Steve Trevor: The most disrespected love interest in comics?

[9th.]

I don't even think Diana should be with a dude so I'm just gonna stay out of this one.

[Alpha]

Ah, I assume he was the guy talking with Diana at the beginning of that Asgard arc? Only read the first issue, seemed alright, but I wasn't really checking comics at the time so I forgot about it... Should check it out, still wondering if there's gonna be a Kratos cameo there .

The first Arc in Asgard is a really fun, beautifully drawn, intriguing story (Wonder Woman 770-773) and you can read it standalone. The issues after that are a bit more uneven in my opinion with her travelling around different places (I absolutely love 778 and how it uses Bat-mite / Mister Mxyzptlk).

With issue 780 Diana comes back to earth and we have sort of a reintroduction to her world. It seems to be kind of a filler story while we wait for Trial of the Amazons, but I love the action, there's this silver age villain she is fighting that can create an army of glass duplicates of Wonder Woman. The interactions between Deadman and Diana are just great.

[Lukmendes]

The first Arc in Asgard is a really fun, beautifully drawn, intriguing story (Wonder Woman 770-773) and you can read it standalone. The issues after that are a bit more uneven in my opinion with her travelling around different places (I absolutely love 778 and how it uses Bat-mite / Mister Mxyzptlk).

With issue 780 Diana comes back to earth and we have sort of a reintroduction to her world. It seems to be kind of a filler story while we wait for Trial of the Amazons, but I love the action, there's this silver age villain she is fighting that can create an army of glass duplicates of Wonder Woman. The interactions between Deadman and Diana are just great.

Sounds fun, will check it out eventually.

[Korath]

I think Steve being unremarkable is part of the point. He is a guy who is not afraid at all of having a girlfriend that's stronger and more powerful than him and Diana, the literal demi-Goddess/perfect woman, falls in love with him.

Which is why stuff like this is hilarious:




It can fall flat on the page but it works on screen when you have someone like Chris Pine playing him.

The problem is, it's hard to give him a role after Diana falls in love with him, leaves the island and defeats the Big Bad.

Also tbh, Diana/Steve are kind of boring as a battle couple. I would much rather see Diana being a duo being Artemis, Zatanna, Deadman, Batman, Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark or Hippolyta.

I'd rather Steve not be an action man but just a civilian who is actually really secure both about his relationship with Diana and with her with other peoples. He doesn't need to be some sort of super soldier to actually play off Diana, instead offering her that sort of "cool off, humanity's still good you know" vibe. One doesn't need to be able to shoot everything to do that, he could just, I don't know... offer Diana's favorite food to her after a taxing day, because he learnt themysciran recipes for her.

[TheRay]

He is a terrible love interest. He works better as his own character. I cared loads more for him in Flashpoint and we all know how that went.

[bat39]

Not to stray too far from the original topic, but I really do feel that at least superheroes who have their own books should have regular everyday people as the bulk of their supporting cast. I just feel that they really need some sort of human touchstones otherwise it starts to feel like one of those CW shows where at first there's only one lead hero, but then all of a sudden everyone's putting on a costume and it just begins to feel like regular people is just some sort of abstract concept the heroes are fighting for or like they're just fighting for some sort of trophy or something.

As for Steve Trevor specifically, like others have said maybe a bit differently, since superhero comics started out as primarily male reader focused, love interests were almost always seen as damsels in distress for the hero to save. Since Steve has historically been WW's main love interest, this does nothing for your average male reader. Which is why I always thought the best way to go was Chris Pine's depiction in the first WW movie. Not only was he funny and charming, but he was also very capable, but also knew when to step aside and let Diana deal with threats he was clearly outmatched by. Nor did he feel particularly emasculated doing so. He clearly supported Diana as was his role in the movie, but he also had the utmost confidence in himself at the same time.

Yeah, I definitely think Chris Pine's Steve Trevor is the best interpretation of the character I've seen. Alongside his New 52/Rebirth version and his DCAU version in the ''Savage Time'' three-parter.

I'm actually less interested in Diana and Steve being ''in a relationship'' and more interested in the notion of them falling in love, or being in love, and dealing with that somehow. Like, with Lois and Clark, you know the endgame is that eventually they'll end up together, marry and have kids (the latter is a relatively new development to the franchise, but one that further cements the iconic status of their relationship). With Bruce and Selina it's a bit more ambiguous, but across adaptations and continuities, it does seem like there's a higher than average chance they end up together (but not without a fair bit of angst first). Barry and Iris is as set in stone as Lois and Clark. But Diana and Steve? I don't necessarily think they need to end up in a long-term relationship that ends with marriage and kids. Which is not to say I'm against it. But I feel Steve's role in the WW mythos is primarily to be Diana's introduction to Man's World and her oldest and closest ally and confidant in that world. And, in the versions where he dies, a tragedy that could shape her future in Man's World. But I don't think they are the built-in ''endgame'' for Wonder Woman franchise. I actually don't think Diana as a character is someone who's necessarily moving towards a romantic endgame.

[Montressor]

I'm in the minority here but I REALLY loved the pre-Crisis Steve and all the goofiness associated with him. No soap opera--with all its evil twin, plastic surgery false memory trappings, could top what Steve Trevor went through pre-Crisis. I look back at that era with a nostalgic fondness.

[Multiverse]

Out of all the original love interest of the main league (Lois Lane, Julie Madison, Iris West, Carol Ferris) Steve has always been a bit of an enigma to me. It probably doesn't help that, like most Wonder Woman mythos, the character's history was twist and turned to the point of unrecognizable. Heck, DCAU only used him for one story. Though I've always liked how he calls Diana "Angel" and that he is of a few males (alongside Superman and Batman) given honorary access to Themyscira.

Probably one of the few good things that came out of "The New 52" was Steve Trevor. I like that they basically made him the Liaison between the US Government and the Justice League; just annoyed me how quickly Geoff Johns chucked that plotpoint out the window just to make him leader of a Government Sanctioned Justice League. I'd have loved to see him play off the other members of the League.

As far as he and Diana go, I prefer them as Besties than Love Interests; both has the others' back in a tough situation.

[TheRay]

To be entirely fair, there are very few, if any, captivating love interests.
In Amazonia, Wonder Woman kills him. I have to admit he was interesting in that.

[Celgress]

I think it is because he's a normal male whose in love with a superhero. It's very Buffy/Riley where it's looked down upon and she's seen that she's to good for him and people either ship her with Batman whose super popular and brooding or Superman whose seen as her equal.....

I think a large part of Steve's problem is society looks down on a male character in a heterosexual relationship as "worthless" and "pathetic" if he is paired with a female superhero who is obviously stronger, smarter, etc. than he is. It isn't fair but I think there is a clear basis if unconscious with most people against such pairings due to established Western Cultural genderized power dynamics.

[HestiasHearth]

I think a large part of Steve's problem is society looks down on a male character in a heterosexual relationship as "worthless" and "pathetic" if he is paired with a female superhero who is obviously stronger, smarter, etc. than he is. It isn't fair but I think there is a clear basis if unconscious with most people against such pairings due to established Western Cultural genderized power dynamics.

U have nailed it. It's not easy to let go of a lifetime of patriarchal gender/relationship paradigms. And this paradigm gets reflected in so many small details (including py personal pet peeve...Diana, a literal AMAZON (lol) always being drawn/portrayed as shorter than her classic male love interest. Cuz Aphrodite forbid that, in addition to being smarter, stronger, and more powerful than Steve, she is also taller.
It's just too much for our male-dominated culture to take.

[Alpha]

I think a large part of Steve's problem is society looks down on a male character in a heterosexual relationship as "worthless" and "pathetic" if he is paired with a female superhero who is obviously stronger, smarter, etc. than he is. It isn't fair but I think there is a clear basis if unconscious with most people against such pairings due to established Western Cultural genderized power dynamics.

I'm sure that's a problem for some people, but it's far from the only reason why Steve hasn't caught on outside the DCEU

[daBronzeBomma]

Lots of interesting posts in this thread regarding the problems with Steve Trevor. This is a topic I've given a little thought to as well, so here's my two cents.

1. From the Golden Age thru the end of the Bronze Age (1938 thru 1986), there wasn't that much discernible difference bergen how Steve Trevor, Lois Lane, and Selina Kyle were as supporting characters. They were (like most non-superhero supporting characters in superhero comix at the time) largely two-dimensional at best.

It's only from 1986 onward with the Post-COIE storytelling that Steve gets left behind by Perez while Lois and Selina finally start to get expanded as three-dimensional characters over the next quarter-century (1986 thru 2011) before Younger Steve finally comes back.

2. Unlike Lois and Selina, Steve isn't close to being the best at his chosen profession. Lois was always a great journalist from Day One. Selina was always a great thief from Day One. Steve Trevor wasn't that remarkable in his chosen profession IIRC. Good officer, but not as good, for example, as Hal Jordan was as a pilot.

Lois became the DCU's Greatest Journalist. Selina became the DCU's Greatest Thief.

Steve remained Generic Military Guy who never evolved into something more. The recent attempts to turn Steve Trevor into Diet Steve Rogers has not worked, IMO. He'll never be better at warfare or any martial ability than Diana (nor should he).

Steve needs to stand out in a way that doesn't upstage Diana. So far, they haven't found the formula for that.

I have some ideas on how to fix Steve Trevor so that he's a much more feasible option as a permanent love interest for Wonder Woman, but that might be better served with its own thread.

[Celgress]

U have nailed it. It's not easy to let go of a lifetime of patriarchal gender/relationship paradigms. And this paradigm gets reflected in so many small details (including py personal pet peeve...Diana, a literal AMAZON (lol) always being drawn/portrayed as shorter than her classic male love interest. Cuz Aphrodite forbid that, in addition to being smarter, stronger, and more powerful than Steve, she is also taller.
It's just too much for our male-dominated culture to take.

Don't get me wrong, I did not enjoy posting that but I felt someone needed to point out bluntly what one of if not the main "problem" with the pairing is. I can't count the number of times other fans of Wondy or general people who are into comic books have made jokes that Steve is a "sissy" who doesn't "deserve" Diana since I was a small child thirty or so years ago, and this attitude persists to a large degree today. I saw the same thing happen with "normies" (generally speaking) Xander and Reily as potential love interests for Buffy. Unlike Angel or Spike, they were dismissed by much of the fanbase because they were "not on her level". You don't often see such arguments made about Lois Lane or Mary Jane regarding their respective superhero love interests. In fact, many fans are vehemently against "improving" MJ & Lois by permanently "powering them up". This is a disgusting double standard, IMHO.

[Lukmendes]

I think a large part of Steve's problem is society looks down on a male character in a heterosexual relationship as "worthless" and "pathetic" if he is paired with a female superhero who is obviously stronger, smarter, etc. than he is. It isn't fair but I think there is a clear basis if unconscious with most people against such pairings due to established Western Cultural genderized power dynamics.

Combine that with how people prefer supers with other supers, and that he's not that iconic as a civilian love interest, specially compared to Lois or MJ... Let's just say he's just lucky to stay around lol.