Wonder Woman Rogues Gallery Appreciation 2023

[Dr. Poison]

Indeed. If DC had their **** together, two of these three WW villains could easily have been/be the main antagonists in a company-wide event. Circe and Ares need to be propped up as the threats we know they are. I hope that at least the upcoming amazons HBO MAX series plants those seeds.

That's part of my problem with the public domain Greek gods. DC has never utilized them to their full potential. When was the last time any single one of them gave the entire Justice League a real challenge? Ares, Hades, and any one of the main gods should be enough to need a large group of DC's heavy hitters to take them out. The closest we've come is Circe(who's not even a god) instigating War of the Gods which only lasted 4 issues and most people don't remember much about the event. DC loves to use these characters but usually they just end up disappointing most readers.

[Gaius]

Circe had Witching Hour/Witching War which is probably the best use of a WW villain outside of the WW book. It was even better than the current WW book at the time.

[Agent Z]

When was the last time any single one of them gave the entire Justice League a real challenge?

The Witch and The Warrior. And that was every single hero on the planet not just the Justice League.

DC loves to use these characters but usually they just end up disappointing most readers.

Which can be said of just about any Wonder Woman villain.

If you judge a villain by how often they can go up against an entire team of heroes, you're going to find only a few villains qualify. It's a standard most bad guys don't live up to.

[Dr. Poison]

Circe had Witching Hour/Witching War which is probably the best use of a WW villain outside of the WW book. It was even better than the current WW book at the time.

I mean to mention that one but it slipped my mind as I was writing my post. That was a pretty good showing for Circe against the JLDark.

[Dr. Poison]

The Witch and The Warrior. And that was every single hero on the planet not just the Justice League.




Which can be said of just about any Wonder Woman villain.

If you judge a villain by how often they can go up against an entire team of heroes, you're going to find only a few villains qualify. It's a standard most bad guys don't live up to.

The Witch & The Warrior was a really good story but it was unfortunately limited to Diana's book so I don't think many people outside of Wonder Woman readers recognize it as a big event.

As for the Wonder-rogues, you're right. Cheetah, Grail, Aegeus, and the Queen of Fables are the only ones who have presented the JL a real challenge on their own. Still, we've seen a lot of other heroes rogues take on the JL such as Luthor, Brainiac, Joker, Ras Al Ghul, Ocean Master, Sinestro, Grodd, etc. The gods are supposed to be much more powerful that most of these villains yet they haven't really presented much of a threat outside of Diana's solo book.

[Agent Z]

The Witch & The Warrior was a really good story but it was unfortunately limited to Diana's book so I don't think many people outside of Wonder Woman readers recognize it as a big event.

As for the Wonder-rogues, you're right. Cheetah, Grail, Aegeus, and the Queen of Fables are the only ones who have presented the JL a real challenge on their own. Still, we've seen a lot of other heroes rogues take on the JL such as Luthor, Brainiac, Joker, Ras Al Ghul, Ocean Master, Sinestro, Grodd, etc. The gods are supposed to be much more powerful that most of these villains yet they haven't really presented much of a threat outside of Diana's solo book.

As a Wonder Woman reader, I care a lot more about her villains being a threat in her book. In fact, if Wonder Woman villains never appeared outside Diana's book or media focusing on her, I'd probably be very happy given how they tend to be treated.

[Dr. Poison]

As a Wonder Woman reader, I care a lot more about her villains being a threat in her book. In fact, if Wonder Woman villains never appeared outside Diana's book or media focusing on her, I'd probably be very happy given how they tend to be treated.

I can totally respect that but Diana's villains need at least some bragging right outside of her book since many of DC's other top heroes' villains do. Otherwise you're going to have the toxic masculinity crowd saying things like her villains aren't powerful enough to fight anyone beyond Wonder Woman. I read many DC books so I think it's fun to see Cheetah fight the JL, Osira take on the JSA, or Red Panzer fight the Titans from time to time. It is a shared universe after all.

[BiteTheBullet]

I can totally respect that but Diana's villains need at least some bragging right outside of her book since many of DC's other top heroes' villains do. Otherwise you're going to have the toxic masculinity crowd saying things like her villains aren't powerful enough to fight anyone beyond Wonder Woman. I read many DC books so I think it's fun to see Cheetah fight the JL, Osira take on the JSA, or Red Panzer fight the Titans from time to time. It is a shared universe after all.

When Cheetah gets one-shotted by Batman, taken out by Catwoman in both comics and animated, Batman doing magic against Circe in Attack of the Amazons, I think it is right to think that sharing Wonder Womans rogues outside of her book is not doing her any good. It looks to me like they are just treated like fodder for the likes of the Batfamily.

[Dr. Poison]

When Cheetah gets one-shotted by Batman, taken out by Catwoman in both comics and animated, Batman doing magic against Circe in Attack of the Amazons, I think it is right to think that sharing Wonder Womans rogues outside of her book is not doing her any good. It looks to me like they are just treated like fodder for the likes of the Batfamily.

That's a valid complaint. Those portrayals are due to creator laziness in them not doing the proper research to know that if they had followed the examples set in the original stories from Wonder Woman's solo book, they would have known that Batman, Catwoman, and Green Arrow should never be able to take down Cheetah or Circe without some significant advantage.

[Agent Z]

In addition to what BiteTheBullet said, the toxic masculinity crowd isn't likely to be reading Wonder Woman and will just dismiss or complain about any feat a WW character displays that runs counter to their opinions.

Remember this reaction to Diana's feat in a Vendetti issue of Justice League?

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...onder-Woman-OP

[HestiasHearth]

When Cheetah gets one-shotted by Batman, taken out by Catwoman in both comics and animated, Batman doing magic against Circe in Attack of the Amazons, I think it is right to think that sharing Wonder Womans rogues outside of her book is not doing her any good. It looks to me like they are just treated like fodder for the likes of the Batfamily.

That was THE WORST.
If I recall correctly, Batman simply recited an incantation that Zatanna gave him, and that was enough to "short circuit" Circe's magic for an hour. He even says that he needs to pronounce it correctly. Then, when her magic was "off", Batman just punched Circe unconscious.
WTF.
Seriously, WTF.
So all it would take for any Joe Average to make random magic is to pay attention to/record any public superhero battle in which Zatanna is embroiled, learn an incantation she makes, make sure he pronounces it correctly, and voila. Instant random act of mischievous magic.

Goes to show how effed up and laughable the Batman worshipping at DC Comics is.

[Dr. Poison]

In addition to what BiteTheBullet said, the toxic masculinity crowd isn't likely to be reading Wonder Woman and will just dismiss or complain about any feat a WW character displays that runs counter to their opinions.

Remember this reaction to Diana's feat in a Vendetti issue of Justice League?

https://community.cbr.com/showthread...onder-Woman-OP

Sure, at first, but I think that the more those folks see Diana and her allies and villains presented as powerhouses and/or credible threats, I think they'll eventually come to accept it.

[Mel Dyer]

Circe had Witching Hour/Witching War which is probably the best use of a WW villain outside of the WW book. It was even better than the current WW book at the time.

I want THAT on a billboard.

It's hard for some of us to accept, but we've got a toy box full of crappy, unrealized supervillains in the Wondaverse, that nobody's bothered to develop into GREAT villains. When stories using WW villains, outside of the comic, succeed or impress people, who aren't us, ..that's actually a good thing. It's good, because as long as the only counsel we keep is ourselves, it's hard to get an honest POV on how they stack up beside the rest of the DCU.

We need fans AND writers outside the WW comic to see Janus or Circe threaten the Multiverse or kick Darkseid's butt or be impressive in a story, without pegacorns and togas, all over the place. That's good for WW, in the long run - that you dont need a paleontology degree to get into the comic.

Do you know how long I've been rallying WW fans to check out Circe in Witching War, after years as this fan communiy's foresworn Circe-hater? Tynion's Circe is the best ever and left me wanting 'Young Circe' stories.

Not bad, Gaius.

[WonderScott]

It's hard for some of us to accept, but we've got a toy box full of crappy, unrealized supervillains in the Wondaverse, that nobody's bothered to develop into GREAT villains.

Absolutely. This is in my top three annoyances in how Wonder Woman is handled as a character. Many of the villains have the “bones” and themes to be great and yet most writers think of them (if they even think of them) merely at face value.

Doctor Psycho
Giganta
Queen Clea
Eviless
Doctor Cyber
Doctor Poison
Angle Man
Paper Man
Inversion
Dark Angel

All of these and many more could be revamped and revitalized given talent and time.

[HotBoy]

CBR: 10 Unpopular DC Villains Who Deserve A Rebirth

https://www.cbr.com/lesser-known-dc-...ould-be-a-riot

5. Inversion Has Horrifying Potential

The DC Universe is filled with some pretty bizarre villains, but Inversion really takes the cake. Originally a scientist testing a teleporter, Inversion's internal organs were switched to the outside of his body. Driven mad, he attempted to use the Justice League satellite's teleporter to inflict the same fate on the rest of the world, but was stopped by Wonder Woman.

Inversion's only recent appearance was in DC Rebirth, but here's hoping we see much more of him. There's certainly potential for a darker sci-fi horror spin on this character that the right writer could really take advantage of.