Gender in speculative fiction
The first known female superhero is writer-artist Fletcher Hanks's minor character Fantomah, an ageless, ancient Egyptian woman in the modern day who could transform into a skull-faced creature with superpowers to fight evil; she debuted in 1940 in Fiction Houses "Jungle Comics".
Nubia (comics)
Historically, Nubia is sometimes considered to be DC Comics' first black woman superhero character, though this distinction is also accorded to the Teen Titan Bumblebee, a more traditional "costumed crimefighter," who debuted in 1976.