Cheetah is the latest to join the ranks of DCEU villains - but is she a truly bad person, or do fans feel sympathy for her?

In a change from the norm, the DCEU brought a story where the traditional aspects of good versus bad were subverted. Wonder Woman 1984 might have received mixed reviews, but the characters were well executed asthe audience is inclined to feel sympathetic even for the villains.

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Barbara Ann Minerva was presented as a person with low self-esteem who happened to get her wish fulfilled before this twisted her into becoming the Cheetah. Due to this backstory, there are many aspects of Barbara thatare sympathetic and relatable. Still, that doesnt mean it absolves her from blame for the bad things she did, which need to be pointed out as well.

After wishing for the natural abilities Diana possessed, Barbara found herself a confident, strong, and charming woman. Unlike Diana, though, Barbara became arrogant over these attributes and became the opposite of Diana in personality.

It proved that Barbara had an inherent darkness to her that Diana didnt and that the Dreamstone might have just pushed this aspect of Barbara out in the open. She didnt appreciate how the Dreamstone gave her the confidence she lacked, instead deciding that being charming and sought-after was the only important thing.

The DCEU version of Barbara is very different from the comic book Cheetah, who was a nasty piece of work from the beginning. The movie Barbara couldnt catch a break, as she was always overlooked and underappreciatedin life.

She knew more than her fair share in her line of work and was a pleasant person to be around in general, yet her lack of confidence led to people ignoring Barbara altogether. This is something thats relatable to many people, as Barbara developed a severe inferiority complex.

It would be incorrect to claim that Diana was a completely good person, seeing as she did have several selfish moments herself. However, she decided to do the right thing eventually, while Barbara actively worked against Diana in order to preserve her own wish.

She could have accepted that it wasnt her place to benefit from the Dreamstone when millions suffered but decided to side with Maxwell Lord to take Diana down. Due to her actions, the world came very close to being irreparably plunged into chaos.

To be fair, while Barbara did deliver a beatdown to Diana, she didnt go all-out and eliminate her opponent altogether. Due to her former friendship, Barbara retained a sense of attachment to Diana that allowed her to show mercy after shed won.

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Had she been completely evil, Barbara would have finished the job right then and there to prevent Diana from doing anything in the future. Her decision to let Diana live is an indication that Barbara did have an appreciation for the kindness Diana had shown her.

Despite becoming an apex predator, perhaps the worst thing Barbara did in the movie was to twist Dianas sentiments. When she became worse and embraced her evil side, Barbara claimed that Diana never understood her and wanted to stop her from being happy.

Its clear that Diana genuinely did want to be Barbaras friend when they first met and her kindness toward her had nothing to do with pity. By throwing Dianas good nature right in her face, Barbara cut herself from the one person that hadnt belittled her.

There are movies similar to Wonder Woman 1984 where characters have to deal with heavy themes and this one brought up the issue of harassment. Its a shame that Barbara had to lose her faith in people so quickly after gaining her newfound powers, as a man harassed her to no end.

It was the recollection of this event that ultimately caused her to reach murderous lengths when she later savagely attacked the man. Its entirely possible that Barbara wouldve turned out like Diana had she not had to suffer such abuse.

By the end of the story, everyones wishes were renounced when Maxwell Lord gave up his powers. This left Barbara back into her old form after her corruption into the Cheetah. Rather than display any measure of repentance, she only seemed sad about losing her powers.

Even Maxwell Lord made his regret known, but Barbara didnt feel the same way since she didnt approach Diana later on when things were back to normal. It appears as if she might have remained in her bitter way and continued being a darker personality afterward.

Barbara had never had any connections to understand how human behavior worked, being easily manipulated even by cheesy behavior from Maxwell Lord as she had never felt desirable beforehand. It was after she realized she might lose the Dreamstone wish that she became a baddie.

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This situation was the result of Barbara being manipulated by Maxwell Lord rather than her being an evil person from the start. All in all, it wasnt her fault that she was thrust into such a scenario, not when she had no clue where it was all headed.

Barbara sealed her transition into becoming the Cheetah when she wished to become an apex predator. She still had a chance to renounce her wish and do right, especially since she was in such close proximity to Maxwell Lord, but dived completely into her dark side.

By giving in, the Cheetah entered the list of DCEU villains, one who had the best shot at avoiding this status. Had Lord been successful in stealing the life force of the people in the world, Cheetah would have been just as culpable since she was the one protecting Lord at the time.

Watching Barbara feel important was one of the best moments of Wonder Woman 1984, as she finally achieved her wish of being accepted. At the heart of it, all she ever wanted was to be considered a person worthy of notice and thats really not a bad thing.

Despite Barbara going to terrible lengths in the pursuit of such a wish, one can sympathize with where she was coming from as acceptance is an intrinsic part of a person. Had she received this feeling earlier, the Cheetah might never have come about.

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Saim Cheeda is an entertainment writer covering all of Film, TV, Gaming and Books. He's been a writer for Valnet since 2017, contributing 500+ articles for The Gamer, The Things, Game Rant, Comic Book Resources and Screen Rant. Apart from freelance writing, Saim is a lifestyle blogger, co-owning the blog 3 States Apart.http://3statesapart.com

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Wonder Woman 1984: 5 Ways Cheetah Is A Sympathetic Character (& 5 Ways Shes The Worst) - Screen Rant