Where should Diana's powers come from, and what should they be?

[Perseus]

I've noted that you bring that up a lot, more or less as fact.

First, the references to Hippolyta being Ares's daughter are very few. The only one that I can find is from the Fabulae, and that means it's Roman, it's late, and entirely lacking in story. So I'd feel entirely justified in skipping that piece of lore.

Second, from the beginning the Wonder Woman Amazons have been a secret history of the DC universe, giving a reframing of the Greek myths. So even if that piece of lore was better sourced, I'd still think it'd be something that could be glossed over.

Third, what would it say about Hippolyta or the rest of the Amazons if Hippolyta was the daughter of Ares? Both Marston and Pérez infused the Amazons with purpose, and simply giving Hippolyta Ares for a father doesn't fit that purpose very well. If it doesn't serve the Amazon story, then just skip that piece of lore.

Now, if you wanted to make Hippolyte (or some other Amazon) the daughter of Prometheus, then we're talking. That has mythological resonances left, right, and centre.

I just use that because its what the general populace thinks, didn't know it had shaky origins, every site I've been on used it as fact, just went to Otrera's page on Theoi and read the passage. To me, it didn't seem as damning as "Hercules was a good guy" or "Zeus just sleeps around".

In Rucka's second run he mentioned that Hippolyta was the 10th queen on the amazons, so I imagine all the queens before her were the ones in myth. In this case the 9th queen being Otrera. previous queens could also be "real ones" or made up ones, and not all of them need to think alike.

I don't think it needs to say anything outside of Ares and one previous queen had a thing. I could say that this would be the start of the Greek propaganda against the amazons, the whole daughters of Ares thing began here. Or that Ares wanted to claim that he had some ownership of the amazons and what better way then to claim that 3 or 4 of the queens children are also his. Or he disguised himself as a mortal and tricked Otrera. Or maybe he genuinely fell in love. Or maybe its everything I mentioned combined. Ares is a complex villain, when written by someone like Rucka, his relationship/history with Diana and in turn the amazons is rather interesting and deep to me, it wouldn't surprise me if he started one thing and ended up doing another. And this brings that element of family drama that I think DC wanted with the Zeus origin, without needing the Zeus origin.

I mean sure, I think this is one of the instants where you can have both.

[WonderScott]

We seldom talk about Diana Prince, but one of her powers is being chic as Hell... errrr... Hades.

I love that Diana Prince in the cinematic universe has Glamazon powers.

[Phoenixx9]

We seldom talk about Diana Prince, but one of her powers is being chic as Hell... errrr... Hades.

I love that Diana Prince in the cinematic universe has Glamazon powers.

Hahaha, yes, good point! This is often overlooked by fans.

[kjn]

Now, I'm not principally opposed to the Amazons being related in some way to Ares, after all, it has some support in myth. But at the same time I ask myself what the purpose would be? The Amazons, as Marston created them and Pérez reenvisioned them were crafted with a specific intent by the Greek goddesses. Having them be the daughters of Ares messes with that purpose in exactly the same way as having them be the daughters of Zeus, or any other god. All it does is complicate their story, and introduce men into Diana's backstory in some form of the Paternal Narrative.

If I were the Wonder Woman editor, I'd give any writer giving a pitch like that a serious listen, but I'd be very reluctant to introduce it into Diana's core stories, and would advise any writer to drop that aspect unless it was at the core of their story, and it was a helluva good story.

[AmiMizuno]

Well it depends if we go by Marston Aphrodite and Ares were husband and wife. We know that’s not the case. But the two could still have had Hippolyta and her sisters through an affair. And so Ares enslaved the Amazons which is how they got the bracelets. however, the Amazons see the violence and destruction they have caused and have fight their Ares and lock him up. They gave up their god powers. Well Hippolyta and her sisters. I don’t think all Amazons would be his children just the main ones.

[Perseus]

Well it depends if we go by Marston Aphrodite and Ares were husband and wife. We know that’s not the case. But the two could still have had Hippolyta and her sisters through an affair. And so Ares enslaved the Amazons which is how they got the bracelets. however, the Amazons see the violence and destruction they have caused and have fight their Ares and lock him up. They gave up their god powers. Well Hippolyta and her sisters. I don’t think all Amazons would be his children just the main ones.

Hippolyta and her sisters Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesila would be the only daughters of Ares imo. Their mother was or would be an amazon queen, specifically Otrera, making them demigods not gods. If Aphro and Ares had kids they would be full gods, not something that Hippolyta ever was. The origin can remain relatively the same as Perez. Hippolyta is Ares's daughter, rumor spreads that she's superior to an man, Hercules gets his ninth labor and partially tries to prove the rumor wrong, they meet and fight, Hippolyta wins, Herc tricks her and the amazons enslaving them, amazons free themselves, leave for the island.

[AmiMizuno]

Hippolyta and her sisters Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesila would be the only daughters of Ares imo. Their mother was or would be an amazon queen, specifically Otrera, making them demigods not gods. If Aphro and Ares had kids they would be full gods, not something that Hippolyta ever was. The origin can remain relatively the same as Perez. Hippolyta is Ares's daughter, rumor spreads that she's superior to an man, Hercules gets his ninth labor and partially tries to prove the rumor wrong, they meet and fight, Hippolyta wins, Herc tricks her and the amazons enslaving them, amazons free themselves, leave for the island.

True. Them being Demi-gods what kind of power would that bring? I mean Hippoltya's griddle in Martson's makes the Amazons unbeaten. If such an item were to be brought about in the comics how does that work? In a sense, I often thought that made the AMazons strong as demi gods

[Perseus]

True. Them being Demi-gods what kind of power would that bring? I mean Hippoltya's griddle in Martson's makes the Amazons unbeaten. If such an item were to be brought about in the comics how does that work? In a sense, I often thought that made the AMazons strong as demi gods

Well, I definitely think being demigods should make them more powerful then a regular amazon; stronger, faster, tougher. Hippolyta was already that. The girdle to my knowledge was just a belt in the myth, it was given as a gift from Ares to his daughters, it symbolized amazon royalty and power. If I were to put that into comics without turning it into a instant win card, I'd have it posses a blessing of Ares: the longer the wearer is in a fight the stronger and faster they become. It's not a instant power boost and really only takes affect in long battles, this would be my explanation as to why Diana could hold her own against people like Ares/Darkseid, who are insanely more powerful, for long periods of time. The wearer can still get tired and take damage, its not a total stat boost.

[Ascended]

Not reading all these pages right now, but....

For the sake of DC and their inability to write Diana well and consistently, my answers are "Powers are godly blessings consisting of Superman-like strength, durability, speed, and flight" with the bracers able to deflect anything (Medusa's glare attack, Darkseid's Omega effect, anything) and the lasso forcing people to answer questions truthfully (or truthfully as they perceive it). Along with assorted armor/weapons as needed, with maybe the godslayer sword being a recurring "guest." That all should be simple enough for DC to keep track of and utilize properly.

If I had things my way, it's far more complex and polarizing. Talked about this before with some of you over in the "controversial" thread so won't bore y'all with details. TL;DR is I'd bring Diana closer to her mythological roots, instead of her being just another flying brick. She'd still have all the flying brick powers, but it'd only be one facet of her talents. Her powers would be her own; natural Amazon biology and training as well as abilities innate to her as a divine being (like being able to detect lies). I've no opinion either way on the Amazons worshiping the male gods, but the ones who bring Diana to life would all be female.

The bracelets and lasso would work as I described above (both unbreakable of course) except the lasso would have a few more abilities, like being somewhat animated. Diana would still have an assortment of equipment available for particular missions. I'd also use the invisible jet as her mobile HQ. It'd be a Argus designed, prototype stealth bomber, large enough to live in, carry an armory, supplies, etc., equipped with weapons designed to fight high-level superhumans.....and mentally controlled by Diana via neural uplink glued to her tiara.

[AmiMizuno]

Okay I’m a idiot. Pre-Crisis has the Griddle make the Amazons unbeatable. I meant to say if you were to being the griddle’s abilities back how would you chance it. The griddle has boosted all the Amazons not just Hippolyta.

[Perseus]

Okay I’m a idiot. Pre-Crisis has the Griddle make the Amazons unbeatable. I meant to say if you were to being the griddle’s abilities back how would you chance it. The griddle has boosted all the Amazons not just Hippolyta.

Well I would remove the boost to all the amazons and make it wearer specific.

[AmiMizuno]

Well I would remove the boost to all the amazons and make it wearer specific.

So if Hippoltya is already a demi-goddess how strong is she with the griddle?

[Perseus]

So if Hippoltya is already a demi-goddess how strong is she with the griddle?

The girdle doesn't give an instant boost, its an overtime passive. Her strength and speed would slowly increase the longer she is in a battle, there is no defined limit to it. You know how Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets, replace anger with time. Hippolyta already possess the strength of 10 amazons, with the girdle it would start the same but over time it would increase.

Imagine playing a video game and one of the bosses mechanics is that the longer the time it takes to fight him the stronger and faster his attacks get. You can still hurt him, he can even still get tired but as long as that timer goes up... he starts by hitting you for 100hp, a minute in then its 150hp, then 250hp, and so on and so on. You get it?

[AmiMizuno]

The girdle doesn't give an instant boost, its an overtime passive. Her strength and speed would slowly increase the longer she is in a battle, there is no defined limit to it. You know how Hulk gets stronger the angrier he gets, replace anger with time. Hippolyta already possess the strength of 10 amazons, with the girdle it would start the same but over time it would increase.

Imagine playing a video game and one of the bosses mechanics is that the longer the time it takes to fight him the stronger and faster his attacks get. You can still hurt him, he can even still get tired but as long as that timer goes up... he starts by hitting you for 100hp, a minute in then its 150hp, then 250hp, and so on and so on. You get it?

Since she has lived so long I had an idea that due to the battles she been in she is very powerful. That she doesn't lose all the strength she has gain through out the centuries

[Perseus]

Since she has lived so long I had an idea that due to the battles she been in she is very powerful. That she doesn't lose all the strength she has gain through out the centuries

If you're referring to the girdle then once the fight is over the belt goes back to being a belt. The strength and speed boost doesn't stay, that would be way to powerful to keep track of. Remember that in order for the amazons to move to the island Hippolyta would lose the girdle to Hercules, not in combat but in trickery just as Perez showed. Diana eventually gets it back and it becomes a part of her gear.