If that embargo wasn't lifted we wouldn't have gotten Diana in Brave and the Bold. The embargo also kept Donna from making any meaningful appearance in shows like Teen Titans Go.
The truth is you can't legislate against apathy. You could come up with a ton of embargo's 'Diana can't be shown to be weaker than Superman/Diana has to appear in X amount of years/Diana has to be this, she has to be that' and it's not going to matter to people who don't care about the character or is not committed to doing the character justice. She was a main character in JLU but her appearance there was polarizing. But her appearance in 'Brave and the Bold' and JLAction which falls under 'guest appearances' got far more positive reactions. Some of her best fight scenes were in movies like JL Crisis on Two Worlds and Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.
The problem here is that once again DC does not commit to solo efforts for their characters unless its Superman and Batman. They want to put all their eggs in one basket which results in shows like YJ where the characters are always fighting for screen time and everybody is mad that their fave isn't getting any screen time. And when DC does commit to solo efforts they tend to make weird oddball changes to characters (see Arrow and David E Kelly's WW pilot) or they end up adapting the worst aspects of canon (see the Flash tv show) or they are passion projects of very specific writer/directors (see Peacemaker, Joker, Watchmen).
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Here's one, Donna Troy is actually kind of redundant in the Wondy mythos. A cheap bargain-bin version of Diana, who has frankly overstayed her welcome in my book. DC barely does anything with her, every new idea they come up with for her origin is either boring or forgotten the next year. Its far beyond the point of cute parody for me. She's constantly in this weird gray zone when it comes to her lineage to the amazons and being Diana's sister. She varies between regular amazon or somewhat as powerful as Diana. The same is said for her personality, she isn't as headstrong or inquisitive as Cassie, as regal or diplomatic as Nubia, or anything like Diana. And now with Yara getting the push, what is Donna's purpose? She is now the lost middle child wandering the vast universe with little guidance, which sounds like a solid building block to a story. If there is anyone in dire need of a solo title to "find themselves" in the wondyfam its not Artemis, its Donna. But as I said it never lasts for more than a year. So, me, I'd done with Donna.
Zaldrīzes Buzdari Iksos Daor
I would say that most if the time yes, Donna is a redundant character, and even though people really care about her origin stories, most of them are boring.
But Phil Jimenez really made me appreciate the value of "Wonder Woman but if she had 40% the confidence and had to constantly overcome melancholy".
And to me the idea of Donna fighting against the forces of destiny along with her best friend Omen is something really interesting for the Wonder Mythos.
Kind of spinning out of the General Discussion and "WW best friends" thread, but like how I'm mostly apathetic to WW being "friends" with Superman and Batman I also don't really care for WW interacting with Supergirl or Batgirl. They're both probably on the lower end of interesting female heroes for Diana to interact with.
I don't care about or find the Diana/the Amazons training Kara interesting and the less WW in general interacts with the Bat-franchise, in general, the better.
Last edited by Gaius; 06-11-2022 at 09:20 PM.
To take it further... why not well..... all superheroines? The logic behind bringing Kara there was rather simple hand-to-hand combat training. It needed to be "super" training because if Kara actually punched most people they'd be out cold or dead. But that sort of logic applies to a lot of heroes: Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark, Megan Morse, Leslie Willis, Amy Allen, Tanya Spears, and well.. a lot of others.
Readers losing interest in a character that doesn't get much focus and has a confusing history? That's hardly a surprise.
But ultimately there are no bad characters, just bad writers.
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If Donna is "redundant" within the context of the "Wonderverse," then the 987 Batman-adjacent/Batman-lite/gender-swapped Batman/Batman-sidekick-slash-clones that inhabit Gotham should be declared redundant. What we need is what we have craved for forever: a DC editorial office for all things Wonder Woman that puts their foot down and starts getting their **** together, ensuring that Diana's powers, mythos, stats, and history is respected and kept consistent all across the DCU, that her enemies are NEVER used as cannon fodder or laughingstocks, and that each and every Wonder-Woman-adjacent character is well developed, with a unique personality and with a vividly distinct backstory and traits. There is room for Nubia, Donna, Yara, Cassie, Artemis, and all the others in the Wonderverse. We just need a plan, a structure, and a commitment from DC.
Never understood the issue with Donna's more simple origin.
Having her be a orphaned girl Diana rescued early in her career seems preferable to the mess DC ended up with.
Agreed on all points (and I say this as both a fan of Yara and the wider Bat-Family). As I believe I mentioned in another thread, in the Titans she always kind of just served as the "mom" of the group and later when Cassie was introduced, she also served as big sister. Now she's just kind of...there. Needless to say, editorial really needs to do something substantial with the character.
Keep in mind that you have about as much chance of changing my mind as I do of changing yours.
Her friendship with Zatanna is what they should focus on, make that the equivalent to the Superman/Batman World’s Finest Dynamic. If they do more WW minis I’d love a WW/Zatanna team up book.
Yeah as someone who finds Donna redundant I’d say there’s only three sidekicks Batman actually “needs”: Dick, Jason, and Damian. Everyone else could be deleted without much loss (and I love Oracle, Cass, like Kate, Jace, Steph, and can see the “importance” of Duke and Tim).
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/