One thing about Wonder Woman is that she has a underrated fight game. She knows how to transition in many ways when in combat. Muay Thai and Wrestling are probably her two best fighting skills. I would love to see more of her H2H abilities in comics.

I feel like this is a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. I think the idea is that WW is a master of pretty much every form of H2H and weapons combat, but most of the time to show case those skills in the comics they have to nerf her physical abilities to create any sense of drama in a fight against her. Honestly there really is no one in the DCU that would truly stand a chance against her in a H2H fight.

@csg_cl: Learning EVERY martial art in the world is impossible and what's more, it's a disadvantage. Like, Federer feels he's got too many skills and that sometimes it complicates his decision-making 'cause in a tennis match you've only got a fraction of a second to pick your shot - down the line, cross court, slice, drop shot so on and so forth and basically if you have too many skills you're a) more likely to pick the wrong shot b) hesitate. In battle, a bad decision or the slightest hesitation can mean the difference between life and death, the ability to read your opponent is a far more important skill

If relative to Superman Wonder Woman has the proportional strength of a woman ie. approx. 30% less upper-body strength, knowing 1 or 2 martial arts puts them on level terms

i think that her style would be a good old style of Pankration, been that she is a Greek :)

@archizooom: Isn't Batman known for having mastered almost all martial arts? lol

@archizooom: I feel like that is only true when you think about which style or method of skill you wish to use. As a warrior born, Wonder Woman shouldn't be hindered by having too many skills, because she wouldn't be thinking about which style to use in battle, she would let her reactions take over and naturally adapt to any situation. Like how Buffy mixes her different fighting techniques to create her own free style fighting without thinking about it. Her style changes automatically to adapt to her enemies style.

As for the Superman/Wonder Woman thing. I don't think that's a good example as neither Superman or Wonder Woman have human physiology. I think if you take into account her being his physical equal, and factor in her skills, you would have something similar to her battle against Zod and Faora. She was able to outskill them and their physicals seemed equal, whereas her battle against Supergirl was much easier as she not only outskilled her, but was physically superior.

i dont think there is, or should be, much difference between diana and clarks strength. i think where wonder woman lacks in showy powers(laser eyes, frost breath, etc.) she makes up for in skill and equipment.

Fighting style seems to be mostly melee and wrestling and ,to a lesser, extent martial arts.

@klaus: this

Luckily for us she has gotten a variety of more powers (energy bolts, energy weapons, lightning, sensing war, mind control over warriors, god-mode, summoning weapons, microscopic vision, super breath etc).

@klaus: eh

@klaus: You're right that when you have a martial art down pat your training becomes second nature and you're able to execute techniques almost without thinking but you certainly can't develop muscle memory for a limitless number of skills because it's a limited resource in the brain, you're better off perfecting a few techniques rather than overload your brain with too many which only slows you down. Now in her lifetime Wonder Woman might've studied many martial arts and developed her own mixed martial art but she couldn't have mastered them all

And I think Superman should be the strongest, it's his calling card, the way I see it the strongest man should be stronger than the strongest woman. In saying that, Wonder Woman's training closes the gender gap, that's how I'd have it if it were up to me

Wonder Woman doesn't have a normal brain though. As a superhuman able to analyze things at incredible speeds, and retain thousands of years worth of memories, she won't be overloading her brain. And again, being thousands of years old (like Rucka confirmed in a recent interview that she has lived for thousands of years, but she was in the body and mindset of an 18 year old when she first came to man's world), she should have mastered almost all the styles she has learned.

Also saying the strongest man should be stronger than the strongest woman holds no merit in a comic universe where the man isn't a man, but an Alien male, and the woman isn't a woman but an Olympian/Amazonian hybrid (as woman comes from the word man which comes from the word human which neither Kal and Diana are).

I don't know why you think her brain somehow has the same limitations as a human would. In the current continuity she's lived for thousands of years and has spent most of that time training her mind and body ... no reason to assume she has a "capacity" limit in terms of how many skills she can learn and effectively use.

As for strength, I've never cared all that much, but I would say that she should be quite close to SM strength, her durability is where she is clearly behind him, which would explain why she's struggled with certain types of heavy-hitter threats such as Doomsday in the past. Doomsday isn't going to really fight, he's there as an unstoppable force which makes skill less valuable than brute force most of the time and to stand toe-to-toe with him you need the very top level of durability.

How would Diana know every martial art in the world or even a few that were invented within the last couple hundred years if she was born and raised in an isolationist nation that closed themselves off thousands of years ago?

because the Amazons watch man's world? In pretty much every continuity Hippolyta has some kind of scrying mirror or technology that allows her to monitor the outside world.

@klaus: @csg_cl: I'm just saying that perfecting fewer skills to a very high level, honing your reflexes, learning how to read your opponent-- that's what ultimately makes a great warrior, and this seems a bit more coherent to me than Wonder Woman somehow knowing tai chi, may thai and so forth. I just wish they had the care to depict Wonder Woman actually using those skills 'cause when it comes right down to it, she's really just as good as Superman, he can throw a shuriken and use the lasso just as well as Wonder Woman

If they did this, Wonder Woman shouldn't struggle more than Superman against the likes of Doomsday because she shouldn't be getting hit as much, Wonder Woman should block, duck and dodge more than Superman, and then cut his head off with her sword

Wonder Woman's primary fighting style is winning, hahaha a lot of her fighting stances in the comics don't really look anything like ones that humans practice in our world (but then again I couldn't expect the artists to be experts in hand to hand combat so theres that). I think it's safe to assume her 'primary' (if there is any, personally i think WW reads her opponents before choosing any game plan and game plan could include what fight sting style to use).

I don't think this statement to be true because she has lost to many people in H2H without any interference. If we're talking Pre-52 WW she's even said she can never take Superman H2H in combat. And if we're talking n52 then theres isnt much to talk about since she's hilariously weaker than her Pre52 counter part(case in point where she broke her arms against a baby doomsday, and Superman ripped the full power DD in half). If i said something wrong please do correct me, for a girl I'm disgracefully behind on my WW reading :P

@archizooom: but that's a different argument than does she has the knowledge of the skills and can she incorporate them in ways that work for her. Your bitterness about SM being able to replicate skills is peeking through. But I do actually agree with your point about how she should be portrayed in combat, but it's ridiculous to think she would never get hit, many combat styles are built around using an opponents strength against them not just brute force and speed.

@sooperfly: that was kind of my point. Conceptually WW really should be vastly ahead of anyone in H2H, but that's clearly not the case, thus pay point of her being nerfed. But I'll also point out that while she ONCE said she couldn't take SM (in a piss poor story I might add), she has gone toe to toe with him on many occasions thanks to her warrior skills. Honestly she is head and shoulders above him in a 1:1 fight.

straight up, but she only won one of those fight (if i remember correctly) where they both were aware of what was happening. Other times cant really count since either SM was mind controlled or wasn't trying to hurt her.

I wouldn't say head and shoulders, since he was trained by her and Batman and numerous other beings, and he has feats of beating stronger and tougher beings than her. However I do agree her fighting experience and warrior intellect is far above his.

I would disagree that she was insinuating in all categories. The whole premise of the story in question is how she needed to defeat the entire League without actually doing them permanent damage as her real plan was to save them from a threat only she could defeat. her statement to SM that she couldn't defeat him is heavily tinted by the fact that she would have to hold back from lethal force, thus she had devised a plan to force him to save the others rather than face her H2H. Honestly this whole book was pretty PIS IMO, not to mention a poor attempt at copying Batman's MO for WW.

As for them being on the same level, I agree in terms of power ... he might be somewhat stronger and is clearly more durable and has more abilities, but she is a significantly better fighter and has her weapons which combined tend to even things out between them. I've said for years in an unbiased fight between them WW would easily win because of her training and weapons, that doesn't mean she's more powerful than he is ... there is more to it than "who would win in a fight", which inherently stacks the deck in the favor of the God of War :)

SM has abilities that make WW far less effective than him in certain scenarios ... he's not bound to the Earth's atmosphere (which she seems to be off and on), Heat Vision can be way more versatile than just a direct attack (which she's shown she can take directly and easily block) he can be smarter in how he uses it and put her on the defensive right away ... blasting chunks of earth at her and using his freeze breath and speed to create vortexes of rubble etc... his powers have more versatility than are usually shown, and if he was better trained to think like a fighter he'd use them to greater effect. Instead he blasts some HV then charges in to throw punches, playing right into WW strength instead of his own.

again this is becoming a WW vs SM thread...and i don't want to support SM because i don't like him.

I'm not going to address this since you don't like SM and don't want this to be a WW v. SM thread :)

Superman is compared to every hero whether he should be or not. Also i think if we include non-canon material WonderWoman is in the lead of him in terms of win-loss ratio, but idk that for sure.

Wonder Woman is better fighter than Superman. WW h2h > Superman h2h. WW reflexes > Superman. Superman Durability> WW durability. Superman speed > ww speed . Superman striking power > WW striking power. Superman lifting strength > WW. Superman stamina > ww. WW sword + lasso > superman holding back.

ORIGINALLY, her main fighting "style" (its really called a "method") is grappling. This according to Marston.

Her "style" today ought be (appropriately enough) Wing Chun, as it was a system created by a frail woman.

If SM is not holding back and is playing it smartly he might be able to stay away from them, but in worst cases he will get cut.

That being said, i see there was some discussion on SM vs WW. In my opinion SM should win those battles in which he is using his brains and the ones he is not playing smartly or makes a mistake he would end up losing it.

WW is capable of handling herself pretty well btw at least imo, and in the sacrifice story arc SM was actually bloodlusted he was not holding anything back. Yet WW did slit her throat and Lastly if she did not have her bracelets on in that fight she would be dead.

@agent41: also Superman should have more stamina they both fought together in valhalla. But under a yellow sun i think sm has more. I dont know much of her (WW) stamina feats you would know better than me.

@vegetassgss: WW always wears her bracelets because she becomes MORE powerful without them ... In pre-crisis and N52 continuity she wears them to keep her power levels under control.

@agent41: If it was not for her bracelets she would have died. She used her bracelets to distract SM so that she could go to maxwell lord if not that SM would not have stopped. They were major help in sacrifice fight.

EDIT: Superman is a better tactician it comes naturally with his abilities.

@csg_cl: yes. They offer her defense and offense both.

Superman has ONE tactic ... smash ... he was more interesting in previous continuities where he used his powers in more ways IMO. I get a little bored with him (and WW for that matter) just rushing in and bashing on their enemies. Would be quite nice to see them problem solving by using their other powers and their heads more often.

@csg_cl: Superman uses his power intelligently when he is shown using tactics it is mind blowing. He is shown dumb when he is fighting Batman.

the reason people use terms like "over powered" is because SM doesn't actually use his powers all that intelligently. It's all about blasting a hole or some feat of strength.

The reason people use terms like "over powered" is because he actually is plus all the hate he gives as he beats the favorites. I do like wonder woman a lot, but saying that superman doesn't use his brain while fighting is just mocking superman. Superman processes thoughts way faster than an average human and his super senses work even while he is fighting.

No. I said ww is capable of fighting SM and even winning but saying she is a better " tactical fighter " is out of the books, for me at least. as far as sm vs ww discussion goes i honestly could not care less but saying she has better skills, no way.

@agent41: She does not have more abilities has better combat skills, Superman is more intelligent more capable of using his environment to take advantage in combat these things come to him naturally. Superman uses better tactics by feats.

@agent41: She has better skills, combat skills that is what i also said. But SM better at strategy/tactics. I know how she is trained an all. Superman has a wide ranger of abilities that help him do strategic fighting better he thinks faster, sees at the atomic level, does x-rays, does infrared vision heat tracking, super smell, super hearing all at once.

Wow i used to think WW fans were cool but this is far fetched, even if ww was my absolute favorite i would not bend things this much.