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Superman has Lois Lane, Batman has Selina Kyle, and Wonder Woman has.... Steve? While the fated pairs of Clark & Lois and Bruce & Selina seem etched in stone, for many the relationship of Diana & Steve seems etched more in pencil - very light pencil. Even one of the daughters of Wonder Woman writer Tom King thinks so.

So that's why this week's Wonder Woman #9 and its focus on Wonder Woman's romance with Colonel Steve Trevor is important; it's the first issue of this current run focusing squarely on their relationship, and for King it's a chance to define what that relationship actually is, and why it doesn't (yet) have the acceptance that Superman and Batman's relationships have.

"I think what’s unique about it is that it doesn’t have the universal acceptance of the other two," says King, who has written all three of DC's super couples, to Popverse's Sam Stone. "With Selina and Bruce, some people would say Vicki Vale or that kind of thing but, generally speaking, no one resists that Catwoman should be with Batman or that Clark should be with Lois. With Steve and Diana, I think people do have a resistance to it. Even my daughter is like 'Is he good enough for her? She’s a god. Why is she with this colonel? He’s not even a general!'"

King, who served in the CIA's counterterrorism efforts for seven years, wants to help turn the tide on Steve Trevor, who he admits, was "very generic" for decades.

"What about him is special enough for him to be with one of the greatest, if not the greatest, superheroes in the world? Nobody says that about Lois or Selina, but they say that about Steve," says King. "I think there are a lot of reasons for that. Not in recent runs but, for many years, he was very generic. I don’t think he had much of a personality in the ‘40s, ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s that people could point to and say 'That’s a really interesting character!'"

King is careful to point out that more recent work, especially beginning with George Perez's run, helped to change that, but it has set a tone.

"When it gets to the ‘80s and ‘90s onwards, they’ve done some really interesting things with him, but that’s 40 years where he was Boring Steve," says King. "I think that aspect of it makes it unique, in telling how you justify that these two characters belong together and have a special connection that’s worth the readers’ time."

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.

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