“Wonder Woman” and The Villain’s Journey
Or, how to write a plot when everyone knows your hero
Writing for a character as iconic as Wonder Woman can be tricky. Like many of the most famous superheroes the audience is already pretty familiar with who they are simply because they’ve been around so long and had so many stories written about them that their motives are well established. Spider-Man wouldn’t be Spider-Man unless he valued responsibility, Superman wouldn’t be Superman if he weren’t benevolent, and Batman wouldn’t be Batman if he didn’t have expensive toys and constantly brood atop skyscrapers. There are fundamental parts of these characters that are rarely changed, or if they are, it’s only for a short time before continuity reasserts itself (kind of like what I talked about earlier with X-Men’s Sins of Sinister storyline).
So, how do you write a story for such a character when so much of what they are is already set in stone?
The latest volume of Wonder Woman, by Tom King (words) and Daniel Sampere and Tomeu Morey (art), does so by focusing less on Wonder Woman herself and more on the effect she has on the world around her - especially how she affects her story’s villain, the principal narrator of the book.
That villain is The Sovereign, who tells his story to Wonder Woman’s daughter several years in the future. He sits in a secret prison, guarded by traps and monsters out of myth, where Diana has placed him for his crimes. With this bit of foreshadowing, we already have an idea of how the story will end, which makes this something of an origin story for The Sovereign. And, in a story about a mythological Amazon superhero with an invisible jet and a boomerang tiara, maybe the most far-fetched part of the story is The Sovereign’s introduction as “the hidden king of the United States,” whose family has been ruling the country in secret since its founding.
It’s a big narrative swing from King, but it ties back to this being a story about examining Wonder Woman’s effect on society rather than retreading narrative ground that has already been worn smooth by the character’s 80-plus year history. What The Sovereign does is personify western patriarchy and chauvinism, in the form of a regally-dressed old white guy whose eloquent monologues only thinly hide his misogyny and xenophobia. The inciting incident of the story is one of Wonder Woman’s fellow Amazons being involved in a rural Montana bar fight for unknown reasons, which leaves several men dead. Afterward, The Sovereign uses his influence, assisted by his mythical “Lasso of Lies” (the direct counterpart to Wonder Woman’s own Lasso of Truth), to turn the entire country against the Amazons, making their presence a crime. Wonder Woman, meanwhile, is determined to find her missing Amazon “sister” and learn the truth behind her attack.
How do you write a story for such a character when so much of what they are is already set in stone?
And if that outline smacks of our nation’s own brush with xenophobic anti-immigration rhetoric, well, that’s pretty much what the creators of the book are going for. Wonder Woman’s primary antagonists are a new division of violent federal agents specifically assigned to the capture, arrest, deportation, or, if need be, murder of any Amazons found to still be on United States soil. It very much reads like King, who hasn’t shied away from socio-political metaphors in his previous work, took a look at some of the big headlines from the last few years and asked, “how would one of our most iconic superheroes respond?”
I’m not an expert on Wonder Woman’s comics, so I can’t say if the narrative of “Wonder Woman vs. the patriarchy” is new or not (though I’d be surprised if this book’s creative team is the first to explore that). What I do know is that when feminist writer William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman in 1941, he wanted to create a superhero who took the perceived “weaknesses” of femininity (such as caring and tenderness) and display them as strengths. And I think it’s telling that, at the beginning of this story, Diana gives up her sword, a conventional weapon of war and masculine aggression, and instead relies on her tiara and bracelets, traditionally feminine-coded items, to defend herself in her war against The Sovereign.
And, because it has been well established who Wonder Woman is over decades of storytelling, we don’t need to take time explaining why Wonder Woman stands against cruelty and deceit. She enters the story as she has been established, as a righteous seeker of truth and avatar of compassion, even towards her enemies (note how her most repeated line is “No thank you,” said even to those wishing to harm her - even to her enemies, she extends a modicum of politeness and decency while actively defying them).
Which, again, puts a lot of the narrative heft on The Sovereign, so how much you like this book will probably come down to how much you want to read monologues by this pretty despicable guy. Because, as his monologues and eventual imprisonment indicate, it’s The Sovereign who is the one that’s going to be changed by this story, not Wonder Woman. He may be perched high above the world now, but she is the immovable force upon which his grotesque world will eventually shatter.
HEY ROBERT, WHAT IF I LIKE THIS BOOK AND WANT TO READ SOMETHING ELSE BY TOM KING?
Well, you’re in luck! King is a pretty prolific graphic novel writer today, and there are some very easy recommendations. “Mister Miracle,” by King and artist Mitch Gerads, is very good; while it’s ostensibly about the little-known Jack Kirby hero, it’s really about living, and surviving, day-to-day with depression. (Content warning, there is a depiction of a suicide attempt very early in the book.)
If you’re a Marvel fan, he also wrote the mini-series “The Vision,” with art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta and Jordie Bellaire, which has basically become the new definitive work for the character; that story is about Vision’s attempt to understand humanity by literally building his own suburban family, and the psychological turmoil that plagues the hero and his new loved ones.
But if I had to pick one to recommend, it would probably be “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” with art by Bilquis Evely and Matheus Lopes.
WHAT MAKES YOU LIKE THAT ONE SO MUCH?
It’s pretty accessible in terms of its characters — do you know who Superman is? Great, Supergirl is his cousin and she has most of the same powers. That’s pretty much all you need to know, as the book serves as a great introduction into her worldview and what drives her, and you’ll be introduced to a couple of the “super pets” along the way.
Also, I just finished watching the second season of “My Adventures with Superman” on Max, which was delightful, and Supergirl is in that season. So, yes recency bias plays into this recommendation as well.
WAIT, THERE ARE SUPER PETS? DO I NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THAT BEFORE READING THIS?
Nope! There are some head nods to some of the weirder parts of Superman’s history and lore (because Tom King likes that sort of stuff), but nothing that will derail you if you’re not up to date on any big Superman/girl/dog stories.
The plot of this book actually centers on a young woman, Ruthye, who lives in a very rural town on a far-off planet. When her father is killed by a bandit who then steals the spaceship used by a traveling Supergirl to visit the planet, Ruthye implores Supergirl to help her find her father’s murderer and seek justice for her family. The story that follows is a sci-fi road trip, as Supergirl and Ruthye explore several bizarre corners of the galaxy, all beautifully rendered by Hernandez and Bellaire, in their quest to find their quarry. So if you like your superheroics with a side of psychedelic space adventure, it’s perfect!
BUT WHAT IF I IGNORE ANY BOOKS THAT AREN’T PART OF A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DEAL - CAN I SKIP THIS?
Probably not! James Gunn, architect of the new DC Comics line of movies, has stated that the book will serve as the basis of a Supergirl feature film. Whether that’s a direct adaptation or more of a “spiritual successor” thing isn’t quite clear yet.