Wonder Woman’s first live-action movie is nearly here and fans everywhere are excited for the long overdue moment. After 75 years of waiting, expectations are understandably high to see what Diana can do on the big screen. She isn’t just the most recognized female hero out there, she is also one of the most powerful heroes at DC. So we’re all ready to see a movie that was worth the long wait and gives Wonder Woman a chance to beat down some villains.
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That being said, just because Wonder Woman is on par with Superman doesn’t mean she’s unbeatable. People often complain about Clark Kent being too strong to beat and it making for boring stories. But if you’re going into the “Wonder Woman” movie expecting her to have no challenge, we’re here to dissuade that misconception. Diana has definitely lost some fights, even against heroes you might think are weaker than her. We're going one step further and talking not just about the times Diana lost, but 15 Superheroes Who Have DESTROYED Wonder Woman.
15 SUPERMAN
In an alternate timeline story featured in the “Superman/Batman” series, Superman and Batman have both had their heroic origins taken away from them and were instead raised by villains who turned the duo into tyrants. Instead of protecting the weak, Superman and Batman have become feared, with the likes of Green Arrow even going so far as to call them "the Hitler twins." But it's hard to blame Green Arrow for that sentiment since moments after he made that comment, he was killed by the two DC icons.
As the story progressed, Wonder Woman was one of the last good heroes left standing, and she even managed to kill off Batman. But all that did was infuriate Superman, who had taken to viewing Batman as his brother. Superman attacked Diana with such fury that he even punched through her bracelets. In the end, he beat her bloody, then fashioned a noose out of her Lasso of Truth to strangled her with it.
14 BATWOMAN
Everyone’s talking about “Injustice 2” right now, but it wasn’t that long ago that “Injustice: Gods Among us” was causing the buzz. The game saw many of DC’s biggest names form unlikely alliances to take on alternate world versions of themselves. But it wasn’t a war that was just confined to the game. The story also got a comic tie-in that further explained the story.
In the comics, Wonder Woman sided with Superman as he began his tyrannical rule. This made her a target for lots of people who weren’t always as powerful as her. One such fight saw Wonder Woman inadvertently kill Huntress when Diana forgot her own strength. Not one to forget such a thing, Batwoman took her vengeance on Diana by attacking her. Batwoman turned the Lasso of Truth into a noose and strangled Diana with it just as Wonder Woman had done to kill Huntress. Batwoman stopped short of killing Diana, but she could have if she wanted to since the rest of the Bat Family were content not to intervene.
13 AQUAMAN
As the trailers for the upcoming “Justice League” movie have been indicating, the League doesn’t always have an easy time getting along. We definitely wouldn’t be surprised to see them fight each other for a while before uniting against their common enemy. Even in the “Justice League” cartoon where the members have coexisted for a while and taken down numerous threats, the group still has issues coexisting.
This particular conflict came when the League became aware that Aquaman seemed to be working alongside Solomon Grundy, so they were naturally curious why. But Aquaman, and his ally Doctor Fate, weren’t being forthcoming. As a fight ensued, Fate transported Aquaman and Diana to Easter Island to settle their issue. They battled across the island, even using the Easter Island heads as weapons, but Aquaman eventually got fed up and tackled Diana into the ocean, carrying her deep beneath the waves. Make all the fish jokes you want about Aquaman, but being able to breathe underwater is a game changer, even for someone as powerful as Wonder Woman.
12 CAPTAIN ATOM
Another fight that comes courtesy of the "Injustice" comics is Wonder Woman colliding with Captain Atom. The latter was on the verge of ridding the world of the tyrannical Superman for good, but Diana intervened to save her love. She not only stopped Atom's attack, she cut open his protective suit with her sword, ensuring a death sentence for the hero since this meant he would now explode. Captain Atom could have simply remained on Earth and taken out tons of people with him, but instead he decided to try and spare the innocent, picking up Superman and flying off to space with him so they would both die in the explosion.
Diana flew after Captain Atom to try and save Superman, but time was not on her side. Right as she was getting close to Atom, the detonation happened and Wonder Woman took the full brunt of the blast. Not only did the explosion take her out of the fight, it knocked her all the way back down to Earth and put her into a coma for an extended period.
11 JAX (MORTAL KOMBAT)
The characters of "Mortal Kombat" might not leap out to you as superheroes and supervillains, but the majority of the fighters do have supernatural abilities. When you have superpowered characters battling for the fate of the world, they're really not that different from traditional superheroes and supervillains. That reasoning is exactly why we got "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe" that pitted the characters of DC's world against those of "Mortal Kombat's" in a fighting game.
As is common in these types of stories, the heroes would need to work together to defeat a common enemy, but first had a misunderstanding where they considered each other the enemy. In this case, Wonder Woman saw Jax and could not believe that someone who fought for good would be armed with guns and weapons like he was, so she challenged him over it. It wound up being a bad fight for Diana to take, though, because Jax backed up his artillery with his fists and pummeled her to the ground.
10 MAXWELL LORD
While nowadays Max Lord is pretty much an outright villain, he didn’t start out that way. While he distrusted metahumans, it was only because he feared their power and believed their battles could hurt innocents and even the world. Despite that, he did see use for metahumans and seemed to give them a chance, initially wanting to help form the Justice League, and also forming the team the Super Buddies. But getting repeatedly mind controlled ruined whatever noble aspirations Lord had, and he became a shell for more powerful villains.
It wasn’t until the events of “Infinite Crisis” that Lord became an outright villain, ironically no longer being mind controlled but instead being the one who controlled others. He took control of Superman and made the Kryptonian come to view Wonder Woman as Doomsday, initiating a huge fight that Lord confessed (under the power of her lasso) that it could not be undone as long as he lived. This forced Diana to kill the one time potential hero, but her actions were broadcast to the world, exposing her as a murderer to everyone and destroying her reputation.
9 WONDER WOMAN
Once more we have a fight from "Injustice," but this time it is from the game. The video game not only gave lots of DC characters the chance to pummel each other; thanks to the story mode, it also gave the characters the chance to battle alternate world versions of themselves. So in one world there existed a Wonder Woman who supported Superman's tyrannical rule and was leading the Amazons to help repel any resistance Clark faced. But from another world came a Wonder Woman more like we knew her, and who could not support what her counterpart's Superman had become.
Near the end of the game the two Amazon princesses faced off with the control of the Amazons hanging in the balance. The player is given control of the good Wonder Woman, so canonically she does eventually prevail. After her victory, Wonder Woman appeals to the corrupted Amazons to return to their values and defend the Earth instead of allowing a man like Superman to dictate over them.
8 BIZARRO
Bizarro is a tough character to judge in terms of his alliance since there have been multiple incarnations of him, and his personality has shifted quite heavily. Sometimes he can be a truly evil person, but other times he’ll have an incarnation that is a well-intentioned dunce. The latter version of Bizarro just wants to be like Superman in his own odd way, but can’t help letting his reversed mind screw up his good ideals. So at worst, you can definitely call Bizarro a villain, but at his best you could simply look at him as a failed hero.
Bizarro’s failure as a hero is especially apparent in the story for “Trinity” that gives a retelling of the early days of DC’s most noteworthy trio, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. No doubt Bizarro would love to be seen as one of the world’s most iconic heroes, but instead he is just a reminder of being an imperfect version of Superman. “Trinity” sees the conflict in Bizarro come to a head as he battles Wonder Woman with such ferocity that he not only escapes from her golden lasso, but uses his strength to beat her senseless afterwards.
7 MARTIAN MANHUNTER
Yet another encounter from the "Injustice" comics featured Martian Manhunter trying to put a stop to Superman's descent into madness. J'onn saw the dangerous path his former friend was headed down and made one last effort to avert anything worse from happening. But Clark was mad with grief from losing Lois, and Wonder Woman didn't make matters any easier by being there to interrupt the discussion.
J'onn eventually turned his attention to Diana and commented on how it didn't elude him that even though he and Clark were both aliens, Diana put her trust in the alien who looked like her own kind. Knowing the evil that was to come, J'onn liquefied his body and infiltrated Diana's. He wrapped around her organs and commented on how easily he could destroy them. Just like that Wonder Woman was on the verge of death and would have been helpless on her own. But in a desperate effort, she shouted for Superman to burn her with his heat vision. Diana is no fan of fire, but Martian Manhunter is especially vulnerable to heat, so Clark's attack seemingly killed J’onn, and saved Diana from being utterly destroyed.
6 STORM
When you think of characters from DC and Marvel squaring off, pairing Wonder Woman with Storm probably isn’t the first fight that springs to mind. But that battle is exactly what we got thanks to the crossover “DC vs Marvel Comics.” The event featured a bunch of different characters from each brand meeting up for one-on-one battles with each other. The twist was that fans were allowed to vote on the outcomes of some of the battles, which led to what some might consider a few upsets.
Diana’s battle could be viewed as one of those upsets since she was one of the most powerful representatives from DC involved in the story. What put the situation even more in her favor is she also started the battle wielding Thor’s hammer, but relinquished it because she wanted it to be a fair fight. That sense of honor was Wonder Woman’s downfall, though, because Storm quickly won by giving Diana a taste of what happens when a fly meets a bug zapper.
5 ARTEMIS
Not every instance of someone being destroyed has to come from a life or death situation. Sometimes it can be something as simple as losing out in a contest. But this wasn’t some trivial contest for fun, but rather a contest among the Amazons to see who would carry on the name of Wonder Woman. Queen Hippolyta had visions of Wonder Woman being killed, so she created a contest to pass the mantle to someone else and spare her daughter that fate.
Diana fought to keep her title, but Queen Hippolyta was so determined to have her way that she used her abilities to ensure that Diana lost. Artemis had long been one of Diana’s closest friends and rivals, but now she had taken it a step further by beating out Diana to become the new Wonder Woman. It was a crushing defeat for Diana, and forced her to give up her heroic title and costume in favor of her infamous leather ‘90s costume. While the new outfit was terrible and the defeat no doubt bitter, Hippolyta was right and Artemis as the new Wonder Woman did eventually meet her death.
4 SCORPION (MORTAL KOMBAT)
"Mortal Kombat's" Scorpion usually acts as an antihero more than a good guy, but his status as a wildcard can lead him to fighting against evil on occasion. In "Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe" unlikely alliances had to form to stop the combination of Shao Kahn and Darkseid. Scorpion is no altruist, but he's not out to see the world destroyed either, so he's often fought against "Mortal Kombat's" antagonists. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman was not aware of any of this.
During the course of the game's story mode, Scorpion wound up on the island of the Amazons and realized he had taken a wrong turn. Diana confronted him to demand to know why he was there, and he let her know he had no issue with the Amazons and turned to continue searching the island. But Diana made it clear she wasn't going to allow a strange man to wander her island without the permission of the Amazons. The two of them came to blows, but it was Scorpion who got the better of the battle and left Wonder Woman lying.
3 HERCULES
In case you can’t tell by now, a running theme in the “Injustice” comics is Wonder Woman getting hurt because she chooses to stand beside Superman even as he kills his former allies. This time Superman was met with someone who could compete with him in terms of strength thanks to a challenge from Hercules. Clark got into trouble early on in the fight, but as usual, Diana jumped in to make the save. Getting attacked by Superman and Wonder Woman at the same time would typically be the end of a fight, but Hercules isn’t a typical hero.
Hercules literally punched Superman into outer space, leaving Wonder Woman to face him alone. Before she could even react, Hercules caught Diana by the throat and cut off her breathing. The bloodied and bruised Wonder Woman could only stand there with fear in her eyes as Hercules suddenly had the freedom to hurt her however he wished. If not for the intervention of the other super powered characters looking on, Diana might have lost her life here.
2 GREEN LANTERN
Batwoman is far from the only character Wonder Woman clashes with in the story of "Injustice." In the comics it's the tyrannical Superman's partner who we see, but in the games we get to see the more familiar Wonder Woman who carries herself with honor as well. This alternate Wonder Woman doesn't have any less conflict with other heroes, though. The world of the Superman who went mad after losing Lois is full of heroes who have joined his cause and are determined to shut down any rebels.
The Green Lantern is just one of the heroes who has fallen under Superman's influence. Hal's change in allegiance is solidified by him not only working alongside Sinestro, but also changing his ring, joining the Yellow Lanterns of fear. As Wonder Woman explores the world with her Green Lantern, she is attacked and taken out of commission by the Yellow Lantern, leaving just the two Hal Jordans to face off against each other. Diana recovers after her Hal is victorious, but with how long she was down, she would have been in trouble if she had been on her own.
1 BATMAN
When people think of these two squaring off, the story of “Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia” no doubt leaps out to many fans. Batman got thoroughly stomped on that occasion, which makes sense in a straight up fight. Bruce doesn’t have the powers to stand toe-to-toe with Diana. That doesn’t mean he could never beat her, though. Batman is an expert at calculating his opponent’s weakness, and he did just that to beat Wonder Woman in “The Tower of Babel.”
In this story, Batman had compiled contingency plans against all his allies in the Justice League in case he needed to neutralize them. But Ra’s al Ghul gained access to the plans and enacted them on his own to devastating effect. Each Justice League member got exposed to their weakness, meaning Wonder Woman’s competitive nature got exploited by pitting her in a never ending battle with a simulation. Once Ra’s was finally dealt with, the League couldn’t ignore that it was still Batman’s fault they got taken out and nearly killed due to him making these contingency plans, so they booted Bruce out of the League.
Can you think of a time another hero completely destroyed Wonder Woman? Let us know in the comments!
“Wonder Woman” will be in theaters on June 2, 2017, and “Justice League” arrives on November 17, 2017.