Wonder Woman Rogues Gallery Appreciation 2021

[WonderScott]

Yeah, when I was reading it in the omnibus last year and Cheetah, Pyscho, and Ares were all involved in her creation somehow. So you could see how sudden the edict of "no one gets to use the New Gods" was. Plus reading it all collected felt like it was dragging out, so I could only imagine how it must have felt monthly.

Agreed. As a would-be creative, I don’t know how you even pivot on the plan and intention for your story that you’ve most likely signaled and planned in advance, only to be told you have to come up with a whole new narrative.

I get it, and shared continuity, but it’s still gotta be hard.

[WonderScott]

DC comics is sleeping on Queen Clea, I tell you.
She could/should be a major threat and a potential multi-media sensation as a Wonder Woman villain.

I agree. She’s pretty fantastic... just don’t give her to Aquaman. She needs to stay Wonder-centric.

[WonderScott]

Boss Queen.

[Alpha]

Clea is an adequate villain, but she doesn't really stand out from what I've read, that's all I mean. You can tell a strong story but she isn't inherently special as a character. Look at someone like Hela in Thor Ragnarok. It's not very far from Clea as a character. But nobody really cared about Hela in Thor Ragnarok.

[marhawkman]

I agree. She’s pretty fantastic... just don’t give her to Aquaman. She needs to stay Wonder-centric.

Well.. since you mentioned it.... clea is the sort of villain that'd be perfect for a teamup between Mera and WW. :P

[HestiasHearth]

Clea is an adequate villain, but she doesn't really stand out from what I've read, that's all I mean. You can tell a strong story but she isn't inherently special as a character. Look at someone like Hela in Thor Ragnarok. It's not very far from Clea as a character. But nobody really cared about Hela in Thor Ragnarok.

No character is "inherently special as a character" until writers start using them in special ways.

[Alpha]

Meh.
No character is "inherently special as a character" until writers start using them in special ways.

I mean conceptually there isn't much special about her so when someone here says she could be a "multi media sensation" they aren't wrong as long as they realize that it's true of any character really.

Do you disagree with my comparison to Hela from Ragnarok? Don't they have a similar personality?

[John Venus]

She is a 7ft tall ruler of a misandrist society of slavers and once wielded Posiedon's trident. She definitely has potential and its up to the writers to capitalize on that.

[Mel Dyer]

I mean that, if given the same opportunities that Joker, Luthor, and heck, even Cheetah have gotten, I could totally see Clea becoming a villain that is used across the board not just in WW films but on WW animated TV shows, YA WW books, live-action WW spin-off adaptations. I know it's a big "if," since even Wonder Woman herself can't get an animated show or any kind of live-action TV prequel or whatnot.

Seriously, I feel that Clea is WW's most promising villain that has had her potential wasted by DC and most WW writers. She has the narrative foundation to be the kind of immensely powerful and resourceful megalomaniac ruler (or ruler-type) that so many superheroes contend with on a regular basis (Apocalypse, Dr. Doom, Luthor, et al). Heck, she could even be a great excuse to make Diana guest star in an Aquaman sequel (or Aquaman in a WW sequel [synergy! added box office!] since Clea's machinations might possibly impact not just Themyscira but Atlantis. Also, Queen Clea is, in my opinion, the perfect candidate to be at the center of a Wonder-Woman-led DC event that requires a multitude of superheroes to join forces.

Oh well, one can dream.

There is absolutely no reason to limit Clea to the conquest of Venturia, as she clearly intends to conquer the rest of the Earth. It would be perfectly in character, if some writer established that she had conquered many forgotten lands and sat on many thrones, lost to history, ..long before Venturia ever existed. In this, she is like the Kurgan or First Born - a blood-drinking psychopath, whose narcissistic obsession means she will not stop - not ever, until mankind is ground under her bootheel.

This could be achieved, by opening some story or story arc, with Diana and her Army excavating a buried city, revealed to have been ruled or destroyed by Clea. Sure, it's cliched. that's the idea. This opening up of Clea, as a villainess, could be accomplished, with a modicum of imagination.

Why would Clea ever settle for Aurania or Venturia, with her global ambitions? Makes no sense...

[marhawkman]

There is absolutely no reason to limit Clea to the conquest of Venturia, as she clearly intends to conquer the rest of the Earth. It would be perfectly in character, if some writer established that she had conquered many forgotten lands and sat on many thrones, lost to history, ..long before Venturia ever existed. In this, she is like the Kurgan or First Born - a blood-drinking psychopath, whose narcissistic obsession means she will not stop - not ever, until mankind is ground under her bootheel.

This could be achieved, by opening some story or story arc, with Diana and her Army excavating a buried city, revealed to have been ruled or destroyed by Clea. Sure, it's cliched. that's the idea. This opening up of Clea, as a villainess, could be accomplished, with a modicum of imagination.

Why would Clea ever settle for Aurania or Venturia, with her global ambitions? Makes no sense...

Well, even if she's not planning to stop there, in some ways it makes sense to use incremental plans and not over extend your resources.

[Mel Dyer]

Well, even if she's not planning to stop there, in some ways it makes sense to use incremental plans and not over extend your resources.

Even considering Clea, as is, I don't accept the idea that she has to be reserved for 'sea stories', like an evil Ariel. With her global ambitions, it makes no sense.

[marhawkman]

Even considering Clea, as is, I don't accept the idea that she has to be reserved for 'sea stories', like an evil Ariel. With her global ambitions, it makes no sense.

Well she lives under the ocean so that's a logical starting point I guess. But yeah... starting point, not ending point.

[HestiasHearth]

Seriously, if I were a newly appointed writer on the Wonder Woman book, my first storyline would be the ascent of Queen Clea as a major villain and a force to be reckoned with all across the DCU. (Let me dream, people!!!)

[Amazon Swordsman]

I agree. She’s pretty fantastic... just don’t give her to Aquaman. She needs to stay Wonder-centric.

That’s my concern as well.

[Gaius]