History of Cheetah https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNimj8GqfQs

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DC Comics’ most iconic heroes have equally iconic villains. Lex Luthor is as prevalent in the collective consciousness as Superman, and the same, of course, can be said of Batman and the Joker. And yet, of the so called “big three” – Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman – the latter is the only hero whose arch-nemesis isn’t as readily conjured to those who have not read the comics, and yet the rivalry is no less iconic. That nemesis is the Cheetah.

When examining what exactly it is about this rivalry that makes it so dynamic, it does not take long to reach the conclusion that these two characters are incredibly similar – they have similar powers, they share much in the way of personality (determination, competitiveness, aggression), and of course they are both iconic powerful female characters. What all of these similarities do, however, is highlight all the more brightly the fundamental differences between them.

Diana was raised from birth to be a warrior. She was trained every day of her life to gain mastery over her Olympian powers as well as her Amazonian abilities. That mastery is very much a physical exercise, but also one of character – the wisdom to know when and how to use those powers and abilities is just as valuable as the capacity to use them. It is this level of training that makes Diana more than just a warrior. What makes her Wonder Woman is not just her powers, but her ability to discern how to use them justly. By contrast, Barbara Ann Minerva seizes her powers in haste. She does not even take the time to learn fully the requirements of the guardian before becoming the Cheetah, with disastrous results. And though she gained many of the same abilities as Wonder Woman (speed, strength, agility, etc.) she is still as untrained and impulsive as she was before – rendered even less in control by her thirst for blood. This is both a strength and a weakness, as she lacks the mastery to ever truly best Wonder Woman but remains a vicious and unpredictable foe.

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Likewise, Wonder Woman represents the force of love in heroism. For all of her fierceness and warrior nature, what is the most key component of the Amazon culture is the propagation of love among people. This is seen by the Amazons as a gift only they can bestow, as “Man’s World” is incapable. It’s a rather blunt metaphor, as far as gender goes, but it is something central to the mythos of Wonder Woman and has been reinforced time and again throughout the DC Universe. The best example of this outside of the Wonder Woman mythos is within that of the Green Lantern, where the Star Sapphires – those who wield the Violet Light of Love – are exclusively female, and Wonder Woman herself was deputized as a Star Sapphire during the Blackest Night event. The Cheetah, however, is driven only by her own ambition. As an archaeologist see sought fame, as the Cheetah she seeks power, and ultimately it is her shame at being defeated so many times by Wonder Woman that fuels her continued vendetta – a vendetta in which she effectively abandons the tribe that gave her power so that she could be their guardian.

That isn’t to say that women aren’t capable of aggression and brutality (as both the Amazons and the Star Sapphires has proven numerous times), nor is it to say that men are incapable of love and compassion, but rather the mythology proposes that within the context of the Emotional Spectrum, women have a more natural affinity to love, whereas men’s affinity lies in rage and greed. And herein lies the key to the Wonder Woman / Cheetah rivalry. By forsaking love and compassion and embracing rage and greed, Cheetah denies to herself a key part of her identity – she denies her “female” strength. Their rivalry, therefore, is one of feminist ideology, where the Cheetah represents the act of becoming more “male” in order to achieve fame, power, and respect. Wonder Woman then represents the much more progressive view that strength and independence do not have to be won at the expense of one’s female identity.

In essence, Wonder Woman is a symbol of female empowerment – literally meaning the empowering of what is “female” – which, in this case, the mythology proposes is the ability to love. The Cheetah’s opposition to Wonder Woman then is not just a physical threat, but a threat to the very foundation on which Wonder Woman stands, which is why this rivalry stands among the greatest in the DC Universe.

>>25719
Holy balls, that art style is hideous

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Better than this

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>>26007 Which in turn is better than this

(259x449)

(474x341)

>>26100
Nice ones