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Overview[]

Background[]

Sensation Comics-1 1stWonder

The Golden Age Wonder Woman Sensation Comics Vol.1 #1 (Jan 1942)

Wonder Woman exploded in the comic books in All Star Comics #8, published on December of 1941 during the Golden Age of Comics.

She was the creation of American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston who had became famous with his creation of the systolic blood pressure measuring device that is the basis of the polygraph machine. Marston had earlier given an interview in which he derided the comic book industry which he claimed had yet to fulfill its creative potential. Marston was subsequently challenged by DC Comics to do just that. His creation was Wonder Woman and she would go on to become the first prominent female superhero in history and the archetype of all future ones as well.

Although she was not the first female hero in comic book history; unlike many of the others Wonder Woman was neither a token sidekick or love interest to a male superhero. As a strong, unconventional, outspoken liberated woman who preached the value of female strength and dignity, Wonder Woman thus became one of the strongest proponents of gender equality and a feminist icon even to this day and incidentally a major comic book superhero.

Born Diana, Princess of the Amazons which was a tribe consisting solely of immortal females who were enslaved by brutal men before they were able to liberate themselves. The Amazons chose to live in isolation on a mysterious island in the Pacific first known as Paradise Island and has been retconned as Themyscira in modern depictions. As a reminder of their period of enslavement, all Amazons wear a pair of bracelets which were meant to represent the shackles that they had once been bound with.

During WWII, a young US Army pilot Steve Trevor crash lands on their island and is rescued by Diana who falls in love with him. His story of their ongoing struggle against the Axis Powers makes Queen Hippolyta realize that their time of isolation has come to an end and that the Amazons could not afford to allow the Axis to claim victory. Deciding that they must prevent the fall of freedom and liberty in Man's World, she decrees a competition to be held to select their finest, most valiant, and most skilled of champions to represent them.

Diana won and as per Amazon's traditions; as their envoy was clad in dress symbolizing Trevor's iconography, the U.S. flag patch adorning his uniform as a sign of respect. Diana was also equipped with the Golden Lasso of Truth, forged from the Girdle of Gaea and is not only indestructible and infinitely elastic, but can bind even a God within its coils and force anyone to tell the truth or alternatively compel them to obey her commands. As well as an invisible plane built by secret Amazon technology. Returning Steve Trevor to the United States, she would go on to fight for the cause of peace against the Axis Powers and was dubbed Wonder Woman.

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The Greek Connection; Wonder Woman Vol.2 #1 (Feb 1987)

Alongside Steve Trevor and her sidekicks, the Holiday Girls including Etta Candy; Wonder Woman fought against such foes such as Dr. Poison, Doctor Psycho, the Duke of Deception, and the Cheetah, and most notably; the Roman God of War Mars who sought to instigate and exacerbate WWII to increase his influence and power.

Post-WWII, she would join the Justice League of America and becoming a key member of the organization. Like her male contemporaries, Wonder Woman would gain a teenage sidekick in the form of Wonder Girl aka Donna Troy in 1961. Troy was rescued from a burning building by Diana who discovered the girl was had been orphaned and brought her to Paradise Island and raised among the Amazons before she adopted a costume patterned after her heroine. Troy would go on to become an important member of the Teen Titans and a vital hero in her own right and was subsequently renamed Troia in 1989. A second Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark would debut in 1996.

By virtue of her long history, Wonder Woman has undergone numerous modernizations and revamped reboots to her origins over the decades which has augmented her mythological influence and connection to the Greek Gods.

It was first claimed that the Amazons did not bear children thanks to their immortality and Hippolyta, longing for such a child―sculpted a female baby girl out of clay. Hera took pity on her and brought the girl to life whom was named Diana. Other stories have had Hera with the aid of the other Goddesses Athena, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hestia, and Artemis bring the clay child to life and also bless the girl with mythical strength, wisdom, beauty, and martial skills. Other incarnations hint at her father being Hercules who raped her mother while others proclaim that Diana is in fact, a demigod and being the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus.

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The Trinity of DC Comics

Notably, she has become the Amazons' Champion of Peace against the Greek God Ares (the modern incarnation of her WWII enemy of Mars) as well as thwarting the machinations of the Greek Sorceress Circe who once plagued Odysseus.

Nevertheless despite her many reinventions over the decades, she continues to serve as a symbol of female empowerment and remains dedicated towards defending Man's World as the unequaled Warrior Princess of the Amazons and a key figure in DC Comics. Wonder Woman is often considered an equal member of the "Trinity" consisting of herself, Superman, and Batman as DC Comics' greatest and most popular champions. Like them, she has also been adapted numerous times over the decades in various cartoons, live action television series, and feature films.

Major Plots[]

Personality and Traits[]

Trivia[]

Quotes[]

Other Versions[]

  • Wonder Woman (Brady Kids)
  • Wonder Woman (Super Friends)
  • Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 1974)
  • Wonder Woman (Red Son)
  • Wonder Woman (JL: New Frontier)
  • Wonder Woman (JL: Crisis on Two Earths)
  • Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 2009)
  • Wonder Woman (Apocalypse)
  • Wonder Woman (JL: Doom)
  • Wonder Woman (JL: Flashpoint Paradox)
  • Wonder Woman (JLA Adventures)
  • Wonder Woman (Brave & Bold)
  • Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman 2011)
  • Wonder Woman (LEGO Movie)
  • Wonder Woman (LEGO DC Comics)
  • Wonder Woman (DC Animated Movie Universe)
  • Wonder Woman (Justice League Action)

Related Pages[]

Affiliations[]

Wonder Woman Legacy Characters[]

  • Wonder Woman (JL: Gods & Monsters)
  • Wonder Girl (Wonder Woman 1975)
  • Wonder Girl (Young Justice)

Significant Locations[]

  • Themyscria
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