I’m still reeling from the pretty horrendous plane rides I had on vacation a couple of weeks ago, so why not do a List of Six about flying? Fat guys are not meant for coach seats. And don’t blame me! My family paid for First Class, but they canceled our flight and bumped us back to coach. Anyway, flying comic book characters? Everybody can fly. But not everybody can fly with big, pretty bird wings!

Lots of comic book characters also have wings. But a special few of those characters only really have wings. Sure, they may have some additional powers on the side, but I’ve gathered together a group of comic superheroes whose main things is big, beautiful wings. I have nothing against characters whose main power is wings. I bet it’s a neat power.

So join me after the jump to celebrate comic book superheroes whose biggest and best deal is having wings!

6. Pegasus

Do you ever just read a comic and some character just stands out to you as seemingly really neat? That’s what happened to me when I read through all of Invincible during the pandemic. The minor supporting character Pegasus caught my attention and she became my favorite member of the later incarnation of the Guardians of the Globe. She never does anything major and barely has any speaking lines. And a search of the internet is only turning up the fact that she’s from Russia and she has wings. But she’s cool in my book. Maybe she’ll show up in the cartoon show in a couple of years!

5. Dawnstar

Dawnstar is a longtime member of the Legion of Superheroes, with her backstory being that a mysterious alien race kidnapped some Native Americans, modified their genes so that they would grow wings and then resettled them on some strange planet out in the cosmos. I suppose that’s a workable origin. She was with the Legion for years, through all the various reboots, and served as a pretty solid member. She also had enhanced tracking skills, so those came in handy. But mostly those wings. They’re damn good wings.

4. Swift

Swift was one of the backup heroes on Stormwatch and The Authority, comics I never read in their prime. She seems like a pretty consistent member, with romances and action and killing and all sorts of fun. She started off just a little feathery, but had a big glow up part way through that gave her wings and talons to be more birdlike. Works for me. I’m also reading that she had a funny subplot about getting big breast implants as a satirical dig at normal female comic book characters. I think that’s pretty darn funny.

3. Winged Victory

Astro City is one of the greatest comic book series of all time. Winged Victory is their version of Wonder Woman, and was a very prominent figure. Her story was one of an ordinary person being chosen by a group of godlike beings to inherit their power and be awesome. So she became Winged Victory, a champion of women’s rights, who used her prestige and power to open women’s shelters alongside fighting bad guys. She’s a cool, myth-based hero with those big, beautiful wings. Those are key to pretty much everything.

2. Hawkman et al.

The less said about the history and backstory and retcons of Hawkman the better. Sometimes he’s the reincarnated soul of an ancient Egyptian prince. Sometimes he’s an alien from a whole planet of hawk-people. Either way, aside from a honkingly big mace, Hawkman just has some wings. Hawkwoman just has some wings. Hawkgirl just has some wings. Is there a Hawkboy? There was someone named Golden Eagle once, and he also just had wings. I think they’re metallic, artificial wings, but I’m going to make that exception for this list. Because he’s Hawkman, show some respect.

1. Angel

The most obvious choice of them all is #1 because who doesn’t love Angel? Granted, he’s been Archangel for a while, and Marvel has done all sorts of things to try to give him more going on. But in the end, Warren Worthington III has got some big, beautiful wings and he makes it work just fine. He’s a starting member of the X-Men. He’s got clout and experience. And I think he’s finally in a good place these days. Good for him! It also helps that he’s super rich. And at least they didn’t leave him out of the movies.

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