So I saw this thread talking about the need of feats, I tried to reply but gradually digressed. So I will just make a new thread to divert some attentions from topics like if Di's been r**ped (wtf!), or whose girl friend she should be.
Instead of simple feats I think she needs more victories in a general sense: she can either win by wits or by physical fights. I prefer her winning eventually both by wisdom and physical strengths, because she is supposed to be wise and powerful. She needs to be more significant in her own book and in her team-up books (I am looking at SW/WW because I know JL is beyond redemption).
In new52, so far, no mater how hard I try, I can't consider her wise, especially outside her solo run. In her own run she's constantly deceived, her lasso is useless. She is brave and compassionate all right, and she learns from her mistakes. But she is rarely ahead of her opponents. Maybe she was green when she first took up the role as wonder woman, but years have passed she still lacks the foresight and strategic mindset as a leader. She can't even keep Zola in place. The Amazons followed her lead not because she had a great plan but because they were desperate and she was their queen's daughter who looked like a good person, backed up by a powerful god, Hera. She has almost zero feats in her solo book. FB is so damn powerful that she can't even cut some hair out of him. I wish she can come up with a plan that defeats FB, even she needs others to help her to implement her plan, at least she can be a competent general/queen.
In the past WW has allies more powerful/superior than her, such as Athena. But that should not be the reason she cannot be the hero. The writer can focus on her by showing the readers her choices, her actions, her perceptions, and her feelings, so that her solo book looks "Diana centered". In an issue (one from Rucka's run I guess), Athena planned to punish Zues; she took Diana to Zues and asked Diana to fight for her. Diana did what her goddess asked and defeat Zues' monster cleverly. Then Diana was offered the oppotunity to get her vision back (previously she gave up her vision so that she could win the death fight against Medussa). But she chosed to save her friend's dead children. Like a classic Greek hero story, she went against her goddess (an authority) and followed her sense of justice and compssion; yet the goddess was not angered but impressed because Diana passed her test and proved herself worthy of the name Wonder Woman. In this story, Diana clearly was not the "boss" or "badass", but she was the hero that walked her own path and did everything her way. The character Athena didn't steal her centered role dispite Athena is more powerful than Diana; nor did Diana made Athena looked bad so that she was the only "good girl" in her world. In the current WW solo story, the description of the other characters takes up much space that sometimes Diana seems a bit "missing". I am not saying the story is bad. For my personal taste I want Diana to be more important in terms of contribution to the plot and to the outcomes of events. I feel like I want concerto but instead I get symphony. However the game of throne in Olympia hasn't ended yet so I'll give her the benefit of doubt.
Diana's feats exist mainly outside her solo book. In JL book she's dumb, impulsive, and all over Superman. She has one or two feats like punching through GL's construction, or stabbing Darkseid's eye. But feats like these seldom influence the outcomes of the crises the JL members encounter. It doesn't matter if she fails a thousand times when she's fighting a villain; as long as she manages to defeat him/her at last, she's the winner. Winning is important and inspiring, winning is a sign that good triumphs evil (more or less...), a sign that she can protect the people who needs her, that she deserves the trust of the people who looks up to her. In terms of the final result of a battle (not necessarily a physical one), she can fail occasionally to add some depth to the story (or to stop people from whining about how not human and unreliable she is), but she has to win constantly. Otherwise she's just a loser, not a hero. I don't think getting help from the others to win is inappropriate but she has to be the one that comes up with the plan, or the one that throws the vital punch. For example, if she's fighting FB and Apollo at the same time, she can call Superman for help, but Superman should be the one against Apollo because Apollo is the lesser threat and Superman, as her help, not her saviour, should play a less significant part in the fight. If the writer has to establish that she is a useless weakling against FB (which i strongly disapprove but don't get a say) and that she needs Orion or Hera to fight for her, then she must be the one that comes up with the master plan to defeat FB and his army, the one that finds out/exploits FB's weakness and turns the game. Otherwise, whoever defeats FB or whoever brings up the plan that defeats FB would be the hero instead of Diana. Back to the JL book, has Diana ever plays the vital part in the team? I cannot recall any occasion.
In SM/WW, she haven't put conclusions to any fights. Maybe expect for the time when she and Supes cut some atoms with her sword. Maybe that time the heroes were Superman and her sword. Unless stated otherwise by the writer, I presume swords, even a magical one, can be held by anyone. I don't understand why superman just use Diana's sword and cut those atoms himself. If he can see atoms that clearly, cutting them may just like a normal human cutting a watermelon using a knife. But he had to do it with WW, I wonder how he could describe the exact position of the atoms. Anyway... In SM/WW, thing weren't even about Diana. Apollo showed up, not to humiliate/fight her, but to humiliate Superman so that Superman could be a man and one-shot one of Di's major villain.
Bravo for Diana, one of the trinity and DC's arguably supposedly most important woman, the female superhero who doesn't matter that much.
P.S.: I know how much WW fans hate the sensation comics these two weeks. I am not arguing with them about how wierd/stupid the story was, but I have to say that the book got one thing right: the story was about Diana and she goddamn won. She even convinced Catwoman and Harley to fight by her side by confusing methods that I don't understand, but at least she conveyed the idea of involvement, even though not very convincingly. This sensation comic is what I call a WW story. Not a good one, but at least it counts.
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