Power Level complains

[Primal Slayer]

I mean, I don't see why it would be important for her to be a great detective. She should be an intelligent person, but she doesn't have to be good at everything. Detectives are usually people that can think like a criminal. While Diana isn't naive, I don't see her as someone with the instincts of a person that has to hide his actions.

Agreed. She doesn't need to be great, she can be ok. Artemis seems more like she'd be more of a tracker.

[marhawkman]

I mean, I don't see why it would be important for her to be a great detective. She should be an intelligent person, but she doesn't have to be good at everything. Detectives are usually people that can think like a criminal. While Diana isn't naive, I don't see her as someone with the instincts of a person that has to hide his actions.

Well, some versions have the wisdom of Athena though. Which gives her superhuman insight.

[Perseus]

I posted this in the "Wise as Athena meaning" thread... Its how I view her intelligence.

Wise as Athena to me means exactly that, Diana has and is equal to Athena in wisdom. Athena has been said to be as wise as 10,000 scholars so I would imagine Diana's intellect to be very high.

Athena is more then just wisdom and warfare, she's associated with a ton of stuff; law, justice, civilization, medicine, crafts, mathematics, science etc... So I think Diana would be an expert in all those fields.

I.E. Diana would be an expert practitioner/have a natural affinity in these fields:

- Nurse
- Lawyer
- General
- Mathematician
- Leader/Queen
- Ambassador
- City Planner
- Professor of ancient laws/rituals/traditions/customs

I also think think she should have a general knowledge of magic and the magic world being a member of JL: Dark.
Also encyclopedic knowledge of plants and animals and monsters; earthly, magical, and some alien (Mainly due to her blessing of unity with nature from Artemis)

She would still need to be educated and learn most of these things via Amazon teaching, but these are like her major fields of study and what interests her. I always say she would spend equal time in the library as she would on the training field.

I'm sure she can solve a mystery on her own and I'm not sure why Diana shouldn't be able to do detective work... It's not her MO but its not impossible.

[John Venus]

Pop culture has a problem where if you have a scientist character then suddenly they are an expert in every single field. Marvel is the worst at this.

I think it's best to try and narrow down what your character is an expertise in.

In GA comics and Earth One, Diana is intelligent enough to work on the Purple Healing Ray and even improve it. That suggests that she is smart enough to work on Amazonian technology. She is often shown to be curious and intuitive even when faced with the unknown challenges and perils in Man's World. I can see her as someone who is able to pick things up very quickly, adapt to unknown situations and her curiosity leading her to be very knowledgeable about the world.

[SteveGus]

In GA comics and Earth One, Diana is intelligent enough to work on the Purple Healing Ray and even improve it. That suggests that she is smart enough to work on Amazonian technology. She is often shown to be curious and intuitive even when faced with the unknown challenges and perils in Man's World. I can see her as someone who is able to pick things up very quickly, adapt to unknown situations and her curiosity leading her to be very knowledgeable about the world.

For me, one of the most offensive things about the Azzarello run was that it depicted Amazons raiding seagoing ships with smokestacks, well beyond the age of sail. They killed the crews and the ships were theirs if they wanted them. But they were so incurious that they apparently never took home technologies like internal combustion engines, or steam power at least, nor radio, nor anything else that the book told us they had been exposed to. A race of immortal warrior women ought not to neglect things that can be turned to military advantage.

[DABellWrites]

In my perfect world of DC Comics, Diana is on par with Superman, Billy, and MM. Fighting skills are there, but she only uses them for powerful enemies like Darkseid or Mongul, and the occasional mind-controlled Superman. Other than that, let them be the best at what they are.

[Jabare]

In my perfect world of DC Comics, Diana is on par with Superman, Billy, and MM. Fighting skills are there, but she only uses them for powerful enemies like Darkseid or Mongul, and the occasional mind-controlled Superman. Other than that, let them be the best at what they are.

Around the Golden Age era, Superman was portrayed as being physically stronger. Then by that same logic so was Captain Marvel.

By the late 90s to early 2000s it felt more like Diana was more of an equal in terms of strength to Supes. There might have been a story or two that went against that, but I'd argue she was more consistently at that level.


In the last few years, I think DC's been showcasing Superman as slightly stronger. Typically they'll have Wonder Woman as the more skilled fighter or play up her magical/mystical background as a difference-maker. Not sure where Shazam falls these days. I assume Wonder Woman is stronger right now. Billy went from being Superman's peer/equal to now a somewhat lesser version and DC's kind of kept him in that area for a while.


Outside of several storylines or other incarnations, I don't feel Martian Manhunter's ever consistently been on that level. He has his moments but DC wouldn't want him to outshine Superman.


Even if Wonder Woman is slightly below Supes there are very few other heroes who can outmuscle. Pre New 52 Orion? Then on the Villain side Darkseid...maybe Mongul? Ares? There aren't very many villains that can overpower her either.

[John Venus]

The way the I heard the story is that DC in the 90's was apprehensive about whether WW was exactly as strong as Superman, then John Byrne had Diana defeat a Doomsday clone to settle the matter once and for all.

It seems the pendulum has swung the other way but I prefer my WW to be as strong as Hercules.

[AmiMizuno]

Marston had stated Diana is on par with Supes. He made her has strong has superman. On a side note how good are Diana's fighting skills. It seems many think Bruce could beat Diana.

[SteveGus]

Marston had stated Diana is on par with Supes. He made her has strong has superman. On a side note how good are Diana's fighting skills. It seems many think Bruce could beat Diana.

Since DC lets Bruce consistently beat Superman.....

[Agent Z]

The way the I heard the story is that DC in the 90's was apprehensive about whether WW was exactly as strong as Superman, then John Byrne had Diana defeat a Doomsday clone to settle the matter once and for all.

It seems the pendulum has swung the other way but I prefer my WW to be as strong as Hercules.

Didn't she need the Gauntlet of Atlas to do that?

[John Venus]

Diana has all the strength and speed of Superman combined with life long Amazon training. She *should* be outshining both of them but DC would never let that happen to the World's Finest.

[AmiMizuno]

I mean it sucks Diana in the JL is many times a joke. She almost got killed with a bullet. If Diana has to be killed with bullets maybe magic bullets. I mean Diana is weak to magic but not on the same scale has superman.

[Perseus]

I mean it sucks Diana in the JL is many times a joke. She almost got killed with a bullet. If Diana has to be killed with bullets maybe magic bullets. I mean Diana is weak to magic but not on the same scale has superman.

The movies haven't really helped in this department either tbh.

[Gitagon]

Yeah, lol. She's just weak overall in most media especially team up media. I love drama and "deep" stories like everyone else but sometimes I just want to see a hero accomplish extra-ordinary feats that leave me wowed and you won't get that with Diana. That's why I still watch stuff like Dragon Ball and One Punch Man despite them being all about fights and power levels. Though most of the time I prefer a healthy mix of both.

The last great feats Diana performed of her own power were ages ago. Like since the Shattered God feat decades ago, what next speed feat does she have of that level. None. I guess there's the Jesse Quick stuff but even then, I can't remember Diana prominently using superspeed in the last 10 years.

Let's not even talk about strength. Why do you think Superman comics had him bench press the planet for a week or punch down a Universal character. It's not for plot relevance, it's the cool factor. And Batman sure as hell has his fair share of Batgod moments. Literally pulled a new suit out of his *** to beat up the Justice League in the same run for absolutely no reason since they ended up being on the same side in literally the same issue.

As for durability, why does Superman just stand there and let bulkets hit him when he could dodge, catch or deflect them. Again it's for the cool factor. It just makes the character feel really powerful.

With Diana, sometimes her powers are like an afterthought to most of these writers. They are just obsessed with the "drama" parts of the story hence why she is so inconsistent power level wise. Far more than even Superman. Superman can get nerfed but he will never be nerfed to almost street level with no explanation.