Tom King has created "a perfect villain" for Wonder Woman in Sovereign - and he now explains why

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Who is Wonder Woman's arch-nemesis? Batman has the Joker, Superman has Lex Luthor, but for Diana Prince, it's a little more vague - and writer Tom King took over the character's DC comic book series with a mind to define that for the future.

He may have done that with the Sovereign. The character, which Popverse first broke news of back in August 2023, has previously been described by King as "a Joker-level villain" for Wonder Woman - and over the course of the past few months he has stepped out of the shadows to be revealed as a domineering puppetmaster behind American politics, and the lastest head of a family line that has secretly been in control of the United States for generations.

As King tells us, the idea of the Sovereign came from him wanting Wonder Woman to fight not just a villain or even a villain super-team, but something altogether bigger.

"I wanted to set up Diana as rebelling against a system," King tells Popverse's Sam Stone. "What I think makes Diana unique is, unlike Clark and Bruce, she’s rebellious. She’s trying to bring something revolutionary to the world. She’s trying to say that the world should not be the way that it is, she’s saying that it can be a better place – not in a fascistic way, but in a better way because she has faith in the people to create a better world."

So for Wonder Woman's newest villain, Tom King went casting for the complete opposite of the Amazonian warrior. In essence, 'The Man.'

"I wanted to set up a villain that represented the opposite of that, that represented the status quo, that represented the system, the power, the man, whatever you want to call that thing that, when you’re born, is the great power that you’ll be fighting with for the rest of time," says King. "When you go out into the world, you find out you’re constantly being restricted by 400 years of history that has nothing to do with you and now it’s defining you. It’s like 'I didn’t get a say in any of this!'"

King says Sovereign is "a perfect Wonder Woman villain" because he is the system, and everything Diana has ever fought against.

The one downside for King? Sovereign's vocabulary.

"With Wonder Woman, I’ve got to do Sovereign’s voice," KIng says with a laugh. "He’s so fun but I’ve got to do so many three-to-five syllable words that it drives me insane. But I love it!"

Check out our full interview with Wonder Woman writer Tom King here.

The first volume of King and Sampere's run is being collected in Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Outlaw, due out July 2. Issues #1 through #9 are available now.

Read up on the best Wonder Woman comics of all time.