Why do wonder Woman Fans hate Change with her character

[Jim Kelly]

It's common for most of the DC major hitters to go through changes. Not for story reasons but to goose the sales. So Wonder Woman isn't alone in this regard. It's just that over her 75 years--and certainly in the last 50 years--Wonder Woman has a lot of ups and downs when it comes to sales, with the publisher reacting by introducing a new change. The more desperate to goose sales, the greater the change (often throwing everything out the window and starting again).

A side effect of this is that, in a room full of Wonder Woman fans, chances are not one of those fans will have started reading the character at the exact same time. So for each of them, the character they were introduced to (the one they recognize as the true Wonder Woman) will be different.

So you have the conditions where WW is most likely to go through yet another change and that's not likely to please a large number of fans.

[Mel Dyer]

If editorial treated Batman the way they do Wonder Woman, he'd have a new butler every time he got a new writer, would move to a new city, sometimes his parents would be dead sometimes alive, sometimes he'd flip burgers to finance his crusade, sometimes he'd be Kryptonian...

Nailed it. Thank you.

[Black Angel]

The most common perception is that Cheetah is her Joker/Luthor "personal nemesis", Circe is her Brainiac/Bane (Bane may be a stretch but I can't think of a Batman equivalent), and Ares is her Darkseid/Ra's al Ghul "big bad".

Oh ok makes sense i do like that analogy of them so they are all necessary then. So i guess that First born guy would have been her DOOMSDAY/HUSH

[Mel Dyer]

We can groan that Wonder Woman isn't Xena, all we like. That was the big problem that so many of us had with the Chazzarello run. However, while I've argued that Wonder Woman is Luke Skywalker, and Xena is Han Solo, for many newcomers, ..Wonder Woman and Xena are virtually indistinguishable.

For them, that's who she is. For us, she's something else.

[millernumber1]

I don't want any one to think this is an attack i don't need that here. I would just like to know why most wonder woman fans bash writers of her character at times and say they don't get her? Is it not the case with new eras there will be new imaginings and for different writer's a different perspective? Call me naive but why does it sound like this criticism seems to bash the character herself.

I have see arguments such as the new 52 wonder woman wasn't the real wonder woman
The clay origin is essential
wonder woman needs no lover interest

Please help me understand is it because she is so iconic or what?

I think the problem is that DC has no advocate or editor who has guided Diana throughout the years like Denny O'Neil did for Batman. And reported practice is for them to tell writers to ignore everything that came before. So for me, it's a matter of liking some runs, and then the next writer throws everything in the trash.

[phonogram12]

The only times I really have issues with changes is when they close off possible future stories. For example, I was just not a fan of a lot of removing WW's Diana Prince id, nor did I like aging up Steve Trevor to the point where he couldn't be a viable love interest anymore (seriously, if they didn't want to use him as a love interest they could've just not reintroduced him at all). I also don't like changes to characters when they cause undo complications to other characters, like when they decided to reintroduce WW years after Donna Troy made her debut as a superhero and they removed Superboy from the Legion of the Super-Heroes.

[Agent Z]

The only times I really have issues with changes is when they close off possible future stories. For example, I was just not a fan of a lot of removing WW's Diana Prince id, nor did I like aging up Steve Trevor to the point where he couldn't be a viable love interest anymore (seriously, if they didn't want to use him as a love interest they could've just not reintroduced him at all). I also don't like changes to characters when they cause undo complications to other characters, like when they decided to reintroduce WW years after Donna Troy made her debut as a superhero and they removed Superboy from the Legion of the Super-Heroes.

Not all possible stories will be good though. For Instance, What stories did we lose from Diana Prince's loss that could have been any good?

I will concede on the Donna issue

[phonogram12]

Not all possible stories will be good though. For Instance, What stories did we lose from Diana Prince's loss that could have been any good?

I will concede on the Donna issue

Her interacting with normal everyday people. Those stories are vital in understanding both cosmic and mythological characters.

[Agent Z]

Her interacting with normal everyday people. Those stories are vital in understanding both cosmic and mythological characters.

She's been doing that without the secret identity. She even worked at a Taco Bell

[phonogram12]

She's been doing that without the secret identity. She even worked at a Taco Bell

The thing is about her lack of a secret id is that it kind of just necessitated her supporting cast only being able to interact with her as a superhero/ambassador/princess. Her time working at Taco Whiz was so short lived and returned everything to the status quo so quickly that it's barely even worth mentioning.

This is also a reason, I suspect, that her supporting cast keeps changing. They keep trying to introduce characters that can bring out another side of the character, but it seems as if most attempts have failed so far.

The only time I ever really cared for her without a secret id was during Azzarello's stellar run, tbh.

[Agent Z]

The thing is about her lack of a secret id is that it kind of just necessitated her supporting cast only being able to interact with her as a superhero/ambassador/princess. Her time working at Taco Whiz was so short lived and returned everything to the status quo so quickly that it's barely even worth mentioning.

The only time I ever really cared for her without a secret id was during Azzarello's stellar run, tbh.

She is a princess and superhero and ambassador. If anything it's more honest than other superheroes putting on a front. The Kapertenellis, the Sandsmarks and others who got to know her saw her as more than that. Again she does not
need a secret I.d to talk to normal people. Her she's an ambassador - that's her job.

Her supporting cast changes because the editors don't care for her continuity and if what I hear is true, actually discourage writers from reading previous stories.

And it's not like she interacted with normal people in Azzarello's run either. Hell, Zola turned out to be a puppet for Athena. In terms of Diana's personality he did nothing new

[Amazon Swordsman]

Some change is good, but not in excess...Do you still want to be able to recognize the character? What are the unchangeable continuity constants in the WW mythos?

If you asked the average layperson about Superman, they'll tell you about Krypton and its explosion, Metropolis, his gf Lois, what he does as "Clark Kent", his powers, etc..

If you asked the average person about Batman, you'd hear about Gotham, his dead parents, the robins, his rogues like Joer, etc...

Ask the average person about WW, and see what they'll say. People will probably say something about the lasso of truth, maybe they'll say "oh, she's from that island with all women", or maybe say something about Lynda Carter if they're old enough...

People can't say much about WW because there haven't been many different media adaptations of WW exposed to the GP, and her mythos is constantly changing to warrant that. Above all else, WW needs consistency and stable continuity constants.

[Carabas]

Her interacting with normal everyday people. Those stories are vital in understanding both cosmic and mythological characters.

You don't need Diana Prince for those stories.

[Carabas]

The thing is about her lack of a secret id is that it kind of just necessitated her supporting cast only being able to interact with her as a superhero/ambassador/princess. Her time working at Taco Whiz was so short lived and returned everything to the status quo so quickly that it's barely even worth mentioning.

This is also a reason, I suspect, that her supporting cast keeps changing. They keep trying to introduce characters that can bring out another side of the character, but it seems as if most attempts have failed so far.

As opposed to Superman's supporting cast? Clark Kent's friends are also Superman's friends, and he interacts with them in both identities, whether they know his secret ID or not.

And of course Bruce Wayne doesn't seem to get to meet anybody outside of work the last 10 years.

[phonogram12]

She is a princess and superhero and ambassador. If anything it's more honest than other superheroes putting on a front. The Kapertenellis, the Sandsmarks and others who got to know her saw her as more than that. Again she does need a secret I.d to talk to normal people. Her she's an ambassador - that's her job.

Sure it is. But that's pretty much all people saw her as. That's it. I'm a librarian and I can guarantee you that there is so much more to me than that. When I leave work, people don't look at me and automatically think "Oh, let's go ask that guy if he can recommend a book or how I can work my tablet." She's literally on all the time and people treat her that way. The best way to put this is how Paul Dini and Alex Ross did in the superlative Wonder Woman Truth story they put out some years back.

And it's not like she interacted with normal people in Azzarello's run either. Hell, Zola turned out to be a puppet for Athena

Sure, but despite this, it was pretty much just Zola acting like about as ordinary girl as you could get. Athena said, herself, that it wasn't until the very end of the battle that her true self awoke. To be quite honest, it was rather refreshing to see her interact with someone about as polar opposite of super as you could get.