Revamp a Wonder Woman villain

[Jcogginsa]

Here's the scenario: DC has done yet another reboot, and now you have the opportunity to revamp Diana's Rogues gallery with no baggage. What do you do?

I'll start with an example. One of the characters in the conversation for Diana's archenemesis: Circe.



To me, Villains need a strong point of thematic contrast with the hero, and for Circe and Diana, that contrast would be Compassion. Diana cares about everyone, She's willing to help anyone. Circe, by contrast, is a hedonist. She cares about herself first, a small number of family second, and could give a rat's ass about anyone else. She's essentially a magic female Rick Sanchez.

[Gaius]

Hmm. Kirby originally intended the Old Gods in his Fourth World stories to have been the Norse Pantheon so building off that and connecting to a WW villain I'd make Gundra one of the few (maybe only in this universe) survivors of Ragnarok. Her motivations being unable to accept the destruction of her people, she goes about trying to revive it or turn Earth into a New Asgard.

[Jcogginsa]

Hmm. Kirby originally intended the Old Gods in his Fourth World stories to have been the Norse Pantheon so building off that and connecting to a WW villain I'd make Gundra one of the few (maybe only in this universe) survivors of Ragnarok. Her motivations being unable to accept the destruction of her people, she goes about trying to revive it or turn Earth into a New Asgard.

What if she was obsessed with carrying out her mission as a valkyrie even after the destruction of her pantheon has rendered it moot? Play her as someone unable to change with the times.

[Perseus]

What if she was obsessed with carrying out her mission as a valkyrie even after the destruction of her pantheon has rendered it moot? Play her as someone unable to change with the times.

Like... she keeps bringing fallen warriors to Valhalla except Valhalla is in ruin, the souls have no true peace after death, and it messes with the balance of life and death pissing off other ferrymen of the dead.

Maybe she could find and wield Mjolnir and Gungnir as part of her arsenal.

I had this concept with her trying to bring back her Valkyrie sisters (Sigrun, Rota, etc...) and in the process she meets Dr. Cyber. So, Cyber creates new bodies for them, made from fourth world level technology, and Gundra takes her sisters' soul essence and places them in the bodies. Now you got cyborg undead Valkyries that use old Norse magic and weaponry. I think its a pretty unique concept.

[Gaius]

What if she was obsessed with carrying out her mission as a valkyrie even after the destruction of her pantheon has rendered it moot? Play her as someone unable to change with the times.

Kind of what I was going for. Idea I had were her trying to revive dead figures from Norse mythology using either dark/occult magic or comic book pseudo-science (so alliances with other WW rogues) in attempts to artificially turn back history.

[Mutant God]

White Magician - A small time magician who made a deal the Dark Gods to grant him great power and turns out to be a spy for Godwatch or Villainy Inc

Kung - An elderly martial artist mercenary who always sneaks away form a fight with Wonder Woman

[PopQuezy]

I've said this in another thread, but a character I would like to see revamped is The Mask. I would use her basis, as I understand it, for the foundation of her revamp. She is a battered wife, but in my version, she is presumed to be killed by her husband. Ares, however, grants her the power to transform into red smoke - this is both to illustrate her intense rage and to be a symbol of corrupted love. As this newly powered villainous, The Mask is a serial killer who kills men who have wronged their wives by transforming into smoke, suffocating them, and then placing a mask over their face as her signature.

In my mind, this should be a highly decorative mask - think like a Day of the Dead mask. Her color scheme should be red and white or red and black, and I would also make her Latina.

I like how The Mask, in this revamp, is a street-level villain small enough to give Steve Trevor and the Goodfellas (is that their name? It's been a while since I've seen the movie) a challenge, her ability to transform into smoke still makes her a credible threat to Wonder Woman, and she also has a tie to Greek mythology without truly being born from it.

[Jcogginsa]

Kind of what I was going for. Idea I had were her trying to revive dead figures from Norse mythology using either dark/occult magic or comic book pseudo-science (so alliances with other WW rogues) in attempts to artificially turn back history.

Another element could be that she regularly attempts to murder soldiers, to bolster the ranks of Valhalla, which was part of her job before the fall of Asgard.

[Mel Dyer]

I think Diana would be in my Clea's way, and that their relationship wouldn't go much farther, than that. While I can't imagine Diana finding any humanity in her, I can imagine Clea developing the sort of grudging admiration of Diana that Circe has, ..somewhere down a very long road.

Hmm. Kirby originally intended the Old Gods in his Fourth World stories to have been the Norse Pantheon so building off that and connecting to a WW villain I'd make Gundra one of the few (maybe only in this universe) survivors of Ragnarok. Her motivations being unable to accept the destruction of her people, she goes about trying to revive it or turn Earth into a New Asgard.

Do you see your Gundra living as a spirit, inside the new Warmaster, even possessing her, ..or in a physical body of her own?

I love how you incorporated the Ragnarok into her origin, by the way. Do you see Gundra, in any form, being Diana's natural archenemy?

[Gaius]

Another element could be that she regularly attempts to murder soldiers, to bolster the ranks of Valhalla, which was part of her job before the fall of Asgard.

Yeah, that could be interesting. Maybe she's incurred the wrath of other afterlife figures because she's been pillaging the souls of people who didn't worship or believe in her pantheon.

Do you see your Gundra living as a spirit, inside the new Warmaster, even possessing her, ..or in a physical body of her own?

I love how you incorporated the Ragnarok into her origin, by the way. Do you see Gundra, in any form, being Diana's natural archenemy?

Hmm, I guess she could be if writers wanted to play up the whole "Amazon vs. Valkyrie" but she'd probably serve better as the evil mirror counterpart like Bizzaro or Zod than what they've been trying to do with Grail.

[WonderScott]

Lately, I’ve been working on Eviless, Dark Angel, Osira, Duke Dazam, and a couple other surprises.

[Agent Z]

Zara - in my version, she is an ifrit, a creature of fire.

Minister Blizzard - he is reimagined as the human half of Jack Frost who was split into two. He reunites with his other half and becomes whole again.

Giganta - One of the Greek giants.

Dr Psycho - He's no longer a little person and is psychology major who was thrown out of college for unethical practices. He becomes a serial killer after attaining demonic powers.

[AmiMizuno]

Blue Snow. An eco terrorist and a teacher at Holliday College
Giganta: A woman who used amazonian tech to heal herself
Dr.Cyber and Dr.Posion:BUssiness weapon parnters.

[Mel Dyer]

...My Clea seems more of a Vandal Savage sort, than the Kurgan was, and I see her alternating between her signature armor and contemporary clothing - liking it, very much, in fact. While I like that Clea is an ancient, like Circe, I also like that she is more of a physical character, like the Cheetah. With Clea, we can expect apocalyptic, bare-knuckled brawls and sword battles. When I imagine an apocalyptic scene, with Diana battling her perennial archenemy in the flaming ruins, I think that foe needs to be a physical match for her. I think Clea, combining what is best in Circe and Cheetah, could become that archenemy.

As with Cheetah, I think Clea would benefit from being opened up and broader, such that writers can do more things, with her. Junking the Atlantaean origin, which makes her feel more like an Aquaman antagonist, might be the biggest improvement we could give her. It would make her a stronger, more versatile character, if only because there's so much you can imagine doing with her, in a story, without it.

The biggest weakness of my retconned Clea, as with the present character, ..is that she seems irredeemable. She will never join the JLA, never be Diana's friend. Like her father and Highlander's Kurgan, her sole motivation will be the wholesale subjugation of all sentient life on Earth, ..even Wonder Dog. She is a godless, blood-drinking monster, who will pile our rotting corpses up into the clouds, until she conquers the world, because that's all that makes her happy, ..and there is nothing Diana or anyone can do to change. In that, a long history with Diana would offer very few surprises for readers.

I would add one thing to my revamp of Clea, establishing her as Diana's natural archenemy. I would make Queen Clea an Obi-gone'wrong, like the Nolan Batman's Ras Al Ghul.

With the New 52 history gone, ..Diana recalls the new Clea, as an eccentric giantess, who lived on a nearby island to Themyscira. Defying the warnings of her mother and the other Amazons, Diana befriends Clea, fascinated by her stories of adventures in ancient lands and her bizarre collection of trophies. Clea's training Diana in fighting and strategy takes a dark, brutal turn, until another friend, teenaged Mer Boy, reveals Clea's past - that she's the First Born's daughter and the ousted conqueror of Atlantean colony, Aurania. When Mer Boy shows Diana the buried ruins of Clea's island home (not Aurania), proving that she slaughtered its original inhabitants, ..Clea kills him! Confronted by Diana, Clea reveals her desire of turning Diana into a blood-drinking, conquest-driven monster, like herself, ..and corrupting the daughter of Zeus, who wiped her father's world-spanning empire, from the face of the Earth! Barely escaping their fight, with her life, Diana returns to Themyscira,..and Clea disappears.

As the First Born's daughter, who watched Zeus and the Olympians destroy her father and wipe all memory of him from the world, ..can we empathize with Clea? Though she is a classic grotesque, does she deserve her ambitions of reclaiming the destiny, her father was cheated of? Maybe...

Their mutual enmity isn't about revenge for Mer Boy's death...oh no, no. It is driven...fueled ..by Diana's horror that Clea tried to infect her, with an appetite for conquest, ..no matter how large or small, ..and that Diana embraced it! Recalling her time with Clea, Diana must admit to herself that, when the cause is just, a part of her enjoys defeating and subjugating her enemies. Will defeating Clea lay her battle lust to rest or complete Clea's work, making her Clea's greatest conquest?

That is what the Wonder Woman comic is missing: an enmity that threatens what is most precious to Diana, ..her Amazon mission to protect the world from conquest, by beings, like Clea. Against this new Clea, Diana's fears of failure, as an Amazon and servant of Aphrodite, become unshakeable, ..bordering on obsession. Diana's ruined friendship with Cheetah just leaves her chasing a crazed killer, whom Diana would rather save, than destroy. Comparatively speaking, the stakes, as I see them, aren't high enough with Bar Minerva. My revamp would position Clea, as the enemy, who haunts Diana's nightmares, ..from which she wakes up, screaming.

Truthfully, the same scenario could have been applied to Cheetah or even Warmaster. Considering the continuity and timeline problems it creates for future storytelling, namely making Steve and Diana old enough to be Warmaster's parents, ..why she was made Diana's mentee or protegee makes no sense to me. The Obi-wrong backstory might be cliched, but, it secures a meaningful, clear (very important), self-sustaining enmity for Diana, with a major female super-villain, who has been around, since the Golden Age.

Yeah...Clea's another red-haired badguy. Maybe, I would do something to make her look less, like Hippolyta and Giganta's love child ..or Lex Luthor's cosplaying sister. Check out my fan movie to see Clea, with a slightly weirder, more monstrous look...

[Agent Z]

I would add on ething to my revamp of Clea, establishing her as Diana's natural archenemy. I would make Queen Clea an Obi-gone'wrong, like the Nolan Batman's Ras Al Ghul.

With the New 52 history gone, ..Diana recalls the new Clea, as an eccentric giantess, who lived on a nearby island to Themyscira. Defying the warnings of her mother and the other Amazons, Diana befriends Clea, fascinated by her stories of adventures in ancient lands and her bizarre collection of trophies. Clea's training Diana in fighting and strategy takes a dark, brutal turn, until another friend, teenaged Mer Boy, reveals Clea's past - that she's the First Born's daughter and the ousted conqueror of Atlantean colony, Aurania. When Mer Boy shows Diana the buried ruins of Clea's island home (not Aurania), proving that she slaughtered its original inhabitants, ..Clea kills him! Confronted by Diana, Clea reveals her desire of turning Diana into a blood-drinking, conquest-driven monster, like herself, ..and corrupting the daughter of Zeus, who wiped her father's world-spanning empire, from the face of the Earth! Barely escaping their fight, with her life, Diana returns to Themyscira,..and Clea disappears.

As the First Born's daughter, who watched Zeus and the Olympians destroy her father and wipe all memory of him from the world, ..can we empathize with Clea? Though she is a classic grotesque, does she deserve her ambitions of reclaiming the destiny, her father was cheated of? Maybe...

Their mutual enmity isn't about revenge for Mer Boy's death...oh no, no. It is driven...fueled ..by Diana's horror that Clea tried to infect her, with an appetite for conquest, ..no matter how large or small, ..and that Diana embraced it! Recalling her time with Clea, Diana must admit to herself that, when the cause is just, a part of her enjoys defeating and subjugating her enemies. Will defeating Clea lay her battle lust to rest or complete Clea's work, making her Clea's greatest conquest?

That is what the Wonder Woman comic is missing: an enmity that threatens what is most precious to Diana, ..her Amazon mission to protect the world from conquest, by beings, like Clea. Against this new Clea, Diana's fears of failure, as an Amazon and servant of Aphrodite, become unshakeable, ..bordering on obsession. Diana's ruined friendship with Cheetah just leaves her chasing a crazed killer, whom Diana would rather save, than destroy. Comparatively speaking, the stakes, as I see them, aren't high enough with Bar Minerva. My revamp would position Clea, as the enemy, who haunts Diana's nightmares, ..from which she wakes up, screaming.

Truthfully, the same scenario could have been applied to Cheetah or even Warmaster. Considering the continuity and timeline problems it creates for future storytelling, namely making Steve and Diana old enough to be Warmaster's parents, ..why she was made Diana's mentee or protegee makes no sense to me. The Obi-wrong backstory might be cliched, but, it secures a meaningful, clear (very important), self-sustaining enmity for Diana, with a major female super-villain, who has been around, since the Golden Age.

Yeah...Clea's another red-haired badguy. Maybe, I would do something to make her look less, like Hippolyta and Giganta's love child ..or Lex Luthor's cosplaying sister. Check out my fan movie to see Clea, with a slightly weirder, more monstrous look...

So why hasn't Diana just killed her if she's so monstrous?