Why is Steve Trevor such a hard sell?

[SiegePerilous02]

Too much time away from Diana. The wtiting was poor all throughout the silver and broze ages, and not bothering to update the romance at all during post crisis did serious damage. All the while we got saddled with the Legion of Substitue Steves or, even worse, pairing her up with Superman and Batman. So, as boring as hecan be, we are far better off with him than without until we finally get a female love intetest.

His main purpose is subverting gender tropes. Yeah the love interests in films are flat, but how many are male to the protagonist's female? Zip. Hes likeable enough now that I dont mind her being with him even if it can be kind of dull. The book still needs positive male characters, none of the others have stuck, so it might as well be him. He guards against worse options. As far as other male love interests go, we are not missing out on anything

[brettc1]

Why does their seem to be such a push back against this character? Their seems to be a constant effort to minimize the character.

Could it be that he really doesn't fulfill his purpose well? Historically the love interest of a superhero were always popular when they were "the kind of gal girls want to be and guys want to be with " types. Lois Lane and Catwoman are both popular in that regard. I don't know any guy who wants to be Steve Trevor, and even female fans seem to want to pair Wonder Woman up with other superheroes ( a bad idea by the way) rather then explore the Diana/Steve relationship. Lois was a globe trotting journalist in a time when female journalist were rare. Catwoman is daredevil. It's obvious people put effort into making these two interesting. The same can not be said for Steve. It seems people are trying to shovel him out of the picture as soon as possible.

Which people. Not me certainly, and the majority opinion on these forums anyway seem to favor Steve

[SiegePerilous02]

In general it always seems to be a hard sell for male love interests of female protagonists, especially the ones who are action heroes like Wonder Woman, Buffy, Sailor Moon etc. They are subjected to more ridiculous scrutiny than female love interests. Lois Lane is popular among women AND men, but guys like Steve (or Angel, Tuxedo Mask, Hicks, etc) have more of an uphill climb:

- If he is too supportive of her, he's weak and/or a bland wish fulfillment fantasy
- If he disagrees with her too much or just doesn't kiss her ass at every opportunity, he's a patronizing jerk/sexist
- He can't be constantly in need of rescuing or else he's useless
- He can't be too competent or else he runs the risk of overshadowing the heroine
- Putting him in classically feminine positions (damsel in distress, eye candy) is either extremely progressive or sexist against everything.
- There is always the contingent of fans who are convinced the heroine is a lesbian because of some (at times dubious) subtext with other female characters, and that any male love interest is inherently boring and goes against what the character is about. The only time caving into this mentality lead to anything great was Xena/Gabrielle, IMO.

[Koriand'r]

He's working just fine as is

I agree, he's written as almost the perfect love interest for Wonder Woman. However I wouldn't mind it if he had more layers. If he gradually developed his own powers that Diana had to train him in it could be cool. Something defensive maybe, so he doesn't steal the spotlight but isn't in constant danger either.

[username_]

I don't think Steve is any more boring than the guys' significant others, it's just that a bland, boring, utterly unremarkable personality is a perfectly fine, and to an extent desirable attribute for a Woman, even Wonder Woman. For instance, Rucka's Wonder Woman couldn't be more tasteless if he tried, I really can't get my head around why she doesn't use contractions, it's really jarring
Men though are held up to a much much higher standard than Women and for that reason Steve feels inadequate and always will for as long as he's solely defined by his relationship with Wonder Woman

[Outside_85]

Think his problem is two fold. The most basic on is that he is rather boring, he's like Steve Rogers without the Captain America thing... quite happy to remain in the background or easily outshined by other characters.

His other problem is that he is a kind of white knight, but he doesn't have a damsel that needs saving... quite often it's her comming to save him, and I think that makes alot of people wonder what Diana really sees in him, simply because his role as the traditional male has been turned on it's head. Which can ofc be amusing enough if played for laughs... but it isn't.

[Pinsir]

Controversially, I would add Wonder Woman, as a female comic book character, probably has a lot of 'admirers' and seeing WW paired with a man doesn't really interest them.

[Cmbmool]

I have to say for someone who is important to the Wonder Woman mythos it is kind of sad to see how he is treated in modern day comics and its fandom.

[SiegePerilous02]

His other problem is that he is a kind of white knight, but he doesn't have a damsel that needs saving... quite often it's her comming to save him, and I think that makes alot of people wonder what Diana really sees in him, simply because his role as the traditional male has been turned on it's head. Which can ofc be amusing enough if played for laughs... but it isn't.

Why would Diana not see something in him if he needs rescuing? Does she think less of people for being weaker than super types like her or something? ANY mortal man or woman she falls in love with is going to be outclassed by the stuff from her world.

Also, what constitutes a traditional male? I don't see how current Steve's general compassion and respect for women make him any less of a man. It makes him more of one actually, and makes more sense for Diana to find him appealing compared to typical macho action heroes.

[gwangung]

His other problem is that he is a kind of white knight, but he doesn't have a damsel that needs saving... quite often it's her comming to save him, and I think that makes alot of people wonder what Diana really sees in him, simply because his role as the traditional male has been turned on it's head. Which can ofc be amusing enough if played for laughs... but it isn't.

That latter isn't a problem. It's an opportunity.

[Sacred Knight]

This is one of the reasons Steve probably shouldn't be Super soldier. I know that's contradictory as just early I said I thought his early New 52 characterization was interesting. And that's true, I was enjoying it, but its just with more reflection that I think I would have grown tired with a DC Nick Fury as well. Because if he is super solider, he rather loses his inspiration as a male damsel-in-distress. If you try and lessen that though with this macho persona who can be right in the thick of things with the heroine, you also defeat the purpose. The answer isn't making him "kewl" enough to hang with the likes of Clark, Bruce, Hal, and so on. To me he has to be way, way more normal and fallible. Outside of his heart, compassion, and all the other more meaningful things that make up a great human being, he should be the furthest thing from Diana's other male comrades. For me he'd be in some ways the Xander Harris of the DCU.

[sram15]

I find the character to be pretty boring. Don't mind that he's a love interestto Diana. My issue is when the character is defined simply because he's dating a hero be it Steve/Lois/etc.

A big reason why I just don't like the character also has to do with the fan base. As soon as the hero dates someone else, the reaction of "he/she belongs with such and such person because of their history" makes me see the character as simply existing just to be a love interest.
I'm definitely someone who doesn't mind heroes being with different people if there is a natural progression to it but I don't like seeing it be a forced relationship simply because in the past certain characters have been together. To have Steve /Lois/etc be defined simply because they are dating a hero is a disservice to the character.

To imply that she needs to be with him and nobody else also goes against the way I view the character as well. I think it's difficult to portray characters as not being defined simply as a love interest. Like another person mentioned if you overhype the character it looks bad and if you underdevelop the character it looks bad. It takes a really good writer to make the character look good and unfortunately I don't think the current writers are doing a good job at that.

[gwangung]

This is one of the reasons Steve probably shouldn't be Super soldier. I know that's contradictory as just early I said I thought his early New 52 characterization was interesting. And that's true, I was enjoying it, but its just with more reflection that I think I would have grown tired with a DC Nick Fury as well. Because if he is super solider, he rather loses his inspiration as a male damsel-in-distress. If you try and lessen that though with this macho persona who can be right in the thick of things with the heroine, you also defeat the purpose. The answer isn't making him "kewl" enough to hang with the likes of Clark, Bruce, Hal, and so on. To me he has to be way, way more normal and fallible. Outside of his heart, compassion, and all the other more meaningful things that make up a great human being, he should be the furthest thing from Diana's other male comrades. For me he'd be in some ways the Xander Harris of the DCU.

Interesting thoughts.

He definitely have to be super in his heart, determination and compassion, but, yeah...being not super/Captain America physically would be an interesting take. Perhaps someone who COULDN'T be a badass secret agent---someone who was lamed or crippled?

[7-Love]

In general it always seems to be a hard sell for male love interests of female protagonists, especially the ones who are action heroes like Wonder Woman, Buffy, Sailor Moon etc. They are subjected to more ridiculous scrutiny than female love interests. Lois Lane is popular among women AND men, but guys like Steve (or Angel, Tuxedo Mask, Hicks, etc) have more of an uphill climb:

- If he is too supportive of her, he's weak and/or a bland wish fulfillment fantasy
- If he disagrees with her too much or just doesn't kiss her ass at every opportunity, he's a patronizing jerk/sexist
- He can't be constantly in need of rescuing or else he's useless
- He can't be too competent or else he runs the risk of overshadowing the heroine
- Putting him in classically feminine positions (damsel in distress, eye candy) is either extremely progressive or sexist against everything.
- There is always the contingent of fans who are convinced the heroine is a lesbian because of some (at times dubious) subtext with other female characters, and that any male love interest is inherently boring and goes against what the character is about. The only time caving into this mentality lead to anything great was Xena/Gabrielle, IMO.

While I myself don't personally have a problem with Steve's character at all, I think that I know the solution for fixing this specific trope of male character that you're describing. Write the male character as a ladies man & also as a mans man. I think, if written that way, then the character will successfully appeal to the mainstream general public audience.

[brettc1]

If you write the character as reliable, stalwart, and respectful, some will call him boring.

If you write him as wise-cracking and irreverent others will describe him as a frat boy.

The simple answer to the question is there is just no pleasing everyone. For every reader who wants to see Spider-Man with MJ there's another who wants to see him with Black Cat or Gwen.