Diana had moments. That was all.
Hawkgirl was more than a single story, but an actual arc that ran through much of the series. She turned against her people and helped the League. She had to earn her teammates' trust again. Her relationship with John. Her friendship with Solomon Grundy. Those episodes featuring Dr. Fate culminated in her confronting and defeating her own god.
Flash was presented as the heart of the team to the point where his death on an alternate Earth turned them into the Justice Lords. He was the one who ultimately defeated Luthor/Braniac, the big bad of that season, and that played into his personal arc of proving he wasn't just a joke.
It was Martian Manhunter's introduction that led to the League even being formed. His empathy and desire to understand and fit in with humanity played a critical part in saving the League in multiple episodes--namely the one with Morgana and Amazo's first appearance.
Superman, for all that could be said about how he was treated, also got an arc. Dealing with the fallout of his brainwashing by Darkseid and how he responded to his Justice Lord self played a key role in his development.
Batman is a black hole that consumes everything he's near.
Wonder Woman...?
She got a good deal of spotlight at the start of the first season, like she was the shiny new toy to show off. But after her "origin" in the premier, returning to Themyscira to deal with Faust & Hades, and fighting an evil Amazon, they were pretty much done with her. All they had left was: "Isn't Batman dreamy?" and the occasional fight with a god.
I find it telling that, during the fight with Luthor/Brainiac, when he manifests copies of the Justice Lords for the League to fight, pretty much everyone has a confrontation with their taunting doppelganger (Superman told he's a tyrant, Flash that he's just a joke, Hawkgirl that she's a traitor)...except Wonder Woman. Not a single word is exchanged between Diana and her counterpart.
In fact, I don't recall Diana having any response whatsoever to the Justice Lords. Superman was mortified. Batman convinced his variant to turn good.
Wonder Woman? "Eh...whatever."
In the grand scheme of things, she could've been left out of the show and not one single thing would be different.
She had episodes centered on her, but they were inconsequential. She had no internal life. No particular conflicts except learning to be less of snob sometimes and falling in love with Batman. Arguably, her biggest achievement throughout the series was getting the Black Mercy off Bruce and throwing it onto Mongul.
Again, that's not to say there was nothing good or she didn't have moments. Isolated beats scattered throughout that got her sort of right or let her do something cool.
But taken as a whole, Wonder Woman was, at best, mediocre. All anyone remembers from her portrayal in Justice League is that she's a snob who's in love with Batman.
I'd argue that even the Huntress got a better showing overall. I'm not complaining about that because Helena is awesome, but if we're going to get into a "some characters had it better/worse than Diana" thing, I think when taking all the characters that appeared throughout the show, Wonder Woman--despite her stature and prominence--is pretty low on the ranking.
As for why? I don't think there's a great mystery, and I wouldn't cry sexism or fear of powerful women. They just didn't care. Wonder Woman's presence was a box that needed to be checked, and the people behind the scenes clearly had little interest in actually doing anything with her. That's it.
Last edited by Guy_McNichts; 07-21-2021 at 07:45 PM.
I think it's obvious they had trouble getting inside her head unlike other League members. We didn't get to see what she did for Christmas nor was she a part of the Dr Destiny episode. Unfortunately, this is more common than people think. Check out the old Satellite era JL comics or Morrison/Waid/Kelly era JL or even most modern iterations of the JL, Diana is usually just standing there. Putting her on JLD is probably the most interesting thing DC has done for her team wise.
That is a weak excuse that even some writers use. WW is far from lacking flaws. And in the DCAU. She had plenty of that. Being a snob. Having a lot of prejudice towards men. Acting impatient. Being fast to lose her nerve etc. It is funny how writers who blame the character for being too ''perferct'' ''boring'' '' not relatable'' end up being among the ones who writer her as truly boring. If you can't write a certain character is not the character's fault. It is your writing's fault. And if you are not interested in a character, then leave it alone instead of deliverng weak writing.
What WW stories do you think would've been good for the Justice League show?
- Some sort of adaptation of Blood of the Cheetah (WW Vol.2 #9) before throwing her in with no connection to Diana. To give some Wonder Woman worldbuilding outside of Greek mythos and those WWII time travel episodes.
(Honestly, if they had just made the JL version of Cheetah a demi-god or impowered by the Gods and not a woman who spliced herself with Cheetah DNA, that would have given her and Diana more of a connection since it didn't really make much sense in the show for Diana to go for Cheetah, even their fight was pretty "meh".)
- Get rid of that episode that had Diana team up with Hawk and Dove and instead replace it with a version of Powerplay (WW Vol.2 #6). Hawk and Dove can still be in it (since it's a team show) but just have Diana be the one teaching "violence isn't the answer" instead of learning it.
- That team-up story Gods of Gotham (WW Vol.2 #164 -167) would have been a nice way to include some other characters. You'd probably have to cut the entire Wonder-fam out to fit the show...but at least it wouldn't be Batman upstaging Diana by fighting her villains solo.
Last edited by I'm a Fish; 07-22-2021 at 06:45 AM.
~I just keep swimming through these threads~
Yeah Gods of Gotham could've been good. I think "A League of One", "Golden Perfect" and the Queen of Fables story by Mark Waid would've worked too for the show.
Lol. Everything in this sub seems to turn into a power discussion. I like A League of One a lot and it makes Diana into the heart of the group. Is that ok?