# Wonder Woman - Seen it (Open Spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918 "2017-06-02T06:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918/321 "2017-12-07T02:43:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Regardless of whether she’s a Mary Sue or not, she’s definitely a Dea ex Machina, and that’s seldom a good idea. Sure, there was justification in her movie for her powers increasing, especially right at that moment when she’s just learned Big Important Things about herself and is facing off against the most powerful opponent conceivable to her. But now that she’s done that, what more can you do with the character? From now on, whenever we see her (and we will see her, and already are seeing her in _Justice League_), we’ll be asking why she’s _not_ going God Mode to deal with whatever her current problem is. Eh, I justified it as her being born/built/created specifically to destroy Ares. As such, her actions are less her own conscious abilities and more just a counter to everything Ares would think to do. Across media - current and ancient, alike - the big bad super-powerful being is also woefully predictable. Her lack of GODMODE in BvS and Justice League are more a function of “that’s not how she works”. Justice League dealt with the character issues, a bit. She was still incredibly powerful, fast, and strong, but there were definite hints of confidence issues and lack of leadership ability. It’s a significant issue for most sci-fi and fantasy series, especially if they outlive the original story arc - you can’t go back to fighting minor villains after saving the world, so you need a bigger badder baddy. I think the modern Wolverine arc is probably the only one I’ve seen successfully counteract it - eventually, your hero has to die, preferably doing hero stuff. It ruins it when you magically bring the hero back in the next movie, however (looking at you, Superman). ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918/322 "2017-12-07T14:32:53Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But I can’t see how the character who struggles the entire movie could possibly be a Mary Sue. Wonder Woman’s struggles in this movie consisted of 1) she wants to do something, 2) someone tells her she can’t do that, and 3) she does it anyway and succeeds. That is, not really struggles. > [@greenmario](#): > > Specifically there’s a scene after she enters badass mode where Ares shoots a bunch of shrapnel at her. WW is able to disintegrate the shrapnel with a force field effect. Earlier in the movie she had to block bullets with her bracers. I’m not familiar with WW myself so maybe this is a canon power she has, but it’s not explained in the movie The movie showed her using that same power when sparring against the other Amazons. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918/323 "2017-12-07T23:52:03Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > Wonder Woman’s struggles in this movie consisted of 1) she wants to do something, 2) someone tells her she can’t do that, and 3) she does it anyway and succeeds. That is, not really struggles. > The movie showed her using that same power when sparring against the other Amazons. Your two points are related. The reason Hippolyta didn’t want her to train was that she would eventually get pushed far enough to call up her powers, which would alert Ares to her. Minutes after the scene where she first uses her powers, the privacy shield of the island is breached and events begin leading her towards conflict with Ares. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918/324 "2017-12-09T04:13:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I don’t have insight into an author’s psyche, so whether or not it fulfills their wishes is inaccessible to me. The whole point of a Mary Sue is that you don’t need to have any special insight. It’s blindingly obvious that the author is dropping into an established universe a character that’s nothing but an idealized version of himself or herself who becomes the center of the story. If it’s not obvious, it’s not a Mary Sue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wonder-woman-seen-it-open-spoilers/787918.md?page=16)