DC is well known for it's vast rogues gallery, with many heroes each having dozens of villains unique to their own title comics. A list heroes in particular tent to have one villain that stand above the rest with the title of "archnemesis", a villain who is usually referred to as the polar opposite to the hero.


For Wonder Woman, that villain is Cheetah...at least in the eyes of pop culture.


Cheetah was cemented in the archnemesis roll by Super Friends cartoon, but something that I have noticed when reading Wonder Woman comics is that many writers have tried to knock her out of it. Perez himself clearly tried to make Circe Diana's archnemesis, going so far as to have Circe herself proclaim such shortly after meeting Diana. Rucka himself has said in interviews he does not view Cheetah as Wonder Woman's archnemesis but something more akin to her Two-Face, a close friend of the hero who has fallen down a dark path and can never seem to crawl out of it.

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That being said, my questions for this thread are:

1) Why do you think writers have tried to shake Cheetah out of that roll? I never see anyone try to shake Lex Luthor and Joker out of there archnemesis rolls (but to be far I don't read nearly as much Batman and Superman as I do Wonder Woman.)

2) Do you think if more people read Wonder Woman comics, Cheetah wouldn't be considered Diana's archnemesis?

3) Who do you think should be Diana's archnemisis and why? Circe, Cheetah and Ares are obviously the top contenders, but do you think a lesser known Wonder Woman villain fit that roll more closely?

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My personal answers are:

1) The reason behind Perez making Circe Diana's archnemesis in his run was probably because he was simply too old (his early 20's) to watch The Challenge of the Super Friends when it aired in 1978, so he probably just didn't view Cheetah in that roll. He clearly had nothing against the character, his version of Cheetah arguably popularized her even more. With Rucka, I don't know who he though Diana's arch should be...probably his own character Veronica Kale. Sorry buddy, Kale's a fun villain but she's not climbing that latter anytime soon. I think he tried to jostle Cheetah out of that roll because he wanted to make her Diana's close friend and felt your former close friend can't be your polar opposite.

2) I do think if more people read Wonder Woman comics, the public opinion would be more mixed, but more so with Perez's run and post-crisis comics. After Rebirth, Cheetah has appeared in comics lot more and is almost always apposed to Wonder Woman. I don't think there's anything in Rebirth's run to make a reader consider Diana's arch to be anyone but Cheetah.

3) I think on paper, Circe is Diana's archnemesis. Post-crisis Circe was needlessly cruel and clearly existed to opposite of Diana's mission to bring about world peace, and unlike Ares, Circe and Diana are both princesses. Ares also became a neutral character very fast in Perez's run and Cheetah herself would go back and forth between helping Diana long before her Rebirth reboot, while Circe always wanted to destroy Diana up until the Rebirth.

However, you could argue at Circe is often times too powerful for Diana. Cheetah on the other hand (in Wonder Woman comics mainly) is considered Diana's physical equal, with Diana just barley managing to get the upper hand with the aid of her fighting skills and equipment. I also just can't see Circe working along side other villain's on a team fighting the Justice League, that's just not her style (which I love). The few time's she has been on a team, she's always been the leader.



But now that I have said what I think, what do you think?