Rank the Animated Wonder Women

[Guy_McNichts]

We've seen quite a few animated interpretations of Wonder Woman through the years. Some pretty decent. Others....not so much.

- Superfriends

- Ruby-Spears (Superman & Wonder Woman vs. the Sorceress of Time)

- DCAU

- '09 Movie

- Pre-Flashpoint (Crisis on Two Earths, Doom, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse)
(I don't know if these are necessarily connected, but I'm counting them as one because they came out in close proximity and are all in the same general quality and style)

- New 52 (Flashpoint Paradox, War, Throne of Atlantis, JL vs. Teen Titans, JL Dark, Death of Superman, Reign of Supermen, Bloodlines, Apokolips War)

- Young Justice

- Justice League Action

- Tomorrow-verse

- New Frontier

- Lego

- Super Hero Girls

- Space Jam: A New Legacy

- Harley Quinn

- League of the Super-Pets

There are also alternate reality versions like Gods & Monsters, Red Son, and Injustice, but I'm not sure if they should count since they're deliberately "not Diana" to some degree.


So, how would rank these adaptations? Which did Diana justice, which were merely inoffensive, and which were trash?

I'll offer my own ranking later.

[kcekada]

Don't laugh, but I kinda love the Wonder Woman that appeared in The Brady Kids in the early 70s. The design was very Golden Age Wonder Woman.

The Super Friends version was a little too stiff -- especially that hair. I liked when they softened it for Super Powers.

Justice League Unlimited era is one of my favorite DC animated series. I don't think she's looked very good in recent projects.

[Guy_McNichts]

My ranking from best to worst:

- Pre-Flashpoint
Not the most insightful or stimulating interpretation of Diana, but she was at least portrayed as competent and capable for the most part. Arguably the best fight scenes and inoffensive personality-wise.

- '09 Movie
I thought Diana came across well here. Her portrayal is hampered somewhat by the film's depiction of Steve, so she spends a good portion of it reacting to him (annoyed and frustrated), but that aside I thought she was fine. I liked Keri Russell as her voice. Her lack of flight is a mark against it, but she otherwise came across very powerful and capable with good fight scenes.

- DCAU
We've all discussed the ways this interpretation of Diana works and doesn't. Years later, it does not hold up in many glaring ways. And yet...Susan Eisenberg is a good voice for Diana, and she did get decent moments here and there. Not great, but for what it is, it's better than most.

- Super Hero Girls
Kind of hard to rank this since it's targeted at a much younger audience, so Diana's personality is exaggerated to suit the tone. She's more naive and childish, but she's still the leader and cool head for the most part. I think this is fine for what it's going for.

- New Frontier
Basically an adaptation of the comic, so if you liked her there, it stands to reason you'd like her here. I don't agree with every choice, but this is one of the better adaptations of Diana out there.

- Space Jam
She only shows up for one scene, but it was a fair depiction of Diana. Deserves points for her magnificent hair if nothing else.

- Ruby-Spears
Notable somewhat for being an adaptation of Post-Crisis, Perez era Wonder Woman.

- Young Justice
Why is she even in this show? It's not the worst in terms of her personality, but loses points for her being pretty useless narratively. She, like most of the League here, only appears to get brushed aside in order to justify why the protagonists are the heroes. Also not a fan of Weisman's ideas for her backstory and lore.

- Superfriends
I feel like I shouldn't be too hard on this, as it's a product of its time. But this is not a great depiction of Wonder Woman.

- Lego
Maybe shouldn't be hard on this either, as the Lego movies are meant to be harmless joke things for children, but a lot of them seem to operate under the thinking of "Batman is the only reason kids are watching these things." So Diana and other members of the League wind up the butt of jokes, and not in an endearing way. The most egregious, IMO, was Gotham City Break-Out where Batman villains escape Arkham, and the League dismisses them as no big deal only to get captured with ease and humiliated for the rest of the movie while Batman, Robin and Batgirl rescue them.

- League of the Super-Pets
Same problem as Young Justice and Lego where Diana is only here to get easily captured so other characters can be the heroes. Nothing interesting or noteworthy. She doesn't even have a meaningful connection with her pet in this.

- Harley Quinn
It's not funny.

- Justice League Action
I was not impressed with this Diana at all. Dating Superman, overly reliant on her sword, almost never wins a fight...it's like a kiddie-version of the New 52 Diana. Not good.

- Tomorrow-verse
Admittedly, we've only seen one movie featuring Diana, and it might not even be the main one, but...pretty weak-sauce all the same. If this is an indication of what to expect when she gets shoe-horned into the upcoming Warworld, I'm not looking forward to future Wonder Woman appearances in this 'verse.

- New 52
Not great. Bad, actually. Very bad. With the exception of Bloodlines, which actually came close to portraying Diana decently, these movies were showcase of some of the worst interpretations of Wonder Woman. Angry, violent, belligerent. Lousy Superman romance. Spends the vast majority of these movies getting her ass handed to her and/or mind-controlled so someone else can rescue her. And all due respect to Rosario Dawson, but she's not a great voice for Diana.


I won't count them in the ranking, but I'll acknowledge the alternate reality versions:

- Red Son
I'll give it points for being a vast improvement on the comic's Diana.

- Gods & Monsters
Honestly, I didn't see this. Not particularly interested either. But at least it's not...

- Injustice
What do you expect? A bad movie based on a worse game featuring one of the worst, dog-ugly interpretations of Wonder Woman. Maybe not as vile here as she is in the games, but that's faint praise.

[Psy-lock]

The only animated movies that portrayed her decently are the '09 movie, The New Frontier, Bloodlines and SuperBat: Apocalypse. And I guess Crisis on Two Earths is inoffensive, she at least had some cool action scenes. JL: Doom makes her a complete idiot (still the best version of Cheetah though), and the New 52 is just the worst of the worst. Violent, a total jobber, mostly defined by being Supe's girlfriend...Just bad. The Tomorrowverse version committed the ultimate sin of never using her lasso, so it's bad too.

As for the animated shows, I liked her in the 80's Superman show, Batman: Brave and the Bold, and Super Hero Girls. I like her design and voice acting in DCAU, but not much else. The Young Justice version...exists. Never watched Superfriends, JLA or Harley Quinn, so can't really comment on them.

[HotBoy]

This one. This is my all-time favorite animated appearance of Wonder Woman.

[Gaius]

Good

Red Son - Marked improvement over Millar's scorned woman, things I don't like are largely holdovers they didn't change from the original Red Son story.

New Frontier - Good but that's largely because of remaining true to the story. They also planned on cutting WW's scenes and only kept them because Cooke insisted, so I'm not sure how much credit should really go to the creative team on this.

Superfriends - I only really put this version in good because I haven't watched any Super Friends since like I was 7 on a DVD I rented. I don't recall anything particularly egregious about that was unique to her since it was just standards 70s/80s superhero cartoon fare.

Bad

DCAU - I've largely said enough on this iteration elsewhere.

Trash

Injustice - Yeah, lol screw this movie. Points for having her realize she was wrong at the end but only good to come out of this movie was it absolutely butchering Taylor's Injustice comic. A well deserved black eye for that franchise.

N/a

No real thoughts on the WW in JL movies or YJ. I don't consider fight scenes enough of a reason to put the WW in them in good category. Haven't seen enough of Superhero Girls, Lego, and I refuse to watch anymore than I've seen of Harley Quinn.

[bardkeep]

Haven't seen all that many of them, but -

Good:

Red Son: Really liked her here and she was a VAST improvement over the version from the comics. Extra bonus points for being the only adaptation I can think of who's openly queer. It's also the only "evil" AU that I think has really worked for her.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse: Diana and Barda. That's it. The scene where they're fighting the Furies is just awesome.

Crisis on Two Earths: Idk if she even had any dialog in this movie but her action sequences were great. Hitting Superwoman with the people's elbow? The scene where she's doing acrobatics in the air dodging Owlman's shots from his plane?? Cool as hell. It's too bad she had nothing to do other than kick ass.

Justice League Action: Idk, I haven't seen the whole show but I like what I've seen of her there. The design is cute, she's spunky and fun without being overly aggressive or mean, and they definitely showcase her as a powerhouse. Could do without the sword reliance or hints at a Superman romance but eh.

Okay:

'09 Movie: Definitely the best take on the lore we've gotten in an adaptation (though that's a very low bar to clear...), but Diana herself is just okay and the movie is a real mixed bag. The action sequences were great and the voice cast was solid but Steve Trevor really ruined the whole thing.

Bloodlines: Inoffensive, I guess? Honestly not memorable in either direction. The voice acting in this movie was pretty terrible though, including Rosario Dawson as Diana.


Bad:

JSA/Tomorrowverse: Would have been a good adaptation if she'd been Hippolyta but she wasn't Diana. She was cold and aloof (frankly I'd even buy the n52 brand of hot-headed/arrogant over that), and with the sword/shield, no flight, and almost no use of the lasso, her power set didn't feel distinctive. But there wasn't anything egregious and I did like getting some top-notch scenes of her absolutely wrecking some Nazis.

Justice League/JLU: The first version I saw, but really not a fan. She's one of the better Bruce Timm designs and Susan Eisenberg is a solid VA, but her lore gets butchered, her only real personality traits are "angry" and "simping for Batman," and the show clearly had no interest in exploring her. Pretty much just existed to kick ass as needed, though in fairness she did have some really good action scenes (the cage match with all of the other JLU women rocks).

n52: Pretty much what everyone else has said. And as I mentioned with Bloodlines, Rosario Dawson just isn't good - she's a decent actress but she is not at ALL a voice actress, really wooden performance.

I'm Not Mad, I'm Just Disappointed:

New Frontier: There was a change to the Superman and Wonder Woman scene in Vietnam that ruined her for me. In the comic the women she rescued were civilians who were captured by invading soldiers from the north; in the movie they were women that the rebels imprisoned for working with the French. Totally changed the political message and turned me off of the whole movie. It's a shame because the version from the GN is one of my absolute favorites.

Harley Quinn isn't fair to compare because it's a parody and all of the members of the JL are supposed to be idiots, but I think their handling of the Amazons is hilarious. The episode with Ivy's bachelorette party on Themyscira is the funniest episode of the whole series. Also Rachel Dratch as Hippolyta is *chef's kiss*

Those are the only ones I've seen, so I can't speak to the others.

[Psy-lock]

Gods & Monsters
Honestly, I didn't see this. Not particularly interested either. But at least it's not...

This movie is pretty offensive and very typical of Bruce Timm. Superman is the son of Zod, Batman is Man-Bat, but Wonder Woman is just a New Gods character with no connection to the WW mythos other than dating Steve Trevor. There are so many characters they could've used instead: Artemis, Nubia, Orana. Hell, even Gundra if it has to be a villain.

[hareluyafan1]

This movie is pretty offensive and very typical of Bruce Timm. Superman is the son of Zod, Batman is Man-Bat, but Wonder Woman is just a New Gods character with no connection to the WW mythos other than dating Steve Trevor. There are so many characters they could've used instead: Artemis, Nubia, Orana. Hell, even Gundra if it has to be a villain.

I get your point but personally I like Bekka and loved seeing her as a lead character, even if it was an alternate version.

[The I.A.D.C.]

I didn't see the version from "Batman: The Brave and the Bold." That's my vote!

That opening scene in the episode "Scorn of the Star Sapphire" with Baroness Von Gunther made me wish we could have gotten a WW animated series in that style!

[Phoenixx9]

This one. This is my all-time favorite animated appearance of Wonder Woman.

This was so good! I really enjoyed it!

The animation was great, including the costumes and hair.

The Furies seem very closely matched to both Barda and Wonder Woman in speed, strength and fighting ability.

Thanks for posting it, HotBoy!

[Phoenixx9]

I didn't see the version from "Batman: The Brave and the Bold." That's my vote!

That opening scene in the episode "Scorn of the Star Sapphire" with Baroness Von Gunther made me wish we could have gotten a WW animated series in that style!

These were all very good!

I never saw them before but they were interesting fight scenes.