What does Superman gain from a romance with Wonder Woman?

[LordUltimus]

And I don't mean training in weapons or martial arts or anything. One of the things DC has been pushing in the romance is that Diana learns compassion from Clark. What does Clark learn from her?

[Kandor Rising]

She has powers. The way I read it, he wants to be with Lois but is afraid. So he hooks up with a woman with super powers. WW really has nothing to offer him except that.

[confusiongrows]

.... Er... I've got nothing. There really isn't anything either of them gains from the relationship, at least not in the way it's been depicted in the comic. It's basically just a bit of sex and some pointless moping punctuated by the occasional argument.

Also the idea that Wonder Woman needs Superman to teach her compassion is bloody ridiculous, by the way. It's one of the things Wonder Woman just IS.

[Sacred Knight]

Well first off you need to be corrected in that Diana is learning compassion from Clark. She's not. She has compassion from the get-go. What she's taken from him, for better or worse, is how to better connect with those people on a personal level. But she always cared. This misinterpretation needs to go away.

As for your actual question, he gains a loved companion, just as she does. Yes one of the themes is them learning things from the other, but why in the first place does a romance have to be legitimized by what the other can gain outside a partner?

[DochaDocha]

And I don't mean training in weapons or martial arts or anything. One of the things DC has been pushing in the romance is that Diana learns compassion from Clark. What does Clark learn from her?

I don't think it's so much compassion that she gains from him so much as learning to understand and relate to people. If you consider that Superman's about 27-28 years old, and he spent the entire time living among humans, whereas she's spent about 5-6 years living as a public superhero among humans, you could make a logical argument that she's not going to understand their day-to-day humdrum the way he would, just as she's lived in a warrior culture so she's going to understand warfare more than he would.

What does he have to gain from her? Back in the Post-Crisis era, I think it was clear that she was more decisive than he was, which was a major issue that built up to all those Crises in the middle of the decade. If that type of characterization were to carry over now, and to some extent I feel it does, we would see that WW would be more likely to decide expediently what's right and wrong, act on it, and deal with the consequences, whereas the back end of Post-Crisis Superman was often caught in paralysis by analysis, not knowing what the right thing to do was, and being afraid of bad outcomes. That's why we got stories like "Grounded," or that infamous Batman line about the last time he inspired anyone was when he died. I think this is where Tomasi was trying to go, but it had very mixed results.

If you followed the Morrison model, though, that's not something Superman would gain, because Morrison's Supes is always a step ahead. He's prepared to be quick to recognize and analyze a situation, so he doesn't need Batman or Wonder Woman or whomever to tell him to act. So what should he get? I think it should be something similar to what she gets from him: merely another person's point of view of the world, and not to mention companionship.

Honestly, though, asking the question of what do the characters gain, other than companionship, would be the wrong way to write them. Granted, no two people are exactly the same, and you and your friends/partners/relatives/whoever will be better at some things than the other, and the other will be better in other things than you, and given enough time together your good and bad habits will probably diffuse into one another. However, that's likely not the primary goal in forming bonds with other people. I think when you look back in Superman's past, a lot of people liked to ask what does he see in Lois, or what does he gain, and the only answer that really mattered was does being with her make him happy. I never had a need for their relationship to be justified any further than that. Perhaps people think that kind of writing is kind of bland, but I'll take its realism over melodrama.

Anyway, that's probably why I like buddy films and hate rom-coms.

[Sacred Knight]

And for the record I get that lots of WW fans don't like that she has to learn to connect to people all the same either. Totally understandable. Still not the same thing as learning compassion though.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

The power of love maybe? You might well question every relationship in the world while you are it.

[DochaDocha]

Well, you know, WW stories have long had the "fish out of water" element. Lynda Carter's series had it, Perez did it, DCAU did it, etc. It's not like anything that happens now is new other than that she's getting tips on how to connect to people from a costumed hero with his own title, instead of a dedicated side character. Of course, if you find it bothersome that she's learning it from another costumed hero with his own monthly title, you're not wrong to feel that way, but the basic concept is not new. Also, it's not like Wonder Balki Bartokomous wasn't entertaining, either.

At least Superman didn't have to tell her that modern day Americans don't pray naked outdoors.

[OpticDreams]

I don't know companionship? Love? Sex? Whatever couples offer each other? It's as if you asked the question what does Lois offer Superman? 70 years of publications?

Side note: She offers him something a normal person could never offer a perspective of living a life similar to his. A super being living in a world full of no super beings.

[Vanguard-01]

What does he gain?

1.) A new partner with a new world for him to explore.

2.) A partner who shares some of his feelings of isolation and "otherness."

3.) New story options that didn't exist before thanks to #1 and #2.

That's pretty much all that is required.

[LoveStar]

From the first arc of SMWW, Diana was wanting Clark to be more open which was accomplished in #12. Tomasi's theme, although coming off a little rough was trust and faith showing Clark didn't have to be over protective and also some things he can't control and have to accept.

[Agent Z]

And for the record I get that lots of WW fans don't like that she has to learn to connect to people all the same either. Totally understandable. Still not the same thing as learning compassion though.

I think the issue is that we had similar stories in the past continuity and they got very annoying. Plus Diana, had been in the outside world for five years or more and was in a previous romantic relationship so you'd think she'd have some experience connecting to people already.

[Kandor Rising]

THIS WW does not have the compassion of the old WW. She is drawn to power. So she dumped Steve and got with the biggest alpha male she could find.

[misslane]

And for the record I get that lots of WW fans don't like that she has to learn to connect to people all the same either. Totally understandable. Still not the same thing as learning compassion though.

It is still compassion. Diana's characterization in the New 52 seems to be that she can have compassion for people in the general but not always in the specific. She "loves everyone," but Tomasi's arc she seemed to struggle with caring about individuals.

What does he gain?

1.) A new partner with a new world for him to explore.

2.) A partner who shares some of his feelings of isolation and "otherness."

3.) New story options that didn't exist before thanks to #1 and #2.

That's pretty much all that is required.

I find this feeling of isolation and "otherness" utterly unbelievable and unsympathetic. These people have more friends and connections from a variety of different sources than most people are lucky to have in their lifetimes. It is also pretty illogical to bond with someone over isolation; once you've bonded, the isolation diminishes, thus the reason for the bond is undermined. I can understand if the argument was they find someone to belong with after feeling isolated, but not that they continuously bond over isolation.

[Sacred Knight]

Its not the same thing. You can have a general compassion for people while at the same time being distanced from them as a whole. That's what Wonder Woman has. But she doesn't want just that anymore, she wants a deeper, more personal connection. And yes, Superman inspired that. And I acknowledge and respect there are levels of even that that rub people the wrong way. I too think she should have this of her own accord. But there's that, and then there's saying. "Superman's teaching her compassion" as a blanket statement. That is just flat out untruthful.

THIS WW does not have the compassion of the old WW. She is drawn to power. So she dumped Steve and got with the biggest alpha male she could find.

She is not at the level she was in the past, no, I can't find many who would argue this. Drawn to power? She's certainly attracted to it, of which there is nothing wrong. Is it the main factor though in her search for a mate? Nope. At least, nothing on the printed page supports that. She dumped Steve specifically to find an alpha male? Again, no. Unless you really think it makes sense that in her quest for power, she dumped Steve....and then waited a full year before getting her clutches into Superman. Didn't think so.