In her very first appearance, Wonder Woman met and became enamored of Air Force pilot Steve Trevor, a relationship that continued off and on for decades, and spanned at least five resurrections between the two of them. Though Trevor is around in the New 52, Wonder Woman’s dance card has lately been filled by fellow hero Superman, a pairing that many fans have been clamoring for. Though in some ways it makes sense that they’d have an attraction (especially since they wear the same colors, have the same blue hair, and work side-by-side, day after day), the idea of a Superman/Wonder Woman kiss is as creepy to me as the idea of a Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch liplock. Though I’m used to being in the minority, especially when it comes to pop culture romance (#TeamMaryJane #TeamSilverStCloud #TeamLanaLangAsLongAsShe’sNotKirstinKreuk #Starfire+Robin4Eva), I’ve long wondered if this one is just me, which leads us to today’s osculatory query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) rather enjoyed the Justice League Unlimited cartoon’s toying with a Batman/Wonder Woman relationship, but always thought she’d be happier with Plastic Man, asking: Do you like the idea of Wonder Woman and Superman as a romantic pairing?
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I’m going to take the coward’s way out and say I do and I don’t.
On one side you eliminate a lot of tropes with this pairing. You don’t have the whole “She can’t know my secret identity or else she’s doomed” stuff we’ve seen forever. Also, being that he’s Superman and she’s Wonder Woman, you probably won’t see a ton of the “Oh no, my significant other is in danger, but so it the world, what do I do?” thing. The other benefit I see is that Wonder Woman and Superman have their own identities, even if this relationship goes on for decades, neither will ever be defined as simply the others romantic partner, like Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and Lois Lane are.
On the other side. This pairing almost feels too perfect to me. Or in other words, it’s a relationship for the sake of having these characters in a relationship. I personally don’t feel like there’s anything interesting by having these two together. They both understand the strains of being a super hero. They both understand the risks and dangers of dating a superhero. There’s just not a lot of room for the same sort of drama that comes from a superhero dating a non-superhero.
No, absolutely not.
Yeah, it “makes sense” for Wonder Woman & Superman to hook up.
And that’s the problem. It makes such sense to the point of being completely and utterly boring. Their relationship is vapid, shallow, and hollow—completely void of any genuine passion, romance, or chemistry. It’s born out of cold, lifeless, mathematical logic, based on nothing more than the idea of these characters—because he’s “Superman,” and she’s “Wonder Woman,” it just makes sense they go together.
Whenever writers try to contrive contrast between the two, it usually only misrepresents either or both of them. They emphasize that Clark is just a simple farmboy—and make him look like a yokel. They play up that Diana is a warrior and make her look like a bloodthirsty zealot. They emphasize that she’s a product of magic and make Clark look like a befuddled doofus who is helpless in the face of it. Superman excels when he’s playing the rescuer—so Diana gets jobbed out so he has someone to protect.
They bring nothing to one another and their interaction is utter stagnation.
Another thing I’ve found really disturbing about this relationship is the basis they “need” each other because “they’re not human and therefore understand one another.” And, based on this, we usually see Clark teaching Diana to have a secret identity, like him, so she can “understand” us mere mortals better, and this is apparently supposed to find this cute and charming.
Problem is, if you actually follow Wonder Woman, Diana has never had a real issue with that. I know writers like to have Superman whine and brood about how he’s an alien and not part of the human race because they think angst will make him relatable, but Wonder Woman doesn’t see herself as above or separate from mankind (or at least she shouldn’t. Certain writers *cough*Geoff Johns*cough* don’t seem to get that).
The woman worked in a fast food restaurant for Christ’s sake.
But here comes Clark, insisting Diana isn’t human and she doesn’t understand humans. And the solution to this “problem” she has is to create a secret identity, just like him, and he’s all too happy to help her do it. He pulled this garbage on her during/after Infinite Crisis—and don’t even get me started on how Superman (and Batman) completely sc*m-bagged Diana throughout this story—but this is also pretty much the basis of their current relationship. Diana doesn’t understand humans because she’s not one of them and Clark has to teach her, because he’s not human either, and this is supposed to be something they have in common.
Does no one see something very wrong with this?
Superman is projecting his own insecurity onto Diana and manipulating her into believing this is something they share. He is conditioning her into believing there is something wrong with her that he can help fix.
That’s not romantic. That’s not charming. That’s emotionally abusive and cruel.
I know a lot of people point to Kingdom Come as the proof Clark and Diana belong together, but all that story proved was that Clark & Diana are each others back-ups. Clark’s perspective was, “Well, Lois is dead and Diana’s right there.” And Diana’s was, “Well, I’m lonely and Clark’s right there.”
That isn’t two soul-mates finally coming together. That’s two old people settling because they’ve no other options and would rather not die alone.
So yeah…I loathe the Wonder Woman/Superman ship. However, having said all that, there is ONE good thing I can say about it:
At least it’s not the Wonder Woman/Batman ship.
For the mainstream DCU? No, not really. For alternate timelines or possible futures? Sure.
Nope. There is nothing about a romance between Superman and Wonder Woman that feels organic to me. If it were something that was built up from since the gold or silver age, maybe, but otherwise I despise the idea.
No, a whole truck full of no. Even the graphic for todays ‘QOTD gives me the heeby-geebys.. It just feels wrong. Not to mention that between the two of them they have as much romantic chemistry as a box of rocks. Let them have their loves, Lois and Steve are great partners and I think there’s a lot more to those relationships than would be possibly in a Supes/WW pairing.
In defense of the graphic, it was drawn with the intention that Wonder Woman was surprised and totally not into into it…
I like that the characters have that experience, but not as an end result.
I like the idea of them as exes quite a bit .
That gives their relationship a whole other hilarious layer.