VILLAINS! Your Thoughts On: CHEETAH!

[Nyssane]

I want a physical Lego Cheetah!

[SiegePerilous02]

^Awesome! Wonder how big of a role she'll play?

With the announcement that we might be getting a solo WW movie in 2017, what does everyone think Cheetah's chances are of being on the big screen? I think they're significantly lower than Ares, Hercules and the Olympians, but higher than any of the other WW villains. Since Johns is helping Snyder and Goyer map out the DC cinematic universe, I think her chances shot up.

Especially if we get a Legion of Doom/Injustice Gang-type scenario in the Justice League movie.

[Nyssane]

What I would want is Priscilla/Barbara (whichever name they go with) to first cameo in the first film, maybe she meets Diana when she first gets to the US or whatever. Then to have the Cheetah as the main villain of the second film. I think, if they do a Wonder Woman trilogy, which is likely since they do that for every hero, the chances of Cheetah appearing in some form or another is very high.

Also, I'm assuming she has a semi large-ish role in Lego Batman 3, since the developers have said:

All these shenanigans play into TT's well loved humor models. "It makes for classic Lego fun, but probably on a bigger scale," said Parsons. "You've got Batman and Robin bouncing off each other, of course. But you've also got Joker and Lex bouncing off each other. And Wonder Woman and Cheetah. It all gets crazy."

Semi large-ish meaning on par with other villains who aren't Brainiac (the main villain) and most likely Lex/Joker. There's a huge cast in the game, so I doubt too much screentime will be given to her, but the fact that she's playable is great (I think this is, what... her third playable role in a game?).

[SiegePerilous02]

What I would want is Priscilla/Barbara (whichever name they go with) to first cameo in the first film, maybe she meets Diana when she first gets to the US or whatever. Then to have the Cheetah as the main villain of the second film. I think, if they do a Wonder Woman trilogy, which is likely since they do that for every hero, the chances of Cheetah appearing in some form or another is very high.

Also, I'm assuming she has a semi large-ish role in Lego Batman 3, since the developers have said:



Semi large-ish meaning on par with other villains who aren't Brainiac (the main villain) and most likely Lex/Joker. There's a huge cast in the game, so I doubt too much screentime will be given to her, but the fact that she's playable is great (I think this is, what... her third playable role in a game?).

I'd like that idea to, they can't just drop crazy cat lady in the middle of the story about Greek myth and expect it to fly. It would be better if they built her up, and that mentality should work for the Legion of Doom villains in general. I'm expecting Sinestro and one of the Flash rogues to show up in the alleged Flash/GL team up movie, so that will build them up.

Interesting that they mentioned her in the same paragraph as the likes of Batman, Robin, Joker and Lex. Hopefully that's a sign that they're elevating her status.

[Dr. Poison]

What I would want is Priscilla/Barbara (whichever name they go with) to first cameo in the first film, maybe she meets Diana when she first gets to the US or whatever. Then to have the Cheetah as the main villain of the second film. I think, if they do a Wonder Woman trilogy, which is likely since they do that for every hero, the chances of Cheetah appearing in some form or another is very high.

Also, I'm assuming she has a semi large-ish role in Lego Batman 3, since the developers have said:



Semi large-ish meaning on par with other villains who aren't Brainiac (the main villain) and most likely Lex/Joker. There's a huge cast in the game, so I doubt too much screentime will be given to her, but the fact that she's playable is great (I think this is, what... her third playable role in a game?).

I like your predictions for the Cheetah in the Wonder Woman movie trilogy. Fingers crossed!

[daBronzeBomma]

The naked look worked in the Perez years because she wasn't in Cheetah form 24/7, she only took part in the ritual when she was ready to go to war. It emphasized how much of a feral force of nature she was. But if New 52 Minerva has her intellect while in Cheetah form and doesn't seem able to return to human form, I would like her to have a similar outfit to JL: Doom. Those Legion of Doom meetings are gonna be awkward with her just letting it all hang out while she's at the discussion table.

As the founder of the Coalition Advancing The Cheetah Among Villains Everywhere (CATCAVE), I concur wholeheartedly with this. In fact, let's add that to the list of our goals.

The Sixth Goal of the CATCAVE is "The Cheetah will always possess a look that inspires respect and/or fear, never ever ridicule."

The naked furby look inspires ridicule as much as it does fear. Seriously, the Cheetah may as well call her "Sexy Pink (Orange?) Panther".

Personally, I would take Merged Cheetah (Priscilla, mixed with Debbie and Barbara and yes, even some Sebastian) give her look closer to that of Thundercat's Cheetara. Remember her?

Start here:


Then go here:


Or here:


basically, restrict the overly cat-like features to her spotted blonde hair, cat eyes, sharp teeth and magical retractable claws on fingers and toes. The rest is just beautiful woman.

[Mel Dyer]

As with Priscilla Rich in the 40s, I think the focus should be on Bar Minerva, when writing Cheetah. On the surface, Cheetah and Wonder Woman are two sides of teh same coin, ..man's latent fear of a powerful, strong female.

[wws1fan]

I love the Cheetah. She's never really been a strong opponent until her appearance in the Justice League comic. She NEEDS to play a part in the new movie without question!

[daBronzeBomma]

OK, The (new) Seventh Goal of the CATCAVE is ... "If Wonder Woman is one third of the Heroic Trinity at DC alongside Superman and Batman, then The Cheetah is one third of the Villainous Trinity at DC alongside Lex Luthor and The Joker."

This has already started to happen, in bits and pieces, for a few years now. It's nowhere close to where it should be, but it's moving in the right direction at a snail's pace ... come to think of it, that could describe Wonder Woman's career at DC in general.

Wonder Woman: Moving in the right direction at a snail's pace

[SiegePerilous02]

^That Brave and the Bold episode was probably my favorite for obvious reasons

Coming up with reasons for Cheetah be involved the supervillain community can prove difficult though. Perez's version didn't seem to have any grand ambitions beyond her greed and quest to find victims to satisfy Urzkartaga (and even then, she kept to criminals and vagrants, people nobody would miss). The New 52 version somehow manages to be both more of a team player and more of a solitary creature: she seemed to be involved with Society at first, and then did her own thing, probably due to a last minute editorial change.

I mean, if Lex has a goal with shared interests, I can see her working with him and (begrudgingly) the Joker, but I can't see any long term partnership emerging. This is a problem with the supervillain crowd in general; they all have such massive egos and varied goals that making them cooperative and organized for any extended length of time seems hard to swallow. The superheroes all want to pool their efforts to make the world a better place, but I don't see how the Joker's quest to drive Batman crazy benefits Cheetah's goals to acquire artifacts and eat people or Sinestro's tyrannical ambitions in outer space. Legion of Doom stories have a great novelty in seeing all the arch villains gathered together, but they really fall apart when you start to think about them too long.

[AmiMizuno]

The Society of Villains is why I feel works for a short time. However the Joker's goals more of making the world better in his twisted image. .

[Punisher007]

The problem with having Joker on your team is his unpredictability. He could be the perfect "team player" one day, then wake up the next day and slaughter every single on of his "teammates," simply because he was in the mood.

[gwangung]

As with Priscilla Rich in the 40s, I think the focus should be on Bar Minerva, when writing Cheetah. On the surface, Cheetah and Wonder Woman are two sides of teh same coin, ..man's latent fear of a powerful, strong female.

Yeah, I think this really works.

Not a big fan of the overtly cat features....at least not in everyday life (though I can see that the more she gives in to her animal nature, the more she gains them). But a sexual predator for sure....

(And power. Strong enough to keep up with Wonder Woman...could defintiely shred normal people....and fast....)

[daBronzeBomma]

^That Brave and the Bold episode was probably my favorite for obvious reasons

Coming up with reasons for Cheetah be involved the supervillain community can prove difficult though. Perez's version didn't seem to have any grand ambitions beyond her greed and quest to find victims to satisfy Urzkartaga (and even then, she kept to criminals and vagrants, people nobody would miss). The New 52 version somehow manages to be both more of a team player and more of a solitary creature: she seemed to be involved with Society at first, and then did her own thing, probably due to a last minute editorial change.

Ah, this dovetails nicely into the next Goal of the Coalition Advancing The Cheetah Among Villains Everywhere:

The Eighth Goal of the C.A.T.C.A.V.E. is ... "The Cheetah is always her own boss and never the hench or underling of another character or entity."

The Cheetah needs to be right in the middle of the extremes of Luthor and Joker. Luthor is a born leader, either as the head of LexCorp or the various super-villain groups. Joker is a born loner, working best on his own. Cheetah, I think should readily fluctuate between these two roles of leader and loner to the point where she's known for both.

If the Cheetah partners with anyone, it would be someone big like Luthor and/or Joker ... maybe the other Alpha Super-Villains like Captain Cold, Sinestro, Black Manta and Deathstroke, but only for a specific reason (I can't see all of them hanging out in a lair just shooting the breeze). Or it would be someone from WW's own rogues like Circe or Ares or Giganta (again, this would be rare). If she's on board, she is never less than co-captain. She has to give even Ares reason to pause.

I mean, if Lex has a goal with shared interests, I can see her working with him and (begrudgingly) the Joker, but I can't see any long term partnership emerging. This is a problem with the supervillain crowd in general; they all have such massive egos and varied goals that making them cooperative and organized for any extended length of time seems hard to swallow. The superheroes all want to pool their efforts to make the world a better place, but I don't see how the Joker's quest to drive Batman crazy benefits Cheetah's goals to acquire artifacts and eat people or Sinestro's tyrannical ambitions in outer space. Legion of Doom stories have a great novelty in seeing all the arch villains gathered together, but they really fall apart when you start to think about them too long.

Technically, the same could be said about the Justice League: between being Superman AND Clark Kent, Kal-El would not have time to be a full member; Batman would not devote any chunk of his time to being outside of Gotham; Wonder Woman is already shuttling between Themyscria, Olympus, Tartarus plus being an official ambassador; Green Lantern (any version) really should be in deep space 90% of the time, far away from Earth; Flash still has a civilian life to maintain outside of being a superhero; Aquaman has a ridiculous amount of responsibility to 70% of the world underwater as King of the Seas; and Green Arrow's various causes are not helped by hanging out in a satellite all day.

If you think about, there's a strong argument to be made that none of the True Big 7 (sorry, Martian Manhunter can't consistently support a solo title, but Green Arrow can and has ... plus that TV show ARROW sure don't hurt his cause over MM's ) would actually be full-time members of the JL while still maintaining their own solo causes and separate rogues galleries.

Bottom line: if you can buy into heroes putting aside their differences to work to an immediate common goal, then it shouldn't be that much of stretch to buy villains doing the same thing ... of course, in the villains' case, they'd ALL be like Batman: thinking of ways to screw over, I mean "stop", their teammates "if necessary".

[retical]

Cheetah should be cunning, smart, scary, sexy and lethal. A predator.