Wonder Woman Rogues Gallery Appreciation 2021

[Gaius]

[Frontier]

She dated The Atom .

[Psy-lock]

I’ve enjoyed Rucka’s take on Barbara Ann Minerva, but I’m ready to get back to the Perez version too. One of my favorite things about Barbara Minerva is Barbara Minerva. Perez gave her faults and weaknesses, but she was also ruthless and Machiavellian. If someone is going to sit around with Lex Luthor and Ra’s al Ghul plotting the destruction of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and the Justice League it should be Barbara. Her knowledge in skills in archeology, anthropology, and mythology, etc. in the DCU should be a powerful, remarkable, and equal counterpoint to Luthor’s specialization in tech and super-science - creators and editors have just dropped the ball on creating and allowing that dynamic to happen. It’s sad really, that Barbara typically just becomes and gets limited to being “that crazy cat lady.” It could be different if any really invested in the Wonder foes. There’s definitely not been enough creative thinking done in portraying the relationships between the Trinity’s greatest foes and not-so-great foes.

Yeah, Perez's Barbara felt like a DCU level threat even without the Cheetah powers. It's really sad that very few writers did anything noteworthy with this version. So much wasted potential...

[Gaius]

She dated The Atom .

[Robanker]

She dated The Atom .

Highlight of an underrated run (The Atom).

[marhawkman]

I dig the pale skin.

Think you make a drinking game of when writers introduce new villains for WW that are then mostly abandoned following their run. I think the only character who falls under this who is worth keeping around is Cale imo.

In fairness guys like Superman and Batman often have this happen too. I mean who considers Conduit a classic Superman villain? It could be that it's simply more pronounced with WW.

[Psy-lock]

In fairness guys like Superman and Batman often have this happen too. I mean who considers Conduit a classic Superman villain? It could be that it's simply more pronounced with WW.

Batman and Superman have well-established Rogues Galleries so throwaway villains aren't as much of an issue for them. While Wonder Woman has maybe five or six villains (but mostly just Cheetah) who are used semi-regularly.

[Gaius]

In fairness guys like Superman and Batman often have this happen too. I mean who considers Conduit a classic Superman villain? It could be that it's simply more pronounced with WW.

Well I am the world’s biggest Conduit fan.

What Psy-Locke said. Batman and, to a lesser degree, Superman have more well-regarded rogues gallery while with Wonder Woman it feels like a big ask of writers sometimes to use someone beyond Circe/Cheetah/Ares rather than their pet character.

And when they do it ends up being some non-WW villain like Max Lord or a New God.

[I'm a Fish]

Well here's hoping that Wonder Woman Infinite Legends poster was an actual teaser so we will be seeing all those characters, both heroes and villains. I know one of the writers kind of said they would. https://twitter.com/beckycloonan/sta...60862864953344

Maybe DC finally realized cutting off Donna and Cassie was limiting Diana's stories. Some of my favorite Wonder Woman comics have Cassie in them.

I was also wondering why the put Liar Liar on the poster since she is so new and, in my opinion, didn't really leave the best impression. But if they are brining back Cassie and adding Yara, it would make sense to have a villain closer to their own age to fight. That would also explain why they brought Venessa/Silver Swan back as well since she is also closer to their age group.

[I'm a Fish]

Circe jump scaring Diana.
Good Times.

[Gaius]

Circe jump scaring Diana.
Good Times.

"transform you into a pig"

I see Jimenez was trying to warn us.

[marhawkman]

Well I am the world’s biggest Conduit fan.

What Psy-Locke said. Batman and, to a lesser degree, Superman have more well-regarded rogues gallery while with Wonder Woman it feels like a big ask of writers sometimes to use someone beyond Circe/Cheetah/Ares rather than their pet character.

And when they do it ends up being some non-WW villain like Max Lord or a New God.

Well I think back on the various Superman stories I've read and... there's only a handful of truly classic characters. Sure you have Lex Luthor, and several evil Kryptonians... but not even all of the evil Kryptonians count. Car-vex? Nope, most people probably never even heard of her. Az-rel? half the people would confuse him with Jean-paul Valley. Nadira? who's that? Mala? The Amazon named Mala is seen more!

To a large degree that's because of the sheer number of villains that have come up over the years. Even in Superman I think the reason certain villains became iconic was... animated or live action roles. "Son of Jor-el! Kneel before Zod!" That moment made Zod an iconic villain in ways he never was in the comics. Livewire? didn't even start out in the comics. Also the voicework in her first appearance is probably a lot of why she became popular.

[Gaius]

Well I think back on the various Superman stories I've read and... there's only a handful of truly classic characters. Sure you have Lex Luthor, and several evil Kryptonians... but not even all of the evil Kryptonians count. Car-vex? Nope, most people probably never even heard of her. Az-rel? half the people would confuse him with Jean-paul Valley. Nadira? who's that? Mala? The Amazon named Mala is seen more!

To a large degree that's because of the sheer number of villains that have come up over the years. Even in Superman I think the reason certain villains became iconic was... animated or live action roles. "Son of Jor-el! Kneel before Zod!" That moment made Zod an iconic villain in ways he never was in the comics. Livewire? didn't even start out in the comics. Also the voicework in her first appearance is probably a lot of why she became popular.

Fair enough, similarly I'd say the big reason Giganta has stuck around is Super-Friends.

[Mistah K88]

Well I think back on the various Superman stories I've read and... there's only a handful of truly classic characters. Sure you have Lex Luthor, and several evil Kryptonians... but not even all of the evil Kryptonians count. Car-vex? Nope, most people probably never even heard of her. Az-rel? half the people would confuse him with Jean-paul Valley. Nadira? who's that? Mala? The Amazon named Mala is seen more!

To a large degree that's because of the sheer number of villains that have come up over the years. Even in Superman I think the reason certain villains became iconic was... animated or live action roles. "Son of Jor-el! Kneel before Zod!" That moment made Zod an iconic villain in ways he never was in the comics. Livewire? didn't even start out in the comics. Also the voicework in her first appearance is probably a lot of why she became popular.

You could also say that Cheetah and Giganta are iconic due to Superfriends...This means that Wonder Woman's rogues need to be adapted more often. I will say that Circe gets some decent action in animation appearing in Justice League Unlimited and Justice League Action...

[Vordan]

Well I think back on the various Superman stories I've read and... there's only a handful of truly classic characters. Sure you have Lex Luthor, and several evil Kryptonians... but not even all of the evil Kryptonians count. Car-vex? Nope, most people probably never even heard of her. Az-rel? half the people would confuse him with Jean-paul Valley. Nadira? who's that? Mala? The Amazon named Mala is seen more!

To a large degree that's because of the sheer number of villains that have come up over the years. Even in Superman I think the reason certain villains became iconic was... animated or live action roles. "Son of Jor-el! Kneel before Zod!" That moment made Zod an iconic villain in ways he never was in the comics. Livewire? didn't even start out in the comics. Also the voicework in her first appearance is probably a lot of why she became popular.

Correct. Zod has still never really had that big definitive story despite being the second most well known Superman Rogue thanks to the movies (although he’s had some good stories under Johns, Venditti, and Bendis). The Superman & Lois TV show seemingly bringing over some Busiek villains is very encouraging because it means the general audience will become more familiar with his other Rogues, and that will hopefully lead to better treatment for them. Other than Faora the other evil Kryptonians don’t matter at all frankly.

It’s similar to Cheetah. If you just based your opinion of her off of the comics I don’t really see why you’d rate her so highly. She’s a jobber sadly, and when she shows up in outside media it’s even worse. Lex and Brainiac at least get treated as serious threats, Cheetah does not get anywhere near the same amount of respect. So why do people think she’s a big deal? Well because she’s the only WW Rogue they know, because she’s the only WW Rogue who shows up in outside media usually, thus people consider her Diana’s most prominent villain because why else would they use her so much?

I really wish Rucka or Simone had written a BL book that focused entirely on Diana and one of her traditional villains, doesn’t matter which. I’d prefer Circe since she’s my fav and she only played a small part in Rucka’s Rebirth run, but any of them would do. And the story should focus entirely on both the villain, their personality, motivation/origin, enmity with Diana, and how Diana feels about the relationship. Joker has The Killing Joke, Lex has Luthor, but there’s really nothing similar for any of Diana’s Rogues.