Make It Work Better: Cheetah as Diana's arch-nemesis

[daBronzeBomma]

Similar to the previous MIWB installment (Steve Trevor as Diana's paramour), the goal of this thread is look at something in the mythos, acknowledge it hasn't been handled as well as it could, and how to "fix" or improve it.

Once again, if you disagree with the very premise (i.e. Cheetah isn't or shouldn't or can't be Wonder Woman's arch-enemy), all well and good, but please remember that this is a hybrid equal mix of an appreciation thread and a constructive criticism thread in one.

So, Cheetah ... if Wonder Woman as the Greatest Female Superhero hasn't always lived up to the hype, the notion of Cheetah being the equivalent Greatest Female Supervillain has never been taken seriously.

Why is that, and how can we (or DC) change it?

1. Sexism and Misogyny.

Let's just understand they automatically negatively affect Wonder Woman and her franchise much more severely than others. It ain't going away, but it can still at least be addressed head on in the writing.

2. Cheetah is multiple characters with multiple backstories and multiple motivations.

As opposed to an evolving and constantly revamped single identity (like Lex Luthor or The Joker), Cheetah is Priscilla, Debbie, Barbara, and (ugh) Sebastian. Hard to build on that 80 year history when these 4 have little in common with each other.

3. Bestial villains only work if the hero in question is also beast-like.

Marvel's Sabretooth is the exception that proves the rule. Him being animal-like only works because Wolverine is similarly animal-like. Otherwise, they're henches, not leaders.

4. Cheetah doesn't work yet as an arch-enemy because she's rarely if ever quite the polar opposite of Wonder Woman in terms of mentality. If you can sum up WW in one positive concept, then Cheetah needs to be more obviously the appropriate opposing concept.

Those are the challenges as I see it. Now, let's hear some solutions. Back with mine in a bit.

[BiteTheBullet]

She can't be an arch nemesis or even a good enemy of Wonder Woman because of the way the DC universe treats her when not in a Wonder Woman book. Batman and Catwoman can beat her? That shouldn't even be a question since it has happened and it was sad how she jobbed out to them.

No respect for the Cheetah across the DC universe means, to me, that she is a joke of a threat to Wonder Woman.

[Lukmendes]

She can't be an arch nemesis or even a good enemy of Wonder Woman because of the way the DC universe treats her when not in a Wonder Woman book. Batman and Catwoman can beat her? That shouldn't even be a question since it has happened and it was sad how she jobbed out to them.

No respect for the Cheetah across the DC universe means, to me, that she is a joke of a threat to Wonder Woman.

Doesn't that imply Wonder Woman's own editors don't respect her? 'Cause I would assume they'd at least be able to say no if she's meant to show up and quickly be taken out in some random comic.

[Primal Slayer]

While Diana was blessed by the Gods and made their champion, Barbara Minerva was cursed by Gods and made their champion. Diana deals in truth, Barbara in lies.

She's spent her career finding artifacts and trying to find something greater. Diana comes to Mans World and Barbara becomes obsessed with finding where Themiscryia is, she wants to be like Diana, she wants to meet higher beings after befriending Diana. Her research leads her to Africa as there have been whispers of warrior like women in the general area (the bana) and an artifact that puts her into contact with a temple/worshipers of Urzkartaga. The god states that they can make her like Wonder Woman in exchange for Barbara becoming their champion. Barbara becomes cursed and turns into Cheetah who at first thrives on blood lust.

She is able to go from Cheetah Woman where she keeps her general senses and wits to flatout Cheetah where she's at her strongest. She comes to resent Diana and the Amazons for the journey she feels like they put her on unknowingly but she also enjoys the power that comes with it. She ends up becoming a collector of ancient godly artifacts leaving those who were sworn to guard them either dead or near death.

Barbara would spend a good chunk deceiving Diana to her advantage as Diana wouldnt know that Barbara had become the monster she's gone toe to toe with until it was to late.

I would also throw in Priscilla in there as the original Cheetah way back when but her curse worked a bit differently compared to Barbaras.

She can't be an arch nemesis or even a good enemy of Wonder Woman because of the way the DC universe treats her when not in a Wonder Woman book. Batman and Catwoman can beat her? That shouldn't even be a question since it has happened and it was sad how she jobbed out to them.

No respect for the Cheetah across the DC universe means, to me, that she is a joke of a threat to Wonder Woman.

The title of this thread is literally Make It Work Better: Cheetah as Diana's arch-nemesis, not how DC has treated her.

[Psy-lock]

She needs good stories. That's the biggest thing she's lacking as a villain. A WW animated series (as well as good portrayals in movies and video games) could really help her too.

[BiteTheBullet]

Doesn't that imply Wonder Woman's own editors don't respect her? 'Cause I would assume they'd at least be able to say no if she's meant to show up and quickly be taken out in some random comic.

Given the treatment that Cheetah has been given in media other than comics including comics, I would say that the Wonder Woman editors don't give a damn or don't have much of a voice to give dissent when something is wrong.

[BiteTheBullet]

The title of this thread is literally Make It Work Better: Cheetah as Diana's arch-nemesis, not how DC has treated her.

I don't think the premise of this title can be fixed. I find that the repeated poor showings that the Cheetah has had has made her a joke. I don't think it is fixable.

Maybe...if she straight up one shotted Batman about 20 times and killed either him or Catwoman and the only way to get them back is the Lazarus pit, she would start getting respect. I am pretty sure that will never happen or that she wouldn't job out to either of them the next time they faced each other.

Cheetah could get years of respect from DC at large, but then we have the catpeople furry in WW84 and the underwhelming fight we got there to further cement that the Cheetah can't be fixed, at least not to our generation. I mean, who thought that she was an arch nemesis on the level of Joker or Lex Luthor based on that showing?!?

Of course, this is all my opinion.

[Gaius]

More a means of media adaptations these days.

Much as people like to stroke themselves about Batman having a great rogues gallery, the reason the statement has any validity, or why people who don't read comics care, has little to do with any of their comic stories but rather consistent media adaptations going back the Adam West show, where the most used and popular (Joker, Catwoman, Riddler, and Penguin) remain still the most frequently used and well-known Batman villains in adaptations.

There are version of Cheetah that I think would do well in a show or the upcoming video game, mainly Barbara, but really all depends on when more stuff centered on WW comes out.

[phonogram12]

She needs good stories. That's the biggest thing she's lacking as a villain

Exactly this. Honestly, I've never had an issue with the post-Crisis Minerva version other than the fact that most of her personality seems to boil down to "savage were-lady who hates WW." She needs more quirks/nuance/layers to her character to really leave an impression other than the fact that "the Super Friends show said she was her arch enemy so I guess she is."

She needs a Killing Joke. She needs a "Born Again." She needs her own Lex Luthor bio. Good stories where we really get to know what's going on inside a character's head are what garners them the proper respect. Nothing else.

[WonderScott]

The focus needs to be on Barbara Minerva (the superior and most promising of the Cheetahs to me) as much as Cheetah and she needs to be given far more agency than she has in the past.

I’d go back to elements of the Perez origin, because it’s truly a horror story and it made the Wonder mythos a bit wider and grander (to me) that Barbara’s transformation happened independently from her interactions with Diana. There are some interesting parallels between the two that I’d also explore: Barbara being an older woman than Diana (in a sense and not in a sense) and Barbara reflecting an opportunistic portrayal of wealth and fallen nobility from her background while Diana’s princess-hood is all about equality and equity.

It’s been ideated here on the boards before that Barbara needs to be an evil Indiana Jones and I quite like that idea and how it could work for her, especially after her transformation. While cursed by Urzkartaga, my version of Barbara hunts down ways to be able to wrest control from it and be her own woman and use the power of this super-powered huntress identity for herself. It creates an uneasy power struggle with her and Urzkartaga that a mortal has bested them.

Where Lex Luthor is all super-science and alien technology, Barbara must be the preeminent authority on mythology; the natures of divinity; mythical objects and weapons; anthropology; prophecies and secret texts; and with some psychology and sociology thrown in for good measure in a world where this is all made real in the DCU. In this way she can be equal to and/or surpass Luthor at times. (I mean one has a super suit and the other a powerful catsuit to conduct their villainy - there’s no reason they can’t be equals.)

She could lead a supervillain team, if she wanted to, but she may not want to (or feel like she needs to for her aims), but that doesn’t mean you should ever underestimate her when she’s hanging out with the Legion of Doom, Injustice League or The Society. Like Luthor in his ways and manipulations, Barbara is also always one of the smartest, most cunning manipulators in the room in her ways and knowledge.

Barbara’s authority on those subjects makes her not only a threat to Diana, but other gods, pantheons and their relics, and any superheroes empowered by gods or using their artifacts. It also sets up potential for interplay between Julia Kapatelis and Helena Sandsmark, given their knowledge and careers. Also, for some departments within ARGUS. (At least for how I’d set that organization up.)

I mean I can write a whole issue where Lex and Barbara are hanging out discussing the nature of and how to stop the New Gods based on knowledge, experimentation, science and mythological texts and lore about them.

Or Barbara sorting out her speed, agility and reflexes and discovering how that works divinely or if it has a connection to the Speed Force… or discovering if she can use the Speed Force to her advantage. She doesn’t need to learn that from a Flash (like in that one Reverse Flash story), unless she decides to take advantage of one. Give. Her. Agency.

At least this is a fraction of how I think Barbara could be portrayed in Wonder Woman and the DCU and am exploring in my Wonder Woman Series Bible Thingee. The goal here is to go bigger and think more expansively and more intricately about what her relationships are like, not only with Diana, but with Etta and Steve, the rest of the Wonder cast of supporting characters and villains, other DCU villains, and the broader DCU, while treating her with respect. If you only think of her in terms of limitations, she’s never going to become greater than her past portrayals.

[Stanlos]

I guess this Cheetah as arch push is due in large part to Super-Friends. But I feel like in the DNA of the character's design I feel that her archenemy is Ares, God of War. That is difficult and not typical. However there is nothing typical or basic about WW. That is part of the appeal to me. No speedster or brute is going to outpace or outmuscle her bar none. The more exciting stuff comes from the idealogical clashes.

[Shimbo]

I guess this Cheetah as arch push is due in large part to Super-Friends. But I feel like in the DNA of the character's design I feel that her archenemy is Ares, God of War. That is difficult and not typical. However there is nothing typical or basic about WW. That is part of the appeal to me. No speedster or brute is going to outpace or outmuscle her bar none. The more exciting stuff comes from the idealogical clashes.

I don't disagree with you, but I enjoyed Rucka's development of Cheetah as her archenemy with a personal connection. Their history and the complicated emotions towards each other are ripe with storytelling potential. To see the woman who sees the best in every person and believes in rehabilitation see her former best friend struggle with but ultimately choose villainy, isolation, and cruelty is really good personal-arch stuff. Even if Cheetah is written not to be an even physical match with Diana, it creates dramatic and narrative justification for Diana holding back/Barbara escaping to do her thing again.

That being said, I do love the Dark Indiana Jones idea. I think the base is there for some truly great stories, but I agree she needs more development in terms of her personal goals, the nature and extent of her powers, and her villainous modus operandi.

[Shimbo]

double post

[WonderScott]

I also think of Cheetah as one of her archenemies. I think there are so many facets to Wonder Woman, that she supports multiple ideological enemies and not just one. (I think the same about Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc.) The longer I’ve read comics, the more I’ve rejected the need for the binary of the hero and there absolute “opposite number.” (Save and play with that aspect with Superwoman of the Crime Syndicate or not at all… Superwoman can just as easily play up the the evil doppelgänger genre motif.)

[Stanlos]

Thanks, Shimbo and WonderScott! I see your points and give you both a twirl and an Amazon salute!