DC Exploration: Mala

 

Who is She?

Mala is one of the Amazons of Themyscira and one of the first, being one of the few to appear and be named in Wonder Woman's first issue. She was Wonder Woman's closest friend (and in one continuity, the princess' lover) growing up and friendly rival during the competition to decide who would leave to go to man's world, as well as the other finalist along with Wonder Woman. While most important in the Golden Age, Wonder Woman does bring her and the adventures she has a kid with her up every so often. She also runs reform island, a part of the Amazon land used for the rehabilitation of criminals and was a guardian of doom's doorway, a portal the Amazons know of the land of Hades, the underworld.

How strong is she?

Well it's kind of questionable. At the very least she's not only an Amazon, but particularly strong for one. She was one of the two finalists in the competition to go to man's world, has the most victories by TKO in the underground Amazonian fighting arena, was given the very important task of guarding doom's doorway, and was able to fight against the amazon Artemis who's very powerful even for an Amazon. With most Amazons Warriors being in the High Vigilante to Low Meta range, it's pretty fair to say that Mala as a particularly strong Amazon should at least be Low Meta level. It's possible she's higher. It's implied somewhat that she was relative to Diana at a younger age, which would include the Pre-Crisis Feats of "Wonder Tot" that reach at least the Mid Meta. However this scaling is a lot more sketchy. 

As a particularly strong Amazon she would be comparable to most upper end vigilantes in the DCU such as Batman, Green Arrow, Nightwing, Deathstroke etc in terms of overall capability as well as other low metas. 

What are her powers?

Mala doesn't really have any special powers other then what is standard for an Amazon, she's just very physically capable for one. This includes superhuman strength, durability, speed, agility, and stamina. Mala like other Amazons also has agelessness, can survive without food or water so long as she's on Themyscira and can use a ritual to fully heal herself and purify her of toxins so long as she's touching the ground through the power of the Earth. Like other Amazon Warriors she has trained for 1,000s of years in combat including hand to hand, skill with most classical weapons, horsewomanship, etc. Mala is particularly skilled for an Amazon for the above reasons. Like many Amazons she may also know some magic spells and very likely knows much about various kinds of monsters and how to kill them. Mala has a particularly large amount of experience as she is known for her adventurous personality, even leaving to go into man's world herself at one point. She also wears the bracelets of submission which she can use to reflect projectiles with Amazons regularly practicing reflecting bullets. 

Mala has two more interesting capabilities. One of them is that she is super smart. Even among the Amazons who are expected to learn every language in their childhood and given enhanced wisdom by Athena, Mala is very smart having installed telepathic capabilities into the original invisible plane, impressing Wonder Woman herself, Diana having invented a purple ray that can restore people from too quickly heal Steve Trevor. This may also be partially responsible for her incredible levels of skill to the point she even beat Wonder Woman in some categories in the two contests they had against each other. Mala also is known for her unusual mounts, riding into adventure depending on continuity on giant rabbits, kangaroo mounts, and most notably the swan plane which is later revealed to be a spacecraft.

The swan plane is possibly part of the swan fleet, starcrafts capable of quickly traversing cosmic distances, teleporting, creating a deflector shield that reflected attacks, and using a mental radio to transmit telepathic messages. 

What are her weaknesses?

Mala like most Amazons doesn't use massively destructive long-range weaponry as it is against their code of fairness. Beyond that, she's rather impulsive and adventurous as opposed to her more thoughtful and patient friend Diana. 

In conclusion Mala is most likely a Low Meta, possibly Higher. She could probably defeat most greek myth monsters in Wonder Woman's lore if she had to as Amazons are expected though she did lose a fight against a Medusa (albeit after a surprise attack.) Compared to most other low metas, assuming she doesn't get the swan plane how well she does kinda depends. I presume she would do well against any low meta whose powers primary involve using range based attacks like Stargirl or Captain Cold as her skill and attack reflection would be able to protect her. That said she lacks the hax to beat anyone she can't just bludgeon with her bare hands and so I think she would struggle against more brutish kind of Low Metas like Killer Croc or Mammoth. The most interesting fights would be against other character who are highly skilled melee fighters like most of the Bat Family or Katana.