Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. She is an Amazon and Olympian. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in Sensation Comics #1 in January 1942. She was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston, and artist Harry G. Peter in 1941. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance. She is one of the first DC superheroes and is one of the strongest superheroes of all time. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously ever since.
An Amazon princess and warrior, Wonder Woman is known in her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, by her official title Princess Diana of Themyscira. When blending into the society outside her homeland, she sometimes adopts her civilian identity, Diana Prince. Wonder Woman's original/first origin story dates from the Golden Age of Comic Books, which relays that she was sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and given a life as an Amazon by birth, along with superpowers as gifts from the Greek gods. In the 2010s from The New 52, DC introduced an alternative/new origin, a new canon origin for Wonder Woman in which Diana has become the biological daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta and still getting the blessings of superpowers from the Greek gods, her origin has changed since then, replacing the clay origin, and this current canon retconned origin is also used in her film adaptation. Since her introduction, the character’s depiction has changed manu times over the decades. This included briefly losing her powers entirely in the late 1960s, and being reinvented in the 1980s by artist George Perez with an athletic look which emphasized her Amazonian heritage. 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. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies bent on destroying her, including her archenemy Cheetah and classic villains such as Ares, Circe, Doctor Poison, Giganta, Doctor Psycho, and Doctor Cyber, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale, the Silver Swan, and Grail. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society of America and Justice League.
The character is an archetypical figure in popular culture recognized worldwide, partly due to being widely adapted into television, film, animation, apparel, merchandise, video games, and toys, with Wonder Woman Day celebrated on October 21 each year. 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 film and television by Linda Harrison, Cathy Lee Crosby, Lynda Carter, Megan Gale, Adrianne Palicki, and Gal Gadot.
Publication history
Creation
In an October 1940 interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium. This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics. At that time, Marston wanted to create his own new superhero; Marston's wife and fellow psychologist Elizabeth suggested to him that it should be a woman:Marston introduced the idea to Gaines. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman. Marston also drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship. Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8, scripted by Marston. Marston was the creator of a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph. Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest than men in certain situations and could work more efficiently.
Marston designed Wonder Woman to be an allegory for the ideal love leader; the kind of woman who he believed should run society. "Frankly, Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, I believe, should rule the world", Marston wrote.
In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote:
Marston was an outspoken feminist, polyamorist, and firm believer in the superiority of women. He described bondage and submission as a "respectable and noble practice". Marston wrote in a weakness for Wonder Woman, which was attached to a fictional stipulation that he dubbed "Aphrodite's Law", that made the chaining of her "Bracelets of Submission" together by a man take away her Amazonian super strength.
Golden Age
Initially, Wonder Woman was an Amazon champion who wins the right to return Steve Trevora United States intelligence officer whose plane had crashed on the Amazons' isolated island homelandto "Man's World" and to fight crime and the evil of the Nazis.In her first appearance in All-Star Comics Vol. 1 #8, one of the most iconic moment, Diana enters the Amazon tournament in disguise, wearing the identity of "Contestant Number 7." The final trial is to deflect bullets with her bracelets—an ultimate test of Amazonian skill. Diana succeeds flawlessly. When Queen Hippolyta meets the winner, Diana removes her mask, revealing her true identity. Hippolyta realizes it was her daughter all along, and acknowledges that Diana truly deserves the title of Amazon Champion.
During this period, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society of America as the team's secretary.
Silver Age
During the Silver Age of the 1960s, under writer Robert Kanigher, Wonder Woman's origin was revamped, along with other characters'. The new origin story increased the character's Hellenic and mythological roots: receiving the blessing of each deity in her crib, Diana is destined to become as "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, strong as Hercules, and swift as Hermes."At the end of the 1960s, under the guidance of Mike Sekowsky, Wonder Woman surrendered her powers to remain in Man's World rather than accompany her fellow Amazons to another dimension. Wonder Woman was always Diana Prince and opens a mod boutique. She acquires a Chinese mentor named I Ching, who teaches Diana martial arts and weapons skills. Using her fighting skill instead of her powers, Diana engaged in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology. This phase of her story was directly influenced by the British spy thriller The Avengers and Diana Rigg's portrayal of Emma Peel.
Bronze Age
In the early 1970s the character returned to her superhero roots in the Justice League of America and to the World War II era in her own title. This, however, was ultimately due to the popularity of the TV series at the time also having Wonder Woman set in the WWII era, and was shifted back to the 1970s era once the TV show did the same.With a new decade arriving, DC president Jenette Kahn ordered a revamp in Wonder Woman's appearance. Artist Milton Glaser, who also designed the "bullet" logo adopted by DC in 1977, created a stylized "WW" emblem that evoked and replaced the eagle in her bodice and debuted in 1982. The emblem in turn was incorporated by studio letterer Todd Klein onto the monthly title's logo, which lasted for a year and a half before being replaced by a version from Glaser's studio. The series was canceled with issue #329 written by Gerry Conway, depicting Steve Trevor's marriage to Wonder Woman.
Modern Age
Following the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths series, George Pérez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter rewrote the character's origin story, depicting Wonder Woman as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Pérez incorporated a variety of deities and concepts from Greek mythology in Wonder Woman's stories and origin. His rendition of the character acted as the foundation for the modern Wonder Woman stories, as he expanded upon the widely accepted origin of Diana being birthed out of clay. The relaunch was a critical and commercial success.21st century
2010s
In August 2010, J. Michael Straczynski took over the series' writing duties and introduced Wonder Woman to an alternate timeline created by the Gods in which Paradise Island had been destroyed and the Amazons scattered around the world. In this timeline, Diana is an orphan raised in New York. The entire world has forgotten Wonder Woman's existence and the main story of this run was of Diana trying to restore reality even though she does not properly remember it herself. A trio of Death Goddesses called The Morrigan acted as the main enemy of Wonder Woman. In this run, Wonder Woman wears a [|new costume] designed by Jim Lee. Straczynski determined the plot and continued writing duties until Wonder Woman #605; writer Phil Hester then continued his run, which ultimately concluded in Wonder Woman #614.In 2011's The New 52, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of publications to attract a new generation of readers, and thus released volume 4 of the Wonder Woman comic book title. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang were assigned writing and art duties respectively and revamped the character's history considerably. In this new continuity, Wonder Woman wears a costume similar to her original Marston costume, uses a sword and shield, and has a completely new origin. No longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods, she is, instead, a demi-goddess and the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Azzarello and Chiang's Wonder Woman run is critically acclaimed for its overall story and even considered as legendary.
In 2016, DC Comics once again relaunched all of its publications as part of the "DC Rebirth" continuity reboot, and the new fifth volume of Wonder Woman was released semi-monthly with writer Greg Rucka. This fifth volume of Wonder Woman is part of the "DC Universe", the current continuity established after Rebirth. Initially, the new series does not use a regular storyline that exists between each issue; instead two separate storylines share the book, with an installment of one story published every other issue, and those of the other storyline published in between those. This practice began with the storyline "The Lies", for the odd numbered issues, and "Year One", for the even numbered issues. The new storyline as presented in these issues effectively retcons the events from the previous New 52 series. "The Lies" storyline reveals that numerous events from the previous Wonder Woman series, in which Diana was made the Queen of the Amazons and the God of War, were in fact all an illusion created by a mysterious villain, and she had never once been back to Themyscira ever since she left, nor is she capable of returning there. The "Year One" story is presented as an all-new origin story for Diana, which reveals how she received her powers from the Olympian Gods, which was intended to bring her back to her classical DC roots. Wonder Woman appears in DC Rebirth with a revised look with an ancient Greek motif, including a red cape and light armor fittings, such as pteruges and shin guards. Along with her lasso and bracelets, she now regularly uses her sword and shield. Wonder Woman: Rebirth artist Liam Sharp described the new armor as a utilitarian piece which allows her to move more freely.. Despite the turmoil thing that Greg Rucka had done in the Rebirth era in his Wonder Woman run, including about the "all-new origin story" aspect, Diana's Zeus parentage was and is still remained. Multiple runs in Rebirth, including in "The Darkseid War" series, still show Diana as the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta as the accurate recent canon origin of Wonder Woman, in accordance with the guideline of Wonder Woman.
In 2018, DC Comics announced G. Willow Wilson as the new writer on the Wonder Woman ongoing series. Wilson began her run in November, with the first story arc titled "The Just War."