The Giganta Problem

[Perseus]

I don't see why she isn't a heavy hitter in terms of pure physical prowess? I feel Giganta should be the villain Diana can't just punch out, she'd have to use her wits with Giganta more often than someone like Dr. Poison or Veronica Cale.

I would say Diana using her wits against Giganta is preventing as much collateral damage as possible while subduing her. Giganta is about as tall as some of the tallest skyscrapers found in cities, but she isn't the heaviest thing Diana has moved. What's stopping Diana blitzing Giganta and lassoing her before she can react and tossing her like a hammer throw into the ocean?

Cale isn't going to fight Diana in a warsuit like Lex. She'd mainly attack Diana from a social and political angle, working behind the scenes and founding other villains to do the physical stuff for her. And were it up to me Dr. Cyber would be Diana's personal Ultron, who has a working relationship with Cale.

[WonderScott]

I kinda like the mad doctor aspect of Giganta. It gives her a lot more areas to explore than a solely a dim-witted Monster Woman/Femme Fatale/Broad Bruiser that she’s often portrayed as... that’s just limited a boring to me and undermines the character’s potential.

I like that Doctor Doris Zuel could play some kind of mad doctor triumvirate with Doctor Poison and Doctor Cyber and have her giantess form to boot.

[I'm a Fish]

I'm just gonna go for it and say one version of Giganta should be an android remote controlled by a gorilla.

[Guy_McNichts]

One element of her Post-Crisis origin I like is that Doris was dying and wanted to steal another woman's body...but just not any woman, Wonder Woman. I think that should say something about her that she not only wanted to prolong her life by stealing another's, but she specifically wanted the super-powered immortal who's canonically one of the most beautiful women in the world. I'm not sure what, but something.

[I'm a Fish]

One element of her Post-Crisis origin I like is that Doris was dying and wanted to steal another woman's body...but just not any woman, Wonder Woman. I think that should say something about her that she not only wanted to prolong her life by stealing another's, but she specifically wanted the super-powered immortal who's canonically one of the most beautiful women in the world. I'm not sure what, but something.

Probably because Wonder Woman is well know to be nearly invulnerable and Doris felt that, by taking the body of such a strong individual, she would never have to face the existential dread of her own mortality ever again.

Edit: Also Diana is pretty, like you said.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

In terms of origins my personal favorite was that whole golden age gorilla origin. Its wild, its comic book gorillas, and you have a clean and simple origin to play with. This was a Giganta whose whole deal was that she was physically stronger than Wonder Woman, and the only way Diana could defeat her was by out thinking her.

However that original version also didn't have the growing powers. Honestly I can't say I have much issue with the Rebirth issue we currently have. A scientist who tried to cure herself and got gigantism as a side effect. Its honestly just a less convoluted version of her post crisis origin.

As for utilizing her intelligence...Well if shes simply a medical doctor and was legit just trying to cure a disease and the growing was something even she didn't even think could happen, I wouldn't be surprised if her scientific field simply doesn't have much criminal application. Heck, by the very nature of that Rebirth origin she could potentially be quite at odds with Doctor Poison.
If yer going with a science origin then just keep it simple in terms of scientific ability. Not everyone needs to be a mad scientist able to invent stuff. Having her be just an actual medical doctor is honestly pretty novel in supervillainy.

Personally to toss my two cents into the 'Giganta problem' I feel like comics typically treat her as being just as strong as she was at her original height. And twice as easy to smack down.
The golden age hyper evolved gorilla with super strength could totally take down the post crisis Giganta whose only power is being a big target.

So on that note, establish that shes actually strong. Not just that, but establish her as one of the most physically powerful people on the planet in terms of physical strength. I thought it was cute how they tried playing up that Hulk knockoff 'Damage' as being stronger than Superman by having him take out Giganta in one hit but honestly that should be a power tier we should be attributing to Giganta.

Growing doesn't actually have much utility as a superpower. If writers arn't going to give her the strength and endurance to actually pose a threat to Wonder Woman, then what is the point?

As for the whole motivation/methods dealie, I honestly think shes perfectly fine as she is. Not every villain needs to be a Baroness or a Doctor Cyber. Its perfectly fine to have a literally big presence in the rogue gallery whose role is purely to serve as muscle on a job in exchange for cash. Someone whose not tied to a specific goal or motivation who if the money is right, is perfectly fine teaming up with anyone or working for any of Wonder Womans more 'mastermind' sort of villains. It makes her quite versatile and honestly should translate to her being used more since virtually any villainous bigwig in Wonder Womans rogue gallery could conceivably hire her to lend a ginormous hand.

[Koriand'r]

In terms of origins my personal favorite was that whole golden age gorilla origin. Its wild, its comic book gorillas, and you have a clean and simple origin to play with. This was a Giganta whose whole deal was that she was physically stronger than Wonder Woman, and the only way Diana could defeat her was by out thinking her.

However that original version also didn't have the growing powers. Honestly I can't say I have much issue with the Rebirth issue we currently have. A scientist who tried to cure herself and got gigantism as a side effect. Its honestly just a less convoluted version of her post crisis origin.

As for utilizing her intelligence...Well if shes simply a medical doctor and was legit just trying to cure a disease and the growing was something even she didn't even think could happen, I wouldn't be surprised if her scientific field simply doesn't have much criminal application. Heck, by the very nature of that Rebirth origin she could potentially be quite at odds with Doctor Poison.
If yer going with a science origin then just keep it simple in terms of scientific ability. Not everyone needs to be a mad scientist able to invent stuff. Having her be just an actual medical doctor is honestly pretty novel in supervillainy.

Personally to toss my two cents into the 'Giganta problem' I feel like comics typically treat her as being just as strong as she was at her original height. And twice as easy to smack down.
The golden age hyper evolved gorilla with super strength could totally take down the post crisis Giganta whose only power is being a big target.

So on that note, establish that shes actually strong. Not just that, but establish her as one of the most physically powerful people on the planet in terms of physical strength. I thought it was cute how they tried playing up that Hulk knockoff 'Damage' as being stronger than Superman by having him take out Giganta in one hit but honestly that should be a power tier we should be attributing to Giganta.

Growing doesn't actually have much utility as a superpower. If writers arn't going to give her the strength and endurance to actually pose a threat to Wonder Woman, then what is the point?

As for the whole motivation/methods dealie, I honestly think shes perfectly fine as she is. Not every villain needs to be a Baroness or a Doctor Cyber. Its perfectly fine to have a literally big presence in the rogue gallery whose role is purely to serve as muscle on a job in exchange for cash. Someone whose not tied to a specific goal or motivation who if the money is right, is perfectly fine teaming up with anyone or working for any of Wonder Womans more 'mastermind' sort of villains. It makes her quite versatile and honestly should translate to her being used more since virtually any villainous bigwig in Wonder Womans rogue gallery could conceivably hire her to lend a ginormous hand.

Money is a powerful motivation.

[Psy-lock]

I don't get why writers keep making her some super scientist if she's usually portrayed as a mercenary without any motivations of her and little intelligence.

[kjn]

The problem with Giganta is that she never is a problem. She doesn't have big goals or interesting schemes, she's simply a one note adversary that can dealt with on a single page. She's usually tangled in or tripped up by the lasso and falls down and goes BOOM!.

Though I like the proposed descendant from Greek giants schtick, broadening her origin won't broaden her appeal. What she needs is stronger motivation, more personality and diversified plans of attack. What is she after that Wonder Woman stands in the way of? Power? Love and acceptance? Wealth? Adventure? Respect? What does she want that makes her a recurring supervillain in order to achieve it?

Personally like Mayfly I think she makes a better antihero and potential ally than a villain because she's never really done anything despicable enough to warrant the title. She's not truly evil, just misguided.

Pretty much agreed with this.

A trouble with a lot of the comics storytelling of today is that it mistakes references for depth. Everything is explained via backstory, but since the backstory still isn't that compelling, it just becomes a perpetuum mobile of changing and meaningless stories. You should be able to get to the core of a villain (or hero) with a sentence or two, and that is the thing that gets explored in story.

Saying Giganta is tied to the classical Titans, or the giants that the Olympians fought, or the Norse giants, or was transformed by Circe, or came from Gorilla City, is simply playing empty references unless it's made into a compelling piece of story.

I think the G Willow Wilson Giganta was interesting. It didn't say anything about her origin. But it hinted at Giganta as a conflicted and somewhat amoral person with a lot of unprocessed issues. Likewise I liked the Giganta of Giganta Strong in the 2018 Beach Blanket Bad Guys special. It gave some hints of an origin, but the important piece was that it used those hints in crafting a compelling power fantasy of a story. Again, it gave Giganta lots of unprocessed issues that she partially projected onto Wonder Woman.

[John Venus]

I like the frenemey. I like the idea that Giganta is just as likely to team up with Diana as she is to fight her.

One idea I proposed in one of the other villain threads is that she is a brilliant scientist suffering from an incurable disease who was then tricked by Dr Psycho who switched her minds with a gorilla and left her for dead. She escaped and managed to transform herself back to human but with giant abilities. One tweak I would add to this idea now (and this occured to me after suggesting Circe being suggested as a villain for WW3 and I remember suggesting Giganta as her henchwoman) would be to have Circe be the one to switch her back to human. Circe is famous for transforming men into beasts, this would be the rare times she turned a beast back into a human. You could even claim that she used the blood of the giants to do this hence why Giganta has these abilities. You could simplify this idea even further, have Giganta be a chimp from the start and have Circe transform her into a human woman who can turn gigantic to fight Wonder Woman. Giganta turns against Circe and becomes frenemies with Wonder Woman later becomes a scientist.

[Mistah K88]

With Giganta being a brute who can just take what she wants, she could be the physical embodiment of "might makes right" and maybe even "survival of the fittest". Think of her like most female spiders who are massive in comparison to their male counterparts. With Wonder Woman being more of a peaceful diplomat rather than a bully who forces her way upon others it can challenge Diana's world view in the fact that she COULD just take what she wants and force peace upon the world. History was written by the victors.

[WonderLight789]

Giganta suffers from the same issue some other WW villains do. What is her real goal for being a WW villain? And what is her strength supposed to be? Recently insensation WW. She was strong enough to hold WW in one hand. But was also overpowered by megalodons. And i wouldn't think of that to be a great level for a high tier. So again, Giganta needs consistent writinbg in her motives, and her power level if she is suppoosed to challenge WW, and if WW is still supposed to be a high tier in strength.

[hairys]

I still laugh at Tala calling her "thunder thighs" in JLU

[Alpha]

I'm still a little bit iffy on the actual origin I would give her, but my take on Giganta is an inverse of the whole Hulk / Banner or Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde. A brilliant woman that looks deformed transforms into a huge tall beautiful woman.

Doris Zeul was born with a mutation and she resembles a cavewoman (imagine Dorothy Spinner but more hairy). She became a famous sociologist with a focus on gender and sex. Something happens that gives her the power to physically grow to a massive size, and the taller she is the more conventionally beautiful she becomes. She also gets headaches the bigger she is which means she stumbles and falls a lot. Imagine a Kaiju that only destroys towers because the pain in his brain is torturing him and he can't even walk straight.

I'm not totally sure where I would go with it but what I like about this is that her intelligence is in a unique field that creates interesting dillemas, and her powers mix up a lot of different versions of Giganta. It's sort of bringing back the ape origin but in a more emotional direction, where she wasn't a literal ape, it was just how people insulted her. She can only grow a bit and resemble the Silver Age version with the whole big cavewoman look, or she can grow a lot and become the more modern beautiful version.

I like the idea that Giganta doesn't actually have any god like powers, but she is seen as a god even by powerful beings at some points because she is a woman the size of a skyscraper.

I do have ideas for her origin but I'm not sure I like those ideas.

[AmiMizuno]

Okay. What would be Giganata's reason for being Diana's enemy?