The new Wonder Woman film, starring Gal Gadot as the title character, is in theaters soon. We were first introduced to Gadot's Wonder Woman in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, where she was one of the few bright spots the film had. Many want to see a Wonder Woman movie done well, as her television show and comics are cultural touchstones.
Wonder Woman's live-action feature film debut could not come soon enough, as her legacy is amazing and they have decades of stories they could redo or simply tell word for word in a script. This will be the first major superhero movie with a female hero as the protagonist. Wonder Woman is a feminist icon, but she did not get there easily. She honestly wasn't one to begin with. Her story is great, but she has some weaknesses that few of male characters would ever be given by their creators-- some are understandable while others were downright sexist to say the least.
We at Screen Rant wanted to do the kind of digging normally reserved for construction workers, to bring you 15 Weaknesses You Didn't Know Wonder Woman Had.
15. A Poke To The Eyes
You may be wondering, why in the world would this even be a weakness anyone would bring up? People need to know something obvious about Wonder Woman. Similar to Hercules, she is a Demigod. This makes her basically human, yet blessed with amazing abilities due to her God-like half. However, the human element of Wonder Woman was played up a lot in the comics and one of the most glaring things we learned is that Diana can be a victim to the same weaknesses the every day human might have-- one of which is a poke to the eyes.
To be fair, Wonder Woman does has amazing speed and strength. However, if by chance someone of super speed, like Flash, decided to hit her in the eyes, they could either temporarily or permanently blind Wonder Woman. Obviously, this is a weakness few people think about with her but it can be done and it would certainly be a useful tactic for someone who could get close enough.
14. Her Own Lasso
The Wonder Woman Lasso is an iconic part of the character and it's startling to see her without it. Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston was a writer and psychologist who, for lack of a better term, loved bondage as he felt it worked well for a healthy relationship. He felt bringing this out in comics would be ideal, because what kid doesn't love bondage, right? A lot of things he made the character out to be have since been altered. One thing that has remained, however, is the Lasso.
Mostly known for its ability to force the truth out of someone, it can also trap people of various strength levels. Basically a God-like weapon, even Wonder Woman has fallen victim to it by being trapped by the lasso. Normally, people assume that the lasso is built on Diana's own emotions and desires and thus being trapped by it is impossible, but for some reason over the years (both pre-and-post Crisis), she has fallen victim to it. The truth being forced out of her with it has not been a huge success, though.
13. Her Own Bracelets
Wonder Woman's bracelets are one of her most defining parts of her outfit, like her lasso. But did you know that these bracelets are actually a weakness for her? They can be used to deflect bullets or any other projectiles, so the use of them makes sense. They are sensible to have around, and her ability to use them has saved her own life and countless others. However, the bracelets are actually power inhibitors. They are basically made to keep Diana's powers down to a manageable level. She is already amazingly powerful, has super speed, and can fly. And that's not even to mention her tactical advantages having grown up learning from the Amazons.
Without the bracelets, though, her power grows in a massive way, which means one of her most notable uniform attachments are actually hindering her from using her full power. One might wonder, why would she even wear them if they only keep her down in power level? Why not let her be the most powerful Wonder Woman she can be? For that, you will need to keep reading, as it is key to pinpointing another major weakness that she has.
12. Scarecrow Gas
Scarecrow's fear gas is used to, well, bring out your darkest fears. When the gas is inhaled, the inhaler will start to hallucinate whatever they fear most. People often are seen as crazy when they get into this state, but it is always uncertain how seriously people will react. Just about everyone has inhaled it, including Batman himself. Just like Batman, Wonder Woman could very well have trouble with the gas due to her human half. This has happened to her in the past, and it very well could happen again.
Obviously, Diana has super breath to blow away any sort of gas she sees. She also has the ability to hold her breath for long periods of time. However, if she does not see the gas due to Scarecrow making it invisible, there is a good shot that she will inhale the gas and see her fears. Scarecrow did capture her once when he exposed her to fear transmitters.
11. Her Secluded Upbringing
You may be wondering how an inability to relate possibly can be a weakness. For most, it isn't. However, Diana does care about the people she saves liking her. Early on, Wonder Woman has a lot of trouble trying to relate to humans of the world because she lived on a secluded island that kept her not only away from all men, but from all normal people. She has superpowers as well, which can make normal human problems seem minute to her. Several times, throughout various storylines, Diana does not seem to understand normal human issues or struggles a lot of times.
While she saves a lot of people, that does not keep her from hurting others along the way. The destruction she leaves is often unnoticed by her but definitely noticed by the people living in the path of it all. The question is simple: if you cannot understand the people and their problems, how do you successfully help them? Clearly Wonder Woman has an obvious weakness here.
10. Guns
People often assume that Wonder Woman cannot be harmed due to her amazing powers. However, as mentioned previously, her human side is vulnerable to a variety of things. One thing is a gun. You may be thinking that this is impossible, especially due to her bracelets and lightning quick speed deflecting them. However, her skin has able to be penetrated in various comics throughout the years. Meaning, if she was shot then she could be affected greatly by it. Devastation shot her and it definitely hurt her. Similar to people like Deadpool or Wolverine, Wonder Woman can heal relatively fast-- nothing close to the rate of those two, but pretty quick.
This means that as long as she is not shot in a vital organ, she can heal from it like a normal human could. However, she may heal quicker due to the Demigod side. This is essential as it allows for her to get back to action quicker. That said, guns could kill her if the bullet shot into a vital organ. However, she has remained pretty much immune to that sort of thing.
9. Greek Gods
Depending on the version of Wonder Woman we bring up, Greek gods have a major effect on her powers. She has battled some god in the past, but it has also claimed that she is related by blood to the gods. Originally, Golden Age Wonder Woman did not have a familial connection to the Greek gods. It seemed she developed it over time, as other versions of her have Diana come in with a similar backstory except that the gods bless her with power, mold her from clay, or have a god involved in doing the dirty to end up making Diana a Demigod.
Due to all of the connections, the gods could have easily taken her power away if they so desired to do so, which would obviously make her weaker by proxy. Anyone involved in giving her the power can thus take it away, as that has been the rule in most forms of mythology and likely would count here too. The story of Hercules has an angle such as this as well.
8. Different Dimensions
In a story from the 1960s, Wonder Woman travels to another dimension and ends up becoming powerless there. This has happened to characters in the past, due to the dimension not having connections to the previous one. Wonder Woman has her power from the Greek gods, and if she is not in the same dimensions as them, that very well could end up being the reason she does not have her powers.
This is different from traveling between planets, as the dimension is technically the same. It is the idea that leaving one place affects your standing there, which is explained in various Flash comics. In the new dimension, maybe there were no gods at all, which results in a Wonder Woman entirely without superpowers.
7. Piercing Weapons
One of the many things seen with the Amazons is old school weapons like spears and arrows. Both of these are used by Wonder Woman in her training, which is essential to all who wish to call themselves a true warrior of the Amazons. Through her training, it was discovered that she could be cut. Several times throughout the comics Wonder Woman has been seen bleeding, or with some sort of sharp object in her. Diana is not completely immortal, in fact she has even died before (sort of). Due to her demigod status, her human side can be hurt despite her God-like abilities.
One thing that is pretty obvious is that Wonder Woman's outfit often invites trouble for her, as her lack of armor in some areas can cost her. Diana's legs are exposed, as well as her arms. This has led to problems for her in the past, and could very well continue throughout her comic book life. At the end of the day, Wonder Woman can still be hurt by sharp objects powerful enough to go through her skin. All it takes is getting her in the right place.
6. Lost Or Damaged Bracelets
Remember earlier when you read that her bracelets are actually a weakener to Wonder Woman? They still are! However, the reason she wears them is not because it is a good fashion statement. Rather, she wears them because these power inhibitors allow her to control her massive amount of power. They allow for her to keep some of it suppressed, thus allowing the control. Without these bracelets, she does become a lot more powerful. However, she is by no means a hero.
Her powers go up, but so does her rage and she cannot control it. She can take them off, but if they get lost or broken and she does not put them back on after a certain period of time, it might be best just to invest in a new home away from wherever Wonder Woman us. Her power is high to begin with. Imagine an overly powerful Wonder Woman. The weakness comes into play here because her mind is pretty much gone in this blind rage that the bracelets help to keep down. Without these power inhibitors, she pretty much becomes a wild yet powerful animal.
5. Her Own Organs
Diana may be slow to age, unlike a normal human being-- plus she can always go to Themyscira where it seems like you can never age a day. However, like us, her body will one day shut down on her unless the Gods bless her with their status in the end. We now know sharp objects can penetrate into her body, of course. This means her own organs are a weakness for her, and can be targeted.
In one comic, she actually suffered internal bleeding from an attack. The force of something or someone hitting her could always lead to a trauma on the body that can cause organs to begin to fail or bleed in this case. It would not be shocking for Wonder Woman to die from an arrow going into her heart or another vital organ. In fact, the Legion of Doom knew this and tried to make her fight until her heart gave out once.
4. Bind of Veils
In a Batman comic years ago called Endgame, an old Greek relic that caused major hallucinations called the Bind of Veils was used to trick Wonder Woman. The idea was that she was sort of in a mind-control state and she would end up killing Batman. The Joker was the one who used the ancient Greek relic against her, but only because he wanted Wonder Woman to assume she'd killed him. She never truly did, but it was that assumption that could get to her. The Joker likes to do things for the laugh, so most feel he did this just to mess with Wonder Woman but others think he did it to turn her crazy.
Batman does end up winning in the end and manages to get Wonder Woman out of the hallucinating state. The Bind of Veils has been considered something of a Wonder Woman kryptonite by many comic fans. However, it was sort of avoided a lot after this and in the New 52, Batman claims Wonder Woman does not have much of a weakness. Interestingly, we're now in the Rebirth Period so the Bind of Veils could make a return.
3. Poison
Like Scarecrow's fear toxin, poison can affect Wonder Woman-- if you can manage to get it into her system. In the animated movie Justice League: Doom, Batman has a plan to take down every member of the original Justice League and finds that the best way to get to Diana is to poison her. Obviously the bad guys get their hands on this and develop the plan to kill the League members. Cheetah would add poison to her claws and manage to scratch Wonder Woman once, which was enough to poison her and make her believe everyone around her was actually Cheetah.
Wonder Woman wound up attacking innocent people, and even police officers trying to stop her. The idea was to have her fight until her heart gave out, which would have happened if Cyborg did not interfere at the last minute. That said, poison will affect her in a big way if she gets it into her bloodstream.
2. Superman
In the New 52, Superman did not have a notable relationship with Lois Lane. Instead, he was with Wonder Woman. This allowed for the two most powerful beings to quite literally become DC's power couple. Batman would tell Superman that if it came down to it and something happened with Wonder Woman, he would be the only person who could stop her. It was essentially Batman saying that clearly Superman could match her and beat her in combat due to his supreme abilities.
However, it was also due to Diana and her connection to the Man of Steel. Their relationship could be exploited to calm Wonder Woman down. Whether it was a villain threatening his life with a Kryptonite Knife or Superman himself saying that their relationship would be done if she did not stop what she was doing, it might work to take her down a peg. This is essential, as it allows for someone to control her a bit. Then, if by chance it did come to blows, Superman is her ultimate weakness as he can match her in every single way.
1. Having Her Hands Tied By A Man
If there was a weakness that you would never have expected Wonter Woman to have, it would be this one. This feminist icon was not designed for such a status early on. In fact, the creator of the Wonder Woman character and actual psychologist, William Moulton Marston, creator her as a vehicle to express his own opinions. He felt that marriages were stronger if they involved, well, a bit of bondage if you will. As a result, he wanted the character of Wonder Woman to have a weakness connected to this.
Due to his love of this world, Marston made the Golden Era Wonder Woman become powerless once a man, and ONLY a man, tied her hands. Known as Aphrodite's Law, usually it was done via the bracelets, but the fact that this made her powerless was insane. It wasn't like there was magic rope needed, either.
When the character was revamped years later, a lot of the bondage crap was dropped. Pretty much the only thing kept from that world is her infamous lasso. However, it is not exactly designed as the BDSM lasso, so it looks like we're good.
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Are there any of weaknesses Wonder Woman has that we forgot to mention? Let us know in the comments!