Sorry if this blog looks familiar (though it probably won’t). I got on to ComicVine on the suggestion of my brother, and before I started my own account I was test driving his. I was having fun running the quests, but when it got to the blogs I decided I wanted them in my own name and not his. One thing I did do for him though was to create a list of the kinds of supervillains that Wonder Woman could use as enemies in order to make her stories more interesting. I have never been a really big fan of most of Wonder Woman’s enemies. They are usually either sort of female stereotypes (motivated by beauty, envy or jealousy) or just not at all interesting (Dr. Psycho, Angle Man.) In creating villains it is also difficult in a different sense. Comic book writers love to use death for shock value to draw in readers and a lot of new characters end up dying. After all if you have to kill off either Orca or the Joker which one are the fans going to take better. There have been a few Wonder Woman enemies introduced in the past 15 years or so with a bit of lasting power, but I still wouldn’t call them iconic enemies. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Incorporating more accurate and more varied myths into the villains - Those that know me know that the mythological aspect about WW is not my favourite aspect of her character, but it doesn’t matter. I still love mythological stories and I most of all love any story, no matter the context. Unlike most actual mythological stories, the DC Comics version of the Greek Gods are mostly a big happy family is it wasn’t for Hercules, Ares and Hades. The real myths (or at least as they are written) has this as anything but the case. The gods don’t get along at all. They mostly form temporary alliances to advance their own interests. The Perez origin story of WW is actually a favourite of mine, where the Gods come together to release one last lost soul into human form and give it a number of gifts. There is no reason to think that five minutes after doing this though that the gods would still be talking to one another. Really this is what Diana’s relationship with the gods should be. Aphrodite should be jealous because humans worship Diana’s beauty more than her own. Athena should be angry that Diana has not used her gift of wisdom to help people as much as she should. The best example in comics of a well used god is Loki. But Thor has Loki and Wonder Woman has … ?

2. Incorporate other pantheons – This is not such a huge issue, but Marvel plays up the Thor versus Hercules fairly well. A similar approach for Wonder Woman would also be interesting. There are lots of pantheons out there with a lot of fascinating deities and heroes, but failing that just make some up. Everything which mankind has ever worshipped wasn’t written down, and so the field is really wide open.

3. A technology based villain - In the 1960s comics took a turn away from the Golden Age and entered the Silver Age with villains much more based on science and science fiction. For instance Green Lantern got rewritten as a member of an intergalactic police force and Hawkman became an envoy from a foreign planet. Wonder Woman never really got this influence in her character and she has never really consistently battled what I would call a technology based character. As opposed to a lot of more modern characters this would actually be a really interesting clash. Wonder Woman has three magical items which she uses (her tiara is magical right?) and virtually no real technology. Such a villain would be very interesting, classic versus modern, magic versus science.

4. Criminally insane female – I am trying to think of a female character in the DCU who could be described as criminally insane but none come to mind. I guess Harley Quinn, but she is just like a “Jokergirl”, mostly just a female version of the original. Whereas Arkham is full of the mentally ill almost none are women. Who better to fight a psychotic woman than Diana.

5. Another character like Cheetah – She is by far my favourite WW villain and the one with the best background, reasons for hating WW and ability to fight her. Diana could use another character that can almost match her in every respect though.

6. Someone who can actually counteract her – Superman has Lex Luthor who can produce a piece of kryptonite almost always at the right moment. Batman has the Joker whose criminal tendencies are the dark mirror of his own. Hal Jordan had Sinestro whose ring’s colour was his rings weakness. Diana doesn’t really have someone who counteracts her strength. I was thinking along the lines of a character that can make others lie compulsively even enough to counteract her own ability to make them tell the truth. Wouldn’t have to be especially super powered either, sometimes a weaker character that can mess with you mentally is better than a powerhouse.

I realize this is a long post, so while I have other ideas, this is it for now. Anyone else have some suggestions?