Why is Cheetah a weaklink 90% of the time?

[WonderLight789]

Super strength, durability, magic fangs, claws, regeneration/healing factor and one of the fastest beings in DC that even Flash has had some difficulty with her speed. That's what Cheetah is on paper. But her catalogue of perfdormances is one of the most pathetic and sad cases for an archy villain of the most iconic and well known female hero. Who also gets crummy treatment more often than not. So why is that? Even writers that acknowledge that she trades blows with WW still wrote stories of catwoman beating her. So why is that? They don't care. What is it about Cheetah that makes writers want to treat her as a punching bag? What is even the big deal of beating Cheetah if she doesn't even have an impressive trackrecord, that could make her defeat in a story feel impressive for the hero that beats her? If street levelers can drop her like they do. What's the point?

[Dr. Poison]

It's pretty simple. Creators don't do the proper research on the character otherwise they would see that George Perez, Phil Jimenez, and Greg Rucka presented Cheetah as a force to be reckoned with easily capable of physically challenging Diana. Perez(who created the Barbara Minerva version) had Cheetah able to play tug-of-war with Diana and her magic lasso without much effort. The standard was set there. Some writers just refuse to acknowledge that or they didn't read the source material and think Cheetah is still just a mentally ill woman in a cat-costume.

[WonderLight789]

It's pretty simple. Creators don't do the proper research on the character otherwise they would see that George Perez, Phil Jimenez, and Greg Rucka presented Cheetah as a force to be reckoned with easily capable of physically challenging Diana. Perez(who created the Barbara Minerva version) had Cheetah able to play tug-of-war with Diana and her magic lasso without much effort. The standard was set there. Some writers just refuse to acknowledge that or they didn't read the source material and think Cheetah is still just a mentally ill woman in a cat-costume.

Like i said above. There are writers that acknowledge that she trades blows with WW still wrote stories of catwoman beating her. So it's not like they didn't know. They knew and didn't care. Also WW writers haven't done much to establish her as a force.WW beat her easily in Ruka. Beat her in Perez while weakened by drugs and poison. And i don't remember her doing anything under jimenez. That was the male Cheetah, that was stated to have more power.

[Nyssane]

As per your last thread on the topic:

1. She's a woman. Wonder Woman is rarely respected herself, why would her arch-nemesis be any different? Comic books in general don't really take female villains as seriously as male ones; look at Marvel - what big-name female villains do they actually even have? Mystique, maybe, but she's certainly not a powerhouse like Cheetah. And I've often thought that the rest of WW's rogues gallery is derided because they're 95% female, too.

2. She's cat-themed. Catwoman is a more famous cat-themed character, and she's just a woman wearing a costume. A lot of people (creators included) also only remember Cheetah from Challenge of the Super Friends, where she was basically Catwoman in a cheetah costume. DC editors must be guilty of this, too, since they continue to allow writers to use the character in ways that don't emphasize her godly powers.

3. People don't read Wonder Woman. Okay, that's hyperbole, obviously Wonder Woman has a ton of fans. But her comics aren't as widely-received as Superman's or Batman's, so that has an effect on her mythos as a whole. Cheetah is actually pretty well-respected in Wonder Woman comics (for the most part, of course), but because the comic doesn't get the traffic that other male superheroes' gets, people aren't able to see Cheetah's power levels the way we do.

4. Her inconsistent origins. This goes kind of hand-in-hand with point #2 - Cheetah has had as many interpretations and re-imaginings as Wonder Woman herself has had. Priscilla Rich was a wealthy socialite with an inferiority complex. In the Silver Age, Debbi Domaine was a brainwashed eco-terrorist. Post-Crisis, Barbara Ann Minerva was a devious archeologist who craved power. The New 52 had her in a cult dedicated to the Goddess of the Hunt. Rebirth had her as Diana's BFF who blames her for her cursed transformation. There are so many origins that it's hard to remember which one is current, though most of us agree her current version is the best she's had since the 40's. But it's still relatively recent, so it hasn't crossed over as quickly to outside media.

[WonderLight789]

As per your last thread on the topic:

1. She's a woman. Wonder Woman is rarely respected herself, why would her arch-nemesis be any different? Comic books in general don't really take female villains as seriously as male ones; look at Marvel - what big-name female villains do they actually even have? Mystique, maybe, but she's certainly not a powerhouse like Cheetah. And I've often thought that the rest of WW's rogues gallery is derided because they're 95% female, too.

2. She's cat-themed. Catwoman is a more famous cat-themed character, and she's just a woman wearing a costume. A lot of people (creators included) also only remember Cheetah from Challenge of the Super Friends, where she was basically Catwoman in a cheetah costume. DC editors must be guilty of this, too, since they continue to allow writers to use the character in ways that don't emphasize her godly powers.

3. People don't read Wonder Woman. Okay, that's hyperbole, obviously Wonder Woman has a ton of fans. But her comics aren't as widely-received as Superman's or Batman's, so that has an effect on her mythos as a whole. Cheetah is actually pretty well-respected in Wonder Woman comics (for the most part, of course), but because the comic doesn't get the traffic that other male superheroes' gets, people aren't able to see Cheetah's power levels the way we do.

4. Her inconsistent origins. This goes kind of hand-in-hand with point #2 - Cheetah has had as many interpretations and re-imaginings as Wonder Woman herself has had. Priscilla Rich was a wealthy socialite with an inferiority complex. In the Silver Age, Debbi Domaine was a brainwashed eco-terrorist. Post-Crisis, Barbara Ann Minerva was a devious archeologist who craved power. The New 52 had her in a cult dedicated to the Goddess of the Hunt. Rebirth had her as Diana's BFF who blames her for her cursed transformation. There are so many origins that it's hard to remember which one is current, though most of us agree her current version is the best she's had since the 40's. But it's still relatively recent, so it hasn't crossed over as quickly to outside media.

Forgot about that 1. Sorry.

Superman comics have been selling in the same range as WW for a while. And you don't see his lore disrespected this often.

Like i said above. There are writers that acknowledge that she trades blows with WW still wrote stories of catwoman beating her. So it's not like they didn't know. They knew and didn't care. Cheetah has been a super powered being for close to 40 years in all her canon origins since the 80s. Yet she is still fodder to street levelers. No excuse other than the fact that DC doesn't care about WW and her lore.

[Psy-lock]

They treat WW like trash and by extension her villains. Cheetah just happens to be the most well known one so she gets to be trashy more often than the rest.

[WonderLight789]

They treat WW like trash and by extension her villains. Cheetah just happens to be the most well known one so she gets to be trashy more often than the rest.

I love your sincerity. Nice to hear somebody here say it out loud. The truth hurts sometimes, and it does hurt me. But things can never change if first we don't see things as they are.

[Phoenixx9]

I don't think writers (nor some fans) realize that Cheetah isn't just a cat in human form or a woman with the strength of a cat/cheetah, Cheetah is meant to be on a par with Wonder Woman in strength, speed, agility and fighting. Cheetah is ferocious with some serious claws. Cheetah also has an animalistic anger which seems to enhance her abilities at times and she is unpredictable like a wild animal. Beware The Cheetah!

[Stanlos]

Super strength, durability, magic fangs, claws, regeneration/healing factor and one of the fastest beings in DC that even Flash has had some difficulty with her speed. That's what Cheetah is on paper. But her catalogue of perfdormances is one of the most pathetic and sad cases for an archy villain of the most iconic and well known female hero. Who also gets crummy treatment more often than not. So why is that? Even writers that acknowledge that she trades blows with WW still wrote stories of catwoman beating her. So why is that? They don't care. What is it about Cheetah that makes writers want to treat her as a punching bag? What is even the big deal of beating Cheetah if she doesn't even have an impressive trackrecord, that could make her defeat in a story feel impressive for the hero that beats her? If street levelers can drop her like they do. What's the point?

For some reason people just see her gender and seeks to leverage coquetish kitty girl fantasy tropes. Even with Rucka's redesign her appearance in say the Snyder League focuses on making her cute and sexy rather than powerful and werebeast like in build.

[Mel Dyer]

For some reason people just see her gender and seeks to leverage coquetish kitty girl fantasy tropes. Even with Rucka's redesign her appearance in say the Snyder League focuses on making her cute and sexy rather than powerful and werebeast like in build.

I agree with you, on the gender issue. We also have to account for this unwritten well of disdain for WW and her related characters. I think a good editor should be more aware of that and protective of these characters, because of it.

[witchboy]

Reading the Golden Age omnibuses, I'm impressed how Priscilla was such a viable threat when she was just a "crazy" socialite in a costume.

[phonogram12]

Reading the Golden Age omnibuses, I'm impressed how Priscilla was such a viable threat when she was just a "crazy" socialite in a costume.

And she was def not the "weakest link" at any point during those appearances.

[BiteTheBullet]

And she was def not the "weakest link" at any point during those appearances.

A normal woman against a super powered amazon is not a 'weak link'?!?

I would love for a current version of Priscilla Rich take on a gifted by the gods Diana or a daughter of Zeus Diana. The current image should be Godzilla meets Bambi with a giant 'splat' for a sound effect.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...MygBegUIARC8AQ

[Rac7d*]

What does cheetah want ?

[I'm a Fish]

What does cheetah want ?

Depends on the Cheetah.