Why haven't they done more stuff with Giganta?

[Totalwar1402]

I recently read the Beach Blanket villains comic where they had a load of short stories and one of them was a short character piece with Giganta called "Giganta Strong". It was really good, but it made me wonder why they haven't done more with the character and specifically more with her and WW?

My impression is that she's been a bit in the wilderness for while. In the New 52 she was a minor character in the Pandora series, then had a handful of appearances in which WW knocks her out in one punch. They seem to push her as the willing minion of every supervillain group and the most developed arcs with her have been redemption stories where she joins the heroes. I did read one comic panel where Steve Trevor has a little chat with her whilst shes in prison, but that's about it.


Which is a bit odd considering shes meant to be one of WW main villains? Plus she has been quite prominent in some of the cartoons like the old Justice League one. You would think that's more than enough incentive to work the character into a story with WW. I say that because, both the Steve bit and the Beach Blanket story do look at how Giganta feels about WW. But that's a moot point if she isn't in a WW comic and the Amazon doesn't have anything to do with this villain. To take an extreme example, the story with Mr Freeze isn't something in isolation, how the hero deals with and interacts with this morally grey villain is relevant to the story and arguably more important.


If I had to speculate I think the main issue they have is that they want to focus on the fact that WW is this Olympian Goddess who is a top tier superhero who can go toe to toe with the likes of Darkseid. Cheetah is possessed by a deity, Circe has magic, Ares is literally a God; then you have a 50 foot woman. Bit of a power imbalance. All the others fit snugly in Wonder Womans league. You imply WW isn't that powerful if Giganta is a threat to her. The likes of Dr psycho get around this because they are using subversive powers and abilities; but with Giganta its a question of outright strength. Hence getting one punched all the time.

As I said, I quite liked the light hearted depiction of Giganta they had in the "Giganta Strong" short story. I am not saying they should make her grimdark or anything like that. But I do think it would be nice if the character had a solo outing in a WW comic, if she did something beyond a supervillain teamup and if they established some kind of character dynamic or conflict between Giganta and WW.

[AmiMizuno]

I always wondered should Giganta be large than 50ft. I mean she does fit since they are bringing back her mad scientist villains. I mean what other powers has Giganta have in the past 76 years?

[Totalwar1402]

I always wondered should Giganta be large than 50ft. I mean she does fit since they are bringing back her mad scientist villains. I mean what other powers has Giganta have in the past 76 years?

Well the scale tends to be whatever the artist wants it to be. Theres one image in the Pandora comic where she shouts at a villain where shes clearly bigger than 50 feet tall and shouts so loud she shatters all the glass in a city street; then in the next panel shes a fifth as big as she was. Plus theres that panel where she has the bus in one hand. But she seems to be in that 50 -100 foot tall range.

It'd be neat if they went with something like that. Maybe she realises she keeps getting owned by WW and decides she needs to do something about this. So either she tries to mess around with the thing which makes her big or she just practices fighting and gets better. Its strongly implied that shes just plain clumsy and slow. Maybe she just, has that Eye of the Tiger and just goes out to finally beat WW.

[Agent 86]

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.

[Totalwar1402]

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.

Yeah I mean they have talked about why she has an issue with Wonder Woman. She thinks that she was a normal person who had a hard life whereas Wonder Woman was a Goddess and everything was perfect for her; so what gives Diana the right to lecture her? That is a neat contrast. Having somebody who is, to all intents and purposes just a normal person be quite cynical about Diana is a fairly neat idea.

The problem as you say is that its only used to justify her being a mercenary character who is a narcissist and doesn't care about anything. Even the Joker or Riddler have goals and things to want besides just being other peoples minions. Despite just being bad and doing bad things. The Riddler in the Arkham games for example has a completely trite motivation of wanting to prove he is the worlds smartest man and unmask batman; but it doesn't prevent him being an interesting or at least entertaining character. With Giganta shes doing things of no consequence or tagging along with other people.


I mean any character is as powerful as the writers want them to be. But yeah, if the writers themselves put her up as a punching bag it doesn't sell the character. If anything I actually think they've been pretty consistent lately that she isn't a physical challenge to WW. In fact as I mentioned before with WW joking about it this seems to be getting a bit meta. Like, in that "Giganta strong" story it plays on how nobody recognises her in her own home town (despite being a supervillain).

[AmiMizuno]

I think the best way to go is a simple origin. In one of her origins, she wanted to find a cure for a disease. I would keep that as her origins. She should be able to keep her intelligent no matter how tall she can go. Why does she go after Diana it can easily just be a cross encounter.

[Koriand'r]

Some bad guys are villains not because they're Evil, but because they're selfish nonconformists who find themselves with superpowers and it's fun. That's a good enough motivation for me. Power upgrades aren't really necessary, Giganta works best as an antihero. The story in Beach Blanket Bad Guys proves it, personally I was rooting for her. She could have easily destroyed the high school with kids inside and been a mass murderer, but that's not her bag. She's just probably out to have an adventurous lifestyle and make a few bucks along the way.

[Totalwar1402]

Some bad guys are villains not because they're Evil, but because they're selfish nonconformists who find themselves with superpowers and it's fun. That's a good enough motivation for me. Power upgrades aren't really necessary, Giganta works best as an antihero. The story in Beach Blanket Bad Guys proves it, personally I was rooting for her. She could have easily destroyed the high school with kids inside and been a mass murderer, but that's not her bag. She's just probably out to have an adventurous lifestyle and make a few bucks along the way.

Which would be fine if she had her own comic run where she could just be an anti hero and her perspective became the story. But ostensibly she is a Wonder Woman villain and Iam sceptical that they would give her a comic run. Beach Blanket was a good story but to me that suggests they aren’t doing as much as they could with her in the WW comics.

Yeah I mean it does set the tone immediately when she’s just flooring it in the Mustang in the beginning just not giving a care. I did enjoy the overall tone of that story. So you think they should roll with the idea that her “adventuring” is a little bit on the destructive side and the Princess with the Rules doesn’t like that? Yeah I could see that working.

Well I think there was a story around Infinite Crisis where Giganta wrecks WW and is about to crush her until the Flash distracts her so that WW can take her down. Plus on the cartoon she was the heavy hitter. So in a sense they’ve implied the character is a lot weaker in more recent years. I don’t see the appeal of her being one punched or knocked out in the first panel.

[Koriand'r]

Doris needing a cure for her disease, becoming a scientist and inventing one is a great way to tie her to Veronica Cale. Cale made her fortune with her pharmaceutical company and she enjoys creating villains to vex Wonder Woman. I could see her somehow stealing the cure's patent and extorting Doris as she makes herself rich.

[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.

[Geraldofrivia]

I think she should be serious and very powerful character with a tragic backstory. She should get Attack on Titan or Godzilla type treatment instead of being treated as a henchman.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

I think she should be serious and very powerful character with a tragic backstory. She should get Attack on Titan or Godzilla type treatment instead of being treated as a henchman.

The trick would be tweaking her motives to indicate such a thing. As it is, Giganta is ranked among the physically strongest villains in DC but has the motivational train of thought of either "Im going to make them pay!" or "Im gonna be rich!" Which doesn't lend itself to center stage when your villains ultimate goal seems to be getting back at people and reveling in riches. The plain fact is that the big league villains tend to have rather over the top goals and hers are fairly reasonable by comparison

[AmiMizuno]

Not all majority villains need a tragic backstory to be evil. Also, what should her motives be? She is one of the many mad scientists in Wonder Woman and in Dc. She can be powerful yes but what other powers other than growing tall should she have?