So DC in recent years has dabbled in with the notion of Diana having a "god-mode" of sorts. Kind of her own Super Saiyan transformation.
Personally, I like the idea. Heroes discovering or unlocking some special super-mode in desperate or extreme times is a trope I usually enjoy. The aforementioned Super Saiyans of
Dragon Ball. Blade whenever he drank real blood in his movies. Superman has his sun bath.
So I'm cool with Wonder Woman having one, and given her connection to gods--be it the clay origin or Zeus' daughter--I think it's a fair extension of her powers to have a god-mode she can tap into when s**t gets real.
I think the problem is no one's really sure what the exact nature of it should be and how to convey it visually. In comparison, though the changing hair colors of
Dragon Ball can be seen as silly to some, it is a handy way of demonstrating visually the character is reaching a new level.
During Azzarello's run, which might be the first instance of this Diana doing this sort of thing, it was usually conveyed by removing her bracelets which then gave her a prominent glow effect and made her paler.
Personally, though I like the idea of god-mode, I didn't care for this. Diana removing her bracelets resulting in a power boost has roots in the Golden and Silver Age, but what turns me off is it's pretty blatant with the lightning effects the source of this power is being Zeus' daughter.
So this, to me, comes across like Diana is gaining power by discarding part of iconography (the bracelets) and embracing who her Daddy is.
I'm kind of meh on the visuals, too. Having her glow is all well and good, but I'm not big on her turning very pale. That combined with the lightning and glow effects, she almost looks like her skin has turned blue.
Meanwhile, though I didn't read the
Superman/Wonder Woman comics, there was an arc where Diana becomes a god which was demonstrated with, again, glowing, and more distinctly, a white variation of her costume.
I don't know how she achieved this or how it affected her powers, but just as a visualization of Diana's god-mode, I think this works. I feel like any transformation should be relatively subtle, and her costume changing colors like this is a good example of that.
Which brings me to the 2017 movie's interpretation, which is denoted by a subtle glow effect to her armor and
electricity sparkling from her bracelets.
As far as visuals go, again, I like the subtlety of her "transformation" if you can even call it that. I like that it still incorporates her bracelets. It does have the Zeus taint, but a good thing about the movie is they don't dwell on it that much. It could just as easily be her a special god power she was blessed with.
Unfortunately, none of these are really that developed as far as what they can do or how she achieves them except for arguably Azzarello's god-mode.
As said, I don't like when Diana's god-mode is tied/owed directly to Zeus. If it was up to me, being a proponent of the clay origin, I would tie it more to Gaia and her Amazon training. Because of her training, she's able to harness a direct link to Gaia and channel the power of the Earth herself. It can make her stronger, faster, enhance her senses, and she can do bigger BOOSH attacks with her bracelets. Maybe some other stuff.
To balance it out, it's not easy for her to do and takes a lot out of her, which is why she only does it in extreme circumstances.