i have heard some people over the years talking about what is the defionitive take when it comes to wonder woman,and i think that to understand this we must understand that she is a character of transitions.

she is a character with a long catalogue,there is a lot to analyze so this will be a long text,here is the summary of her character.

wonder woman is a character defined by different faces,it's when people fail to see the different faces within the character that they she is one dimensional or lacks themes,so one must ask who is wonder woman?,to answer that we need to analyze all her faces,the princess,the champion of the gods,the warrior,the ambassador, the civilian and see what every single one of these faces brings to the table.

first we have the princess,a life full of luxuries can be anybody's dream,and for diana it must feel good to be the princess of an utopia,you have people that follows your every word,a loving mother and eternal youth,nothing can be better but curiosity can lead to thinking about of the box and that can be a problem,she wants to know what's in the other side,and when your utopia is built around the belief that men are horrible creatures with no good inside,the simple thought of men having more than cruelty can destroy the whole utopia,here is the first problem that diana faces towards the other amazons,a problem that goes deeper when a man arrives to paradice island and the princess of the utopia falls in love with him,that is forbidden,but why?,how could love be a bad thing?,the amazons teach about love,sisters love,but why the love between a man and a woman would be bad?,and that leads into thinking about the legitimacy of the utopia,it means that the perfection was nothing more than an illusion,diana realizes something is missing,so diana must decide,between what she wants and what her mother and amazons want,she finally goes against her mother's word and the amazons belief,the utopia princess leaves the island,a paradise where women are happy as long as they close their hearts,a paradise for all those women but not for her.

going into an strange world can be hard,but she has already taken the chance,by helping the gods to spread their message,she can leave the island,now the princess is the champion of the gods heading to new experiences that will define her,along the way she meets new people,they help her to see things in a different way compared to the amazons,and she finds out something,gods,amazons,humans,whoever it is,hate,violence and pain is always around,caused by different circumstances by it's the same feeling,she couldn't help the amazons to open up their hearts,but maybe she can help humans and maybe someday,amazons and men will coexist,but humans can be like the amazons,some of them will think they are right no matter what,and if she couldn't change amazons close minded point of view what can she do about humans?,as an amazon she will be perceived as an extreme feminist,as the champion of the gods,they wcould percive her as if she trys to look superior,but as a symbol of justice,she may be able to work things out,so the wonder woman persona,the hero is born,but sadly,she soon realizes that the image of a hero is another utopia,it's perceived mistakenly as a perfect savior,somebody that you can blindly throw your life at since it will never fail to you,but what happens when reality proves it's impposible to save everyone?,they will need to learn how to count on themselves too,but how does a hero teach about self concern when people think it must be here to do it for them?,how you challenge that image?,the warrior challenges that image,diana's fourth side comes out,like samurais used to battle for causes they believed in,wonder woman is a warrior with ethic,her goal is to help people not to spoil them,but how do you separate the line between a killer and a warrior?,by morals,it's important to teach about life value,this must solve the problem right?,well not quiet,because if you came to spread a message to make people bow to the greek gods once again,then fighting for humans and trying to make them fight for themselves and believe in their capabilities goes against the gods plan,so what does she do?,the gods gave her life,does it mean she must bow to everything they say and do,even when it's selfish and unfair?,the conflict between diana and the gods begins,what is right,what is wrong?,how far must the devotion for the gods go?,maybe following it too closely can be a mistake,a mistake that will lead to isolation just like it happended to the amazons,so how can she stand up for the gods,the humans and the amazons at the same time?,the ambassador,this way she can stay in a neutral point where she can stand up for all of them without taking sides and stay objective.

this should complete the circle but it isn't the case,how could she possible live the,princess-champion-hero-warrior-ambassador persona 24 hours a day?,she needs an escape,something that brings some normality to her life,diana prince,the civilian,she spends time having a normal life,she meets people,makes friends,enemies,she dates,she builds her own life,but how do you do it?,when you have a psychotic little man,a sociopath avatar,a jealous angel of disaster,a greedy sorceress and an insane god around every corner taking every chance they got to make your life miserable,how does she do it?,wonder woman does it,the comppasionate but naive princess,the powerful and wise champion,the noble hero,the stubborn but honorable warrior,the patient ambassador and the brave and a little bit impulsive agent do it,they are wonder woman,every part of her life that she must face and control,every side of her that she must balance,it all makes her a woman,wonder woman.

ather this,we can conclude that the themes within wonder woman are:she is every woman,the women at the police station,the teachers,the wife,the mother,the doctor,etc,every woman has a wonder woman inside,your mother,your granmother,your aunt,your sister,etc,her themes also deal with definding who you are by your own standard and not somebody else's standard,a conflict between what you want and what other people want for you,a theme about determination,what are your goals,how do you achieve them,how far are you willing to go,take a chance,sometimes bad things happen,sometimes good things happen,but if you don't take a chance nothing happens,and you will be feeling sorry for the things you didn't do,dream,fight,live,life is a challenge everyday,without will power it's impossible to live,live the truth if you want to have peace within yourself and want people to accept you for what you are(truth),be strong no matter what happens(self empowerment),life has different faces,find the way to balance it all out to have control over your life,to be the designer of your own life(be wise),never give up,it's only over when you think it is.

so as you can see,she is a character of transitions,different sides of her live under the same skin and put her to the test,which leads to the theme of self empowerment within the character among other themes like commitment with yourself and other people's pain,honor,the longing to make something of yourself under your own merit,the fight for the truth within you and the world,different transitions have contributed to make her who she is,every woman,the secretary of the JL that fought to make them see her as their equal in the golden age,the hero that gave up her powers to stay and protect the mortal world and died during silver age,the champion that fought to connect her world with the man world and the ambassador in the modern era,she has seen life from many sides,and every different face within her represents a part of who she is,we must see her transition as a whole to understand the message that lies beneath,so we know what she stands for,equality and truth,we know what she seeks for herself,control of her own life,the oportunity to be herself and live her own way,we know her biggeast fear,somebody she can't help,this is wonder woman.

That's a clear-cut description of Rucka's Wonder Woman. Personally, not my cup of tea. Little miss flawless, from an island of well-nigh flawless women who performs her duties flawlessly in the crime-ridden world, perfect 24/7, this Wonder Woman is only second to Jesus Christ in the chain of righteousness. At least let Wonder Woman be a slave to her own dogma and endowments and carry the burden of her responsibility, that shall be her curse, her pain and struggle.

her life is not perfect because she doesn't share the same vision of the other amazons,she sees things in perspective so she faces struggles with the amazons that trie to close themselves in their paradise and wonder woman who wants to get out of that paradise an open it to the rest of the world,there is a big conflict of points of view and interests right there,she carries a big weight under her shoulders as she has to put the example and be the moderator between 2 extremely different points of view,the fact that she left the island in the first place is already a conflict between what the amazons want and she wants,she obiously didn't feel like inside paradise if she felt the need to leave and look up for new horizonts,here we have the conflict that involves what she wants,what is she looking for in life that she didn't find in paradise.

her dogma is also her curse because she embraces selfempowerment but she also must fight for others that can't fight for themselves,and how far can she take it without making people relay on her too much brings another conflict to the table,how much in control of her own life can she be when she must be taking care of other people's lives,and where does she stop living for others and take a moment to live for herself?,this brings another conflict to the table,and also her conflict with the people she wants to protect and help that divide her,what is she going to stand up for at the end?,amazons,humans,gods?,what if she can't unite them?,all this that i'm saying here has been part of her character way before ruka,and as you can see we have many conflicts within her life,it's not flawless at all.

Given your description of Wonder Woman, at least the one you dislike greatly (rucka's I'm assuming) she's already a slave to her pagan dogmas, seeing as how she's a living vessel used to carry out the will of her gods. Am I right, or am I right?

@linkjt: How can Wonder Woman symbolize self empowerment when she's not self-empowered. She's a divine-empowered machine built to be stunningly perfect. She lives the life she was programmed to live. There's not a smidgen of evil bottled within her heart so Wonder Woman doesn't have to battle her own competitive instincts to perform a selfless deed. In that regard Superman's a far more inspiring character. He's the last in his evolutionary line, those instincts are hard-wired in his species but he overcomes them despite having the means to act upon his darkest desires.

As far as I'm concerned this Wonder Woman can't afford a normal life, that's her sacrifice to the world, the source of pain I was talking about. She's paradoxically a slave of her own God given gifts, including her moral compass, the kindness Aphrodite embedded in her heart. She's cursed to be a selfless hero.

@wonderwomanfan8: I don't hate Rucka's Wonder Woman. I don't personally love his take on the character because in my opinion she's nauseatingly perfect but I love strong powerful women and at least Wonder Woman was pretty much on par with Superman so I can't possibly hate that Wonder Woman though for me surely Cheetah was a far more relatable character. She was a servant but the pain and anguish of being such was lacking, it didn't cloud her life in the least, it was a non-issue.

@archizoom: she is selfempoered,she didn't stay on paradise living life the way amazons wanted her,she has her own ambitions and goals,being the princess from paradise was nof for her,that is one of the reasons she wanted to participate in the contest to chose the most powerful amazon,it was an oportunity to ge out of there,it takes selfempowerment to leave the only thing you knew,leave a luxury life and go to an strange world looking for new horizonts,and just like superman overcoming his dark desire,WW does the same,even after being taught that men are the scum of the earth and must be treted that way,she put those prejudise aside and could see the good in men and the wrongs of the amazons,so she works to balance both worlds,that is selfempowerment becauses she doesn't let other people's vision amazons,gods or men to determinate her own thoughts,of course we also see her as a prisioner of her own mission in the mortal world since the gods use her as their tool to do the job for them,she is like a machine in many ways,the amazons and god treat her like that,her gifts are like a debt she has with the gods that also makes it hard to ever live life the way she may want it,and the question remains if she will ever be able to stop living life for others,asmazons,men,gods,if she will ever be free from her dogma to live a normal life is anotherconflict within her.

There are flaws in the way DC has depicted Wonder Woman; out of your list, I can agree that she was probably curious to see what was on the outside; but, when her mother forbid it, I think she left anyway, due to a naturally rebellious nature; I can tell this, because she clearly does not have respect for the Olympians; she follows their directives, when they jive with her objectives, but, if they're contrary, she'll defy any directives without hesitation. Although it's silly to say that all of the Amazons have a cookie cutter mentality, there should be a connection; however, Wonder Woman is disconnected; that disconnection is a character breakdown. Wonder Woman is very brazen in battle; but, that's apart of a lot of warriors' characters; nothing really unique. Wonder Woman is far from someone who I'd consider as selfless, at least in her post-crisis incarnation, but, she's not selfish either; she just seems like a normal woman operating according to her personality, with noble traits that her fans have imagined onto her character and make discussions around those traits; she is pretty close to a normal woman, especially, if you try to introduce the compassion barometer.

@linkjt: She disobeyed her mother to claim her freedom, Hippolyta had no right to hold her in Paradise Island against her will. Besides Wonder Woman was the only Amazon who'd never been to the Patriarch's world and never seen a man, I don't see Wonder Woman's decision to venture into the Men's world as a brave act of defiance as much as just a young woman seeking to quench her curiosity, being that she's "as wise as Athena" and fell in love with Steve. They send her to the Men's world in the capacity of Themyscira's Peace Ambassadress, to return Steve safely home, it wasn't a high-risk endeavor. Nonetheless she knows her power and skill are far in excess of her sisters'. She's not a remote-controlled robot but her wisdom and forgivingness, her ability to look past prejudice were gifts, the Gods created Wonder Woman to be a Wonder Woman, she makes her own decisions within the limits of what she was designed to be ie- perfect.

@archizoom: she is not perfect because we have seen her making mistakes and a perfect being can do no wrong.

she took the decision to leave and follow her heart,that represents selfempowerment,many would have steped back and do as they were told but she didn't,the gods didn't make her wonder woman,her powers don't define her,she has her own mind and that is why she follows her own codes,she stands up against the gods when they are out of line,she will refuse to obey them by doing things she stands up again,and that is a conflict because that can bring trouble to the rest of the amazons who can't leave the island and live without the gods,if she offends them they can turn their anger on the other amazons,which is the reason why she decided to stop being an amazon in the last post crisis run,so they won't turn their anger on the other amazons,this kind of determination,maturity and empathy are things that make her wonder woman,and the fact that with powers or without them you can make a different no matter how small it may seem,this also makes her wonder woman.

@linkjt: Perfect doesn't have to be literally perfect and even when she disobeys her Gods, her Mother and Queen, when she pummels or kills a person, when she sins her motives are pure, she means to do the right thing for the sake and well being of all.

Summarize Wonder Woman's character in just three words. Go.

@wonderwomanfan8: why because only you and a select few get the character of Wonder Woman?

the point is that she makes mistakes so she isn't perfect,but the problem here is that you seem to look at her and expect her to be something she is not,of course that when she disobeys gods or her mother or when she kills her motives are pure,because that is what a hero is,it will sacrifice own happiness and own rewards in favor of helping other people,this happens in real life as well,when people went to war world 2 to stop germany they didn't kill because they wanted,but they had to in order to save lives and stop hilter's genocide,there was a good motive behind it,if you think she should do something selfish at times,remember that is not exactly a requirement to be a hero because in real life we have heros that left a luxury life and confort behind to fight for causes they believed in like wonder woman does,a hero must seek good.

@wonderwomanfan8: compassion,selfempowerment,truth.

No, because I wanted to know what three words you would use to describe her character. You're an interesting poster around these parts, I wanted to know what you thought.

When she preaches self empowerment, it's not literal.

From Dictionary.com

Nothing to do with having the abilities of gods.

@linkjt Welcome back to the forums =D

@pokeysteve: thank you.

@wonderwomanfan8: why I personally like Wonder Woman in 3 words: strong/pragmatic/driven. Self-empowerment is a common theme in the superhero genre, finding one superhero that doesn't overcome obstacles through power of will would prove sisyphean. Likewise, heroes are compassionate, it's one of the most basic attributes of a hero. As for Wonder Woman being the avatar of truth I find that troublesome, truth is also a weapon of wrecking souls. One of my favorite films is based around a beautiful lie.

@pokeysteve: Sure but an icon of self-empowerment is an individual that beat the odds and triumphed when most of us would've failed, somebody like Helen Keller.

With the definition I posted above, anyone can be an icon of self-empowerment. It's about choices and sticking to what you think is right. Helen Keller is that and more. She's an inspiration.

@archizoom: again the point is that she makes mistakes so she isn't perfect,but the problem here is that you seem to look at her and expect her to be something she is not,of course that when she disobeys gods or her mother or when she kills her motives are pure,because that is what a hero is,it will sacrifice own happiness and own rewards in favor of helping other people,this happens in real life as well,when people went to war world 2 to stop germany they didn't kill because they wanted,but they had to in order to save lives and stop hilter's genocide,there was a good motive behind it,if you think she should do something selfish at times,remember that is not exactly a requirement to be a hero because in real life we have heros that left a luxury life and confort behind to fight for causes they believed in like wonder woman does,a hero must seek good.

standing for truth is a big deal because it represents freedom,you xan't be free if you deny the truth,you have to embrace it to emancipate yourself and fight for it.

@pokeysteve: well no, to become an icon of something you have to epitomize it with remarkable majesty.

@linkjt: If someone told Jesus to commit murder he'd disobey, that doesn't make Jesus any less perfect, he would've made the right choice. Aside from Wonder Woman's faultless personality, she's flawless body-wise and not even a little bit shy or insecure about something. Clark is a coy, shy, kind of nerdy journalist and super hero on the side, Batman's a conflicted, seclusive lothario and crime-fighter by night, whereas Wonder Woman is fantastic in every sense of the word being that the Gods combined their powers to create her. Simone gave her a little bit of cheek to cut through the flawlessness, that was very nice.

@archizoom: again the point is that she makes mistakes so she isn't perfect,but the problem here is that you seem to look at her and expect her to be something she is not

I do and sadly so do you. Wonder Woman hasn't been the picture-perfect female hero you know and love since the reboot 2 and half years ago, at least I like some of the new stuff.

@archizoom: her biggest insecurity is her own purpose,having to question herself about where she stands down the line in her mission,she is divided between 3 worlds,humans,amazons and gods,clark is shy,nerdly journaliost and a super hero yes,and she is an embassador and warrior,she is a little bit naive and stubborn,her warrior pride can get in the way and her biggest fear is a person she can't help.

@pokeysteve: i think we can agree that diana's biggest fear is a person she can't help,and she can be a little bit naive and stubborn,her warrior pride can get in the way,what do you think?.

A person she can't help and losing her loved ones. Diana doesn't strike me as someone whos pride gets in the way of her intelligence.

Wonder Woman is loving, strong and intelligent. I don't feel the need to get in depth with any of those three words as each are clear in their meanings.

i know that she won't let the proud get in the way of her inteligent,when i say stubborn i mean that she will take it to the limit bto get the job done,somebody else would think in a way out when the fight is not going well and there is the risk to die,but diana will keep on fighting no matter what,she is not a quitter and that can be used against her.