Which Wonder Woman Villains Should Have Sympathetic Traits? Which Should Not?

[RR1976]

Sympathetic

Giganta ... Circe's "daughter" who Circe evolved from an ape baby into a powerful tool. Discover later that her true father was one of Circe's manimals. Mentally abused/dominated by Circe

I like this idea.
Silver Swan But she better cause some serious trouble first
Angle Man Whatever his deal is, I like the idea of a charming gay/metrosexual man with a high sense of fashion, food, interior design

Unsympathetic
Ares No comment
Dr Psycho Creepy as hell
Cheetah Yes, in a sense she's victim of the plant but her greed got her there in the first place. I like her evil as Barbara as well
Circe

My idea for a Circe story. Remember the part in the Odyssey where Odyseus and his men stumble across Circe's island and get turned into animals? I'd add a twist to that. Odyseus and his men do find the island but instead are given shelter and food by Circe who has no ill intentions toward them. However, Odyseus drugs Circe and ribs her home and kills her daughter Lyra. On their way, some of Odyseus' men consume a plant that was on Circe's island which turns them into beasts and kill some of the men who weren't turned. This betrayal by Odyseus as well as the following slander would be what sets Circe on a path to darkness. She'd also try to appeal to the Amazons as both are women who've been shunned and slandered by the world if men.

Your backstory is interesting and probably true. Odyseus might have just made up the myth to cover the fact that he cheated on his wife once more. :-P But I'll stick to the myth. By the way, I found pretty odd Circe was one of the Amazons in Joss Whedon's script.

[Agent Z]

Sympathetic
I like this idea.
Silver Swan But she better cause some serious trouble first
Angle Man Whatever his deal is, I like the idea of a charming gay/metrosexual man with a high sense of fashion, food, interior design

Unsympathetic
Ares No comment
Dr Psycho Creepy as hell
Cheetah Yes, in a sense she's victim of the plant but her greed got her there in the first place. I like her evil as Barbara as well
Circe


Your backstory is interesting and probably true. Odyseus might have just made up the myth to cover the fact that he cheated on his wife once more. :-P But I'll stick to the myth. By the way, I found pretty odd Circe was one of the Amazons in Joss Whedon's script.

Re: Odysseus. Yeah something like that.

Re: Whedon. Huh, that is interesting.

[WonderScott]

I prefer most of my villains to have some degree (even if it's a very small degree) of sympathetic traits to broaden their character. Two in particular that I have a hard time find any sympathetic traits in are Perez' version of Doctor Psycho and Luke's Doctor Poison. Both are unnerving and highly chaotic, and I like how they wear it.

A good mix gives the best stories and more places for Diana emotionally in a story.

[Nyssane]

I think Silver Swan's the epitome of a tragic villain. In all three of her incarnations, she's been at least somewhat sympathetic: Helen was a product of our society's adoration of beauty, Valerie was a victim of her abusive husband, and Vanessa was Diana's "forgotten sister," in a way. So I think going forward, Silver Swan should always have some sympathetic themes to her.

Medusa is another villain I'd like to see portrayed as sympathetic, along with other victims of the gods (Scylla, Arachne, etc.). It always strikes me as weird when Medusa pops up as a straight up villain that Diana has to slay.

[Agent Z]

I think Silver Swan's the epitome of a tragic villain. In all three of her incarnations, she's been at least somewhat sympathetic: Helen was a product of our society's adoration of beauty, Valerie was a victim of her abusive husband, and Vanessa was Diana's "forgotten sister," in a way. So I think going forward, Silver Swan should always have some sympathetic themes to her.

Medusa is another villain I'd like to see portrayed as sympathetic, along with other victims of the gods (Scylla, Arachne, etc.). It always strikes me as weird when Medusa pops up as a straight up villain that Diana has to slay.

My guess would be either that a) they simply prefer the version where she was born a Gorgon (her being cursed into one by Athena was something of a retcon or b) this is an area that Diana would most certainly be completely against the gods.

But yeah, I'd actually like seeing Medusa as a sympathetic villain and later ally for Diana. Especially, since this book was about heroic Amazons unlike the myths. I particularly liked the version of Medusa that appeared in Fate/Stay night that I posted back in page 1.

[Outside_85]

Medusa is another villain I'd like to see portrayed as sympathetic, along with other victims of the gods (Scylla, Arachne, etc.). It always strikes me as weird when Medusa pops up as a straight up villain that Diana has to slay.

Think Medusa's major problem there lies in her own celebrity status; she's such an iconic and well-known monster it's difficult for people to see her as anything other than a fearsome monster for the hero to slay, much like the Minotaur and Cyclops. And... well, the monster aspect is kinda grounded in her, she's a monster out of bitterness and resentment for whats happened to her.

[Agent Z]

Think Medusa's major problem there lies in her own celebrity status; she's such an iconic and well-known monster it's difficult for people to see her as anything other than a fearsome monster for the hero to slay, much like the Minotaur and Cyclops. And... well, the monster aspect is kinda grounded in her, she's a monster out of bitterness and resentment for whats happened to her.

I actually wouldn't mind the Minotaur being a good guy, if Theseus were a villain. And for the Cyclops from the Odyssey, I had an idea fro him from another thread

Polyphemus: the Cyclops who was blinded by Odyseus. Only in this version he was guarding the the other Cyclopses gold which was stolen by Odyseus. He's rather bitter about that as well as being cast as a villain.

[Outside_85]

I actually wouldn't mind the Minotaur being a good guy, if Theseus were a villain. And for the Cyclops from the Odyssey, I had an idea fro him from another thread

Well there was Ferdinand who was related to the Minotaur (which means Bull of Minos or alternatively Bull of Crete) while Ferdinand grew up somewhere called Kithira, making him a Kithotaur (in his own words).

I wouldn't mind him coming back, or the Azzarello Minotaur miraculously surviving what the First Born did to him. Actually I've had an idea that the 'taurs' actually exist as a kind of secret society away from human eyes and that the Minotaurus is considered an oddity to them, like he looks like them, but he's far more savage and physically powerful than they normally are (as a son of Zeus who in some myths was the bull the queen fell in love with). Heck if you dipped into it, you could have them be the original guardians of Dooms Door when the Titans ruled the world.