Wonder Woman FAQ

[tangentman]

Back in the day, CBR actually HAD a Wonder Woman forum. However, the administrators closed the board because of "low traffic". I had fun while it lasted. :(

[seaflower]

Back in the day, CBR actually HAD a Wonder Woman forum. However, the administrators closed the board because of "low traffic". I had fun while it lasted. :(

That is too bad...thanks for the info!

[Nakir]

sigh, i only said it, because some posters claim, that Batman has to be a metahuman, because no human can do all the things Batman can at once. Maybe they are right, but this is not the place to discuss it. I just wanted to prevent someone saying : " but Batman is a meta", therefore i used the word "or".

well he's not a meta human juat a well train and well prepared person. its beeen writen that once batman know about (something you are plaining makes it on to his radar)you its over.because he and lex luthor are alike in one way. they both are genius. and once they put their mind to something they don't stop. not unless you kill them. when batman get his back broke by bane. it was because he didn't know who he was dealing with. but once he did and had been healed it was over for bane. he beat him and jean paul vally fairly easy.

[AllisterH]

I disagree with you; a reduction in powers only creates glaring inconsistencies with what has come before and what will follow with the next writer. Remember the mess that came with Moessner-Loebs? He reduced Wonder Woman's powers and also reduced her effectiveness as a fighter. He already played the "commoner" card by employing Diana at Taco Whiz and sending her up against mafiosos and killer robots. Do we really need to retread that ground?

If you want examples of writers who effectively wrote Diana despite her increased power level, look at Perez, Jimenez, and Rucka. Perez created character flaws that made Diana far more vulnerable than a low-level strength cap or Kryptonite; her innocence was often Diana's Achilles heel in her early dealings with the modern world. The betrayal and manipulation by other women (Myndi Mayer and Dr. Barbara Minerva) hurt Diana far more effectively than any enemy.

Jimenez showed that Diana was vulnerable through her relationships with family and friends. The devastation of the civil war on Paradise Island, followed by being asked by her sister Amazons to leave, dealt a major blow to Diana. Her frustrations with her mother's superheroics set up a long-running conflict that nearly destroyed their bond. Diana was made even more vulnerable in this run by her fears for Vanessa when her old friend was turned into the Silver Swan. Rucka has shown us that Diana's powers don't protect her from vicious media backlashes.

The problems with writing Wonder Woman don't come from her powers, they come from lazy writers who treat their responsibilities like a grunt job instead of an opportunity to expand the mythos of a rich character.

Actually, I consider those 3 as prime examples of WHY wonder woman at that power level is not such a HOT idea.

Perez used the idea of WW's being naive to great effect, but what happens after a few years of being in Man's world. You no longer can use that against her as it makes her look stupid yet you still have the problem of writing convincing storylines where you feel WW is threatened.

With Rucka and Jimenez, you get the same problem. WW herself is too tough to write in a fight so you have to resort to the trick of attacking WW's family. That's just weak IMO as it doesn't show that WW is vulnerable. It just shows that the writers themselves are not capable of writing believeable villains to actually put Diana in danger.

Look, I'm not against powerful heroes but I wanted to see more issues where WW has to take it to the mat. Sure, she had Devastation but everyone else? Circe was dangerous as long as WW didn't see her coming but in a straight up fight, Diana cleans her clock and the Cheetah is nothing more than a warmup.

I want to read storylines where Diana is facing down her version of Thanos, The Destroyer, Kurse and the Celestials.

[shyguy]

He already played the "commoner" card by employing Diana at Taco Whiz and sending her up against mafiosos and killer robots. Do we really need to retread that ground?

Retread the ground of the best post-Crisis Wonder Woman runs and one of the best runs on the character ever? I'm pretty tempted, actually.

Also, I don't know how people are going from "she should be depowered slightly" to "Oh! So you want to make her Lady Shiva in star-spangled shorts!"

Big difference there.

[XPac]

I personally am all for WW being powered down.

DC doesn't need another Superman clone. It already has too many. It's fine for her to be superstrong and durable... but I'd ditch the superspeed. It's not like she (or any of the other non speed force DC speedblitzers) really use the speed anyways.

And though I don't mind her being able to fly... I like the Invisible jet. Silly or not, it's a part of the character's history as much as the bracelts and golden lasso (which are both arguably on the silly side too).

Heck, it was cool enough for the JLU cartoon (and that in many ways often has better characterization of the characters than the actual comics).

[Ontir]

In terms of really powerful DC women, the Legion's got several:

Laurel "Andromeda" Gand, Dawnstar, and Shikari, all of whom can travel post-light, through space, without a spacesuit.

I don't want to see Wonder Woman de-powered, but returned to her original, Amazing Amazon self. All the strength, speed, agility, stamina, telepathy, and enough of the mythological and scientific balance that made her who and what she was. That basic, original character was and remains the enduring concept. Without it, she'd not have survived all the mis-guided writers and bad art that have plagued her title for decades!

PS: I HATED the Wonder Dome!

[Tennoarashi]

The techonological aspect that was removed is sorely sorely missed by this one. Who also loved the Wonder Dome.

[shyguy]

My biggest problem with the Wonder Dome was its stupid name. If they had called it something else I'd be totally on-board with it. I liked Wondy having a hangout aside from Paradise Island.

[bfrank]

IIRC, it was her creator's intention for her to be a powerhouse like superman (remeber at the time he wasn't as powerful as he is to day)....therefor, to depower her would be a slap in the face...

[Ontir]

I think Wonder Woman has/had enough power, without adding flight to it. She was ALWAYS incredibly strong! She could ALWAYS bend steel bars, and lift huge boulders! I miss her being telepathic, but to a lesser extent, that goes for Superman too.

As for the Wonder Dome - ultimately, it's no more or less tupid than "batcave," the problem I had, was that it was this too cosmicly powerful "genie's lamp," that could turn into, or produce anything. It was just too much!

[seaflower]

I guess the one thing people on this thread can agree on...
Regardless if you love/hate her increased powers....

Wonder Woman is greatly loved!

[Eliseu Gouveia]

Depends on which Wonder Woman you´re talking about.

I don´t really care for the bondage fantasies of the original one and I cover my eyes whenever I see Linda Carter´s WW jumping to that silly-oh-my-god-it´s-hideous-sound.

For me, Perez´s take will always be the one.

[shyguy]

IIRC, it was her creator's intention for her to be a powerhouse like superman (remeber at the time he wasn't as powerful as he is to day)....therefor, to depower her would be a slap in the face...

It's not as simple as that, though. Marston never could have envisioned something like the current DCU, where all of these characters inhabit the same universe, that universe has consistent rules set up, and their interactions are so extensive that comparison among them becomes commonplace.

Remember, when Marson created Wonder Woman, superheros, for all intents and purposes, inhabitted their own universes and exhibited wildly varying powers from story-to-story because of the nature of those stories. Superman and Wonder Woman were always just as powerful as they needed to be for the story at hand; comparing them just didn't make much sense. Wonder Woman was free to exhibit her own unique talents and powers without being compared to Superman all the time; it didn't matter how powerful she was, what mattered was that she could do anything.

For that matter, look at the first Wonder Woman stories and the first Superman stories. They're completely different. Wonder Woman dealt with completely different themes than Superman did, which helps to explain her popularity. Perez' post-Crisis Wondy makes a nice read, but she's an extremely watered-down version of her original self. People complain about all of the great Superman stuff that Byrne jettisoned, but I think Wondy got an even more raw deal.

But let's face it - DC is never in a million years going to let anyone be as powerful as Superman, let alone more powerful (and before anyone brings up Supergirl, we all know that's not going to last). Wonder Woman is therefore always stuck being, at best, second-most-powerful (and usually she doesn't even get that).

So we end up defining her by what she isn't rather than by what she is. I say forget that. It actually sets a bad role for women in the DCU ("The best woman is never as strong, fast, or durable as the best man!") and makes people look at Wondy as just a defective Superman.

Rather, I'd like to see her unique traits emphasized. She has incredible tools - the magic lasso, the indestructable bracelets, the razor-sharp tiara, the invisible jet, the purple healing ray, the mental radio - and incredible powers - she can jump for miles, outrun the fastest cars, break through the strongest chains, talk to animals.

Let her be a mid-level hero (tossing cars around, outrunning cars, gliding on air currents maybe, stopping a hail of bullets flat, lassoing a hundred people at once). Comparisons to Superman wouldn't make any sense, so people will stop making them. And as the most high-profile hero DC has, she'll get her own little niche.

And Wonder Woman was actually a stronger character when she had lessened powers! The spunky and fun Golden Age Wondy (who delighted in the use of her powers) would teach this whiny puppet-of-her-immature-and-sadistic-gods Rucka-Wondy a thing or two about being a hero and a person. I'll take the Wondy who almost broke her hand giving Mongul a sock in the jaw and still fought him with everything she had over "*sob* no more mission!" Wondy any day.

As for the Wonder Dome - ultimately, it's no more or less tupid than "batcave," the problem I had, was that it was this too cosmicly powerful "genie's lamp," that could turn into, or produce anything. It was just too much!

True, that could have gotten really problematic really fast.

I think my problem with the name is that it sounds like a football stadium or something. I can't really think of a good name for a Wondy-base though... the Wonder Whereabouts?

[dancj]

I guess the one thing people on this thread can agree on...
Regardless if you love/hate her increased powers....

Wonder Woman is greatly loved!

I'm not sure I agree. She has trouble selling decent numbers and I alway get the impression that DC only plug her as much as they do because they want one of the big 3 to be a woman. In reality though there isn't a big 3 - just a big 2.

Dan