Wonder Woman has been having a pretty great time of things in the last few months, spurred on by the commercial success and critical acclaim of Absolute Wonder Woman. People are talking about a Wonder Woman comic constantly, which is something of a change from the last year. Wonder Woman has gotten a lot of attention, but because it’s a Tom King comic, that means that some of that attention is pretty negative. There’s multiple reasons people don’t like King’s Wonder Woman, but a big complaint about the series stems less from the creative team and more from a subject that has been one of some controversy among Wonder Woman fans years — the patriotism of Wonder Woman.
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The current run of Wonder Woman pits the character against the Sovereign, the secret king of America. The book has traded pretty heavily on the more idealistic notions of the United States, while also playing with the self-same problems in the systems via the Sovereign, who sees Wonder Woman as a major threat. But Wonder Woman is not an American, she’s not even a mortal, so her devotion to the United States, something that has been a part of the character since the very beginning, has always felt rather odd. Wonder Woman’s current story and it’s deeply patriotic themes now has fans wondering whether Wonder Woman needs to be such an American patriot.
Wonder Woman’s Patriotism Is a Frustrating Part of the Character’s Bedrock
Wonder Woman’s history is one of the more interesting of comic characters, vis-a-vis the feminist beliefs of creator William Moulton Marston and the United States has always loomed large in the history of Wonder Woman. Looking back at Marston, there’s a feeling that he actually believed that the United States would become a place where feminism could take root, and that’s why he brought Wonder Woman into being — using her stories to teach American readers that there’s a better way. Wonder Woman’s beliefs in truth and justice fit into the mythological framework of the United States, and she “fell” in love with the United States as personified by Steve Trevor, following him to his homeland to teach them the ways of loving submission.
Steve Trevor has long been Wonder Woman’s connection to American patriotism, something that has been heavily played with in King’s Wonder Woman. One of the most controversial scenes of the entire run so far, took place after Trevor’s death, with Wonder Woman crying while holding the flag he was buried with as a member of the United States Armed Forces. The panel was circulated as a meme, with most people not really understanding the scene and what it actually meant because there was no context.
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Wonder Woman works as a character in a variety of situations, from the mythological monster fighter to the foreign diplomat to the patriotic hero. But by the same token, Wonder Woman’s patriotic side has been a little overblown at times, and it’s easy to see it in a negative light because at the very least, Wonder Woman is a Greek aristocrat created from clay and given life by the gods (we don’t play that Zeus origin here). She has no prior relationship with the United States other than liking some of the philosophical things it represents. In every way, Wonder Woman should almost certainly not be the kind of stereotypical patriotic character that she sometimes gets saddled with being.
However, there is a place for Wonder Woman as a patriot, and it’s to use the character in the same way that Captain America has often been used. Both characters definitely trade in the iconography of the United States — Cap wears the flag and Wonder Woman’s costume has multiple design flourishes that mimic those of the American flag — and their belief systems align with the promise of the United States. However, Captain America is not a jingoistic character at all. Captain America was born of left leaning Jewish men in the 1940s, and the character canonically supported Roosevelt and the New Deal. Captain America believes in the best of the United States, but he doesn’t believe the best of the United States. He judges it on what it should be and when he finds it wanting, he lets everyone know. Wonder Woman, if she has to be used as a patriotic character, should be one who questions the United States and keeps it honest because ultimately, that’s the crux of what a real patriot is: someone who believes in their country whilst also holding it to the high standard.
Wonder Woman’s American Patriotism Should Be a Question, Never a Certainty
Patriotism is something fraught with peril in pop culture, because it can be used for terrible things. Patriotism that is jingoistic and, for lack of a better word, childish, will always judge the United States in a positive light despite evidence to the contrary. And it’s this type of patriotism that Tom King’s run has reminded people of. On the surface, King’s run seems to center Wonder Woman in American-ness. But, when you more closely read the story, Wonder Woman isn’t exercising the kind of negative patriotism in the battle against the Sovereign. In fact, there’s a reading of the run that it’s calling some of the more negative aspects of the United States – with Wonder Woman serving to hold up that higher standard of what America should be versus what it is.
Serving in that capacity, there is certainly a place for Wonder Woman as a patriotic character, but her status as a patriot shouldn’t be taken as a given or even expected. That’s boring. Wonder Woman was raised in what is basically a perfect civilization. She can look at the United States and see the good parts, love and respect them, while also seeing the bad parts and wanting things to be better. She should never be played as someone who is slavishly devoted to America and its greatness. That’s not an interesting character choice, and Wonder Woman is much better as an anachronistic character to the natural order of the US, an outsider who sees more of it than most. Making her a completely patriotic character takes away many of the more interesting aspects of the character, a character fundamentally just wants us all to be better.
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