Wonder Woman's Invulnerability

[WorstThingUS]

Okay, we've just seen her punch out a nuke with no burns, but what is the nature of her invulnerability? If she let bullets hit her would they bounce off with not so much as a tickle like Superman? Would a knife shatter on her considering she flies through debris and shrapnel without a scratch? I ask because I can't remember ever seeing something like that.

[Alex Smith]

I was under the impression she was vulnerable to piercing things like knives and bullets.

[BnL]

She should definitely be invulnerable to bullets. That whole reasoning of "blunt force VS a sharpened instrument" doesn't really hold up, considering the fact that she's withstood punches from Superman, nuclear blasts, etc. If you can walk away from that, you can shrug off bullets and knives.

As for why she still deflects bullets anyway, my fanwank is that it's because she can control the direction they fly off in this way. If she just let them bounce off her, they could ricochet haphazardly and injure someone.

[ScottyQuick]

She deflects bullets because if you could, wouldn't you?

Think of how badass that would look

"Oh, hey Clark. I see your shirt's kinda ripped. Maybe you should invest in a pair of bracelets. Ouch, Bruce, still bleeding? I guess not everyone can be an Amazon."

[Constantine Drakon]

Piercing weapons, like swords, spears, arrows, bullets, knives, etc. can pierce her.

Against blunt force attacks, flame, and pretty much everything else, she has far more resiliance.

If that doesn't make sense to you, you're looking at it scientifically, forgetting she's a creature of magic.

Magic doesn't give a fiddler's fart about logic.

[suedenim]

She should definitely be invulnerable to bullets. That whole reasoning of "blunt force VS a sharpened instrument" doesn't really hold up, considering the fact that she's withstood punches from Superman, nuclear blasts, etc. If you can walk away from that, you can shrug off bullets and knives.

As for why she still deflects bullets anyway, my fanwank is that it's because she can control the direction they fly off in this way. If she just let them bounce off her, they could ricochet haphazardly and injure someone.

I agree with this, but it does point out a problem with Wonder Woman being in a shared universe. There's nothing intrinsic in the concept of Wonder Woman that requires her to be invulnerable, or to be able to fly, for that matter. But she has those abilities because she's in the same shared universe as Superman.

By and large, given that they are in a shared universe, I think having her on a par with Superman is a good thing, and the good points of that outweigh the bad, but there *are* some drawbacks.

But I found it refreshing to see Diana at a "reduced" power level in the animated movie, where Superman not being around freed her to be just Wonder Woman, which is plenty super enough in that context.

[bigbluntz]

That's one thing I never understood about WW. If your invulnerable to bullets why the hell take the time to block them all fancy like with your bracelets?

[Evil Eleanor]

She should definitely be invulnerable to bullets.

No, she should not.

"Piercing weapons" are her kryptonite. She's got a way two avoid it (two ways, in fact, one per arm), but it's her primary weakness.

That whole reasoning of "blunt force VS a sharpened instrument" doesn't really hold up,

It only fails to hold up if you approach it scientifically. But her invulnerability is magical in nature. It doesn't have to make sense. "Piercing weapons" hurt her more than blunt force.

[West Mantooth]

Piercing weapons, like swords, spears, arrows, bullets, knives, etc. can pierce her.

Are bullets considered piercing weapons though?

[Shatagni]

You guys are not factoring in density.

If you hit a wall with a blunt force, the energy distributes and the wall absorbs the impact and not much damage is done. But if you use a piecing object with all the force concentrated on one point, you can create a breach.

Besides, it's not that she's totally invulnerable to blunt force. If she's hit hard enough, she does bleed.

[Black Atom]

You guys are not factoring in density.

If you hit a wall with a blunt force, the energy distributes and the wall absorbs the impact and not much damage is done. But if you use a piecing object with all the force concentrated on one point, you can create a breach.

Besides, it's not that she's totally invulnerable to blunt force. If she's hit hard enough, she does bleed.

Seems the smart thing to do, if you're someone with strength of Superman for instance, would be just to poke her.

[Shatagni]

Seems the smart thing to do, if you're someone with strength of Superman for instance, would be just to poke her.

Which why the whole Bracelets and Lightning fast reflexes thing is needed. I think she also has sort of a healing factor but then again it seems that every superhero has some kind of healing factor.

[joshmc]

It's a bit of a grey area, but what it boils down to is that she needs some level vulnerability otherwise there's no threat to the character. Should she be like Superman? IMO no, however she should be able to withstand injury more so than the average human, but still be prone to injury via weapon or extremely severe blunt force trauma.

[Constantine Drakon]

Are bullets considered piercing weapons though?

According to whatever magic is giving her that invulnerability, yes.

Again: you do not have to feel it is logical. It's magic. It's allowed be capricious.

Someone brought up Superman's finger. Wouldn't work the same way. Why not? Because magic doesn't consider Superman's finger a piercing weapon. Scientifically you can argue that it would have the same effect as a bullet. Magic doesn't care.

[BnL]

No, she should not.

"Piercing weapons" are her kryptonite. She's got a way two avoid it (two ways, in fact, one per arm), but it's her primary weakness.



It only fails to hold up if you approach it scientifically. But her invulnerability is magical in nature. It doesn't have to make sense. "Piercing weapons" hurt her more than blunt force.

"It's magical" is a lazy explanation, IMO. And even by those standards, it doesn't really make much sense to me.

I'm not in favor of her having no weaknesses. I think it'd be cool if Circe cast a spell that restored her Pre-Crisis weakness of having her bracelets bound together. It'd also be cool if lying and deception drained some of her power. As it is, her weakness is that she's completely powerless in her "Diana Prince" identity.