The more I think about it...

The more I think about it, the more Cheetah actually really makes sense and works well as the arch nemesis of Wonder Woman.

It's a common theme with Greek heroes that they are faced against a bestial counterpart as a symbolic reflection of the conflict between ordered civilization and the destructive forces of nature, between emerging advances and archaic social orders and between the higher and lower natures of the human condition.

Cheetah fulfills for Wonder Woman what the Minotaur fulfills for Theseus, the physical manifestation of his descended primal nature that he must face and overcome in order to truly embody the higher nature of his inner nobility and divine kingship. Cheetah becomes Diana's barbarous Amazonian savagery that she must tame in order to become the champion of humanity and heroic paragon she is bound by destiny to be.

Wonder Woman isn't Greek.

Theseus ditched Medea after persuading her to betray her father and family to get him treasure, so Wonder Woman would probably beat the shit out of him. Most Greek heroes were assholes: the only WW story I've read which has really cast her in the mold of an ancient Greek hero has been Jill Thompson's origin story. Also, "barbarous Amazonian savagery"? You wanna know how I can tell you haven't read much Wonder Woman?

Cheetah and WW work well off each other.
WW is blessed by her god.....Cheetah is cursed by her God. And Cheetah hates WW for it.

Wondy represents civilization, she is a warrior highly trained in the martial arts, she thinks and plots her moves.

Cheetah presents nature, she is pure instinct and animal cunning, she is impulsive and unpredictable.

So yes, she is a good arch-villain for Wondy, the evil opposite. Its not a *great* match because writers don't portray Wondy in the manner that would make it a great match that often, but Cheetah is the closest option available to Wondy out of her shitshow of villains, and there aren't many of them at that.

The fundamental problem with Diana's villains isn't the villains themselves, but that *Diana* is so poorly defined. Or too broadly defined, I should say, writers dont seem willing (or aren't allowed) to narrow down her character traits to make her interesting. DC forces her to be all things to all people and it makes her boringly generic. Define her, then its much easier to define her opposites.

>HURR DURR GREEK GREEK GREEK
Read a book or kill yourself. In either case, fuck off.

That's Jason you're thinking of, and Medea was acting out the will of her goddesses in her actions. Medea is the principle antagonist of Theseus though, when she is an older woman and has power over the throne of Athens when Theseus comes to claim it.

Any interpretation of the Amazon's that removes their penchant for conquest and barbarism is losing a significant portion of what makes them significant as archetypal figures throughout history. It doesn't have to be their sole defining quality, but their needs to be some kind of internal conflict within their society between their savage nature and their potential nobility.

Kind of a key theme in her stories

I'm still scratching my head as to why Cheetah is evil. So she's going to have a very long grudge on WW for all eternity even tho she kept pleading her to not pursue other gods?

I think Egg Fu is a far better nemesis for Wonder Woman

Wondie:
>from Earth
>female
>holds western values
>is a person

Egg Fu:
>an alien
>seems to be male
>holds eastern, communist values
>is a giant yellow egg

They're like mirror images of each other.

>Any interpretation of the Amazon's that removes their penchant for conquest and barbarism is losing a significant portion of what makes them significant as archetypal figures throughout history.
But that's not DC comics senpai. You literally have not read Wonder Woman and you're pronouncing on it.

Greek amazons =/= comic amazons. Same deal with Thor.

Marston's amazons are almost an explicit subversion of how they were portrayed in history and myth. See their conflict with Ares, which is opposite to how they were in myth.

Forgive a filthy casual, but: does Cheetah have anything at all like the power level necessary to be anything other than an annoyance to WW?

Probably read new52 wondie
Although before Perez they weren't such perfect pacifists either.

Her powers are as variable as Diana's, usually she's physically able to match her and Diana's exact capabilities are pretty dependent on the run.

Cheetah is Wonder Woman's nemesis and anyone that pretends otherwise is a fucking retard.

Cheetah is the avatar of a primal god. She's able to keep pace with Flash and fuck up Superman. Yes, Cheetah is a threat to Wonder Woman

I thought necks are WWs nemesis?

DC is the same way. That's why they went through 3 women as Cheetah until they got it right..

Why not have Cheetah be a evil avatar of this primal that can possess anyone and change them, seeing that a intellect life has primal roots. Therefore any being can be a active avatar for this god, anyone can be your enemy, even yourself.

It lurks in us all.

Amazons have never been pacifists in DC, user.

Don't let your hateboner for Azz's portrayal blind you to actual canon.

I don't understand why "Amazon Jesus" is so hard for people to grasp.

Only a few of her villains take advantage of that.

You really don't understand the ancient Greeks very well if you take their viewpoint on anything at face value.

Because they didn't view the Amazons as barbarians.

They viewed them as literal monsters. Fit alongside perversions of what they considered the "natural Order" like the Blemmyes/Acephalous (the guys with heads in their chests), the Anthropophage, the Lotus-eaters, Monopods, and Myrmidons.

The Athenian greeks were notoriously misogynist, and the Amazon stories were there to culturally reinforce their worldview.

If a story is to take them as heroic, let alone explicitly feminist, then that view of them needs to be jettisoned in order to work.

Jimenez says her archenemy is Ares, who is a completely literal substantiation of everything Diana stands against.

I think Circe is in practice her archenemy, because throughout all of her post-Crisis stories, whenever she shows up, it's the biggest deal.

She's absurdly powerful, she hates the shit out of Wonder Woman, plus she's just a lot of fun.

>Circe
>Eobard Thawne
>Black Manta
Why are petty as fuck villains always the most entertaining?

>Any interpretation of the Amazon's that removes their penchant for conquest and barbarism is losing a significant portion of what makes them significant as archetypal figures throughout history. It doesn't have to be their sole defining quality, but their needs to be some kind of internal conflict within their society between their savage nature and their potential nobility.
Yeah, I don't think so. When Marston took the concept of the Amazons, he specifically made Aphrodite their patron instead of the traditional Ares. The Amazons are inspired by the historical/mythological ones, not actually them.

The Amazons of Bana-Mighdall were made to explain the two versions, and fit your description.

This.

I think the only time she wasn't depicted as in the upper-tier of strength is during WML's run where Diana was also depicted as relatively underpowered.

I can't think of a time I've ever seen her like lift something super heavy, though.

In Rucka's run she chilled with Professor Zoom and he gave her some of his speed somehow.

Every Greek myth is actually extremely nuanced, and any oversimplified conceptualization of them like what you're presenting, especially one using such anachronistic terms is rooted in errpr

I mean, Ares and Aphrodite rarely conflicted with one another, it doesn't make sense even then for Ares to be against the Amazon's

In what? Myth or DC? What does it take to get you to realise they aren't the same?

In Snyderverse I imagine they would hire someone like that to play Cheetah

>errpr

hehehe

Teasing aside, why do you think I picked out Athenian Greek culture specifically?

I mean, sitting on my desk right now is "The Ashgate Research Companion to Monsters and the Monstrous" which covers how monsters are used culturally in many instances, as it collects many Anthropological research papers all on the subject of "Monsters" .

INCLUDING, "Rejecting and embracing the Monstrous in ancient Greece and Rome" by D. Felton, Associates Professor of Classics at the University of Massachusets in Amherst.

Which is my primary source on the subject of Amazons as Monsters in Ancient Greek per view (specifically through Herotidus).

Aside, if it's so wrong, why not educate instead of just saying "you're wrong!" and running off into the night?

They don't conflict, but Aphrodite stands for sexuality and love.

Marston believed that women were superior to men because they were peaceful, loving and teaching. Obviously in the modern day we don't believe that, but I think Wonder Woman and the Amazons should still embody those "feminine" traits.

The problem is, being traditionally feminine is now seen as being sexist, so people think the only way to be a strong woman is to be as masculine as possible. That's why they're making Wonder Woman into this brutish warrior lady. An "empowered" woman in the modern day is one who "kicks ass".

Well there's all those times that Catwoman's fought Cheetah and not immediately died

Well, in popular imagingint, yeah. In actual feminist discussions, that sort of "Empowered" woman is seen as a straw feminist representation at best.

To cite a popular internet meme, "Get a woman who can do both" is the core to the solution here. kick ass, and be kind.

So . . . Nanoha?

Those were definitely bullshit.

Probably because a lot of DC writers remember Super Friends and the Legion of Doom had the classic Cheetah who was just a lady in a suit, and haven't read modern Wonder Woman so don't understand that modern Cheetah is different.

The first 24 issues of post-Crisis Wonder Woman really should just be required reading at DC before they allow you to use any Wonder Woman character.

>Modern writers doing research

oh... how I wish they would.

I get that Priest probably isn't considered "modern," but it looks like he researched the fuck out of Deathstroke before going on the title. He has characters from the 1990s series appearing in it.

They're the same archetypal figures

Not the kind of sexuality or love you're thinking of. Aphrodite was one of the principle forces that brought about the Trojan War

No they are not, the two are literally opposites.

Now all we need is a good personality and interesting stories

Geez you just don't get it do ya?
>the DC comic greek pantheon are not the classical myths.

In Post-Crisis Circe is her nemesis. You are casual if you think otherwise

What about Rebirth? I kinda like Rucka's Circe so far, and I prefer Cheetah being her Two-Face like Rucka is currently writing her.

Circe is Wondy's Zod and Ares is her Brainiac. Also both are utter shit.

>You are casual if you think otherwise
>wheredoyouthinkweare.png

"No"

Your pic, thats the creature that people have seen in new jersey yes?

No, that's not the Jersey Devil. The Jersey Devil has wings and no horns.

Because the most popular depictions of it are based on a jackass at a freak show who painted a kangaroo green and put wings on it.

I am not kidding.

I LOVE her new design and her place in things. She's become "the woobie", not some "Mwahahahaha, I'm evil just because!!". Why hasn't someone who's turned evil and accept their condition just become friends with their estranged hero friend? Cheetah (before this run) pretty much accepted her curse as something that was pretty rocking, even FUN...but still hated Diana for...what, not stopping her from getting cursed? Makes no sense. This shit NEEDED a reboot.

It will come one day

Rebirth Circe is 100% in-line with her previous characterization.

She's a histrionic, egotistical bitch and she knows it. She's one of those characters who's just unabashedly evil. She's been around for thousands of years with extremely powerful magic that can do anything, she just does not give a fuck.

Look at the Justice League Unlimited episode This Little Piggy. All this amazing cosmic power and she chooses to use it to have her own musical, and only relents when Batman agrees to sing a lounge song.