Let's Say Only 7 Rogues ...

[Lex Luthor]

I feel like reading these replies just solidifies that Diana has a good rogues gallery already.

[Agent 86]

Cheetah, Circe, Giganta, Queen Clea, Silver Swan, Veronica Cale and Doctor Psycho.

[daBronzeBomma]

Ok, time for My 7 Reservations mark 2.0 = No Public Domain villains for the Wonderverse.

1. The Cheetah = I'd like a merged version who is primarily Priscilla Rich, but who is also (in the same person) Debbie, Barbara, and Sebastian.

2. Paula von Gunther = unapologetic, unrepentant, irredeemable, immortal Nazi

3. Giganta = visually, vastly prefer her CHALLENGE OF THE SUPER-FRIENDS look to her JL/U look

4. Doctor Psycho = again, NOT a little person, but a tall, charismatic, telepathic Ted Bundy type

5. Silver Swan = go back to a mystical Faustian deal origins, and really play up the angelic visage and physical powers

6. Gundra the Valkyrie = not a public domain character, reads like an evil Sif

7. Genocide = too much like Doomsday and Bane (to a lesser degree) in the one-note dept, this one would need a complete rewrite and makeover

[WonderScott]

Seven is too few amongst all the interesting Amazonian adversaries, but here goes:

1. Ares
2. Cheetah
3. Circe
4. Doctor Psycho
5. Superwoman
6. Giganta
7. Eviless

My apologies to Angle Man, Queen of Fables, Queen Clea, Doctor Cyber, Doctor Poison, the Mask, the Gentleman Kilker, and many others.

[Nyssane]

Difficult, but my seven are:

1. Cheetah - The face of Wonder Woman's rogues gallery, her Lex Luthor or Joker.
2. Circe - Her big bad, her Darkseid or Ra's al Ghul.
3. Doctor Cyber - A perfect representation of "modern deities," a digital goddess.
4. Queen Clea - Aquaman be damned, she's too perfect of a dark parallel to Diana and the Amazons to pass up.
5. Doctor Psycho - I'd specifically only leave him as her "male" villain as he perfectly represents toxic masculinity.
6. Veronica Cale - Wonder Woman's "human" enemy.
7. Medusa - Joining Circe in the mythological side of Wonder Woman's rogues.

I'd ditch Ares since beyond his initial appearance starting Diana's journey, he's been a failure of a villain and doesn't have many stories backing him. He should be left in the past like Baroness Von Gunther.

Giganta has already basically been adopted by the general DC Universe rather than the Wonder Woman corner, so her transition would be easy. Doctor Poison and Silver Swan, too.

[SiegePerilous02]

Cheetah
Circe
Ares- though like Nyssane, I think he has limited use
Veronica Cale
Dr. Psycho
Silver Swan
Dr. Cyber

[daBronzeBomma]

Ok, third and final version, reincorporating the public domain characters.

1. Cheetah = polar opposite
2. Circe = link to the past
3. Giganta = the visuals alone qualify her
4. Paula von Gunther = alt-right immortal
5. Herakles = chivalry run amok
6. Doctor Psycho = tall, telepathic Ted Bundy
7. ...

So, here's a question for the 7th and final spot: I want an overlord type for her rogues gallery.

I just find Ares/Mars to be such a big disappointment (her DCEU movie only amplified this feeling), but he does have the Wonderverse history and pedigree.

Queen Clea, well, I don't buy that she doesn't go over to the Aquaverse as a free agent to pump up box office king Arthur's own top-heavy figures gallery (seriously, after Black Manta and Ocean Master, who else is there?).

What about Zeus himself as a recurring overlord rogue?

Is Zeus a better overlord enemy for Diana than Ares?

No single visage represents the Patriarchy more than the face of Zeus. His actual mythological history reads like a litany of crimes against women. I don't for a moment buy him as a good guy.

Alright, I'm sold:

7. Zeus

[The I.A.D.C.]

1. The Cheetah. This is her Joker. Her Lex Luthor. She's been around the longest (with the exception of Dr. Psycho and Ares) and has the most appearances in media outside of the comics, ie "Super Friends" and "Justice League" cartoons and merchandising and the upcoming WW84 movie.

2. Doctor Psycho. Again, he's got history on his side showing up way back in WW #5 during the Golden Age. He's a just an old-fashioned "woman-hater" which makes him a perfect adversary for Diana. I loved what Morrison did with him in the second Earth 1 story.

3. Doctor Cyber. I think Rucka and other writers have played into the "cyber" part of her name and made her into something she wasn't originally intended to be. I thought she was a much stronger character in her original incarnation as a glorified James Bond villain running a global criminal organization. I would make C.Y.B.E.R. an acronym for that organization with the Doctor as its head. I don't mind if cybernetics and all the computer technology are a big part of that, but the Doctor herself should be a ruthless flesh-and-blood human, not an artificial intelligence.

4. Circe. As someone else stated Circe is her big bad. Her Darkseid. Her Ra's al Ghul. And as such, she should be used sparingly. I thought Perez did a great job of establishing why she hated Diana specifically in her first story during his run (WW v2 #19.). In both the New52 and Rebirth I have yet to understand her enmity toward Diana versus all the other Amazons.

5. Baroness Von Gunther. Again, going back to the history books here. She was Diana's first recurring adversary. I know a big part of her original story was that she was eventually reformed and became one of the Amazon's chief scientists, but I think it would be fun to have her back in the mix of WW villains. She's a classic and should be brought back. I loved her brief appearance in the "Brave and the Bold" cartoon.

6. The Silver Swan. Go back to the original. Helen Alexandros, the agent of Ares who has to destroy/undermine WW in order to maintain her "beauty." The Perez version (Valerie) while visually stunning never really had a personal vendetta against Diana. It was more the mobster who was controlling her. A good villain should have a personal grudge against the hero. Helen did. I despise Vanessa as the Swan and prefer to just forget that version altogether.

7. The Angle Man. Use Phil Jimenez's version and let's all pretend we never saw someone called Anglette back in Robinson's run, shall we.

As you can see, other than Circe, I'm not a big fan of the mythological monsters and villains. I don't think Ares should be one of the main villains. He's a god. I don't think he should "soil" himself by direct interference with mankind. He should have his "peons" do his dirty work for him (ie Duke of Deception, Silver Swan) As a god, there should be a bit of mystery about him. I think the gods lose some of their "awe and wonderment" when they are depicted as physical (often human) beings. Gods are more spiritual beings and as such, should be have more an an influencer role than an actual physical presence. Just my opinion on that.

I love and enjoy reading Wonder Woman as a super hero first and foremost. The mythological stuff doesn't really interest me. It's great to have it as your background and give her roots and origins in classical myth, but it shouldn't be the be-all and end-off of her adventures.

[Jcogginsa]

With the Caveat that Paula Von Gunther is a member of her supporting cast as a reformed villain

1. Cheetah
2. Circe
3. Ares
4. Silver Swan
5. Gundra
6. Dr. Psycho
7. Doctor Cyber

[marhawkman]

1, 2: Cheetah and Giganta are classic enemies.

3: Circe is flamboyant and the kind of villain who makes a great crossover villain.

4: Eris, gods as enemies is a given, but most NEED to be limited to big stories. Eris though is minor enough that you can have her as a regular enemy.

5: Veronica Cale is a good choice for human mastermind

6: Doctor Cyber is good to use as an opponent that fights by proxy and never in person.

7: Devastation, needs at least one enemy that can out-fight WW.

A long time ago I read a piece written by Richard Garfield that listed what he considered to be the requirements for a well written villain. One was that to be a threat the villain needs to have something they do better than the hero. For the list I made:
Cheetah: More ferocious. Cheetah can kill people faster than a normal person can blink.
Giganta: Brute force. Giganta is so strong she is more a problem to be solved than an enemy to be fought.
Circe: Magic. Circe is a god-tier(literally) witch and someone that needs more esoteric solutions.
Eris: Goddess. As an Olympian(Circe isn't), Eris has all sorts of resources beyond her (vast) innate powers.
Veronica Cale: Businesswoman. Veronica Cale has the money to do things most people only dream of.
Doctor Cyber: Techno-mage. Man's world has tech everywhere, and tech is Cyber's weapon of choice.
Devastation: Evil Warrior. Deva is one of very few villains who fights with skill over brute force, though she has a lot of power. She's the sort of foe who won't hesitate to sucker punch you and actively looks for opportunities.

Also it's nice to have a variety.

[The I.A.D.C.]

I feel like reading these replies just solidifies that Diana has a good rogues gallery already.

Yes, the raw materials are there for a writer willing to put in the work. One the major issues that has hindered WW's Rogues over the decades is that unlike Superman and Batman, WW has only had one title which isn't a lot of space to utilize and flesh out a majority of her villains. It was probably easier to do back in the Golden and Silver Age when every issue had three or four stories in them, but now there's only one WW title on the shelves every month and a majority of the writers in the last 20 years have only wanted to use Cheetah and Circe again and again when they're not using the mythological characters like Ares and Medusa. If you made a list of the WW's villains it would be an impressive roster, but if you start to look at how many times they've been used since their creation it can get pretty one-sided in favor of Cheetah and Circe...who I love, but it would be nice to see some others get the spotlight every once in a while.

[BiteTheBullet]

Looking through these posts, nobody has mentioned the 1st born yet , I wonder why

[Vordan]

Looking through these posts, nobody has mentioned the 1st born yet , I wonder why

Because he sucks lmao. But I haven’t seen anyone pick Devastation or Genocide either. Big hulking brutes whose only attribute is “hits harder” is lame. Doomsday is also a pretty shallow and boring character for that reason.

Edit: Looks like someone did pick Devestation, so I’ll take the L on this one.

[Lex Luthor]

Yes, the raw materials are there for a writer willing to put in the work. One the major issues that has hindered WW's Rogues over the decades is that unlike Superman and Batman, WW has only had one title which isn't a lot of space to utilize and flesh out a majority of her villains. It was probably easier to do back in the Golden and Silver Age when every issue had three or four stories in them, but now there's only one WW title on the shelves every month and a majority of the writers in the last 20 years have only wanted to use Cheetah and Circe again and again when they're not using the mythological characters like Ares and Medusa. If you made a list of the WW's villains it would be an impressive roster, but if you start to look at how many times they've been used since their creation it can get pretty one-sided in favor of Cheetah and Circe...who I love, but it would be nice to see some others get the spotlight every once in a while.

Yeah the raw materials for them are there but I think thats true for everything about Wonder Woman. She really doesn't need to be "fixed" but she needs to be updated and taken more seriously.


Also I noticed some people said Ares hasn't been a real threat, but I think part of that is just how he's been treated in Greek Myth because he never had a lot of focus and when he did the Greeks seemed to have hated him/made fun of him.

[Nero]

1. Circe
2. Cheetah
3. Ares
4. Doctor Psycho
5. Dr. Poison
6. Queen Clea
7. Veronica Cale