Who is Wonder Woman?

We’ll be seeing Wonder Woman this weekend. I am happy they finally made a movie about her, as she was one of my favorites, especially back in the late ‘80s. Wonder Woman was the first female superhero, first appearing back in 1941, just a few years after Superman and Batman. She’s been continuously published for the last 76 years, which is an amazing accomplishment. Only she, Superman and Batman can say that, as those three were the only superheroes to survive the early ‘50s backlash against superhero comics.

Since the DC Universe reboots itself regularly, Wonder Woman has had her origin tweaked a few times. The one constant is that she is Princess Diana of Themyscira (Paradise Island), an island of immortal all-female Amazons who worshipped the Greek gods. Her mother, Queen Hippolyta, formed Diana as a baby out of clay, which the gods breathed life into. Hippolyta proposed a contest in which the most powerful Amazon would go to Man’s World and help fight World War II. Diana was forbidden to participate in the contest, but disguised herself and won it anyway. She fought with the Justice Society of America for years and had a daughter, codenamed Fury, with husband Steve Trevor. This was retconned to be the Earth 2 Wonder Woman, where the original DC superheroes lived. The original Wondy had a powerful feminist slant via creator William Marston.

The version most people are probably familiar with is the Silver and Bronze Age Wonder Woman, who debuted as part of Earth 1. She took the alias Diana Prince and worked for the Army while a member of the Justice League of America, flying an invisible jet. This was basically the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman from the ‘70s TV show. (In the comic, she doesn’t actually twirl around to change into her costume. She puts her tights on one leg at a time like everyone else.)

During the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline in 1985, DC erased its multiple Earths, folding Earth 2 into the main Earth retroactively. The Golden Age Wonder Woman was exiled to a sort of heaven where she would live forever, as a sign of respect to the character. The Silver/Bronze Age Diana was devolved into nothingness and retroactively ceased to exist.

This is where I came in, as DC rebooted Wonder Woman’s story from the beginning, with the help of legendary creator George Perez. I loved, loved, loved this run. This time, the Amazons were reincarnated souls of women who had been murdered by men. Hippolyta was pregnant when she was murdered so she was able to reincarnate the soul of her daughter as Diana, again forming her out of clay.

The Greek gods Artemis, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter and Mercury gave her the powers of great strength, flight, endurance and speed, making her power rival Superman’s. She also wields several weapons, most notably the bracelets and Golden Lasso. The lasso (or lariat) is made of the Golden Girdle of Gaea, giving it the mythological powers to compel people to reveal the truth. In recent years, Wonder Woman has also used a sword, shield and axe. She’s pretty much at the top level of mortal power in DC.

This version of Wonder Woman had no alternate identity. She was mostly an ambassador from the Amazons to Man’s World. There were some nuances and contradictions to her character. She was an ambassador for peace who would go to war when she needed to. Unlike Superman, Diana would kill when it was necessary.

Eventually, Diana died in battle. (This led to a comic panel with Hippolyta cradling her daughter’s body and crying, “Princess Diana is dead” in an issue that came out about the same time as Princess Diana died in a car crash.) Hippolyta took over the Wonder Woman title and went back to the ‘40s to become a member of the Justice Society, which meant that there was a Golden Age Wonder Woman again. The gods could not leave their faithful servant Diana dead, so they brought her to Olympus and made her the goddess of truth. She eventually went back to Earth and reclaimed the Wonder Woman title.

In comic book terms, I suppose that’s ancient history. Wonder Woman has since been the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, and has been rebooted at least twice. But basically, the core elements remain: Wonder Woman is a force to be reckoned with.