How Would You Feel If Hades Became A More Prominent Wonder Woman Villain?

[Castiel]

So I was first introduced to the character Wonder Woman by the classic Super Friends cartoon, and the remake known as Justice League. One of my favorite villains in the JL cartoon was Hades especially because he was revealed to be Wonder Woman's father. I've always found Hades to be the most interesting of the Olympian trio especially because in the mythology contrary to modern portrayals Hades was arguably the most honorable of the gods because he never cheated on his wife and he actually took his job seriously.

That being said how would you feel if he was made into a more prominent figure in the Wonder Woman comics and made into Woner Woman's father? I know apparently her father is Zeus but I figure that could be retconned like it could come out that Hades disguised himself as Zeus(there are stories of Zeus disguising himself as a woman's husband to seduce her so this would be a good spin on that) and seduced Wonder Woman's mother to spite Zeus.

As for the kind of villain he could be maybe he might not go after Wonder Woman knows but rather people he views as a threat to her. Like for example since she's involved with Superman (or was I don't know if they are still together) say Superman started a emotional affair with Lois Lane and was leaning towards cheating and members of the League were aware of it so Hades tricks the League into entering the underworld with plans of torturing Superman on every level even using the souls of his birth parents to do it.

Ultimately forcing Wonder Woman to save Superman whose being tortured like this.


I like this idea because I think it would be interesting to see how she'd react to a villain that does terrible things to people as a weird messed up way of looking out for her?

[Carabas]

I'd rather they for once would have a Hades who was more like the one from the original myths: non-villainous. Well, in so much as any Greek god is ever non-villainous anyway.

[Mel Dyer]

If it's the Aikens birthday-cake head Hades...hell yeah! However, I would prefer him as an uneasy and unlikely ally, rather than a villain.

Otherwise, Hades just doesn't interest me much, as a WW character, at all.

[Dr. Poison]

I have to disagree with Mel, the smashed birthday cake head version of Hades looks just plain silly to me so he's the last version of the character I want to see. As far as Hades in general, I'd rather see Wonder Woman's non-public domain rogues given a good amount of spotlight and development before any of the public domain characters in her world. Once that's done, we can talk about possibly bringing back Hades and the rest of the Olympians on an occasional basis.

[Nyssane]

I feel like it's a little stereotypical for Hades to be a villain. Hades and Ares seem to be the go-to villainous Greek gods in other forms of media, and it'd be nice to see something newer and different done with him. Besides, he's only ever been a villain a couple of times in Wonder Woman's 75 year history, so it does confuse me when he's listed as one of her top foes.

[Outside_85]

Think I'd prefer the Olympians, all of them, to be pretty much in the grey area morally, sometimes they aid Diana, sometimes they oppose her as according to what they want from the situation.

[enish]

I'm personnally pissed off when they try and apply the judeo-christian manicheism on Greek or any other pagan deities, so Hades as a villain is a No-GO for me.

Hades was never a villainous god and he never was a satan-like figure either.

I'm writing an essay for my degree on the representation of Paganism in popular culture, so I have lots of material to work with in that area!

[Vanguard-01]

Yeah, Hades doesn't work as a straight-up villain. In the myths he's much more morally neutral. Most ancient death gods are. They don't care about the world of the living very much. They just want to rule their domain.

Can Hades be a villain to Diana? Sure, every now and then. Anytime where he has some agenda in the living world that Diana opposes. Or anytime when Diana needs something or someone from the Underworld. Hades is greedy and hates giving up anything. If Diana wants something from him or his realm, she'll have to either fight him for it or make some kind of deal with him.

Likewise, Hades can be an ally at times as well. Diana just needs her interests and his to align, or she needs to have something to offer him in order to secure his aid.

Really, all the gods should be like this. Diana can get along with them all to some extent. Some gods she gets along with better than others. Some are more willing to aid her as a matter of course. But just about all the gods can be a friend or an enemy to her depending on where their interests happen to lie.

So, no. Hades doesn't need to be a full-on villain for Diana. None of the gods really do. I certainly don't mind him having a larger role in Diana's mythos, whether as an antagonist or an ally. But he doesn't need to become Diana's "devil" or anything.

And as far as looks go? The Azzarello/Chiang design was LAUGHABLE. The name "Hades" literally means "Unseen." I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'd have any trouble seeing a kid with his head constantly on fire.

[SiegePerilous02]

I feel like it's a little stereotypical for Hades to be a villain. Hades and Ares seem to be the go-to villainous Greek gods in other forms of media, and it'd be nice to see something newer and different done with him. Besides, he's only ever been a villain a couple of times in Wonder Woman's 75 year history, so it does confuse me when he's listed as one of her top foes.

Think I'd prefer the Olympians, all of them, to be pretty much in the grey area morally, sometimes they aid Diana, sometimes they oppose her as according to what they want from the situation.

Agreed to both of these. Hades can be antagonistic in some situations, but not one-note evil. He was a fearsome God in the myths, but that had to do with his dominion and what he represented. He was actually pretty fair and just, and the least dickish of the three brothers. He was also the best husband out of the three, and when we're talking about the guy who forcefully kidnapped his niece to be his child bride, that's speaks volumes about the other two.

I'd say Poseidon should be more of a foe for Diana than Hades. He has an antagonistic relationship with one of her main patron goddesses, and he's probably the biggest jerk out of the Sky/Sea/Underworld trio. Just ask (some versions of) Medusa.

[Castiel]

Yeah, Hades doesn't work as a straight-up villain. In the myths he's much more morally neutral. Most ancient death gods are. They don't care about the world of the living very much. They just want to rule their domain.

Can Hades be a villain to Diana? Sure, every now and then. Anytime where he has some agenda in the living world that Diana opposes. Or anytime when Diana needs something or someone from the Underworld. Hades is greedy and hates giving up anything. If Diana wants something from him or his realm, she'll have to either fight him for it or make some kind of deal with him.

Likewise, Hades can be an ally at times as well. Diana just needs her interests and his to align, or she needs to have something to offer him in order to secure his aid.

Really, all the gods should be like this. Diana can get along with them all to some extent. Some gods she gets along with better than others. Some are more willing to aid her as a matter of course. But just about all the gods can be a friend or an enemy to her depending on where their interests happen to lie.

So, no. Hades doesn't need to be a full-on villain for Diana. None of the gods really do. I certainly don't mind him having a larger role in Diana's mythos, whether as an antagonist or an ally. But he doesn't need to become Diana's "devil" or anything.

And as far as looks go? The Azzarello/Chiang design was LAUGHABLE. The name "Hades" literally means "Unseen." I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I'd have any trouble seeing a kid with his head constantly on fire.

Perhaps using the word villain was a bit much I admit the reason I proposed this idea because I didn't like hearing the writers at DC made her Zeus's daughter. The whole Zeus thing seemed a bit cliche and obvious also Posideon would feel to much like an Aquaman crap fest waiting to happen. Really when I said villain I was thinking more of a unwanted mentor slash psycho over protective father figure that only targets people(innocent or not) he perceives as a threat to Diana.

As for how how it could come out maybe Diana could be fighting a super villain and is about to die when in the nick of time she transforms into a hot but scary demoness with the power to drain a persons life force. I totally agree with you about the design I think it would be better if he got a Lich King look and revealed he only used the kid look as a deception of some kind. Plus it would be interesting to see how Wonder Woman would react.

[Agent Z]

Agreed to both of these. Hades can be antagonistic in some situations, but not one-note evil. He was a fearsome God in the myths, but that had to do with his dominion and what he represented. He was actually pretty fair and just, and the least dickish of the three brothers. He was also the best husband out of the three, and when we're talking about the guy who forcefully kidnapped his niece to be his child bride, that's speaks volumes about the other two.

I'd say Poseidon should be more of a foe for Diana than Hades. He has an antagonistic relationship with one of her main patron goddesses, and he's probably the biggest jerk out of the Sky/Sea/Underworld trio. Just ask (some versions of) Medusa.

I'd actually use Zeus but Poseidon works too.

[Agent Z]

Perhaps using the word villain was a bit much I admit the reason I proposed this idea because I didn't like hearing the writers at DC made her Zeus's daughter. The whole Zeus thing seemed a bit cliche and obvious also Posideon would feel to much like an Aquaman crap fest waiting to happen. Really when I said villain I was thinking more of a unwanted mentor slash psycho over protective father figure that only targets people(innocent or not) he perceives as a threat to Diana.

As for how how it could come out maybe Diana could be fighting a super villain and is about to die when in the nick of time she transforms into a hot but scary demoness with the power to drain a persons life force. I totally agree with you about the design I think it would be better if he got a Lich King look and revealed he only used the kid look as a deception of some kind. Plus it would be interesting to see how Wonder Woman would react.

Poseidon has never really had much interaction with Aquaman.

[SteveGus]

Would much rather seeing her own villains developed. The Greek gods really need to be more background, a part of Amazon culture, rather than protagonists in the stories.

[CRaymond]

Anyone reading the Olympians Rule! series by George O'Connor?

I've bought all of the available ones... 1 Zeus, 2 Athena, 3 Hera, 4 Hades, 5 Poseidon, 6 Aphrodite, 7 Ares, 8 Apollo... and I'm eagerly waiting for 9 Artemis. I assume he's going to do Hermes, Hephaestus, and Dionysus.

Of all of them, Poseidon is portrayed as the most messed up and monstrous.

In my headfanon, Zeus assumes lordship over the mortals and immortals that won in the Titanomachy. Hades is sent to hold dominion over the Underworld and keep the imprisoned in Tartarus at bay. Poseidon is sent not only to control the seas, but the vast majority of gods and monsters that didn't participate in the Titanomachy but might present a future threat to dominion over the world. By forcing the children of Gaea and Pontos, their cousins, into the sea, they're removed from active worship and rendered powerless against the worshipped Olympians. Poseidon is basically the slumlord for a vast underwater ghetto of divine miscreants. Poseidon is angry his "subjects" are basically hillbilly gods that he has to constantly patrol.

[mathew101281]

I feel like it's a little stereotypical for Hades to be a villain. Hades and Ares seem to be the go-to villainous Greek gods in other forms of media, and it'd be nice to see something newer and different done with him. Besides, he's only ever been a villain a couple of times in Wonder Woman's 75 year history, so it does confuse me when he's listed as one of her top foes.

Yes one could argue Ares being the god of bloodshed and carnage specifically (both he and Athena were war deities) would lend itself more to a villainous interpretation. But Hades was never depicted as anymore malicious then any other of the gods.