Character Flaws - Diana

[Perseus]

What sort of character flaws do/would you want Diana to have? What are the flaws that she learns and grows from? which ones are flaws that she should have forever?

[John Venus]

Not exactly a flaw but if she grew up in an island full of women then she would see relationships between women as normal and would view women as the default like how a lot of people assume men are the default IRL. So I can see her being a little surprised at times because she's always subconsciously expecting to see a woman every time she goes to meet a higher up or assuming that when somebody mentions they are in a relationship that it was a same sex relationship.

In the beginning I imagine she would be very trusting and naive of the outside world. Maybe a bit too trusting. Especially of women. We saw in Perez's run how Barbara Minerva took advantage of this. If she comes from a place where everyone trusts each other, expects the best of each other and support each other then I imagine the frustration she would experience would be more than what a regular person would feel when she sees people do the opposite. I also think that seeing all the different cultures and customs around the world would be exciting for her at first but at some point all the contradictory beliefs, customs, expectations and the complexity of inter cultural relationships would become dizzying for her. Also I don't think she ever heard anyone criticize Themyscira when she grew up there and while I don't think she would be hostile towards any comments, it would be a new experience for her to process.

[I'm a Fish]

Talk too much.

[Koriand'r]

A consequence of her warm and loving nature is she forms emotional bonds with people she simply doesn't have the time to maintain. She'll give you great life changing advice that makes you feel close to her and like the only person in her world, then she'll disappear on you as she goes off to save the day for someone else. Normally that's fine and you can move on and get over it, unless knowing her causes one of her enemies to take an interest in you.

[Perseus]

My favorite written version of the character is Rucka's first run and I know a lot of people that say his Diana is basically Perez's Diana but older and wiser. But, I'd also be hard pressed to say that that she doesn't comes off as.... flawless? I mean, I love the situations she is placed in and her decisions that she makes, its compelling and true to character but, maybe I'm just not noticing anything she does as "flawed".

[I'm a Fish]

My favorite written version of the character is Rucka's first run and I know a lot of people that say his Diana is basically Perez's Diana but older and wiser. But, I'd also be hard pressed to say that that she doesn't comes off as.... flawless? I mean, I love the situations she is placed in and her decisions that she makes, its compelling and true to character but, maybe I'm just not noticing anything she does as "flawed".

Would Perez’s Diana have flaws if she wasn’t naïve?

Though, one flaw I like Diana being depicted with and overcoming is that she was kind-of a spoil brat as a kid.

[Agent Z]

You could make it so that Diana can't live up to her claim that she loves everyone. Well, to clarify, this isn't a flaw itself since loving everyone is impossible but Diana doesn't know that at first.

A consequence of her warm and loving nature is she forms emotional bonds with people she simply doesn't have the time to maintain. She'll give you great life changing advice that makes you feel close to her and like the only person in her world, then she'll disappear on you as she goes off to save the day for someone else. Normally that's fine and you can move on and get over it, unless knowing her causes one of her enemies to take an interest in you.

That... doesn't seem like a flaw. More like an occurrence she has no control over.

[Alpha]

I was re reading the William Messner-Loebs story for "Dc Retrospective: Wonder Woman 90s", where Diana trains a group of girl scouts, and one of the things I like is the idea that Diana can be too forceful at times.

I love the Marston stories where Diana was always training the Holliday Girls in science and athletics, and this story with the girl scouts is very much in that vein, but it does introduce this idea that Diana's enthusiasm for you to challenge yourself can sometimes push you too hard. Diana isn't an overdemanding parent, but her enthusiasm about you being able to do anything isn't always realistic, or at least isn't always what you're ready to hear.

This could apply in areas other than her training. It couls be about emotional breakthroughs. Sometimes a person just doesn't want to face her demons, and maybe Diana isn't delicate enough in that sense. After all, her rope is all about the scary truths. Of course she gets better at it the more experience she has, but whenever she forgets it kind of hurts her because she doesn't like driving people away or into their own failure.

[Koriand'r]

You could make it so that Diana can't live up to her claim that she loves everyone. Well, to clarify, this isn't a flaw itself since loving everyone is impossible but Diana doesn't know that at first.



That... doesn't seem like a flaw. More like an occurrence she has no control over.

Of course it doesn't seem like a flaw to you, but it does to someone effected by it. Vanessa Kapatelis thought it was a flaw and so did her mother Julia. Judging by Orlando's issue with her, Mayfly would think it was a flaw too. Diana spent years becoming a major part of her life but hasn't seen her since.

[achilles]

A consequence of her warm and loving nature is she forms emotional bonds with people she simply doesn't have the time to maintain. She'll give you great life changing advice that makes you feel close to her and like the only person in her world, then she'll disappear on you as she goes off to save the day for someone else. Normally that's fine and you can move on and get over it, unless knowing her causes one of her enemies to take an interest in you.

But that's not a flaw. That's a virtue that may have unforeseen consequences. Now if she was prone to looking before leaping, overestimating herself, socially awkward, a horrible diplomat, has a drug problem, maybe isn't so nice----those are all flaws of one sort or another, not virtues disguised as flaws. And flaws are very important to characters, especially the ones you want to focus on. Even Superman has a flaw of sorts, he's a bit naive in some versions. Batman is a collection of character flaws who somehow manages to function.

This IMO is Diana's biggest problem, one that even Gail Simone sort of acknowledged in her run through an internal monologue of Power Girl, her sort of opponent for the issue. It was all about how she wanted to punch Diana in the face just to see how she'd react. And that she thought Diana was a Miss Perfect. JLU had Hawkgirl noting much the same. I think writers should focus a bit more on her flaws and making them clear to the readers without simply telling them.

[Gaius]

I really think your view of Perez's Diana is extremely inaccurate. Diana expressed that she didn't take joy in hurting others but to call it "evangelical shame" is a great exaggeration. She wasn't boring just because she was morally grounded.

Bruh, how is any of those outside the boundaries of what Perez established? One of them is even from the fight with Captain Nazi where she uses the Lass of Truth to peer into his soul and see what made him that way. Perez had her literally do the same thing in his run when she used the lasso to show Ares the ultimate consequence of war.

Some good stuff, folks.

[Stanlos]

What sort of character flaws do/would you want Diana to have? What are the flaws that she learns and grows from? which ones are flaws that she should have forever?

I like what Rucka was flirting with during the latter half of the run. During his run he highlights the wisdom of Athena and the confidence borne of her knowledge of herself and her origins(designed by Gods). While the Powers that Be screwed him over it would have been interesting to see the study play out.