Wonder Woman is one of DC's classic Trinity and (along with Batman and Superman) has been at the forefront of everything the company has done. Having left her home among her fellow Amazons on Themyscira, Diana became a superhero when she entered the real world, fighting with powers given to her by the divine might of the Olympian gods.
While she clearly has a lot in common with Classical Greek heroes like Herakles and Perseus, Wonder Woman is very much part of the modern superhero tradition, and as such, has quite a number of supervillains she does battle with. Many of these rogues have unfortunately been overused. A number of the villains who see excessive use are actually great foes who just seem to be over-represented in Wonder Woman's stories, while others are fairly weak characters who offer little to the narrative.
10 Giganta Keeps Making Cameos In Stories Without Adding Anything To The Narratives
Giganta has a pretty simple but cool power: she can grow to an enormous size, giving her the proportional strength that comes from wielding extra mass.
For a long time, Giganta was considered a classic Wonder Woman villain. However, there is not a lot that has been done with her, narratively speaking. Stories featuring her seem to open onto a scene as Wonder Woman smacks Giganta down, takes her back to prison, and then goes off to whatever real adventure the story is actually about. This has become such a common trope for Giganta’s depictions that she might as well not actually appear in these stories — though a better solution would be for writers to polish her off and find a way to make her feel relevant again.
9 Doctor Psycho Is Put Into Numerous Stories Where He Doesn't Really Fit
William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman to champion specific values of his, and in particular, his respect for female empowerment. Her Lasso of Truth and repeated bondage encounters also spoke to Marston’s beliefs in free love, consensual BDSM, and the importance of truth (he invented a version of the polygraph test).
Doctor Psycho is the antithesis of everything Wonder Woman stands for. He uses mind control to bend people to his will, forcing them to do what he desires and trapping them in elaborate illusions. Furthermore, he tends to prey on women. He has appeared in a number of Wonder Woman's greatest stories, but in recent years, he has been shoehorned into stories where he doesn’t quite fit (no pun intended).
8 Veronica Cale Is Wonder Woman’s Lex Luthor & Often Appears In Multiple Back-To-Back Stories
Veronica Cale is Wonder Woman’s Lex Luthor. There really is no other way to describe her. She is a rich ambitious narcissistic businesswoman who uses her wealth and influence to control politicians and destroy anyone who annoys her. She also hates Wonder Woman, claiming it is because — unlike Cale — Wonder Woman never had to work to achieve greatness but was given everything easy.
Just as Lex hates Superman for being inhumanly strong (due to not being human), Veronica Cale hates Diana for being blessed by the gods that specifically protect the Amazons. Cale is actually a fairly phenomenal villain and well worth continuing to develop. However, when she does appear, it will be in three or four stories back-to-back.
7 Doctor Poison Keeps Having To Be Reinvented Because They Offer So Little To Stories
There have two different versions of Doctor Poison in the comics, Princess Maru and Marina Maru. There was also another version, Isabel Maru, in the DCEU 2017 Wonder Woman film. And then there is a recent reinvention of Marina Maru to make her the head of a mercenary group just called Poison.
Honestly, Doctor Poison is a pretty weak character, despite her having been one of Wonder Woman's oldest foes. While the new mercenary leader is a more interesting interpretation of the classic villain, it feels like the good doctor keeps being reinvented because writers don’t know what to do with them.
6 Grail Is A Great Antagonist Who Needs To Take A Break For A While
The daughter of an Amazon mother and her father Darkseid, Grail is the antithesis to Wonder Woman in many ways. She is also one of the best new characters introduced to Wonder Woman’s mythos in decades.
Honestly, everything from her incredible powers to her nefarious indomitable personality makes her a great character. This is exactly why DC should give her a rest for a bit. If the fans are left wanting more of her, they will be all the more grateful when Grail does come back.
5 The Children Of Ares Are Among The Gods' Most Frequently Depicted As Villains
As the God of War, Ares is Diana’s most significant villain. Sometimes, a story needs a powerful god but the writer wants to use one of the other deities from the family of the Olympians. In such cases, Eris, Phobos, and Deimos — the children of Ares — are perfect fits.
To be clear, these are wonderful characters and natural foils to Wonder Woman. The only problem is that there are other gods who have not gotten as much time because of the frequent use of these three, which limits the ways Diana can experience and interact with divinities — something problematic for a character whose entire power set and belief system is built on her relationship with the gods.
4 Circe Is Too Overpowered, So Should Be Reserved For Only The Biggest Of Stories
Witches have always been archetypes representative of feminine power and few are as powerful as Circe. Wonder Woman operates in a world of magic, so it makes sense that she would regularly encounter witches of different sorts.
A great example of a story that used Circe effectively was Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour, where the nature of reality and of magic was threatened as the Goddess of Magic, Hecate, returned to her full glory while Circe found a way to benefit from the results. However, in too many stories, Circe appears but does not pose a real threat. This is beneath her dignity.
3 Darkseid Is In Too Many Stories Across DC Comics, Weakening His Menace
Darkseid is one of the most powerful and most malevolent entities in the DC Multiverse. As the Lord of Apokolips, he commands hosts who do his bidding and invade worlds at his command. In fact, he has brought the Justice League to its knees on multiple occasions.
Darkseid perfectly embodies the literary archetype of a "dark lord." Such a villain is most effective when barely seen before the climax of a major story. Consider that Sauron did not hound Frodo through The Lord of the Rings, but sent minions to do it. However, Darkseid has repeatedly thrown down with so many heroes that there is little to distinguish him from his vassals.
2 Ares Is A Bronze-Age God Of War Trying To Operate In A Post-Nuclear World
Perhaps the most famous individual Wonder Woman has ever fought is DC’s version of Ares, the Greek God of War, who has a long and storied history with the Amazon princess. He famously appeared as the main antagonist in the DCEU Wonder Woman film.
Unfortunately, in the age of nukes, biological weapons, and cyberterrorism, a god of war who rose to prominence in the Bronze Age has difficulty adapting his skills to the new world. Any absolute victory would wipe out life on Earth, killing off any worshippers who might call on him. As such, the god keeps having to be reinvented by different writers to keep him relevant.
1 Cheetah Is A Classic Villain Who Has Replaced Most Other Wonder Woman Enemies Through Overuse
One of Wonder Woman’s greatest enemies is Cheetah. In truth, there have been four Cheetahs over the years, though the main one since the '80s has been Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, who made an appearance in Wonder Woman: 1984.
Dr. Minerva has been one of Diana’s best friends, one of her deadliest foes, and the lover of her friend Etta Candy. Love and hate are two sides to the same coin, and this is the currency of their relationship. There is no better enemy than Cheetah for Wonder Woman to face, but this means that no other villain has been given a chance to rise to prominence the same way.