student throughout her childhood and graduated as valedictorian. Inspired by her aunt Carol Merill, she studied acting. She began supporting herself independently by age 16, and ever since then has worked hard to grow her career and passion for acting.

ADVERTISEMENT

Caity Lotz As Black Canary (Sara Lance)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
caity lotz crouching down ready to fight in arrow
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
ADVERTISEMENT

Caity Lotz played Sara Lance in the TV series Arrow in 2012. Sara barely survived a shipwreck with her sister's boyfriend, Oliver Queen (whom she had secretly been having an affair with.) The two were rescued by the boat the Amazo, and when Oliver gets captured by the ship's crew, Sara springs into action.

ADVERTISEMENT

Sara became a deadly fighter from training with the League of Assassins under her code name, "Yellow Canary." After she leaves the League, she adopts her mother's former superhero name "Black Canary."

ADVERTISEMENT

Caity Lotz In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Caity Lotz attends Twitter's #SheInspiresMe brunch
Rick Kern/Getty Images
Rick Kern/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT

Caity Lotz is an actress, singer, and dancer, known for her roles in Mad Men, Death Valley, and The Pact. Before her film career, she worked as a backup dancer. You can spot her in music videos such as Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" and "LoveGame," Cascada's "Evacuate the Dancefloor," and JoJo's "Baby It's You."

ADVERTISEMENT

Lotz has also performed in her own girl group, Soccx. She is also a mixed martial artist and practices parkour. She's even stunt-doubled in films including Step Up 3D, making her one athletic and flexible actress.

ADVERTISEMENT

Margot Robbie As Harley Quinn (Harleen Frances Quinzel)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
margot robbie as harley quinn
Warner Brothers/DC
Warner Brothers/DC
ADVERTISEMENT

Margot Robbie starred as Harleen Frances Quinzel, or Harley Quinn, in Suicide Squad and reprised the role in Birds of Prey. Harleen, a psychologist, is assigned to treat and subsequently falls in love with the Joker and aims to help his cause, despite his frequent insults toward her. Her villain name is a play on "Harlequin" from a character in commedia dell'arte.

ADVERTISEMENT

Harley Quinn acts psychotic and murderous during her battles, possibly due to her dysfunctional upbringing. She does, however, become good friends with Poison Ivy, later dating her in a more a recent comic book.

ADVERTISEMENT

Margot Robbie In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Actress/producer Margot Robbie attends 2019 Hulu Upfront at Scarpetta
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT

Australian actress and film producer Margot Robbie has received nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards. After studying drama at Somerset College, she landed roles in the soap opera Neighbours and the movies About Time, Mary Queen of Scots and The Wolf of Wall Street.

ADVERTISEMENT

Robbie was raised on a farm by a single mother in Queensland. She moved to Melbourne at age 17 to begin acting professionally. Alongside acting, she also works on commercials for Calvin Klein and Nissan. Robbie is a fashionable, flexible, and hardworking actress.

ADVERTISEMENT

Katie Cassidy As Black Siren (Dinah Laurel Lance)

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
katie cassidy as black siren dinah laurel lance
CW/DC
CW/DC
ADVERTISEMENT

Katie Cassidy plays Sara Lance's older sister Laurel, who gains her own powers and eventually becomes Black Siren. Like her sister, she was born into a crime-fighting family. Unlike her sister, though, she's an antiheroine, choosing to fight alongside Zoom in their team The Rogues.

ADVERTISEMENT

Laurel can manipulate sound by either muting it or creating a sonic blast. She is an emotional powerhouse of a villain with a journey toward redemption in Arrow.

ADVERTISEMENT

Katie Cassidy In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
 Katie Cassidy attends Entertainment Weekly's annual Comic-Con party
C Flanigan/FilmMagic
C Flanigan/FilmMagic
ADVERTISEMENT

Katie Cassidy wowed audiences as a Scream Queen in the 2006 horror film When a Stranger Calls. Since then, she's acted in Black Christmas, Gossip Girl, Supernatural, and the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. She seems to claim most of her roles in horror, which could explain her in-depth portrayal of the villain Black Siren.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cassidy also sings and has covered "I Think I Love You" in 2002. She also appeared in Jesse McCartney's "She's No You" music video and Eminem's "Just Lose It" video. Did we mention she's also a spokesperson for the charity H.E.L.P. Malawi.

ADVERTISEMENT

Danielle Panabaker As Killer Frost

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
danielle panabaker as killer frost caitlin snow
CW/DC
CW/DC
ADVERTISEMENT

In the TV series The Flash, Danielle Panabaker plays Killer Frost, one of the show's many superheroes, whose real name is Dr. Caitlin Snow. Caitlin is a bio-engineer at S.T.A.R Labs. After a near-death seizure, her biochemistry becomes altered, and she fully forms her ice powers as Killer Frost.

ADVERTISEMENT

Throughout the series, Caitlin struggles to control her powers. Her battle with herself leads her in and out of Team Flash, despite her Hippocratic Oath to save as many lives as possible.

ADVERTISEMENT

Danielle Panabaker In Real Life

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Danielle Panabaker during the Walker Stalker Fan Fest
Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images
Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images
ADVERTISEMENT

Danielle Panabaker began her acting career in Disney movies such as Sky High and Read It and Weep. She's acted in everything from drama series (Shark) to crime dramas (Justified) to psychological thrillers (Mr. Brooks.)

ADVERTISEMENT

Panabaker graduated from high school at just 14-years-old and moved from Georgia to Los Angeles soon after to develop her career. Beyond acting, she has volunteered for several organizations including the Art of Elysium, UNICEF, and Young Storytellers Foundation. Like Killer Frost, she seems to be very intelligent and charitable.