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Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman in Justice #5 (June 2006)
Art by Doug Braithwaite and Alex Ross
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAll Star Comics #8
(released October 1941)[1] (December 1941)
Created by
CharactersClark Kent
Hank Henshaw
See alsoAlternative versions of Wonder

Wonder Woman is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.[3] The character is a founding member of the Justice League. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 published October 21, 1941[4] with her first feature in Sensation Comics #1 in January 1942. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously ever since.[5] In her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, her official title is Princess Diana of Themyscira. When blending into the society outside of her homeland, she sometimes adopts her civilian identity Diana Prince.[6]

Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton),[2] and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne,[7] are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance.[2][8][9][10][11] Marston's comics featured his ideas on DISC theory,[12] and the character drew a great deal of inspiration from early feminists.

Wonder Woman's Bronze Age origin story relates that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and was given a life as an Amazon, along with superhuman powers as gifts by the Greek gods. In 2011, DC changed her background with the retcon that she is the biological daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, jointly raised by her mother and her aunts Antiope and Menalippe. The character has changed in depiction over the decades, including briefly losing her powers entirely in the late 1960s; by the 1980s, artist George Perez gave her an athletic look and emphasized her Amazonian heritage.[13][14] She possesses an arsenal of magical items, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in older stories, a range of devices based on Amazon technology.

Wonder Woman's character was created during World War II; the character in the story was initially depicted fighting Axis forces as well as an assortment of colorful supervillains, although over time her stories came to place greater emphasis on characters, deities, and monsters from Greek mythology. Many stories depicted Wonder Woman freeing herself from bondage, which counterpointed the "damsels in distress" trope that was common in comics during the 1940s.[15][16] In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies and from the clutches of the evil Cheetah, bent on destroying her, including classic villains such as Ares, Doctor Poison, Circe, Doctor Psycho, and Giganta, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale and the First Born. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960).[17]

The character is an archetypical figure in popular culture that has been adapted to various media. October 21 is Wonder Woman Day, commemorating the release of her first appearance in All Star Comics #8[18] (with the exception of 2017 which held the day on June 3 to tie in with the release of the film of the same name).[19]

Wonder Woman has been featured in various media from radio to television and film, and appears in merchandise sold around the world, such as apparel, toys, dolls, jewelry, and video games. Shannon Farnon, Susan Eisenberg, Maggie Q, Lucy Lawless, Keri Russell, Rosario Dawson, Cobie Smulders, Rachel Kimsey and Stana Katic among others, have provided the character's voice for animated adaptations. Wonder Woman has been depicted in both film and television by Cathy Lee Crosby, Lynda Carter, and in the DC Extended Universe films by Gal Gadot.

Characters[]

Diana Prince[]

Diana Prince is the main character associated with the Wonder Woman alias.

Orana[]

Orana was a red-haired Amazon who challenged and defeated Princess Diana for the title of Wonder Woman in WW issue #250 (December 1978). Orana adopted the self-imposed title as the "New Wonder Woman" and departed Paradise Island for New York City. She was killed in action shortly into her reign and allowed Diana to reclaim the role as Wonder Woman.

Artemis of Bana-Mighdall[]

Due to being in the demon dimension, Queen Hippolyta began to see visions of the future. One of those visions included Wonder Woman dying. Keeping this to herself, she called for a new Contest for the title of Wonder Woman, claiming that she felt that Diana had proven inadequate in the role despite Diana's insistence that the world outside was more complicated than they had imagined. Initially excluding the new Amazons, Queen Hippolyta submitted to a vote on the whole to include them at Diana's behest. Through some mystical managing on Hippolyta's part, Artemis eventually won the Contest and became the new Wonder Woman.

Hippolyta[]

Diana, after her death, was granted divinity as the Goddess of Truth by her gods for such faithful devotion. During her brief time as a god of Olympus, Diana was replaced in the role of Wonder Woman by her mother. As opposed to Diana receiving the title in honor, Hippolyta's role as Wonder Woman was meant to be a punishment for her betrayal in Artemis' death as well as for unintentionally killing her own daughter

Donna Troy[]

  1. All Star Comics #8 was cover-dated Dec./Jan. 1941/1942, but released in October 1941. (See Library of Congress. Archived September 7, 2017, at the Wayback Machine)
  2. Garner, Dwight (October 23, 2014). "Books – Her Past Unchained 'The Secret History of Wonder Woman,' by Jill Lepore". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/books/the-secret-history-of-wonder-woman-by-jill-lepore.html. Retrieved October 23, 2014. 
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