Pick A Villain For King's Run

[Koriand'r]

I wonder what he'd do with Veronica Cale? She could easily fit into any story about the Amazons against the U.S. government.

[Nyssane]

I wouldn't mind seeing Veronica take a break for a little bit. Same with Cheetah and Dr. Poison.

Circe, Giganta, and Dr. Cyber are who I'd like to see given a push.

[bardkeep]

If we're talking who we THINK will appear? King has said his 2 favorite WW villains are Giganta and Circe so I'd say Giganta is 100% certain and Circe is very likely (though he wants to move away from the myth stuff and she's in that mold). He's also already spoken a little about how he wants to approach Cheetah so she'll definitely show up at some point.

If we're talking who we'd LIKE to see? I'm excited to see Giganta but in addition to her, I'd love to see someone other than Greg Rucka get Veronica Cale right. Diana becoming a mother would introduce a whole new layer to their dynamic and open up lots of new storytelling avenues.

I wouldn't mind seeing Veronica take a break for a little bit. Same with Cheetah and Dr. Poison.

This is how I feel about Dr. Psycho. He's been so overused.

[MajorHoy]

[Vordan]

When King talks about wanting to move away from myth I think he just is referring to having Diana involved in the Olympians squabbles. I certainly expect some appearances from mythological/magical characters in his run.

The affection for Queen Clea interests me since I don’t really know anything about her and her bio doesn’t immediately offer much of a hook to me. At first glance she seems like a better foe for Aquaman than Wonder Woman. Maybe the nature of her kingdom should be reworked? Superman has stuff like Warworld and the Phantom Zone to offer adventures outside Metropolis. Perhaps making Clea the ruler of a different dimension would allow her to shine more? Don’t know if King has any interest in her, but as a ruler she could be a player in this political storyline he’s cooking up.

[Dr. Poison]

When King talks about wanting to move away from myth I think he just is referring to having Diana involved in the Olympians squabbles. I certainly expect some appearances from mythological/magical characters in his run.

The affection for Queen Clea interests me since I don’t really know anything about her and her bio doesn’t immediately offer much of a hook to me. At first glance she seems like a better foe for Aquaman than Wonder Woman. Maybe the nature of her kingdom should be reworked? Superman has stuff like Warworld and the Phantom Zone to offer adventures outside Metropolis. Perhaps making Clea the ruler of a different dimension would allow her to shine more? Don’t know if King has any interest in her, but as a ruler she could be a player in this political storyline he’s cooking up.

As much as I LOVE Dr. Poison, I voted for Queen Clea because I feel like she has so much potential being an Atlantean monarch, full of misandry, an army, the Trident of Poseidon, and strength enough to go toe to toe with Diana. Phil Jimenez's run that featured the character as the leader of his version of Villainy Inc. is what made me fall in love with the character. Check it out if you can.

[Gaius]

When King talks about wanting to move away from myth I think he just is referring to having Diana involved in the Olympians squabbles. I certainly expect some appearances from mythological/magical characters in his run.

The affection for Queen Clea interests me since I don’t really know anything about her and her bio doesn’t immediately offer much of a hook to me. At first glance she seems like a better foe for Aquaman than Wonder Woman. Maybe the nature of her kingdom should be reworked? Superman has stuff like Warworld and the Phantom Zone to offer adventures outside Metropolis. Perhaps making Clea the ruler of a different dimension would allow her to shine more? Don’t know if King has any interest in her, but as a ruler she could be a player in this political storyline he’s cooking up.

Relatively untouched big name WW villain from the original Marston run, pretty much. She, along with her daughter Ptra ("Clea Ptra"), was probably intended to be an evil counterpart version of Hippolyta and Diana.

Jimenez, of course, used her but that's also like 20+ years ago by this point.

[Koriand'r]

That Egg Fu picture just caused me to notice Mel Dyer has been missing in action lately. Hope they're okay.

[HestiasHearth]

I would love to see Clea precisely because her Atlantean heritage is tantalizing AF. Do the people she rules worship Poseidon, Amphitrite, Oceanus or any other sea deity? How would that worship link her to the amazons of Themyscira? How powerful is Clea?

[Nyssane]

This is how I feel about Dr. Psycho. He's been so overused.

Oh, absolutely! Add him to my list too.

The affection for Queen Clea interests me since I don’t really know anything about her and her bio doesn’t immediately offer much of a hook to me. At first glance she seems like a better foe for Aquaman than Wonder Woman. Maybe the nature of her kingdom should be reworked? Superman has stuff like Warworld and the Phantom Zone to offer adventures outside Metropolis. Perhaps making Clea the ruler of a different dimension would allow her to shine more? Don’t know if King has any interest in her, but as a ruler she could be a player in this political storyline he’s cooking up.

Fans always look at her being Atlantean and dismiss her as an Aquaman foe but her most important trait is being a misandrist who rules a misandrist nation of "manlings". It's a great way to show the complexities of feminism. Nowadays, a lot of people already think we normal feminists are comparable to Venturians, so there's a lot of story potential in that. And Wonder Woman makes more sense for that type of story than a male hero.

[Dr. Poison]

That Egg Fu picture just caused me to notice Mel Dyer has been missing in action lately. Hope they're okay.

He's fine. I talk with him regularly on Twitter. You can find him there under the same name.

[Fuzzy Mittens]

Queen Clea does indeed have her charms. The main thing that makes her attractive as a Wonder Woman villain is a combination of her being the first 'evil counterpart' that could compete with Diana in a psysical manner.
And the fact that she ruled over a nation which her introduction described as 'the nation of undersea Amazons'. She had a daughter by the name of Pytra who was equal to her mother in strength, and their entire culture was like a dark mirror to the Amazons. Willing to backstab and torture one another to get what they want. Reveling in war and conquest, for strength is what matters. Closed off from the outside world but reaching to the outside world to meddle in their affairs.

On top of that the Atlantis of Wonder Woman lore was not one singular nation, but a continent divided between multiple nations, with Cleas country of Venturia being the most blood thirsty and violent of them all, subjugating the others.

The whole thing made for an amazing dark parallel that would create an antagonistic force for the Amazons in general.

[Dougbauer]

Force of July as antagonistScreenshot_20230627-130156.jpg ?

[Rightoya]

As much as I LOVE Dr. Poison, I voted for Queen Clea because I feel like she has so much potential being an Atlantean monarch, full of misandry, an army, the Trident of Poseidon, and strength enough to go toe to toe with Diana. .

That don't truly works with Aquaman on the same planet, except you expect from Tom King to let Clea first steal the Trident from Aquaman, even afterwards let Atlantis still just ignore Venturia, and on top of that make Clea as a Venturian Atlantean much stronger than all other known Atlanteans and maybe even give her flight.

[bardkeep]

As much as I LOVE Dr. Poison, I voted for Queen Clea because I feel like she has so much potential being an Atlantean monarch, full of misandry, an army, the Trident of Poseidon, and strength enough to go toe to toe with Diana. Phil Jimenez's run that featured the character as the leader of his version of Villainy Inc. is what made me fall in love with the character. Check it out if you can.

This made me realize why Clea has kind of fallen out of favor - she's sort of thematically redundant with some of Diana's more prominent Post-Crisis villains who don't carry the baggage of potentially contradicting Aquaman lore. Want a misandrist anti-Wonder Woman who poses a serious physical threat? You have Circe. Want a cruel, ruthless alternate version of the Amazons, complete with a monarchy and a full standing army? You've got the Bana-Mighdall (though of course they've become allies in recent years).

That don't truly works with Aquaman on the same planet, except you expect from Tom King to let Clea first steal the Trident from Aquaman, even afterwards let Atlantis still just ignore Venturia, and on top of that make Clea as a Venturian Atlantean much stronger than all other known Atlanteans and maybe even give her flight.

Tbh I think the move would be to remove her Atlantis connection entirely and just make the Venturians an alien society.

Force of July as antagonistScreenshot_20230627-130156.jpg ?

Considering the upcoming arc is gonna be Diana vs. the US government, this could totally work.