Wonder Woman analogues from other media...

[Vanguard-01]

I was reflecting today on some of my favorite female characters, and I realized how many of them have at least a little bit of Diana in them somewhere. I thought it would be fun for us to list some of our other female characters from other comics, TV shows, movies, etc and explain what elements of Wonder Woman we see in them.

When I was deciding which one to start with, I quickly realized that there was but one real choice to begin this thread.

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Everyone? Say hello to Ambassador Delenn of the Minbari Federation, from Babylon 5: one of the very finest sci-fi shows ever to grace the small screen.

Why do I love her? Because she was really the first Wonder Woman I ever knew. Once I started getting into Wonder Woman and learning about what an amazing character Diana was, I began to notice some strong similarities between her and other female characters I'd loved for so long. Delenn was pretty much that the top of that list. As I began to learn more about Diana, I eventually realized "Holy crap! She's Delenn! She's Delenn with freaking super powers!"

So who is Delenn? She's the ambassador for the Minbari Federation. The Minbari are an ancient alien race, far more advanced than humanity. In fact, prior to the events of the show, humanity foolishly started a war with the Minbari and were nearly exterminated before the Minbari came to their senses and stopped themselves. They're a deeply spiritual people who are divided into three Castes: Worker, Warrior, Religious. Delenn is of the Religious Caste. Delenn is assigned to Babylon 5: a huge space station constructed by Earth in the middle of neutral space to serve as a place where people could gather to work out their differences peacefully.

Delenn is the total package: wise, compassionate, diplomatic, makes enemies into friends, fearless, a total badass when needed, and inspires everyone around her to be better than they are.

Examples?

1.) Compassion: Delenn is very compassionate. When her aide, Lennier, first arrives on Babylon 5, he's all timid and looking at the ground the whole time she's talking to him. She tells him to look at her. He tries to politely decline. Delenn says "I cannot have an aide who will not look up. You will be forever walking into things." He looks up, and instantly becomes Delenn's loyal servant and confidant for nearly the rest of the show. We later find out that those words she spoke were the exact same words her own mentor spoke to her when she was a young acolyte entering his service. Just a great moment.

One of her biggest compassion moments, however, was in Season Two. In one episode, an alien race known as the Markabs began to contract a deadly plague. Fear began to spread. The virus eventually demonstrated the ability to jump to other races than just the Markabs. The Markabs decided to isolate themselves in an empty section of the station and attempt to pray the plague away (the virus had a place in their religious myths and they thought it was a punishment from their gods.) Delenn and Lennier went into the isolated area and allowed themselves to be sealed in there with the Markabs so that they could do what they could to alleviate their suffering. (Minbari were immune to the disease.) She stayed in there, tending to sick and dying people until every single Markab on Babylon 5 was dead.

2.) Diplomacy: Too many moments to count. She's an ambassador. She's very good at her job. It's a rare event for her to approach a conflict without at least TRYING to solve it peacefully.

3.) Making Enemies Into Friends: In Season One, we meet a Minbari Warrior named Neroon. He's a constant antagonist for Delenn. He doesn't approve of her methods. He thinks she let's the humans "infect" her with funny ideas. He's not an evil man, just arrogant and completely certain that he's always in the right and that he's always acting in the best interests of the Minbari people. Every season features at least one episode where Neroon shows up, takes a position in opposition to Delenn, ends up being proven wrong by her, and leaves at least somewhat humbled by her wisdom and strength.

This all comes to a head in Season 4. The Minbari descend into a civil war between the Religious Caste and the Warrior Caste (the poor Workers are just caught in the middle.) Delenn and Neroon come together and conspire to bring an end to the war. Delenn meets with the leader of the Warrior Caste, offering terms of surrender for the Religious Caste. Delenn then challenges the Warrior Caste leader to a contest to prove their devotion to their respective Castes. They stand in the center of some kind of beam of light called the "Starfire Wheel." As the beam intensifies, it's clear they will both eventually be killed by it. The Warrior leader flees the circle, proving that he valued his life more than the good of his Caste. Delenn remains, prepared to die for her Caste. Neroon intervenes, jumping into the circle, picking Delenn up, and handing her over to her followers.

He then STEPS BACK into the circle (he totally could've escaped if he wanted to) and faces the Minbari assembled in the temple and the cameras broadcasting this whole scene to the rest of Minbar. His last words? "I was born Warrior Caste! But now I know the calling of my heart......is RELIGIOUS! The war is over! Listen to her.....please!" And then "Poof!" He's gone. Disintegrated. Delenn can inspire people to be willing to die for her if needed.

4.) Badass: Nope! I will not use words to describe this scene to you. Mere words would diminish the awesomeness. Luckily, thanks to the magic of YouTube, words are not necessary.

Just to put everything in context? The scene you're seeing is from Season 3. The President of the Earth Alliance is turning out to be a Hitler-esque tyrant who is violating the Earth Alliance Constitution. He ordered the bombing of civilian targets on the Mars Colony. In response, the colonies on Orion 7 and Proxima 3 declared their independence and broke away from Earth. Captain John Sheridan, the commanding officer of Babylon 5 and Delenn's love interest, joined with them and declared Babylon 5's independence. A fleet of Earth Force ships were sent to take Babylon 5 by force. A big battle ensued. This scene brings you in at the end of the main battle.

[Lex Luthor]

Korra from LOK reminds me of Diana. She comes from a pretty privileged place, not exactly rich but she never needed for anything like Diana. She is strong willed, powerful, and stands as a challenge to a lot of stereotypes of women. She is one of the strongest avatars like Diana is with the amazons. She also came into the world to fight the problems of that world/political leaders that represent corrupt or bad governments.
Along with being strong, she is also extremely smart, she's a healer, she's a diplomat, deeply spiritual, and cultured. Also, she doesnt kill her enemies and her last enemy became her friend.

I think she's a bit more aggressive than Diana usually is but she still has a lot of qualities that Diana does have.

[Vanguard-01]

Another? Perhaps a shorter one so you don't all think you need to write a massive essay like I just did? No problem.

I only recently learned of this woman, but she's amazing.

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This is Talyn. She comes from an animated TV series from the early 90s called "Skeleton Warriors." Never heard of it? Not surprising. This show had the terrible misfortune to go head-to-head with another somewhat well-known animated series from the early 90s. You may have heard of it? X-Men? Yeeeeaaaah. Suffice to say, poor Skeleton Warriors only lasted 13 episodes. 13 really kickass episodes, though. And Talyn was an incredible member of the show.

Her real name is Jennifer Lightstar: Princess of the city of Luminicity. She and her two brothers gain superpowers when the evil Baron Dark attempts to steal the Lightstar Crystal that powers all of Luminicity's technology. The crystal splits in half and the released energy turns Baron Dark into an immortal skeleton man. The royals gain superpowers. Jennifer gains the power to fly and adopts the battle name Talyn to reflect her new status as an aerial warrior. The three royals go into hiding as Baron Dark takes over the city, forming a resistance movement called The Legion of Light.

1.) Compassion: Episode 3 is devoted entirely to Talyn trying to help a soldier in her resistance cell after he willingly allows Baron Dark to turn him into a Skeleton Warrior (yes, he can do that.) He allows this because of survivor's guilt. He's the only one of his unit who survived a skeleton attack. He fought until he was out of power for his polarizer (energy rifle) and then he ran for his life. In the show, Dark can't turn you into a Skeleton Warrior unless there's "darkness" in your heart. Apparently even pragmatism in the face of a hopeless battle counts.

Talyn refuses to accept the soldier's decision and chases him down. She walks into a trap and is captured by Dark's forces. She continues to plead with the soldier to turn away from Dark. In a scuffle with him, she discovers that Skeleton Warriors can be changed back into human form by removing a crystal embedded in their spine. The soldier is restored and rejoins the Legion of Light.

It should be noted that Talyn didn't know this guy. He wasn't her friend. He wasn't her love interest. She only cared that he was in trouble and refused to give up on him.

2.) Diplomacy: Talyn is the peacemaker in her family. The first episode shows her breaking up a fight between her two brothers and chiding them both for acting poorly. Both brothers clearly respect their sister's wisdom and strength a great deal. Talyn also was picked for an ambassadorial mission to a nearby kingdom in an attempt to gather support for their cause.

3.) Badass: Talyn is a total badass in every episode. She's built like an Amazon. She flies. She has wrist-mounted rocket launchers on both arms. You don't eff with her if you're any kind of smart.

Want to learn more about her and this kickass show? Check out the review of Skeleton Warriors that introduced me to the show in the first place. This guy does a lot of good and interesting reviews on older shows in a series called "What We Watched."

https://youtu.be/5zDiZaxz-Mw

Want to watch the show? All 13 episodes are collected in a box set available on Amazon. Don't want to spend money? All 13 episodes are available for free on YouTube. It's definitely worth looking into. Talyn's an amazingly strong, feminist character. She and Diana would be BFF within minutes of meeting each other. And seriously? I defy anyone to find ANY opening video for an animated series that is more metal than this show's opener.

[7-Love]

Would she count?

Gabrielle (the season 6 version) from Xena: Warrior Princess

[Vanguard-01]

Gabrielle ABSOLUTELY counts, in my book.

Technically, I think she's a better Wonder Woman analogue than Xena is. Xena gets compared to Diana a lot, but in truth, they're radically different characters. Gabrielle, on the other hand? Compassionate? Check! Redeems people? She was LITERALLY the only thing that stopped Xena from either fading away or eventually falling back into her villainous ways. Diplomatic? Yup! Gabby had it all.

Korra is also a very good example, as Aphrodite's Champion pointed out. Perhaps a bit more aggressive than Diana, but she grew into a more in-control person, so no big deal.

[Cowtools]

OMG I can't believe somebody else recalls Skeleton Warriors! That was one of the first non-Disney Saturday morning cartoons I ever watched. I remember it seeming quite 'grown up' to my preteen self.

Also BIG props for recommending Gabrielle. I had such a crush on her.

[Agent 86]

+1 for Gabrielle: Amazon Queen / Battling Bard.

Other than the fact she's missing super-powers, Gabrielle is a much better analogue for Wonder Woman than Xena ever would be. After all, Gabrielle is actually an Amazon Princess (with a very quick promotion to Queen), actively seeks to end the cycle of violence, will only use lethal force when absolutely necessary, will ordinarily try to solve problems by talking before fighting and doesn't have a history as a mass-murdering warlord!