Jab’s Builds! (Lawnmower Man! Samus Aran! Metroids!)

[MacynSnow]

-Mouse Man was part of "The Academy of Arch-Villains", a band of bad guys who were attempting to get rid of Wonder Woman's interference. Since he was only six inches tall, he could get away easily and proved to be a nuisance, injuring Steve Trevor in a car accident. When WW feigned surrender, he led her back to the Academy's base, where she defeated and imprisoned them all- Mouse Man was trapped in a birdcage. Holding a grudge, he would threaten her numerous other times, at one point using her lasso to trap her and make her run in a hamster wheel for his own amusement. He accidentally shrunk her to his size, and she beat him with a block of cheese. Later, he trained some wild mice to break him free from his cage (which was guarded by a cat), and used his mouse motif to scare women into dropping their jewelry (haha, JESUS), but WW beat him by sneezing.

He seems like a villain that would barely be a threat for the Atom, let along Wonder Woman.

Ray gets no respect.

Now hold your horses! I think he actually COULD be a threat to Shrinking heroes/heroines. Turn him into something alon the lines of Vermin or the Lizard and he'd be a good mid-tier villian...

[Jabroniville]

THE SILVER SWAN I (Helen Alexandros, aka Leda Alexandros)
Created By: Roy Thomas & Gene Colan
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #288 (Feb. 1982)
Role: Ugly Duckling, Flying Blaster
Group Affiliations: None
PL 11 (154)
STRENGTH 8 STAMINA 8 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 3

Skills:
Deception 5 (+8)
Expertise (Ballet) 6 (+11)
Insight 2 (+4)
Perception 3 (+5)
Persuasion 4 (+7)
Ranged Combat (Swan Song) 2 (+9)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Swan Song" Blast 12 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 8) (33) -- [34]

• AE: "Area Destruction" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (20)

"Low-Level Humming" Force Field 2 [2]
Flight 7 (250 mph) [14]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+8 Damage, DC 23)
Swan Song +9 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Area Attack +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8 (+10 Sonic Field), Fortitude +8, Will +6

Complications:
Responsibility (Ugly)- With blemished skin and a plain appearance, Helen is often rejected by others.
Hatred (Men)- Helen despises men in particular for always being rejected.
Responsibility/Involuntary Transformation (Mars)- The War God, Mars, is responsible for Helen's powers and beauty as the Silver Swan. Without his gifts, she is ST 0, STA 0, FIGHTING 0.

Total: Abilities: 82 / Skills: 20--10 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 50 / Defenses: 9 (154)

-A peculiar character in Wonder Woman has been the Silver Swan, who has had three separate incarnations pre-2000 despite being created in 1982. All have a kind of "Ugly Duckling" theme of unappealing-looking women gaining beauty and power in opposition to Wonder Woman. The original was a homely ballet dancer, badly hurt by rejections due to her appearance. She made a deal with the War God, Mars, gaining a beautiful appearance in payment for trying to kill Wonder Woman. She appears as a fake superhero and then as Diana & Etta Candy's new roommate "Helen". Eventually she reveals her true colors, defeating WW in battle, but proves unwilling to kill her in front of witnesses.

-When Doctor Psycho creates Captain Wonder from Steve Trevor's mind, she is among the villains who fights at his side, and she falls in love with this ectoplasmic creation at first sight, and he with her. They prepare to kill WW in front of the President of the U.S., but Mars instead demands they kill him instead- Trevor finally awakens and Capt. Wonder disappears, letting Diana beat the Silver Swan at last. Annoyed, Mars removes his gifts and the Swan returns to normal. In her final appearance, she regains her powers and teams up with Angle Man, Captain Wonder & Cheetah II against Etta Candy, who defeats them by using the same ectoplasm to give herself Wonder Woman's powers.

-The original Silver Swan has some solid powers, and can fight it out with Wonder Woman either in melee (albeit at only PL 9) or at range (PL 10.5).

[MacynSnow]

Suprised Swan 1 wasn't a Black Cannary Villian, tbh. She doesn't fit the whole "Roman/Greek Mythology" theme WW seems to have....

[Shock]

Well there's her mistake. You don't make a deal with the God of War to make you pretty. Shesh

[Spectrum]

Well, there was that whole story with Zeus...twitch

[Davies]

Well, there was that whole story with Zeus...twitch

And she's explicitly named Helen (and Leda), in reference to same.

[Ken]

THE SILVER SWAN I (Helen Alexandros, aka Leda Alexandros)

That last one is Valerie Beaudry (the post-Crisis Silver Swan), not Helen/Leda. One can tell by the way her wings protrude from her back instead of her arms.

[Jabroniville]

THE SILVER SWAN II (Valerie Beaudry)
Created By: George Perez
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #15 (April 1988)
Role: Ugly Duckling, Flying Blaster
Group Affiliations: The Captains of Industry
PL 11 (122)
STRENGTH 2 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Perception 3 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+3)
Ranged Combat (Swan Song) 2 (+9)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 2

Powers:
"Swan Song" Blast 12 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 8) (33) -- [34]

• AE: "Area Destruction" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (20)

"Low-Level Humming" Force Field 4 [4]
Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+2 Damage, DC 17)
Swan Song +9 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Area Attack +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8 (+10 Sonic Field), Fortitude +8, Will +4

Complications:
Motivation (Ugly & Unloved)- Valerie feels rejected by others due to her ugly appearance. She is desperate for attention and affection, making her easily manipulated.
Relationship (Maxine Sterenbuch)- Valerie's pen-pal Maxine is her only true friend.
Relationship (Wonder Woman)- Valerie later appreciates Diana after being manipulated into fighting her by Val's then-husband.

Total: Abilities: 60 / Skills: 10--5 / Advantages: 3 / Powers: 45 / Defenses: 9 (122)

-When George Perez took over Wonder Woman, he waited only a little while before revamping the then-new Silver Swan into his stories, building Diana's Rogues Gallery. This one was a girl exposed to radiation from nuclear tests while in the womb, causing her to be born with horrible deformities. A cruel man named Henry Cobb Armbruster exploits her need for acceptance by making her part of his "Silver Swan Project"- she is mutated into a beautiful woman with tremendous power, keeping the theme of the previous Swan. He then marries her and gets her to fight WW for whatever reason, but Diana & a pen pal of the Swan's band together and talk her out of it, even after he gives her beauty a second time after a "gene-bomb" depowers her. She sees Armbruster for what he is and divorces him. Grateful, she later helps Diana during War of the Gods, but Diana refuses, not wanting to put her in danger. She later helps Earth's heroes against Circe and even joins the superhero team The Captains of Industry, but she retired after briefly serving on the Suicide Squad.

-The second Silver Swan is similarly-powered to the first, but is less strong naturally, and has artificial wings to guide her flight. She lacks a lot of the social skills the others have.

[Jack of Spades]

Doctor Cyber is another foe I’d reinvent and modernize. I’d make her a social media mogul whose humanitarian facade was exposed by Diana as a just a cover for manipulative self-interest. She’s enraged by Diana’s ability to be both honest and popular, and continually tries to smear Diana’s reputation and undermine her mission. Basically, she’s all about what’s wrong with the internet media monopolies and how they distort society, in the same way Doctor Poison becomes about the fear of biotech.

If she really needs a power-up, have the Duke of Deception give some trick along the lines of Marvel’s Controller where she can convert “followers” into super-strength so she can go a round or two with Wonder Woman. I don’t know that you really need it though.

[greycrusader]

Wonder Woman has one of the most lackluster villain rosters of ANY well-known comics hero; the baddies who go head-to-head with her (modern day Cheetah, Giganta, Silver Swan) aren't her physical match, and the schemer villains come off mostly as imitations of better bad guys (Veronica Cale is a C-grade Luthor, and Dr. Cyber is a D-list Doctor Doom). The only ones that come off as credible threats are Ares, Circe, and (maybe) Dr. Psycho, though the last can be tricky to pull off, running the risk of being an offensive caricature of a little person (making him more an aggrieved bully than a fetishistic pervert is a good start). Many of these DO have potential, and can be upgraded with the right treatment.

I also think her rogues gallery demonstrate Ares is correct; Wonder Woman works better if she's treated as having Ben Grimm level strength and durability, NOT near Kryptonian level power levels. Her skill in combat, super-athleticism, and magic weapons are what allow her to take on Superman-class foes (but Diana would still be an underdog), but her relative vulnerability would make her more susceptible to foes who could never threaten Clark or Kara. So a cunning, superhumanly fast Cheetah, a sneaky, sociopathic Dr. Poison, or obsessed Dr. Cyber would be serious threats, and Villainy Inc. would be as dangerous to Diana as the Sinister Six are to Spider-Man.

All my best.

[Jabroniville]

THE SILVER SWAN III (Vanessa Kapatelis)
Created By: George Perez
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #2 (April 1987)
Role: Kid Character, Normal Human Friend, Ally-Turned-Supervillain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 12 (130)
STRENGTH 5 STAMINA 6 AGILITY 5
FIGHTING 10 DEXTERITY 5
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 1 PRESENCE 1

Skills:
Deception 3 (+4)
Intimidation 6 (+7)
Perception 3 (+4)
Persuasion 2 (+3)
Ranged Combat (Swan Song) 4 (+10)

Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 1

Powers:
"Swan Song" Blast 14 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 8) (37) -- [40]

• AE: "Area Destruction" Damage 12 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone) (24)
• AE: "Telepathy With Birds" Mind Control 4 (Extras: Area- 120ft. Burst +3) (Flaws: Limited to Animals, Limited to Birds, Touch Range -2) (8)
• AE: "Sharpened Fingernails" Strength-Damage +5 (Extras: Penetrating 8) (13)

"Low-Level Humming" Force Field 4 [4]
Flight 7 (250 mph) (Flaws: Winged) [7]

Offense:
Unarmed +10 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Claws +10 (+10 Damage, DC 25)
Swan Song +10 (+14 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Area Attack +12 (+12 Damage, DC 27)
Initiative +5

Defenses:
Dodge +10 (DC 20), Parry +10 (DC 20), Toughness +8 (+10 Sonic Field), Fortitude +8, Will +4

Complications:
Relationship (Wonder Woman)- Vanessa looked up to Diana as a big sister, and felt tremendous abandonment when Diana later left her home, then her life entirely.

Total: Abilities: 66 / Skills: 18--9 / Advantages: 2 / Powers: 51 / Defenses: 9 (137)

-Vanessa Kapatelis has two different roles in the Wonder Woman series- initially, when George Perez took over, it was in her home that Diana lived in Man's World. Her mother was a major human ally, while Vanessa was her braces-wearing young daughter. This gave Diana someone to be motherly towards, while also giving us an "innocent human victim". Vanessa was an awkward high-schooler, which served to give Diana a different look at the world, and her immediate jealousy over Diana's beauty helped make her feel "real". When the monster Decay attacked Vanessa and nearly killed her, she saw WW in another way and the two got to know each other. However, much later, her mental health starts to fail- her friend Lucy commits suicide in a very "adult" look at the nature of depression, she has unresolved issues about her father, and Doctor Psycho forces her to have nightmares- ultimately, it's decided that Diana should move out of the Kapatelis home.

-Poor Vanessa grows resentful of both her mother and Diana for this "abandonment", and she is kidnapped by the White Magician, then manipulated & reprogrammed by Circe & Cheetah IV in Phil Jiminez's run, transforming her into the NEW Silver Swan, horrifying Diana. Even worse, she assaults Cassie Sandsmark as a usurper to her "entitled" role and kills a hundred people, exposing Cassie's secret identity in the process. Circe is eventually stopped from taking over New York and Diana's mother Hippolyta dies, making this story more of a side thing, I think- Vanessa is taken to a hospital where it's hoped she can be cured. But instead Veronica Cale got involved and made her even MORE of a cyborg, and sent her against Diana again- after this defeat, Vanessa is turned back to normal and sent to Paradise Island to recover.

-This is kinda/maybe/sorta the final use of her as a threat in the comics, but a Silver Swan appeared in Salvation Run, likely because an artist didn't fact-check, and then she's there with a group of villains formed by Circe. And then a more recent issue featured her graduation from college, with Diana herself there to see the now-healthy girl off. All in all, the character seemed kind of neat in the books I have, feeling "real" and like a good Human Ally in the way that Perez used them in Teen Titans- someone to help humanize the characters around them. But then Perez left and she got ignored, leading to Jiminez, who liked Perez to be sure... just doing the old "So your old supporting cast are now VILLAINS!" thing. Yeah it adds some tragedy and is good for the tortured reactions of the hero, who now has to fight their friend, but it's always a tricky road to go down. And of course the "Rebirth" era just uses her as a Put-Upon Supervillain again, feeling resentful over Diana spending less time with her, and being manipulated into becoming an evil cyborg again.

-This Silver Swan is more or less like the middle one- an unskilled fighter- but she's more of a threat to the PL 14 Wonder Woman of the late '90s, able to kill hundreds of people during their battle. Stronger Area Attacks and a more lethal "Swan Song", even if she's under-skilled.

[Jabroniville]

Wonder Woman has one of the most lackluster villain rosters of ANY well-known comics hero; the baddies who go head-to-head with her (modern day Cheetah, Giganta, Silver Swan) aren't her physical match, and the schemer villains come off mostly as imitations of better bad guys (Veronica Cale is a C-grade Luthor, and Dr. Cyber is a D-list Doctor Doom). The only ones that come off as credible threats are Ares, Circe, and (maybe) Dr. Psycho, though the last can be tricky to pull off, running the risk of being an offensive caricature of a little person (making him more an aggrieved bully than a fetishistic pervert is a good start). Many of these DO have potential, and can be upgraded with the right treatment.

I also think her rogues gallery demonstrate Ares is correct; Wonder Woman works better if she's treated as having Ben Grimm level strength and durability, NOT near Kryptonian level power levels. Her skill in combat, super-athleticism, and magic weapons are what allow her to take on Superman-class foes (but Diana would still be an underdog), but her relative vulnerability would make her more susceptible to foes who could never threaten Clark or Kara. So a cunning, superhumanly fast Cheetah, a sneaky, sociopathic Dr. Poison, or obsessed Dr. Cyber would be serious threats, and Villainy Inc. would be as dangerous to Diana as the Sinister Six are to Spider-Man.

All my best.

Yeah, it really comes off like a kind of unnecessary upgrade where her entire rogues gallery has to be arbitrarily scaled up in order to even have a chance against her. All the human-level threats come off as gigantic jokes, the powerhouses are somehow a combination of "mysteriously-powerful" and "not enough threat to Wonder Woman" (Cheetah, Silver Swan, etc. all have to be high-level, but almost nobody else in-universe seems to be that scared of them).

It was mentioned somewhere (possibly TV Tropes) that the fact that the 1970s series used pretty much zero comic book villains was a MASSIVE strike against the character's rogues gallery- because this was the most famous incarnation of the character for several decades, it left NONE of her major enemies in the public eye at all, to the point where most people probably hadn't even heard of the Cheetah until WW84.

The fact that a fairly big chunk of her rogues have also changed identities with each new major creative team doesn't help- we were left with a semi-iconic Golden Age Cheetah, a forgotten '80s one, and a big one in the Post-Crisis era, plus a filler guy. Four friggin' Cheetahs! Silver Swan could've been iconic, but again Perez wanted to create one from whole cloth instead of use the other one. So all of these reinventions leave her rogues suffering from the same thing that plagues WW- a few too many cooks diluting the concepts overly much.

[Woodclaw]

-Poor Vanessa grows resentful of both her mother and Diana for this "abandonment", and she is kidnapped by the White Magician, then manipulated & reprogrammed by Circe & Cheetah IV in Phil Jiminez's run, transforming her into the NEW Silver Swan, horrifying Diana. Even worse, she assaults Cassie Sandsmark as a usurper to her "entitled" role and kills a hundred people, exposing Cassie's secret identity in the process. Circe is eventually stopped from taking over New York and Diana's mother Hippolyta dies, making this story more of a side thing, I think- Vanessa is taken to a hospital where it's hoped she can be cured. But instead Veronica Cale got involved and made her even MORE of a cyborg, and sent her against Diana again- after this defeat, Vanessa is turned back to normal and sent to Paradise Island to recover.

-This is kinda/maybe/sorta the final use of her as a threat in the comics, but a Silver Swan appeared in Salvation Run, likely because an artist didn't fact-check, and then she's there with a group of villains formed by Circe. And then a more recent issue featured her graduation from colelge, with Diana herself there to see the now-healthy girl off. All in all, the character seemed kind of neat in the books I have, feeling "real" and like a good Human Ally in the way that Perez used them in Teen Titans- someone to help humanize the characters around them. But then Perez left and she got ignored, leading to Jiminez, who liked Perez to be sure... just doing the old "So your old supporting cast are now VILLAINS!" thing. Yeah it adds some tragedy and is good for the tortured reactions of the hero, who now has to fight their friend, but it's always a tricky road to go down. And of course the "Rebirth" era just uses her as a Put-Upon Supervillain again, feeling resentful over Diana spending less time with her, and being manipulated into becoming an evil cyborg again.

If I remember right the graduation of Vanessa, from Perez's contribution to WW #600, was supposed to happen after her de-cyberization since she actually mentions her experience as Silver Swan during her speech as valedictorian.

[Jabroniville]

JULIA KAPATELIS
Created By: George Perez
First Appearance: Wonder Woman #3 (April 1987)
Role: Normal Human Friend
Group Affiliations: None

-Mother to Vanessa, Julia was the person in whose house Diana was living during the George Perez years of Wonder Woman. She was a Greek woman who was rescued from drowning by the goddess Thetis and blessed by the Amazons, taught the ways of peace and sent out into the world to subliminally practice Amazonian ways. She became a successful archaeologist, but was widowed shortly before the series debuted her, now raising her daughter by herself. She was a respected educator, and even taught the future mother of Cassie Sandsmark. She finally discovered her Amazon-related backstory, and even had a few paramours over the years, but largely left the books after a point. She harbored some resentment towards Diana once Vanessa had been kidnapped and twisted by villains, and that took a while to resolve.

-Julia is an intelligent woman with some good morals and solid advice, but is still more of a Bystander.

[Davies]

I'd actually use the Scientist archetype over the Bystander one, for her.

In the no-longer-current continuity, Julia was reported as having recently passed away.