Wonder Woman villain: how would you fix him/her: Circe

[AmiMizuno]

What would make her a stronger character?

[marhawkman]

Circe has done a lot of really awesome things as a villainess.

becoming Wonder Woman^

I can't seem to find a pic but one of my personal favorites was when she defied the evil sorceress trope by deciding to punch Wonder Woman in the face. Granted WW is a better fighter so it didn't work very well, but Circe actually has the physical ability required.

I'd make her more of a lingering threat than a beaten foe. I mean she's thousands of years old and essentially a goddess...

[AmiMizuno]

Well in myths Circe was a goddess even in Wonder Woman she is a goddess. I do think she should know to fight that she just isn't dependent on her magic. I wonder how do you guys feel about her original origin of her being sent into space?

[Dr. Poison]

I think it would be best if she wasn't used so often. Wonder Woman has other mystical foes that could be used from time to time instead of sitting in Limbo while we get another sloppy Circe story. Zara, the Queen of Fables, Dark Angel, etc. could all use some page time in this book. She also needs to go back to her iconic green wardrobe and purple hair when she does appear.

[Lex Luthor]

I think shes fine as his but I dont like her new design. I liked the post crisis look better

[Outside_85]

I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with how she is now, since she's settled into being the witch vs Diana's warrior.
I don't care so much for her wardrobe changes as of late. The black leather, pale white skin and blood-red hair, just screams 'cliche' (look the evil witch is a goth stereotype) and it also screams 'Harley Quinn'.
But I like that look a lot more than I did Rucka/Sharp/Scott's 'mid-40ties mom', it just looked so boring and average that it just robs her of any presence... which is not what I think fits someone like Circe.

[Mel Dyer]

"...In the original DC Comics continuity (prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths), Circe is a centuries-old enchantress who is kept young by an elixir called vitae. It is made from a special combination of plants and herbs. While living on the island Aeaea, Circe gains magical powers. Circe is very skilled at turning men into any animal resembling their personality, and, for her crimes against mortalkind, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta banished her to Sorca, "an island planet in space, where she could do no harm".

Upon her return to Earth, Circe tries to destroy Wonder Woman, having heard from an oracle in ancient times that the daughter of Hippolyta will be her undoing. Unlike many of Wonder Woman's other Golden Age foes, Circe does not repent when her plot fails, and a legendary enmity is born..."

That's the Golden Age origin from Wonder Woman (vol. 1, #37), as related in her Wikipedia entry.

Could Circe be a super-powered villainess from an advanced alien civilization, on Sorca? Maybe, she's not really a sorceress, at all, ..but, an extra-dimensional being with powers, beyond our understanding. Maybe, the Amazons sent her back to the people, who had imprisoned her, in the first place. I would like to see the Sorca angle developed and expanded.

For me, Circe's got to be a totally different character, who doesn't prance around, like some annoying Cecil B. DeMille character.

[WonderScott]

I think it would be best if she wasn't used so often. Wonder Woman has other mystical foes that could be used from time to time instead of sitting in Limbo while we get another sloppy Circe story. Zara, the Queen of Fables, Dark Angel, etc. could all use some page time in this book. She also needs to go back to her iconic green wardrobe and purple hair when she does appear.

^^^This.

I think we need to go back to Circe's populist roots, which is probably the Perez interpretation. (At least that's my favorite.) The relationship stuff Rucka played up between Circe and Ares was also grand IMHO. Characters like that in the Wonder mythos deserve to interact and have interesting, turbulent relationships outside/alongside their relationship with Diana. I mean, look at the War of Jokes and Riddles - which was an interesting path to go down to build out concepts in the Gothamverse.

I agree with Dr. Poison that a new Zara and QoF and Dark Angel would be welcome in the book.

[SiegePerilous02]

She's fine as is power wise and design wise*, but her motivation has always been lacking. The Golden Age the DCAU got it right (the only instance of the latter getting anything right in regards to WW) by keeping it a simple grudge against Hippolyta, whom she cannot get to, so she takes it out on Diana (and ideally Donna) instead. After repeated encounters with Wonder Woman, she would then develop hatred for Diana herself.

None of this swapping souls crap.

*Perez and Dodson's remain the best. Rucka's was a tad bland but something she could easily just change out of, so it wasn't damaging in any way. The New 52 one is godawful.

[AmiMizuno]

So how often should she appear? I do like this idea of her being filled with hate. That she just wants to take it out on the Hippoltya's daughter. The one that locked her away. Whether is be on Aeea or Space. Well I know this is cliché but going with one myth Hecate should be her mother and Hellos her father. But either of than could stop her from causing trouble. I mean Hecate was lavished by the Gods. Why not have her think that she deserves to be on Olympus. Should she learn to fight ? I mean she shouldn't be a great fight but at least be up a good fight. She shouldn't be completely be dependable on her magic

[WonderScott]

She should appear as often as there is a good story to tell with her that's unique to her character.

I was won over with Circe being a minor god in Rucka's first run, so while I don't think she's a martial brawler like Diana, her mastery of magic and deception along with her divine-ish constitution and long life should mean she's learned a bit of fighting when she needs to use it.

[Mel Dyer]

I think the irony of Circe being the gone-wrong daughter of a god of light and hope has never been entertained, and it should. The idea that the promise of what Helios might have offered mankind was snuffed out or eclipsed by the Olympians, and how that changed things for Circe, has been completely ignored. When you consider that all she stood to inherit, as his daughter, was lost - ruined by Zeus's cosmic ambitions - the seeds for Circe's potential outrage are very tangible ones. That angle would intrigue me, and, best of all. It would certainly explain her peculiar sense of entitlement to rule the world.

Hating Wonder Woman, Zeus's daughter, certainly makes sense.

Shifting the focus from the darkness of Hecate to the lost bright and hopeful promise of Helios seems worthy of consideration.

[WonderScott]

Interesting angle to think about Circe, Mel Dyer.

[AmiMizuno]

Being the daughter of Helios what other powers should she have?

[Mel Dyer]

Interesting angle to think about Circe, Mel Dyer.

I think the 'princess of darkness' thing has run out of gas. For me, it's not enough that Circe is a thematic opposite of Wonder Woman.

Since WOGs, we've seen Circe attacking the gods - attacking Wonder Woman, the Amazons - and there's always been something hollow about it. Why not anchor Circe's desire to rule over mankind, with something in her origin/narrative that justifies it, ..rather than playing it, as ego trip or diva-narcissism? Maybe, she really is entitled to her ambitions, however villainous they may be. Maybe, we would sympathize with her, however reluctantly, if we felt she was cheated out of what she wants, so badly. If we felt Circe was wronged by these gods, she's always attacking - gods, whom Wonder Woman often calls allies...

Maybe, we'd cheer her on. A little.

I think Phil Jimenez tried to create a foundation for her ambitions that tied her to the Amazons. For me, that's less important, than grounding her motivations in something that puts her in Wonder Woman's path, in a BIG way. Making the loss of Helios, at the hands of the Olympians, something terrible, unforgivable and world-changing to her is a start. If Circe sees Wonder Woman and ALL of mankind, as having conspired with the Olympians in her father's downfall, ..she has good reason to attack us, and Diana has to stop her.

We sympathized with pre-Crisis Luthor, and all he lost was his hair. Maybe, Circe could do better.

Being the daughter of Helios what other powers should she have?

Maybe, Circe could have a special relationship to the Sun, causing solar flares that announced her presence in the world. That might be interesting.

Right now, I'm more interested in what Helios's cult might have been like - not in real history, but, in the DCU. As a sky deity, we can imagine Helios's followers being at odds with Zeus, the sky god of their conquerors. If they were a violent cult that slaughtered any, who refused to worship Helios, might Athena, as Zeus's emissary, have wiped the last of them out, herself?