Why haven't they done more stuff with Giganta?

[kjn]

I just feel Giganta is inherently a very limited character.

She's tall. Whoop-dee-doo.
And she's a mad scientist in a universe where those are a dime a dozen, many of them madder and more interesting.

At least they finally got her out of that ridiculous bikini.

Sure you shouldn't make any story involving her into a… tall tale?

[Agent Z]

Sure you shouldn't make any story involving her into a… tall tale?

Insert crowd booing noise here.

[My Two Cents]

Have her be a kaiju cosplayer or wear a cutesy monster pj onesie then grow a 150 feet, throw her in a city and start a rampage!

Don't forget the leather jacket

[Carabas]

Sure you shouldn't make any story involving her into a… tall tale?

[Dr. Poison]

I blame it on lack of creativity. Phil Jimenez and Geoff Johns have done right by Giganta. Others should follow suit.

[Totalwar1402]

I just feel Giganta is inherently a very limited character.

She's tall. Whoop-dee-doo.
And she's a mad scientist in a universe where those are a dime a dozen, many of them madder and more interesting.

At least they finally got her out of that ridiculous bikini.

Characters with size changing powers have had their own comics and films. Given that they have a habit of putting her on the front cover of the comics and she’s been in a reasonable amount of other media that would imply the opposite. Her being tall is such a strong selling point they don’t feel required to do much else with the character. There is an appeal to having WW fight a 50 foot woman.

Her being a Doctor isn’t really given too much focus. It’s a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy to say she’s an under developed character so shouldn’t have any development. I mean Mr Freeze is basically a doctor with an ice gun. It’s what they did with his story that sold the concept.


Yeah I wasn’t a fan of the bikini. I’d have said her best look was when she had the full body suit, although I liked the artists take of her current look in Beach Blanket Bad Guys with the orange and steel coloration. Generally speaking I prefer when shes closer to as she was in the JL animated show where she’s tall but not a body builder.

[Nyssane]

I prefer a buff, bodybuilder-esque Giganta. There aren't many muscular women in comic books, so it sets Giganta apart from the others. Plus, the more intimidating and formidable she looks, the more serious I think fans (and writers) will take her.

If it were up to me, though, I'd scrap the scientist background and go for something a bit simpler. Her origins have always been super convoluted when they don't need to be; her selling point is that she can grow huge.

[kjn]

Putting aside the giant puns, there are lots of characters in Diana's rogues gallery that can be brought back. Among her opponents, I believe Doctor Psycho and Doctor Poison are the two with the best potential to become real A-list opponents, and Silver Swan has strong connections with Diana already.

However, if a writer has a good idea for a story with Giganta, DC shouldn't stop it. Or even more if a well-written Giganta-focused arc comes up. But I feel that Giganta has a decent position as a physically oriented B-list villain that can be used for one-offs or as muscle for more potent villains. Let her grow organically from there, rather than trying to force her into a specific mold.

[Frank]

Giganta is usually utilized for the visual - height contrast, giant hands, crashing down, wearing Donna Troy around her neck (which I loved), etc. Little work has gone into making her an interesting character. It's also never clear why she's an actual threat to Diana, even pre-crisis Diana. Her size makes her an easy target, and while she may be strong, Diana's stronger, faster, and has an infinitely elastic lasso.

And the only reason we really know who she is today is because of her role in The Super Friends TV show. That's what brought her out of the Golden Age and into the public eye, and she just remains on the fringes: in the corner of the eye, under-developed, and almost always used only as a beat in a story instead of a real part of a storyline.

Honestly, the only time I've ever enjoyed reading her, I think, is her brief appearance during Gail Simone's run, when Diana erroneously assumes Giganta wants to fight, and they end up having a conversation on the beach. That scene, I think, was a precursor to the aborted team book that Gail was going to write for DC in which Diana would have been leading an oddball team and Giganta would have been one of the team members.

[Totalwar1402]

Giganta is usually utilized for the visual - height contrast, giant hands, crashing down, wearing Donna Troy around her neck (which I loved), etc. Little work has gone into making her an interesting character. It's also never clear why she's an actual threat to Diana, even pre-crisis Diana. Her size makes her an easy target, and while she may be strong, Diana's stronger, faster, and has an infinitely elastic lasso.

And the only reason we really know who she is today is because of her role in The Super Friends TV show. That's what brought her out of the Golden Age and into the public eye, and she just remains on the fringes: in the corner of the eye, under-developed, and almost always used only as a beat in a story instead of a real part of a storyline.

Honestly, the only time I've ever enjoyed reading her, I think, is her brief appearance during Gail Simone's run, when Diana erroneously assumes Giganta wants to fight, and they end up having a conversation on the beach. That scene, I think, was a precursor to the aborted team book that Gail was going to write for DC in which Diana would have been leading an oddball team and Giganta would have been one of the team members.

Yeah I saw some of the panels for that story, it was really good. But to me that’s proof that everything is better if you add story and characterisation. That one is good in particular because you have WW involved in this back and forth.

Well, why is a Titan a threat to Kratos in God of War? Objectively it’s just a big monster but we cloak this in mysticism so accept that it’s a threat to Kratos. The issue is that Giganta isn’t a Titan (BTW Iam surprised they weren’t tempted to do that) and so she doesn’t have that aura of myth the same way Cheetah does for example. I mean Gigantas power level is inconsistent, in that panel you mentioned she is able to physically restrain WW, meaning she has to be stronger. Plus it mustn’t be overlooked that it’s meant to insinuate how powerful WW is that she can knock someone like that out cold. But yeah, to quote Varys “power is an illusion”. ��

[Dr. Poison]

Yeah I saw some of the panels for that story, it was really good. But to me that’s proof that everything is better if you add story and characterisation. That one is good in particular because you have WW involved in this back and forth.

Well, why is a Titan a threat to Kratos in God of War? Objectively it’s just a big monster but we cloak this in mysticism so accept that it’s a threat to Kratos. The issue is that Giganta isn’t a Titan (BTW Iam surprised they weren’t tempted to do that) and so she doesn’t have that aura of myth the same way Cheetah does for example. I mean Gigantas power level is inconsistent, in that panel you mentioned she is able to physically restrain WW, meaning she has to be stronger. Plus it mustn’t be overlooked that it’s meant to insinuate how powerful WW is that she can knock someone like that out cold. But yeah, to quote Varys “power is an illusion”. ��

In Infinite Crisis, Giganta was able to restrain Power Girl so that was another good portrayal of her strength.

[AmiMizuno]

Sounds good to me. Doris is unwell. Doris wants Diana to help Doris get better, presumably by allowing Doris access to Themysciran technology since Diana is no longer a brilliant scientist herself (that's IF the Amazons even have advanced technology these days - I can't keep up). For "reasons", Diana can't help Doris. Perhaps Diana genuinely tries to help, but is unsuccessful. Or perhaps Hippolyta doesn't want Themysciran technology to be disclosed to man's world. So, Doris resents Diana and when Doris manages to cure herself with the unexpected side-effect or being able to grow super-tall and super-strong, Doris seeks her revenge.

At least it gives her a clear axe to grind with Diana. If Giganta then chooses to basically be "muscle for hire" because she simply enjoys being formidable after a life spent being overlooked and unwell, that's all well and good. But, if she's one of Diana's villains, then she still needs some kind of personal beef with Diana.

I would say it’s not the problem with using amazon tech should be the problem. But since Doris should at first destroy the machine. Because the other half of her likes her new powers.

[mathew101281]

I'm guessing it's because no-one has really settled on Giganta's origins, powers / abilities and motivations.

Sometimes she just seems to be the "muscle" for a smarter, less physical villain. Sometimes they remember her one-time origin as a brilliant scientist and she's an intelligent foe. I'm not sure her character motivations beyond "being bad" have ever really been addressed, with the exception of her very first origin story where I think she wanted to steal Diana's strength or something?

As noted, there seems to be a lot of inconsistency as to how big she can actually grow and her strength and invulnerability levels at bigger sizes.

I'd certainly like to see Giganta treated as a recurring and genuine "threat" to Wonder Woman. I think the character is visually interesting (human vs. giant), but she really needs a personal motivation for being Diana's villain and some kind of long-term goal beyond simply being bad and doing bad things.

I feel she would be used more if she fit in with Diana’s world more thematically. Not all Diana’s villians need to be myth based, but I feel Giganta would really work better if she was. What does being a mad scientist or an evolved gorilla really ad to the character? Her being a mythological giant instantly makes her conflict with Diana more legit, interesting, and logical. It might also give her a power up to. In Myth giants weren’t just the enemies of humanity, they were essentially primordial forces of nature powerful enough to take on the gods. The main problem with Giganta right now is that she she seems disconnected from Wonderwoman’s world.

[AmiMizuno]

Why can’t she be both a mad scientist and a giant? That she was half a giant. When she learns this she wants to mess around with her giant dna . To see how far she can push her dna. She is able to grow tall but loses her intellectual. She tries to figure out how to keep her intelligence. Diana tries to stop her before she goes to far . But it’s far to late. Doris keeps her intelligence but does have every now and then can’t keep her intelligence or angry in check. I do wonder why not have her get to the point of using a giants as a army. And also help them become intelligence. I don’t want Doris to be too much myths and too much mad scientist. Somewhere

[Koriand'r]

I feel she would be used more if she fit in with Diana’s world more thematically. Not all Diana’s villians need to be myth based, but I feel Giganta would really work better if she was. What does being a mad scientist or an evolved gorilla really ad to the character? Her being a mythological giant instantly makes her conflict with Diana more legit, interesting, and logical. It might also give her a power up to. In Myth giants weren’t just the enemies of humanity, they were essentially primordial forces of nature powerful enough to take on the gods. The main problem with Giganta right now is that she she seems disconnected from Wonderwoman’s world.

I think she's connected because she's one of Diana's doctors (Dr. Cale, Dr. Poison, Dr. Psycho, Dr. Zuel) that's a welcome but lesser known Wonder Woman theme that thankfully has nothing to do with mythology.