Why does Wonder Woman fly?

[Agent Z]

Yeah, that reboot was a pretty huge nerf to Wonder Woman and the Amazons as a whole. Prior to that all of the Amazons had abilities on par with Diana and it was actually possible for someone like Orana to simply prove herself to be better than Diana and take the title of Wonder Woman. Those days where she could contact her fellow Amazons telepathically and an Amazons abilities were something anyone could learn and be trained in certainly made things interesting.

How was Diana nerfed? The Amazons I understand, but Diana wasn't nerfed.

[Koriand'r]

Yeah, that reboot was a pretty huge nerf to Wonder Woman and the Amazons as a whole. Prior to that all of the Amazons had abilities on par with Diana and it was actually possible for someone like Orana to simply prove herself to be better than Diana and take the title of Wonder Woman. Those days where she could contact her fellow Amazons telepathically and an Amazons abilities were something anyone could learn and be trained in certainly made things interesting.

The Perez Amazons had superstrength too, just without Diana's divine blessings.

WW AMAZON STRENTH.jpg

Gifting Diana with the power of true flight (instead of that air current nonsense) was probably the best thing Perez did.

[SiegePerilous02]

Yeah, that reboot was a pretty huge nerf to Wonder Woman and the Amazons as a whole. Prior to that all of the Amazons had abilities on par with Diana and it was actually possible for someone like Orana to simply prove herself to be better than Diana and take the title of Wonder Woman. Those days where she could contact her fellow Amazons telepathically and an Amazons abilities were something anyone could learn and be trained in certainly made things interesting.

How was Diana nerfed? The Amazons I understand, but Diana wasn't nerfed.

I think it could be said that Diana was nerfed in that she was given divine powers at her creation, instead of self empowering herself like in the Golden Age. She's relying on outside sources for her powers. But that was something that went further back than Perez.

It's why I've gotten to the point where I don't mind the demigod origin as much, it's pretty much the same as getting blessings from others without earning it, and with the added bonus of not allowing Athena to zap her powers away on a whim or whatever. But Amazon Training is my preferred take on it, I think.

The Perez Amazons were on par with Wonder Woman too, just without her divine blessings.

WW AMAZON STRENTH.jpg

Without the divine blessings, they are not on par with Wonder Woman. I think she's meant to be the one pushing up that boulder with more ease in that picture, the other Amazon appears to be struggling. It even says "Her might is beyond compare!" She has God-given advantages over them, whereas the Golden Age had everything much closer and she won because she wanted it the most/trained the hardest.

Gifting Diana with the power of true flight (instead of that air current nonsense) was probably the best thing Perez did.

I think flight over gliding is a good decision, but I think things would have been better without a reboot and we had a Wonder Woman with her full history intact (including her time with the Invisible Plane and Amazons with tech) and he just gave her a in-story power up.

[Koriand'r]

I think it could be said that Diana was nerfed in that she was given divine powers at her creation, instead of self empowering herself like in the Golden Age. She's relying on outside sources for her powers. But that was something that went further back than Perez.

It's why I've gotten to the point where I don't mind the demigod origin as much, it's pretty much the same as getting blessings from others without earning it, and with the added bonus of not allowing Athena to zap her powers away on a whim or whatever. But Amazon Training is my preferred take on it, I think.




Without the divine blessings, they are not on par with Wonder Woman. I think she's meant to be the one pushing up that boulder with more ease in that picture, the other Amazon appears to be struggling. It even says "Her might is beyond compare!" She has God-given advantages over them, whereas the Golden Age had everything much closer and she won because she wanted it the most/trained the hardest.



I think flight over gliding is a good decision, but I think things would have been better without a reboot and we had a Wonder Woman with her full history intact (including her time with the Invisible Plane and Amazons with tech) and he just gave her a in-story power up.

That's why I changed it lol but you were too quick on the draw.

[Koriand'r]

Also I have to say, the Amazon Training never made a lot of sense to me. During the Golden Age regular Holiday girls would go to the island and suddenly be able to do amazing feats due to what was basically the power of positive thinking. It was so much pie in the sky it took me out of the story. The divine blessings are far more tangible and believable and once they were given they were permanent. I can't recall a story where Athena or another god took them all away on a whim.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

How was Diana nerfed? The Amazons I understand, but Diana wasn't nerfed.

Oh she very much was. Prior to the reboot Wonder Woman was established to be a skilled physician and scientist capable of inventing the purple ray.
She was established to be stronger then Hercules and faster than Hermes.
Her tools included a mental radio which allowed psychic contact with anyone else in posession of one and an invisible plane/jet which responded to psychic commands from anywhere in the universe and could travel between galaxies in seconds on top of being able to absorb any and all kinds of radiation.
She had a skin tight transparent suit which would recycle oxygen, allowing her to breath and walk around in space.
Her magic lassos long list of powers included being able to create force fields, being able to move at mental command. Creating portals to other locations. Transporting people to other universes. Manipulating elements like fire and water by lassoing them and making them do her bidding.
Having instant access to a support group in the Amazons who would repair her plane, tend to the wounded, provide therapy and rehabiliation for criminals she captured, and provide intel garnered by their efforts at monitoring the outside world.

Doing THIS

[Jim Kelly]

How do the Hulk and Thor fly? Is it that Hulk simply leaps very far and Thor throws himself forward being pulled by the hammer? So are they sustaining flight or are they being pitched very far ahead and eventually falling? Or has this evolved over time?

With Superman, he could always leap. His leaps got more and more spectacular. And eventually, he could resist the pull of gravity and never fall down. Wonder Woman gliding on air currents seems the same thing.

Anti-gravity like with Hawkman would need a new scientific explanation or else it's magic. In Superman's case, it can't be magic, so it has to be something that comes from his gravity/solar powers. With Wonder Woman, instead of floating on air currents or winged sandals, they could have had it be her tiara or her lasso that pull her through the air.

Other than Cuckoo Man (of the Mighty Heores), you don't see super-heroes flapping their arms--so they don't fly according to the same physical laws as birds, bees and airplanes.

[SiegePerilous02]

That's why I changed it lol but you were too quick on the draw.

Lol, sorry about that

Also I have to say, the Amazon Training never made a lot of sense to me. During the Golden Age regular Holiday girls would go to the island and suddenly be able to do amazing feats due to what was basically the power of positive thinking. It was so much pie in the sky it took me out of the story. The divine blessings are far more tangible and believable and once they were given they were permanent. I can't recall a story where Athena or another god took them all away on a whim.

It is certainly goofy, it's main strength is in the metaphor of "Any woman can be a Wonder Woman" than it actually making sense.

I wonder if something could be done with Morrison's God Sphere concept. Maybe they harness a meditation technique or something that allows them to draw energy from the realm of the Gods and channel it into themselves, in addition to their rigorous physical training. There could even be different plateaus of power. Diana wears the Bracelets of Submission, but once removing them she can achieve God Mode, which is the Amazon Training equivalent to achieving Super Saiyan? It could come with a change of hair color and crackling energy bolts!

Oh she very much was. Prior to the reboot Wonder Woman was established to be a skilled physician and scientist capable of inventing the purple ray.
She was established to be stronger then Hercules and faster than Hermes.
Her tools included a mental radio which allowed psychic contact with anyone else in posession of one and an invisible plane/jet which responded to psychic commands from anywhere in the universe and could travel between galaxies in seconds on top of being able to absorb any and all kinds of radiation.
She had a skin tight transparent suit which would recycle oxygen, allowing her to breath and walk around in space.
Her magic lassos long list of powers included being able to create force fields, being able to move at mental command. Creating portals to other locations. Transporting people to other universes. Manipulating elements like fire and water by lassoing them and making them do her bidding.
Having instant access to a support group in the Amazons who would repair her plane, tend to the wounded, provide therapy and rehabiliation for criminals she captured, and provide intel garnered by their efforts at monitoring the outside world.

The pulling the sun example I think is something that fits in with the whimsical, far more cartoonish ways the DCU was depicted back in the Golden Age and Silver Age. The same DCU that had vegetable people on Venus for human boys to encounter without a space suit lol. Much like some of Silver Age Superman's feats (pulling a solar system, sneezing away galaxies) I don[t know if it will work in the relatively more "grounded"/subdued DCU we have now.

All the rest of the stuff you mentioned though? That crap needs to come back. Her super intelligence being geared towards the medical sciences is also great, I don't know if whipping the Purple Ray up out of nowhere to heal Steve is something I'd like, but her being Althea's prized pupil in its usage and being the one to find the frequency to heal men (among others) like in WW:EO is something I'd love to see.

[Agent Z]

If you want the Amazons to be on equal footing with Diana, just have all their powers come from some form of training. Like how normal humans can gain super powers through a type of training in shonen anime (Dragon Ball, Hunter X Hunter etc).

For technology, I'm of the opinion that magic in the DCU should be approached as a form of science itself and thus it's effects can be duplicated and harnessed by those who study and understand it.

[Jim Kelly]

It's possible that Marston didn't originally plan the origin that he gave Diana in the end. Because if you read the stories in order, we get the contest first in ALL STAR COMICS No. 8 (December 1941 - January 1942), where all Amazons are equal in strength and training; then we get Aphrodite granting life to the statue that Hippolyte has made in WONDER WOMAN No. 1 (Summer 1942).

[SiegePerilous02]

It's possible that Marston didn't originally plan the origin that he gave Diana in the end. Because if you read the stories in order, we get the contest first in ALL STAR COMICS No. 8 (December 1941 - January 1942), where all Amazons are equal in strength and training; then we get Aphrodite granting life to the statue that Hippolyte has made in WONDER WOMAN No. 1 (Summer 1942).

It did later turn out that there were other Amazon children on the island though, and I think we are meant to believe they are all created by the same means.

[My Two Cents]

Maybe Perez thought giving Diana and all the Amazons flight rings would be to cliché
and he wanted her to be more like Superman (the fact he progressed over the decades from jumping to flying to other Galaxies)
so decided in 1987 it was time for Wonder Woman to pull her self out of the forties and into modern times.

[AmiMizuno]

Yes all of marston’s origins for the amazon children is that they were made from clay. To be honest Diana is one of the strongest of the amazons. Why couldn’t it be after she wins the gods bless her with her more powers. Or if there is a way that there is a more advance training that only Hippoltya and the people in her court. If we want Diana to get her training due to training it would have to make sense that it’s either training from the gods or some other form of training from the Amazons that’s rarely trained. Flying could be one. Or it could be done through science.

[AmiMizuno]

It’s shown both in the comics and newspaper comcis that you can be strong as a amazons but some amazons are stronger than others. Which makes sense. Not even one will be at the same level. One averse how powerful should the amazons be?

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Lol, sorry about that



It is certainly goofy, it's main strength is in the metaphor of "Any woman can be a Wonder Woman" than it actually making sense.

I wonder if something could be done with Morrison's God Sphere concept. Maybe they harness a meditation technique or something that allows them to draw energy from the realm of the Gods and channel it into themselves, in addition to their rigorous physical training. There could even be different plateaus of power. Diana wears the Bracelets of Submission, but once removing them she can achieve God Mode, which is the Amazon Training equivalent to achieving Super Saiyan? It could come with a change of hair color and crackling energy bolts!



The pulling the sun example I think is something that fits in with the whimsical, far more cartoonish ways the DCU was depicted back in the Golden Age and Silver Age. The same DCU that had vegetable people on Venus for human boys to encounter without a space suit lol. Much like some of Silver Age Superman's feats (pulling a solar system, sneezing away galaxies) I don[t know if it will work in the relatively more "grounded"/subdued DCU we have now.

All the rest of the stuff you mentioned though? That crap needs to come back. Her super intelligence being geared towards the medical sciences is also great, I don't know if whipping the Purple Ray up out of nowhere to heal Steve is something I'd like, but her being Althea's prized pupil in its usage and being the one to find the frequency to heal men (among others) like in WW:EO is something I'd love to see.

Oh very much agreed the pulling the sun example is certainly way over the top. I was simply referencing it because it is probably the most blatant example of high level power that she never displayed again, short of choosing to believe a caption which established she "Overcame a paralysis beam powered by a thousand suns!"

That said I do think some of her more whimsical elements would be able to mannage a return if one took advantage of all of those 'Travel the astral planes' adventures Wonder Woman had where she would travel top whole worlds and discover worlds within the astral plane.

Oh that reminds me, I forgot to include in her list of powers the ability to see 'astral entities' which includes gods walking invisible amongst men, ghosts who travel unseen, and....What might be a Stand? O.o