VILLAINS! Your Thoughts On: DOCTOR PSYCHO!

[Nyssane]

Since the complicated romance thread has been derailed with Doctor Psycho chatter, I thought it'd be a good idea to bring back the Doctor Psycho thoughts thread to discuss the character. Keep it civil, peeps!



To start things off, what does everyone think about the deranged Doctor Psycho? I'm personally a pretty big fan; he's one of the creepiest villains I've ever seen. I'm not a big fan of what the New 52 has done with him, though, and I do not like his current look.



Also, Peter Dinklage would be such an amazing film Doctor Psycho. We always see the actor as a pretty calm, collected character, but give him telepathic abilities and a penchant for depravity, I think he'd be one of those magical movie villains that we love to hate.

Recommended Reading:

• Wonder Woman (first series) #5 - first appearance
• Wonder Woman (first series) #288-290 - aids Helen Alexandros in becoming the Silver Swan; creates Captain Wonder
• DC Retroactive: Wonder Woman: The '80s - climax to the original Silver Swan/Doctor Psycho pairing
• Wonder Woman (second series) #54-56 - first appearance of post-crisis Psycho
• Wonder Woman (second series) #196-200 - Down to Earth; escapes from Veronica Cale's custody, causes street riot
• Villains United #1-6

Other Villain Threads:
Angle Man
Cheetah
Queen Clea
Villainy Inc.

[Dr. Hurt]

I have read only a couple of his stories and I like him quite a bit. I also like his new52 design which makes him look even more maniacal and threatening.

[Vanguard-01]

A badly underrated and underutilized villain.

I think the biggest mistake DC ever made with him was having Wonder Woman become completely immune to his powers. How can a villain be a threat to you if he literally can't use his best weapon against you?

So far, the New 52 is doing a good job of establishing him as a scary badass. It remains to be seen if he can affect Diana with his powers, but hopefully that will be answered soon. As it is, I like that he's leading the Secret Society right now, and I like how they're kind of building him up without neglecting what a sad, wretched little beast he really is.

Not EVERY villain needs to be all complex and gray-area. Sometimes, you just want to see your hero go up against a depraved, monstrous piece of garbage and trash him. That's been the Joker's shtick for years and it's nice to see another such character in Dr. Psycho.

[Step]

Not EVERY villain needs to be all complex and gray-area. Sometimes, you just want to see your hero go up against a depraved, monstrous piece of garbage and trash him. That's been the Joker's shtick for years and it's nice to see another such character in Dr. Psycho.

MTE, he is a sick, twisted man and that's what's so great about him

Also, his Wonder Woman is the best thing in the history of ever.

[Dr. Poison]

I like Dr. Psycho but I think he needs a little work to solidify his motivation. I really enjoyed his portrayal in "The Odyssey." In fact, that the best best thing about the JMS/Hester tale.

[dshipp17]

For every 33 issues of Wonder Woman, 17 issues should be devoted to Dr. Psycho. Dr. Psycho is as important to Wonder Woman as Joker is to Batman and Lex Luthor is to Superman. However, for some reason, DC has never realized and exploited this fact, instead trying to make Circe and Cheetah something they're not, and even resorting to bringing in Ares as a Wonder Woman villain, instead of developing Dr. Psycho. Even Silver Swan was created; however, it's now time to realize Dr. Psycho's role as her best villain.

[dshipp17]

I'm going out on a limb here and claim that not a single fictional character or real person or entity ever has demonstrated you bizarro-insane variety of love.

Ok, you're wrong; I know real and fictional people that's demonstrate my love, namely, pre-crisis Wonder Woman in issue 160 of volume one.

[Carabas]

pre-crisis Wonder Woman in issue 160 of volume one

Anybody have a recap?

[dshipp17]

Anybody have a recap?

See how golden that Wonder Woman demonstrates herself?

ScreenHunter_425 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg ScreenHunter_426 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg

ScreenHunter_427 Jun. 02 18.17.jpg

[dshipp17]

Anybody have a recap?

This is the last attachment to prove my point. See how golden that Wonder Woman demonstrates herself?

ScreenHunter_428 Jun. 02 18.17.jpg

[Dr. Hurt]

See how golden that Wonder Woman demonstrates herself?

ScreenHunter_425 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg ScreenHunter_426 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg

ScreenHunter_427 Jun. 02 18.17.jpg

That's not unconditional love though.

The only restriction is to leave your personal religion out of the discussion as it has no place here.

Diana could have walked away at the end of the whole thing, but instead gave the gift to Hades of loving himself so that he might be able to find it in himself to love others as she does.

How does that not demonstrate that she loves him?

She didnt marry a kidnapper and abuser of women?

[Gaelforce]

See how golden that Wonder Woman demonstrates herself?

ScreenHunter_425 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg ScreenHunter_426 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg

ScreenHunter_427 Jun. 02 18.17.jpg

So she took him up on a dare to prove a point.

That's not love in any way, shape or form. That was a 'bet you can't kiss me!' and she did just to show him that she could.

There is absolutely nothing romantic about that scene; it's the classic 'boyfriend sees a kiss and completely misunderstands the reason behind it' bit.

She helped Hades to learn to love others and himself. That proves compassion and love in my book.

[dshipp17]

So she took him up on a dare to prove a point.

That's not love in any way, shape or form. That was a 'bet you can't kiss me!' and she did just to show him that she could.

There is absolutely nothing romantic about that scene; it's the classic 'boyfriend sees a kiss and completely misunderstands the reason behind it' bit.

She helped Hades to learn to love others and himself. That proves compassion and love in my book.

She was giving the implication that she couldn't love Hades unless he loves himself, as a starting point; that's the clear indication with the Hades exchange.

I see that 160 as example one of love that you presented. She had compassion and gave Dr. Psycho what he wanted in order to prove that she was genuine in caring; I think that's at least love for a friend; she's implying that Steve was first, however, and that she was taken.

[Carabas]

See how golden that Wonder Woman demonstrates herself?

ScreenHunter_425 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg ScreenHunter_426 Jun. 02 18.16.jpg

ScreenHunter_427 Jun. 02 18.17.jpg

You got to be kidding me? Unconditional love is the willingnes to give ugly guys a peck on the cheeck? Really? I bet that particular love comes with a ton of conditions. Show me her sacrificing her life so Ares might live or something like that if you want to continue this line of reasoning.

[dshipp17]

You got to be kidding me? Unconditional love is the willingnes to give ugly guys a peck on the cheeck? Really? I bet that particular love comes with a ton of conditions. Show me her sacrificing her life so Ares might live or something like that if you want to continue this line of reasoning.

It's the combination of what she was willing to do physically, as well as the dialogue, that demonstrated my point. Her only condition was relieving his hurt and meeting him on his plain of what he considers love; one of her points was that she could be there for him, if she wasn't with Steve; her point was that he could meet a woman, one day; she cared about not leaving Dr. Psycho with a cliche; yes, I believe, the combination of dialogue and what she did for Dr. Psycho demonstrated unconditional love and that she loves him as a friend, because she's taken by Steve, so she cannot satisfy him romantically, but she went to full length, otherwise. By the way, she did more than just give Dr. Psycho a kiss, in earlier panels; Dr. Psycho was the one with egg on his face at the end of this story, as he forgot what Wonder Woman did to continue to accuse her of deception, in private, when she had to go and look over Steve's feelings (again, she's taken).

Pre-crisis Wonder Woman showed a sacrificial love lots of times (e.g. willing to brave through the perils of having herself taken through bondage for others to resolve an issue). I don't need her to demonstrate her ability to love by doing something for someone as unredeemable as Ares or Hades, if she can be shown to have previously demonstrated her ability to love for someone like Dr. Psycho, but doing for Ares or Hades is a big plus in demonstrating her ability to love.