Would you care if Diana's main love interest was a woman?

[Vordan]

Don’t kill Steve off just have them break up and date other people before getting back together. That’s what normal people do all the time.

[Celgress]

Don’t kill Steve off just have them break up and date other people before getting back together. That’s what normal people do all the time.

My sentiments exactly. There is no need to kill Steve just so Diana can be with another person, especially if it might just be short term.

[Harpsikord]

Just for the sake of the thought experiment, what if Steve Trevor had been a woman--let's say Eve Trevor--would that have changed Diana's story and if so how?

This was exactly what I was going to ask when I got to reading this thread. Wonder Woman deserves to have her own longterm love interest and between Rebirth, the film, and Earth One... it's going to be Colonel Trevor. I think they've firmly established that character as having a foothold in the Wonder Woman mythology and one that they deserve, and in a lot of incarnations Colonel Trevor has to be Steve Trevor; the Legend of Wonder Woman, the film. These versions of the story don't allow for a woman soldier to be the one that washes onto the shores of Themyscira.

And bringing that to mind, some people are going to say making the Colonel a woman changes the basics of Wonder Woman's origin story: and they're right. It does. It changes from a story about Wonder Woman finding and saving the life of this forbidden man on her island of all women and being banished for taking him back to his world to... something else. In my opinion, this would become a story about Colonel Trevor (everyone keeps calling her Eve, I like Stephanie better. They call her Stevie.) crashing on Themyscira and being welcomed with open arms, only, she wants to leave Paradise and goes home. The Amazon's would forbid anyone from taking her home, and basically force her to stay on the island - they don't get why a woman'd want to go back to man's world. Diana'd be the one to fight for her right to go home and make her own decisions, and leave with her.

Other than being a woman, Stevie is the same character as Steve in almost every way. Their romance is the same and the story following the direct origin is the same. And, in the end, it makes no real difference.

[Cerulean Scarab]

My sentiments exactly. There is no need to kill Steve just so Diana can be with another person, especially if it might just be short term.

Personally, I feel like a “soft” death is best because it leaves the most options open. The writer doesn’t need to literally kill him. He’s a military officer who tends to go off on dangerous missions. One mission he just, doesn’t come back. After some time most people assume he’s dead. As long as his exact method of “death” is never explicitly shown or stated, there’s a lot of ways to bring a cxharter back.

The reason I would prefer this to a break-up is because a break-up would require either Steve, Diana, or both to look bad. Or, if it’s a mutual breakup, you have to undermine the very premise of their relationship. (It’s comics. What could cause a mutual break-up that could reasonably change in a meaningful way to bring them back together?)

It also gives Steve’s eventual return versatility. If readers are tired of the new love interest, his resurgence can facilitate its dissolution and retrun to status quo. If readers prefer the new love interest, he can re-integrate as a non-romantic supporting character mostly amicably. If the new love interest has already dissolved, it’s a big flipping happy reunion.

I think there’s merit to telling a genuine break-up story in comics, but it shouldn’t be done with a traditional love interest that has a habit of ending up with the main character. Unless the on-again-off-again angle is part of their mutual characterization

[kjn]

Another option that should be given serious thought is to depict Diana as polyamorous. But I'm not sure which writer would be capable of tackling that well, or if DC is willing to take that chance. Even in an Elseworlds story.

[Vordan]

Personally, I feel like a “soft” death is best because it leaves the most options open. The writer doesn’t need to literally kill him. He’s a military officer who tends to go off on dangerous missions. One mission he just, doesn’t come back. After some time most people assume he’s dead. As long as his exact method of “death” is never explicitly shown or stated, there’s a lot of ways to bring a cxharter back.

The reason I would prefer this to a break-up is because a break-up would require either Steve, Diana, or both to look bad. Or, if it’s a mutual breakup, you have to undermine the very premise of their relationship. (It’s comics. What could cause a mutual break-up that could reasonably change in a meaningful way to bring them back together?)

It also gives Steve’s eventual return versatility. If readers are tired of the new love interest, his resurgence can facilitate its dissolution and retrun to status quo. If readers prefer the new love interest, he can re-integrate as a non-romantic supporting character mostly amicably. If the new love interest has already dissolved, it’s a big flipping happy reunion.

I think there’s merit to telling a genuine break-up story in comics, but it shouldn’t be done with a traditional love interest that has a habit of ending up with the main character. Unless the on-again-off-again angle is part of their mutual characterization

But what you’re describing makes Diana look bad. You know where something like what you’re describing happened? With Cyclops. Scott was married and had a son with Madelyn Pryor because Jean was believed to be dead. Jean reappeared and Scott abandoned his wife and kid so he could be with JEAAAAAAAN again and it made him look awful. Diana getting into a new relationship and then dumping that person the minute Steve returns doesn’t sound any better than s normal breakup to me.

[Cerulean Scarab]

Ideally you wouldn’t have Diana dump the new love interest as soon as Trevor comes back.

You can do a mutual break-up with a new love interest because besides Steve, there aren’t many other characters where saying “we work better as friends” would limit future stories.

Depending on how the relationship was written up to that point, you can have the love interest dump Diana out of insecurity.

Ideally you wouldn’t have Diana move right from her new interest back to Steve either, but give her time to process the shock and for a Steve to get his life stabile.

I’ve not actually read a lot of X-Men, so i don’t know how it exactly played out in there. But also, ideally in this situation, Diana wouldn’t be married to enter Steve or the new love interest. And definitely not have a shared commitment like a child to abandon.

[LordUltimus]

What women would you pair Diana with, either established or original characters?

I'd be interested in her dating a queer counterpart to Lois Lane, and explore her dating a reporter.

[Lex Luthor]

What women would you pair Diana with, either established or original characters?

I'd be interested in her dating a queer counterpart to Lois Lane, and explore her dating a reporter.

Cheetah is the only one I can think of

[Agent Z]

What women would you pair Diana with, either established or original characters?

I'd be interested in her dating a queer counterpart to Lois Lane, and explore her dating a reporter.

Artemis of the Bana Mighdall.

[sakuyamons]

Diana dating a woman doesn’t equal that they have to fridge Steve though, the woman could be an ex girlfriend who she broke up with but they’re on friendly terms.

[Agent Z]

Here's the thing about Steve - he never really left. He may not have been a prominent character in the comics for a while but between the Lynda Carter show, the 2009 animated movie, that one episode of JLU, Batman: The Brace and the Bold, the New 52 and now the live action movie, Steve is Diana's most used love interest. The only other ones she's had that are as or more prominent are Batman and Superman. Diana having a female love interest has never truly been given a chance. So for everyone panicking about Steve being killed off or that we just got him back, bare in mind he's been given plenty of chances.

[kjn]

What women would you pair Diana with, either established or original characters?

I'd be interested in her dating a queer counterpart to Lois Lane, and explore her dating a reporter.

There are pros and cons to both approaches.

Among established characters, Rucka gave some hints about Diana/Barbara Ann Minerva in Rebirth. But it'd very much be a time-limited and doomed relation, and probably not the type of story that we should be looking for. I'm not sure it'd really add anything real to the Diana–Cheetah conflict, and really could add some problematic tropes.

Next established one would be Etta Candy, and I can see it make sense in a story like The Legend of Wonder Woman. Not so much in the current continuity.

Among Amazons you have hints about Io and Kasia, and in old continuities Mala. I think any of these could be a good choice, especially as it can be used to show Amazon practices regarding relations, rather than having Diana telling her partner about them.

Looking at AO3, I can't find any F/F relationship with Diana that seems to have taken off.

There is one villain option that I think can work beautifully: Poison Ivy. But given current DC trends, that's probably even more unlikely that simply putting Diana in a canon relationship with any other woman.

[Mutant God]

What women would you pair Diana with, either established or original characters?

I'd be interested in her dating a queer counterpart to Lois Lane, and explore her dating a reporter.

Since shes sometimes in London, I say a British reporter/journalist, some alliterative name, whos trying to make contact with magical creatures and ends up being saved by Diana so many times they form a bond.

[Serpis]

It would be about time!

She lived for 3000+ years in an all woman society, it us just natural her romantic and carnal interest would be for women and not men.

What really puzzles me is how can't writers and editors see this and show it in the series��