Pros and Cons of A Not Being In A Shared Universe

[Agent Z]

This is a thread to discuss what you feel are the benefits and losses of the Wonder Woman characters not being in a shared universe.

[WonderLight789]

To be honest. I think for a majority of her publication. Being in a shared universe has given her more cons than pros. We only have to look around and see the treatment of her verse compared to other characters. More often than not, it is her verse the one that writers use to step up other cxharacters. So i think being in her own universe would help a lot in not getting thrown under the bust like it has happened(and still happens) so many times.

[Gaius]

The immediate benefit that springs to mind is no Trinity shipping, so the Batman and Superman writers would have to look elsewhere for a superheroine to demote to arm candy status.

Despite what others say, I feel Wonder Woman did fine without being on the Justice League in the Post-Crisis years and modern JL hasn't contributed much of anything of note to WW's world, so no real loss there either.

Donna and Cassie would probably be the real losers as the lion's share of their developments and relationships comes with being in a shared universe.

[I'm a Fish]

I honestly don't know if the character would have survived without a shared universe. So I guess there's that as a benefit. Also certain character interactions are fun.


On the flip side, yeah the trinity shipping stuff wouldn't happen. I don't mind when they make fun of it in shows like the Harley Quinn cartoon, but when they try to actually make it work...bleh.

Also her Wonder Family wouldn't have been stripped away from her.

Edit: Yeah, also was Siege said about her villains being jobbed out. Especially Cheetah to the Bat family. Batman already has ever other animal themed villain, can Cheetah just be left out of it.

[SiegePerilous02]

Most of the fun of the shared universe is seeing all the characters we love interact with each other. But the fun has been kind of sucked out of the entire gimmick, not just as it pertains to Wonder Woman. In particular the Trinity shipping is bad and she'd be better off without it. oddly, despite pre-COIE being considered worse for her by a lot of people, I feel her interactions with the other two and the JL in general weren't nearly as bad as it would become post-COIE and getting worse in the current age. Now the well is pretty poisoned.

Her villains wouldn't job to other heroes, she would be as powerful as she could possibly be without stepping on the toes of other heroes (and vice versa), no Trinity shipping, she and the Amazons might actually be able to make progress in their mission, etc. I can't think of many positives for her being in a shared universe at this point, nor can I think of any for Superman or Batman

[kjn]

First, I think the shared universe has been around for a very long time, arguably as long as there has been a DC comics (see All Star Comics), so removing it would go against a lot of DC's culture.

From a marketing standpoint, I think it'd be disastrous for DC, at least short-term. The current focus of selling a large amount of product to a relatively small amount of customers is largely built on selling to fans of shared universes. But it could be a very good thing from a creative standpoint. All writers could get much greater freedom to pitch ideas, and editors could focus on improving stories rather than managing events.

Though I think an event moratorium could give a lot of the upsides and avoid most of the downsides.

[rayray1127]

Most of the fun of the shared universe is seeing all the characters we love interact with each other. But the fun has been kind of sucked out of the entire gimmick, not just as it pertains to Wonder Woman. In particular the Trinity shipping is bad and she'd be better off without it. oddly, despite pre-COIE being considered worse for her by a lot of people, I feel her interactions with the other two and the JL in general weren't nearly as bad as it would become post-COIE and getting worse in the current age. Now the well is pretty poisoned.

Her villains wouldn't job to other heroes, she would be as powerful as she could possibly be without stepping on the toes of other heroes (and vice versa), no Trinity shipping, she and the Amazons might actually be able to make progress in their mission, etc. I can't think of many positives for her being in a shared universe at this point, nor can I think of any for Superman or Batman

I agree with all of the above. When I first discovered Wonder Woman, I thought she and the FF4 were the ONLY superheroes in their own little universes (I was 4). Then came my discovery of Lynda Carter WW at 7, which has ZERO hint that there were other known DC characters in her world.
Imagine my shock at age 9 (1990), when I picked up my uncle's old pre-COIE JLA comic book and not only was WW surrounded by a bunch of OTHER super-people, she was't the leader in any way, and indeed, served as kind of cannon fodder in the issue (I don't remember what issue it was, it had no cover, so I have nothing to compare it to). That experience really put me off comics until I was about 11ish.

But yes, I'd love a Diana that is the ONLY super powered being on her Earth, or at least, that any OTHER super powered being still come from her "world" (i.e. gods, monsters, other Amazons).

The OTHER great thing would be that, for those like me who really only want to read Wonder Woman stories about Wonder Woman, no more pesky, multi-book "events". I don't want to have to read Infinite Frontier to "get" #770 (which I haven't read yet). If Diana existed as her own character, she'd have the space she needs to shine, as well as not always kicking me in my pocket book, or requiring I read stories that involve other characters I'm just not overly invested in.

I don't really care what happens in Superman's world, and with Batman, I've always been more of a fan of his supporting characters, rather than Batman himself.

My perfect comic book world would be for WW, Catwoman, Barbra Gordon, Dick Grayson, and Starfire to be the ONLY super heroes on Earth, Diana is the obvious leader and inspiration, Batman was a legendary anti-hero, partially inspired by WW's debut, who was put into a coma after Dick left for college and dies before Dick can get back to him (therefore, angst). Starfire keeps her normal origin, but this time is adopted and trained by WW and Wonder Queen, giving her a kind of Kory/Donna hybridization.... I could go on, but I won't.

Suffice to say, I know it's somethig a lot of us would love to see, but I don't believe it will ever happen.... In THIS reality, anyway.... Lol!

[Stanlos]

This is a thread to discuss what you feel are the benefits and losses of the Wonder Woman characters not being in a shared universe.

It would really just depend on how strong the Editor is in a shared universe. She totally CAN work in a shared universe but with no one policing, I guess is the word, then there isn't anyone to curtail those going off the rails with her due to their political issues with her radical design.