Why is Wonder Woman only nice...

[Frank White]

when Batman's around?

When Batman's not around she's on pins and needles... for instance...

1. Fury...when she jacked up that one truck and commented "men..."

2. Eclipsed, don't even get me started on her behaivor in this ep...

3. Tabaula Rasa "You forget to mention he was as strong as me..." Was that really necessary?

and the biggest offender of all...

4. Hawk and Dove, no comment necessary.

[CyberCubed]

Because when Batman is around it makes her feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

It's her character.

[Knight]

The presence of Batman has a automatic cooling affect on Diana. Its one of his powers.:D

[Johnny Cakes]

She's nice to the old man she goes to visit at the end of "A Savage Time" (I think that's the name of the episode) Batman was barely in that episode and not around at all when she befriends that man.

[Style]

In the case of Diana, Steve Trevor always trumps the B-Man. Just no contest.

[Allen CARR]

yea steve Trevor, is her it guy. and i dought Batmans prescenc effects all this, she nice to men all the tiime.

[WonderRaver]

The simple truth? No one really knows how to write Diana consistently. The writers are very diverse in their WW portrayals.

As a Wondie fan, I prefer Dwayne McDuffie's version.

-Matt

[WonderRaver]

3. Tabaula Rasa "You forget to mention he was as strong as me..." Was that really necessary?I didn't think this was rude at all. I could have seen any of the JLers saying this. Also, Diana seemed very concerned for J'onn throughout the episode.

I agree with the rest of your eps, although Fury could be chalked up to her being "fresh" from the island. She was a little crass with Batman when he accused the Amazons, but Diana later apologized when she found out he was right all along.

-Matt

[murmur]

Maybe she's only nice to guys she's sweet on? There are quite a few people I know who behave like that, male and female. But that doesn't really explain it all. I dunno, she's basically a hard as nails type who still knows compassion. She does pick and choose. She's moody. I can see how that could be construed as inconsistent writing, and maybe it is, but there's nothing wrong with a character who is complex and seemingly fickle with her emotions.

[thearchduke]

I read an interview Timm did once (LexisNexis-it isn't just for school) when JL first came out and he said that they were going with Hawkgirl being the girl next door type and WW being the haughty supermodel, as a way to make the two female members distinct characters. Maybe now that HG is gone, there is more freedom to have WW show more side of her personality.

[vulcanrush]

In the case of Diana, Steve Trevor always trumps the B-Man. Just no contest.
no, not really.

not since steve trevor's been retconned out of the running.

both in JLU and the comics.

[Knight]

no, not really.

not since steve trevor's been retconned out of the running.

both in JLU and the comics.
Yeap he's pretty much been a non factor in Diana's love life post Crisis.

[DisneyBoy]

Even though Diana is clearly (and regrettably) the "haughty supermodel" type gal in this show, I still think there have been issues with the writing.

In JL Season One, she was constantly being referred to by the good folks behind the show as a fish out of water, trying to prove herself. In concept that goes over fine with me, but the execution was really lacking. There never really was much focus placed on the clash between our cultures, other than the whole issue of men, which was overdone. The way Diana was reacting to perfume and clothes was hardly any different than the way J'onn would later react towards the selfishness of humanity in "Tabula Rasa". She could very well have been from Mars herself, for all we got to know about her roots.

Season Two's "Maid of Honor" played up her "supermodel" traits much more, but at least she seemed to have a sense of duty when it came to protecting Audrey. I would have preferred that Audrey wasn't also a well-to-do, superficial flirt, but then again, if not for this episode, I might not be able to stand Diana at all. Great animation and voice work here.

Overall, though, Wonder Woman has been portrayed on screen most often as an Amazon with a temper. I had trouble with that, seeing as how her comic book persona has maintained much more dignity in the right hands, but at least "Hawk and Dove" addressed it. Unfortunately, the finale failed to suggest any real change in Diana's mindset. If the writing was consistent, we would have seen a change in her ways since then, but if there has been any, it's certainly been underplayed.

Diana is problematic because no one wants to show her to be less than she should be - perfect. So she's beautiful, confident, capable, sexy, innocent...and completely impossible to relate to. They tried for some good things over the years with her (the newcomer, the warrior with the rage, the one to touch Batman's cold heart) but I'm not satisfied with the overall picture. Just because Hawkgirl was fashioned to be the 'Betty' of the team shouldn't have meant that Diana's 'Veronica' would be hard to like. More needs to be done. At least people like the Flash. After all the exposure Diana has had, can any of us say we like anything more than the idea of her?

[Killtacular]

Why is she one-dimensional?

She's just as hollow as Starfire on Teen Titans (where at some point you're just like "YEAH, WE GET IT, SHE'S NOT FROM EARTH, HA HA HA. What else should I know about her?!"). It seems like episodes like This Little Piggy and Hawk and Dove should have been big opportunities to really flesh out her character, but they were total wastes. Hawk and Dove's only action was "hate is bad! love is good!" like some sort of bad Captain Planet episode, not to mention Diana retcons from learning her lesson anyway. With This Little Piggy, we got no real insight on Wonder Woman's attraction to Batman, nor did we get any inner monologue on her when trapped as a pig. We also got lukewarm translations of Wonder Woman villains that make me not want to ever read her comic books (which seems to have been Paul Dini's intention..).

When you get down to it, the characters in Justice League are no more defined than the Teen Titans. The only characters with any depth to them are Batman and Superman, and that is only because they're aided by all the series that came before. Otherwise.. The Flash is not deeper than Beast Boy, Hawkgirl in general is not deeper than Raven, and Manhunter is not deeper than Starfire. Green Lantern IS deeper than Cyborg, but not until after it took several episodes to really push GL ahead of the sort of "black soldier" stereotype he started out as.

But Wonder Woman or Manhunter are probably the worst. Manhunter has only had one or two episodes about him, but Wonder Woman has had MANY, so there's no real excuse.

[DisneyBoy]

We also got lukewarm translations of Wonder Woman villains that make me not want to ever read her comic books (which seems to have been Paul Dini's intention..).

Could you explain...? Paul did write the extremely well recieved "Wonder Woman: Spirit of Truth", so I'm curious to know why you'd think he be trying to turn people off Wonder Woman.

[ktoriyama]

But if its not painfully obvious by now, then even Jesus can't help you.

[WonderRaver]

Why is she one-dimensional?It isn't because she's one-dimensional, it's because her dimensions are no where close to each other. Let's break down all of her appearances, shall we?

"Secret Origins" Bewildered by the Flash. Diana gets snappy when challenged by John, but overall she is concerned over the well being of others.

"The Enemy Below" Defends Aquaman. She never gets upset with John about the issue. She doesn't even get upset at Aquaman for pushing her out of the way. See, her second appearance and already we are seeing a personality change. The Diana that wouldn't back down from GL's remarks in "SO" would have smacked Aquaman around a little for being so callous.

"Paradise Lost" Her "spotlight" episode. It didn't tell us much about Diana. She wanted to handle things on her own, but quickly conceded to get help from her friends. Not much personality, but we get to see Di kick a little booty.

"Brave and the Bold" Ah, the seed was planted for all 'shippers. Not much personality here either. She is a calm person though.

"Fury" Second "spotlight". This ep does even less for Diana than Paradise Lost IMO. Although it does show us what a messed up society the animated Amazons are.

"Injustice for All" Diana barely says or does anything in this ep. Still very calm.

"A Knight of Shadows" I liked how Diana uses her "charms" on the Hugh Hef rip-off. Also, we see Di snap at the Demon for pushing her button.

"The Savage Time" I enjoyed this story. Still, Diana didn't get much development. We learn more about Steve Trevor than Di. But we see that Diana is really attracted to confident men without special powers. Hmm... do I sense a pattern?

"Twilight" Ugh. I am happy for the Superman fans, but as a Wondie fan, what a piece of Kanga dung.

"Maid of Honor" Spotlight number three. Notice I did put the word spotlight in quotes. That's because I really believed this one to actually give us some meaning to Wonder Woman. We see her warrior side, we see her playful side, we see her thoughful side and we see her make mistakes (mostly social faux pa's). This was her most fleshed out moment and I think a lot on non-WW fans agreed.

"A Better World" Like "I4A", there wasn't a lot of time to devote to Diana, which is to be expected. Still, we see a few hints of personality. We got to see that Diana does indeed have a sense of humor when she "threatened" Luthor. Also, I found it significant that the "other" Diana was the only person seemingly concerned for the well being of innocent people during the Doomsday fight.

"Eclipsed" Don't get me started. The Diana in this episode was not the same Diana as in all the previous episodes. So far we had seen a very calm and sedate Wonder Woman, who only snapped a couple of times for very brief moments. Sure, in battle she goes warrior princess, but that's her M.O. In this episode, we get the Midol poster child. For a moment, she reverts back to calm lady, after her possession in the Med Lab.

"The Terror Beyond" Personality-wise, Diana is back to being calm. She and Shay debate a bit, but Di never really gets riled up. I was dissapointed in Diana for switching sides suddenly as I don't think there was enough evidence to incriminate Aquaman.

"Secret Society" Everyone was acting loopy due to Grodd's manipulation so I don't count it as "in-continuity for personality".

"Hereafter" I completely disagree that Diana would try to kill someone as an act of venegence. Well, at least not the comic version. Maybe the animated version would, but I don't agree with it. I otherwise enjoyed this ep, especially the quick way she handles Lobo.

"Starcrossed" Diana at first trusts the Thanagarians, but she trusts Batman more. When the Thanagarians play their trump, Diana becomes Warrior Princess. The only problem I really have with her portrayal is at the end during the vote. The way Mark Waid wrote Diana's vote in "Tower of Babel" really hit home for me as a Wonder Woman fan.

"For the Man who has Everything" Diana is playful again... at least in the first minute and a half. She has to become warrior princess quickly after. I must point out that a lot of Batman fans got upset over the line "it's too good for him". The said Batman was never portrayed as that callous. I was glad that he said it. It was time for Bat fans to get a taste of what is like for your favorite character to be written inconsistantly.

"Kid Stuff" A very bossy Diana. I liked it, she was taking charge. Too bad she has to be eight years old when she steps up to lead (or co-lead as it were with Batboy). Another callous last line from Batman (woo-hoo!)

"Hawk & Dove" Some Wonder Fans liked this ep. I absolutely hate it. Even if you reason that chronologically it occurs after "FTMWHE" and that she might be dealing with some post-trauma stuff, I hate it. This was "Eclipsed" Diana all over again.

"This Little Piggy" Even though I loved this ep, I felt it was a waste of Diana.

"Ultimatum" Back to basics.

Having written this all out I see now that Diana is indeed one dimensional. She is mostly portrayed as calm and collected. Sure she snaps briefly a few times, but all in all she is ambassador-like. The two obvious differences are in "Eclipsed" and "Hawk and Dove".

So Diana is always nice. She only gets mean when fanboys act stupid.

-Matt