A Totally Unexpected Character Beat Wonder Woman as Tumblr's Favorite Hero

Lena Luthor was officially the queen of Tumblr this year, beating out Diana Prince’s Wonder Woman as the most-talked-about woman on Tumblr in 2017.

Tumblr puts out an end of year report, the “Year in Review,” every December via its “Fandometrics” blog. The Year in Review 2017 added a few brand new lists we’ve never seen before — Top Wrestlers, Web Series, Web Celebrities, K-Pop Band Members, Musicals, and Dog Breeds — as well as some old favorites, including Top Actors and Top Actresses.

Marvel men dominated the Top Actors list, with newbie Spider-Man actor Tom Holland beating out Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier) for the No. 1 spot after Stan took the lead in 2016 from Captain America actor Chris Evans.

None of that is really a surprise, to be honest. What might come as a surprise to some of you is that Gal Gadot, who portrayed Wonder Woman in the heroine’s first solo blockbuster film, was not the most popular actress on Tumblr in 2017. Gadot snagged the No. 2 spot on the Top Actresses list, falling behind none other than Katie McGrath, who portrays Lena Luthor on the CW’s Supergirl.

Lena Luthor, one of Kara Danvers’s best friends on the CW’s Supergirl, is the adopted daughter of the Luthor family, the very same Luthor family that spawned Superman’s arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. In Supergirl, Lena is the CEO of LexCorp and trying to build a name for herself as a good person outside of her brother’s influence. The ongoing question is whether or not she’ll ever fall onto the same villainous path as her brother.

McGrath first gained popularity on Tumblr while portraying the sorceress Morgana on Merlin (2008-2012), showcasing Morgana’s slow descent from beloved adopted daughter to shattered villain. So, McGrath’s return to the small screen as a (potentially) villainous woman with strong connections to powerful people was, inevitably, a hit. Her killer smile and undeniable charm couldn’t have hurt either.

McGrath’s popularity, though, was probably spurred on by “Supercorp” shippers — meaning, people who want Lena Luthor and Kara Danvers’s Supergirl to be romantically involved. Supercorp took the No. 6 spot on the Top Ships list and marked McGrath as the top person to fall into both the Top Actresses and Top Ships categories.

All of this is to say that Supergirl, which jumped up 11 spots in 2017 to be No. 4 on the Top Live-Action TV Shows list, has a star in McGrath. No surprise there.