Modern Villainy Inc members:
Is Circe, as revised by James Tynion IV, currently the only Wonder Woman foe with a struggle ..or the greatest, most tragic struggle? As I see it, she's the only Wonder-villain I can almost root for, because she's been messed over so badly by the Greek gods and the humans, who totally betrayed her. https://wondabunga.blogspot.com/2021...g-bad-ask.html
COMBINING THE BIGBADITUDE OF THANOS WITH CHEETAH'S FEROCITY, IS JANUS WONDER WOMAN'S GREATEST SUPERVILLAIN?...on WONDABUNGA!!! Look alive, Kangaliers!
Currently(or soon to be) Reading: Alan Scott: Green Lantern, Batman/Superman: World's Finest, Fire & Ice: Welcome to Smallville, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Jay Garrick: The Flash, Justice Society of America, Power Girl, Superman, Shazam, Titans, Wesley Dodds: Sandman, Wonder Woman, & World's Finest: Teen Titans.
Barbara, Veronica, Adrianna and even Ares all had a tragic struggle.
-Barbara being manipulated by the Greek gods and Veronica into becoming Cheetah. Being abused by Urzkartaga for years. Has to endure a curse that puts her in great physical pain if she doesn't consume human flesh.
-Veronica literally minding her own business until Ares brat sons stole her daughters soul to black mail her into doing their dirty work. And when she finally did get her daughter back after all those years she had to leave her on Themyscira or else her soul would be split again.
-Adrianna being murdered by her own machine to help Veronica. She knew it would probably happen and she did it anyway because she's a good friend.
-Ares being turned mad because of humanities endless wars. He chose the be locked up on Themyscira to save his sanity.
So yeah, plenty of Wonder Woman villains have tragic backstories, the difference is Tynion IV did his homework and some of the writers who came after Rucka didn't. So their characterization kind of fluctuates depending on who's writing.
Last edited by I'm a Fish; 01-24-2021 at 07:02 AM.
I guess it's subjective. Barbara, Veronica, Adrianna and even Ares--I don't really have much sympathy for these super-villains, who either messed themselves up or were just crummy people, like Bar Minerva. I don't think any of them really deserve to succeed, except the revised Circe--is that Rebirth Circe?
I don't feel the same sympathy for George Perez's Circe, who, depressed over getting dumped by Odysseus, basically laid around on an island, for centuries, ..screwing sailors and turning them into animals. What's so ingenious about what Tynion did ..is that he took the root of the Circe myth and built a new character, around it, ..whose motivation for villainy actually makes sense.
Again, I guess it's subjective. Thanks for answering my question.
Last edited by Mel Dyer; 01-24-2021 at 09:50 AM.
COMBINING THE BIGBADITUDE OF THANOS WITH CHEETAH'S FEROCITY, IS JANUS WONDER WOMAN'S GREATEST SUPERVILLAIN?...on WONDABUNGA!!! Look alive, Kangaliers!
Circe kinda messed herself up too, she beat her abusive husband to death the day after their wedding, strung him up in a buttery and paraded around the castle covered in his blood and was surprised when people had a negative reaction to that. Not that I'm complaining about her origin, it's all very in-character and a fun origin.
She was obviously very self-entitled to a fault. She was told her whole life she was beautiful. She though the people would take her side, a total stranger, over their own prince (I'm not saying what the prince did was right, he was a jerk, but she just assumed his family and kingdom would be ok with his death because SHE thought he deserved it). She demanded the Gods to answer her, and when Hecate did, she flat-out told Hecate she deserved her power consequences be damned.
Even now, her whole reason behind everything she does is Justice League Dark is because she feels SHE'S entitled to Hecate's power. Because SHE thinks she can handle it better than Hecate could, but offers no evidence that she would turn out any different than Hecate. She dug herself deeper and deeper and ignored Diana's warnings, but it the end it was Diana who gave her a second chance.
And I'm not complaining about any of this. I think in order to be a villain, you have to be self-destructive. You have to be unable to see what you are doing to yourself until it is to late, and even after the fact, you do it all over again.
As I recall from Tynion's revision in JLD, his Circe celebrated for her healing arts--so, she was doing good in the world, before she was forced to marry the unnamed pig, she butchered. Walking around in blood-soaked clothes, might Circe, the healer and abused wife, have been in shock, after being forced to kill her husband to save her own life? Being a spiritualist, did she call out to the Greek gods to save her life, before she killed him. Furthermore, she looks very young in his story and might have been a teenager, when Colchis betrayed her and chased her into Hell.
It's that deliberate choosing of villainy, which makes her special, I think. Tynion layers the Rebirth Circe with some very sound reasons for her contempt for mankind, ALL of us, and how that contempt puts her squarely in Wonder Woman's path. She's very deliberate being, upon finding Hecate and choosing revenge on the Colchistines...humanity--we agree on that much.
Last edited by Mel Dyer; 01-24-2021 at 11:32 AM.
COMBINING THE BIGBADITUDE OF THANOS WITH CHEETAH'S FEROCITY, IS JANUS WONDER WOMAN'S GREATEST SUPERVILLAIN?...on WONDABUNGA!!! Look alive, Kangaliers!