Power Level complains

[Alpha]

That's why I still watch stuff like Dragon Ball and One Punch Man despite them being all about fights and power levels.

That's not what One Punch Man is about. In fact, the main joke of the story is that power levels are lame.

And the most interesting aspect about Diana is her unrelenting nature, so her getting her getting damaged isn't a problem as long as she keeps going without losing a step.

But I agree that she should be able to take on powerhouses, that's why I advocate for the "skin that cracks when it by bullets, but muscles that can handle a punch by Doomsday"

[SonOfBaldwin]

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.

Precisely. The comic book genre is still--even in the 21st century--considered one that is primarily white cisgender heterosexual male power fantasies. And they would never jeopardize money from what they consider their "base" to make some sort of progressive statement by making Wonder Woman--or any female or otherwise marginalized character--the most powerful hero. They know the revolt and anger and bitterness that will cause amongst the diehards and they're not risking coin for that.

[WonderLight789]

Precisely. The comic book genre is still--even in the 21st century--considered one that is primarily white cisgender heterosexual male power fantasies. And they would never jeopardize money from what they consider their "base" to make some sort of progressive statement by making Wonder Woman--or any female or otherwise marginalized character--the most powerful hero. They know the revolt and anger and bitterness that will cause amongst the diehards and they're not risking coin for that.

Many other characters still get to have their cool moments of showing greeat power. Without the need of stepping into Superman's fans ego. Flash, Green Lanter(even the new character Jessica), Even Aquaman. They have had moments to show their powers in big ways. When was the last time we saw WW performing strength beyond lifting a tank, or punching somebody a few meters away. Or her super speed beyond bullets level? Even when we go out of the compoarision with Superman, she no longer gets any chances to do cool power feats that show her as a powerhouse. Aquaman in the last 10 years, have been bulletproof and got to perform a continent level feat. While WW was almost killed by a bullet in jl, and hasn't had a strength feat like the one mentioned for Aquaman since Pre 52. So this is not a problem of not wanting to let Superman be outshined. They could still give her greater things to do with her so called godly powers, without making her outshine superman. So the question is why this is not happening.

[Alpha]

Aquaman in the last 10 years, have been bulletproof and got to perform a continent level feat.

What continent level feat did he perform?

[Perseus]

What continent level feat did he perform?

Aquaman has shown to lift large island sized chunks of the earth from the ocean floor, at one point lifting Atlantis in one of his encounters. Its all in his Reddit respect thread if you wanna google search it.

[Alpha]

I didn't find anything of the sort.

[Perseus]

I didn't find anything of the sort.

Nu52: Stops a trident blow from the Dead King[Aquaman 2011 #25], who was capable of sinking and shattering the entirety of surface Atlantis beneath the waves with a similar blow.[Aquaman 2011 ^#24]

I knew it had something to do with Atlantis.

Edit: well the links aren't working but that it. There is also the fact that Arthur was never intended to be a planet buster like Diana or Clark.

[Lightning Rider]

Ok so I can be toxic at times, like BiteTheBullet pointed out, and I would like to apologize. I'll try to be better. I regret what I wrote.

I do feel that magical vulnerability to bullets is the wrong way to approach her durability and I would like to explain why I feel that way. In a sense, it's the same reason why the "chained by a man" needed to be abandoned. Both those weaknesses have a strong thematic basis, which is good, but it takes this character that is supposed to be above the nature of mankind, and you make her unproportionately vulnerable to mankind. There is something noble about her overcoming such a thing, but it takes away from the idea of wish fulfillment. And more than that, what plot purpose would this have? Is it important for Diana to get hurt when she is shot?

At the same time, I think there should be some kind of distinction between Superman and Wonder Woman because of what each one of them appeals to. Superman, at least in the versions of him I prefer, is about great power and great responsibility. He is the most powerful man on earth and nothing can hurt him, but all of that power still doesn't tell him how to solve Israel-Palestine. Many of his great stories are about his philosophical questions. The more powerful he is the harder it is for him to see a clear path forward.

Wonder Woman on the other hand is about someone with a clear philosophy, trying her best to overcome people's desire not to change through her sheer force of will. This means that while her power must be astonishing, it is her unrelenting spirit that makes her compelling. My ideal version of Diana is someone that would never get tired from a fight, no matter how much damage she took. In fact, the more she got hurt, the more she would be energized to keep pressing on. So Diana getting hurt but being able to handle immense amount of pressure is the ideal state for me.

The solution I propose to this is for Diana's skin to resemble human skin but function more like a rock, whereas her inner muscles and skeleton are comparable to those of a kryptonian. When Diana gets hit by a bullet, she doesn't get a bullet hole. Instead, her skin gets a small crack, and maybe the bullet gets stuck at times. The more damage she takes, the more cracks form on her body. But the thing is that as the damage builds up her body seems to tighten and become even tougher. So Diana would try to block bullets with her bracelets just to maintain her integrity and aesthetic, but getting hit by a bullet wouldn't stop her in her tracks, in fact, it would make her even tougher.

To be clear, Diana could still get her arm torn off by Doomsday, but that wouldn't make her lose strength. If she gets her arms and legs all torn off for example, she wouldn't be able to fight. But she would still be at her maximum stamina.

This is a cool idea. Not sure about her getting tougher the more damage she takes, but the aesthetic of having skin a rock (like hardened clay) makes a lot of sense. It reminds me of the way she was kind of crumbling in Alex Ross's Justice after she was poisoned.

[Perseus]

I'm not a fan of Diana having harden skin as if she's actually clay. Reminds me too much of the Thing from F4. This partially comes back to the idea that Diana isn't "real" i.e. she may have a soul but her body isn't organic. As if all the times she bleeds makes zero sense if she's just clay or if her skin is like clay then she's just a bunch of muscles being held together like the Flayed God in Mayan myth.

Diana may have been molded from clay, specifically of Gaia the primordial mother earth, but she is flesh and bone. Its just magic and the will of Gods.

[AmiMizuno]

Maybe in order to have harden skin that is a different skill within itself. That it's not something that automatically does on it's own. She has to think about it Also when it comes to magic Diana does have an interesting history. How does magic affect her?

[Alpha]

I'm not a fan of Diana having harden skin as if she's actually clay. Reminds me too much of the Thing from F4. This partially comes back to the idea that Diana isn't "real" i.e. she may have a soul but her body isn't organic. As if all the times she bleeds makes zero sense if she's just clay or if her skin is like clay then she's just a bunch of muscles being held together like the Flayed God in Mayan myth.

Diana may have been molded from clay, specifically of Gaia the primordial mother earth, but she is flesh and bone. Its just magic and the will of Gods.

I think there's definitely something thematically interesting about her being an artificial creation in every sense of the word, specially when we examine what that means as a feminist icon.

But that's not even what I'm proposing. She can still have internal organs like ours and be a human being in every sense of the word, one that can even bleed. I'm just saying that maybe her skin is different from our skin, even though it feels the same.

And I'm saying that this change would provide a narrative justification for the bullets and bracelets, but one that didn't make Diana weaker. In fact, it would make Diana even stronger because of how this physical reaction to bullets energizes her.

[BiteTheBullet]

I'm not a fan of Diana having harden skin as if she's actually clay. Reminds me too much of the Thing from F4. This partially comes back to the idea that Diana isn't "real" i.e. she may have a soul but her body isn't organic. As if all the times she bleeds makes zero sense if she's just clay or if her skin is like clay then she's just a bunch of muscles being held together like the Flayed God in Mayan myth.

Diana may have been molded from clay, specifically of Gaia the primordial mother earth, but she is flesh and bone. Its just magic and the will of Gods.

What is her origin now these days? Made from clay? Daddy Zeus?

[Perseus]

I think there's definitely something thematically interesting about her being an artificial creation in every sense of the word, specially when we examine what that means as a feminist icon.

But that's not even what I'm proposing. She can still have internal organs like ours and be a human being in every sense of the word, one that can even bleed. I'm just saying that maybe her skin is different from our skin, even though it feels the same.

And I'm saying that this change would provide a narrative justification for the bullets and bracelets, but one that didn't make Diana weaker. In fact, it would make Diana even stronger because of how this physical reaction to bullets energizes her.

Diana has only ever had one natural birth, the daddy Zeus origin, otherwise she's always had an unique creation, its only reference being religious texts. Ignoring that its always been feminist i.e. a woman being sculpted/brought to life by goddesses vs man being sculpted by God. I happen to prefer a modern take with Apollo and Hermes being included.

I mean to me its like your making something more complicated then it needs to be. Diana is a character that powers through pain yes but, it shouldn't energize her or its just an adrenaline boost. You loose out of moments like Diana while down and tired, blinding herself with snake venom to avoid medusa's stare. If she just keeps getting an energy boost every time she gets hurt then you start loosing some tension in fights.

Edit: The analogy of Doomsday ripping her arms and legs off just reminds me of the Black Knight skit from "The Holy Grail"


Diana can still block bullets, how many times do I need to say that no one is trying to take that away. The narrative justification is Steve landing on the island with guns and the amazons figuring out what they do. All the amazons are bullet timers, they all can do bullets and bracelets (most of them, the fighters anyway) they are superhuman. Diana is just the best at it. She can also block them for other people's safety to avoid ricochets or redirecting attacks like she does with Darkseid's Omega beams (an attack billions of times faster then bullets mind you).

[Perseus]

What is her origin now these days? Made from clay? Daddy Zeus?

For me its always going to be sculpted from the clay of Gaia and brought to life by Athena and Aphrodite as an amazon, and getting her godly powers via the Perez gods blessings + Apollo as a result of wining the contest.

Rn it seems like a combo of both Zeus and clay.....? Like she was sculpted from clay but Zeus was who brought her to life? IDK and neither does DC to be frank.

[Gaius]

I'm not a fan of Diana having harden skin as if she's actually clay. Reminds me too much of the Thing from F4. This partially comes back to the idea that Diana isn't "real" i.e. she may have a soul but her body isn't organic. As if all the times she bleeds makes zero sense if she's just clay or if her skin is like clay then she's just a bunch of muscles being held together like the Flayed God in Mayan myth.

Diana may have been molded from clay, specifically of Gaia the primordial mother earth, but she is flesh and bone. Its just magic and the will of Gods.

Yeah, I’m clay origin all the way but this is a thing writers played around with, when it was her origin, that I never cared for. Just writers and fans overthinking it.