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  1. #1
    Astonishing Member mathew101281's Avatar
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    Default The Best type of Wonder Woman villains are...?

    Villains with weird quirks. Blue snowman Giganta.
    Villains with powers and resources to actually take on a Demi goddess. (I’m tired of writers thinking that any character without super powers would last more then a few seconds with Diana in a real fight.)

    Villains that attack Diana on an emotional level. Cheetah, and some versions of Silver Swan.

  2. #2
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    Ideally, a villain that combined all three would be my favorite.

  3. #3
    Extraordinary Member Dr. Poison's Avatar
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    I like Diana's sadistic and/or quirky, non-public domain villains best. Cheetah, Dr. Poison, Giganta, Queen Clea, Kung, and Osira immediately come to mind.
    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.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Poison View Post
    I like Diana's sadistic and/or quirky, non-public domain villains best. Cheetah, Dr. Poison, Giganta, Queen Clea, Kung, and Osira immediately come to mind.
    Wait...are some WW villains in the public domain?

  5. #5
    Ultimate Member Gaius's Avatar
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    DC editorial, Bruce Timm, NetherRealm Studios, Tom Taylor.

    ----

    I guess it's an easy thing to say most good villains reflect off a theme present in the hero (in this case Diana).

    Golden Age Paula and Rebirth Veronica Cale - Capable women who succeed in Man's World but put their talents to use against Diana out of jealousy or external forces (Nazis for Paula, Phobos/Deimos for Cale). The daughter angle for the both of them also mirroring Diana/Hippolyta's relationship.

    Cheetah (Barbara) and Silver Swan (Vanessa) - Friends Diana failed to save.

    Dr. Psycho - Proud misogynist and usually implied to be rapist.

    Ares - Short-sighted, unchecked raw aggression in the form of a male war god.

    Villainy Inc - Women coming together but being terrible to another to contrast the Amazons creating and living in Paradise.

    etc

    I guess other things specific to Wonder Woman. Usually a women and maybe have a quirkiness to them that hides how dangerous they can be.

  6. #6
    Extraordinary Member Restingvoice's Avatar
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    Liar, manipulator, sexist, misogynist, and warmonger as opposed to her representation of Truth, Love, and Peace
    So Circe, Dr. Psycho, and Ares at the top for me

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Poison View Post
    I like Diana's sadistic and/or quirky, non-public domain villains best. Cheetah, Dr. Poison, Giganta, Queen Clea, Kung, and Osira immediately come to mind.
    Here here!

    I also think that Wonder Woman's villains should have ideologies that challenge Diana's world view. Things like Giganta having a world view of taking things by force actually getting results over peaceful negotiation, are quite interesting in itself.

  8. #8
    Mighty Member LifeIsILL's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dr. Poison View Post
    I like Diana's sadistic and/or quirky, non-public domain villains best. Cheetah, Dr. Poison, Giganta, Queen Clea, Kung, and Osira immediately come to mind.
    Dr.Poison is a great villain.

    I wrote an answer on Quora about Dr.Poison and some people were saying how corny she was.....there is either still a bias towards Wonder Woman characters sadly.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by LifeIsILL View Post
    Dr.Poison is a great villain.

    I wrote an answer on Quora about Dr.Poison and some people were saying how corny she was.....there is either still a bias towards Wonder Woman characters sadly.
    How is a mad scientist "corny?" Also, so many plots depend on some type of contagion including the highly acclaimed Last of Us series and the Arkham series, so I'm not certain how a scientist who specializes in biochemical warfare can be "corny?"

  10. #10
    Fishy Member I'm a Fish's Avatar
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    This is going to sound superficial but I think it's important that most of Diana's rouges are women. I think it's a very subtle reminder that anyone is capable of good and evil regardless of gender or sex.

    Most of the male superheroes hardy have any female villains, and the few ones they do have ended up becoming anti-heroes or even full on heroes. Examples like Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Rampage, Star Sapphire, Killer Frost, Silver Banshee (at least in the New 52 she's barley been in Rebirth so I don't know if that stuck), and sometimes Maxima and Enchantress (they go back and forth a lot between actual heroes and actual villains).

    Even in other female lead franchises the women barley have any female villains to fight. Kim Possible, Buffy, Powerpuff Girls, Tomb Raider, Supergirl (both the comics and tv show). For all of them, they have one or two notable female villains and a heck of a lot more notable male villains. Totally Spies is the only one I can think of that's even close to 50/50, I haven't seen that show in a million years though.

    I'm sure some excuses is that "men are more likely to commit crimes than women because more men get incrassated than women", but in a fictional world where people can spontaneously get powers that can cause serious damage, you mean to tell me women wouldn't misuse that as much as men? We've all met unpleasant men and women in our lives, I'm sure those people would misuse superpowers if they were given them.

    But I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, going back to Wonder Woman I think it's doubly important for Diana to have more female villains because many writers who don't know her character like to portray her as a toxic feminist's who blames men for all the problems humankind faces. (Edit: I understand why it's easy to come to that concussion that men are responsible for everything bad if you grew up on a paradise island inhabited only by women), But I like to think Diana is smarter than that and recognizes it's not all men, it's the greedy people who misuse their authority to suppress people and try to gain even more power. Power corrupts, and plenty of Wonder Woman villains are women who have been corrupted by power.

    There are plenty of male and female heroes who prove that power doesn't have to corrupt you, but there are hardy any female villains to counterbalance that for the male villains. And like I said, a lot of them end up becoming anti-heroes and there aren't any new notable female villains to occupy those already minimal spots.
    Last edited by I'm a Fish; 02-28-2021 at 04:34 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by I'm a Fish View Post
    This is going to sound superficial but I think it's important that most of Diana's rouges are women. I think it's a very subtle reminder that anyone is capable of good and evil regardless of gender or sex.

    Most of the male superheroes hardy have any female villains, and the few ones they do have ended up becoming anti-heroes or even full on heroes. Examples like Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Rampage, Star Sapphire, Killer Frost, Silver Banshee (at least in the New 52 she's barley been in Rebirth so I don't know if that stuck), and sometimes Maxima and Enchantress (they go back and forth a lot between actual heroes and actual villains).

    Even in other female lead franchises the women barley have any female villains to fight. Kim Possible, Buffy, Powerpuff Girls, Tomb Raider, Supergirl (both the comics and tv show). For all of them, they have one or two notable female villains and a heck of a lot more notable male villains. Totally Spies is the only one I can think of that's even close to 50/50, I haven't seen that show in a million years though.

    I'm sure some excuses is that "men are more likely to commit crimes than women because more men get incrassated than women", but in a fictional world where people can spontaneously get powers that can cause serious damage, you mean to tell me women wouldn't misuse that as much as men? We've all met unpleasant men and women in our lives, I'm sure those people would misuse superpowers if they were given them.

    But I've gone off on a bit of a tangent here, going back to Wonder Woman I think it's doubly important for Diana to have more female villains because many writers who don't know her character like to portray her as a toxic feminist's who blames men for all the problems humankind faces. But I like to think Diana is smarter than that and recognizes it's not all men, it's the greedy people who misuse their authority to suppress people and try to gain even more power. Power corrupts, and plenty of Wonder Woman villains are women who have been corrupted by power.

    There are plenty of male and female heroes who prove that power doesn't have to corrupt you, but there are hardy any female villains to counterbalance that for the male villains. And like I said, a lot of them end up becoming anti-heroes and there aren't any new notable female villains to occupy those already minimal spots.
    Well said!! You made some very good points!!

  12. #12
    Astonishing Member WonderScott's Avatar
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    I like Diana to have a wide variety of adversaries... some of all of the categories of villains. Diana deserves to operate in many, many types of stories and themes.

  13. #13
    Mighty Member Fuzzy Mittens's Avatar
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    Im not sure there can necessarily be a lone best type. We have seen power houses such as Queen Clea and Giganta who were shown actually overpowering Wonder Woman in raw physical force. Villains with motivations that drove them to destroy Wonder Woman as part of much loftier goals.

    We have seen criminal masterminds with huge egos such as Angle man, Baroness, and Doctor Cyber who planned circles around Wonder Woman and worked to undermine her and outright destroy her. Possessing the means and ambition to cause large scale mayhem.

    Wonder Woman has taken on powerful gods from Ares and his family to Tezcatlipoca. Beings whose raw power dwarfed anything Wonder Woman could do yet still she bested them.

    nazi villains like Red Panzer and Armageddon.
    Villainous mentalists such as Doctor Psycho, Hypnota and Liar Liar.
    False heroes with diabolical plans in the vein of the White Magician or the Champion
    Evil billionares who use their fortunes towards villainous ends from Veronica Cale to Wade Dazzle.
    Assassins such as the Cartel or the Gentleman Killer
    Cult leaders like Zara or Anton Unreal
    Scientists such as Blue Snowman and The Knife.
    Alien terrors from the stars such as King Crystallar or Meteor Girl
    Evil Amazons like the Circle or Astarte
    Surrealist enemies like Doctor Domino and Inversion the Inside-Out-Man
    Even outright monsters such as Human Centipede or Coteus.

    Wonder Woman has an amazing collection of enemies and they all contribute in a variety of ways. Be it the Baroness being a villain who can display Wonder Womans compassion as she is reformed and redeemed. Physical threats such as Mayfly or Giganta who can challenge Wonder Woman, even outdoing her in an aspect that she typically excels in over her other enemies.

    A villain who doesn't necessarily pose a threat to Wonder Woman herself can still be a great villain if their goal is deterimental to Wonder Womans efforts.
    A nemesis whose focus is more on destroying or getting revenge on Wonder Woman above any other ambition can tell an interesting story.
    Even 'minion' type villains such as Moot and Geoff can make for great villains if used in a way that builds up their boss and work to set up a good story.

    Id say the best type of villains in the end is just having a great variety that challenge Wonder Woman in a variety of ways and allow us to see different aspects of the heroine. See her combat villains who take advantage of different weaknesses or circumvent the heroes various abilities.

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