I have had this thought,nothing ruined the general perception of Wonder Woman like DCAU!Wonder Woman. The way she was portrayed in that show is why people see her as this warrior first type character, it's why the amazons have such a terrible reputation. That show did it before the new 52, before she killed Maxwell Lord.
That show made them man haters without the full context of their isolation and the reasons behind it. They did not go over the victimization the amazons experienced at the hands of men, it did not delve into that due to that victimization the amazons opted for isolation, and that isolation was due to fear not hate (and themyscira was a punishment). They had hippolyta fucking BANISH Diana for some fucking bullshit. Why not do the "sending a champion" route?
Let me not get started on Diana herself. The key aspect of Diana was that she was not supposed to have the same fear and distrust of Man's World as her sisters, which is why she was so fit to be champion (beyond the fact she won the tournament). She did not face the same oppression and victimization that her sisters experienced, so how they portrayed her in this weird ass misandrist way was fucking dumb.
I know it's an early 2000s show but they handled the feminist aspects of Wonder Woman so terribly. They totally missed the mark on her pacifist nature. Where was her general kindness? She was this strawman misandrist character that dudes would point to and say "see? Feminism is terrible".
I swear they were trying to make it into this "both sides" bullshit with Diana and the amazons. This is something that occurs ALOT in adaptations of the amazons, they are so afraid of delving into the violence, trauma, and victimization women experience at the hands of men and just make the amazons something they are not supposed to be. They are agents of love and peace, Diana is supposed to be the biggest symbol of that.
But the creators of that show did not care about that, they did not care about Wonder Woman. All they cared about was having her have the hots for Batman. They did make her quite the powerhouse in that show, so I will give them that I guess but personality wise, what a total miss on the mark.
P.S.
The mischaracterization of Diana in that show is why I hate wonderbats I think.
