Wonder Woman FAQ

[Fenix]

BY Bored at 3:00AM


WHO IS WONDER WOMAN?

Wonder Woman is the world’s most famous super-heroine. Along with Superman & Batman, she is one the longest running characters in comic book history.

Throughout most of her many incarnations, Wonder Woman has been Princess Diana of Paradise Island, daughter of Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons from Greek myth. Sent to Man’s World as an Ambassador of Peace, Wonder Woman uses her extraordinary abilities to battle the forces of War.

WHEN DID SHE FIRST APPEAR?

Wonder Woman was created by Moulton Marston in 1941 to give young girls a super-heroic icon of their own. The impact of Marston’s creation surpassed even his expectations, becoming an icon to girls, feminists, lesibans and bondage enthusiasts alike.

In no time, Wonder Woman joined the ranks of both the Justice Society of America in 1942 and the Justice League of America in 1960. Her comic remained in continuous publication even after the demise of the superhero genre during the early fifties. However, it should be noted that DC would lose their exclusive rights to the character if they ever stopped publishing a Wonder Woman comic. As a result, Wonder Woman has managed to survive even the most dismal sales and creative slumps.

WHY DID SHE LOOK SO DIFFERENT DURING THE SIXTIES?

With sales in the toilet, DC decided to try something completely different with their flagship super-heroine. And by completely different, I mean completely the same as a more popular female icon at that time—Emma Peel of the hip British spy show, The Avengers (no relation to the Marvel super-team). As written by Robert Kanigher, Princess Diana suddenly lost her Amazon powers, quit the Justice League and became Diana Prince, a kung-fu fighting chick in mod mini-skirts and form-fitting jumpsuits.

This radical new direction only lasted a few years and was back in her traditional star-spangled panties and red bustier once again. And so she remained until the mid-eighties when Wonder Woman was killed off as part of the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

HOLD UP, WHAT’S THE CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS?

The Crisis of Infinite Earths was a giant cross-over DC put together in 1985 to celebrate their 50th Anniversary. The story combined all their various alternate realities into one world and re-launched their major characters.

During the story, the original incarnation of Wonder Woman, who joined the Justice Society, and the modern version of Wonder Woman from the Justice League, were shown the door. The elder Wonder Woman went off to live happily ever after with her husband Steve Trevor in Olympus while the modern Wonder Woman was killed off. The memory of both was subsequently erased from existence within the DCU. As a result, their past memberships in both the JSA and the JLA were wiped out.

SO WHO’S THE CURRENT WONDER WOMAN?

Writer/Artist George Perez was given the go-ahead to revamp Wonder Woman and was largely successful. Ditching the romance with Steve Trevor, the Invisible Jet and the Diana Prince secret identity, Perez played up the mythological aspects of the character and less on straight super-heroics. Subsequent creative teams have had varying success in following Perez’s initial five year run.

WHAT CAN WONDER WOMAN DO?

She’s stronger than Hercules, as fast as Hermes and as wise as Athena. Also, she’s been trained since birth by the Amazons, who are amongst the greatest warriors in the DCU. Her skin is tough, but not bullet-proof, as evidenced by her need to deflect bullets with her unbreakable metal bracelets. Initially, Wonder Woman would lose all her powers if her bracelets were ever bound together. However, this element has since disappeared due to DC Editorial’s discomfort with Marston’s none-too-subtle fascination with bondage imagery.

That said, Wonder Woman still wields her trademark golden lasso, which forces anyone she ties up to tell the truth. Although she gained the ability to fly during the late seventies, Diana often gets around is her Invisible Jet. Perez ditched the jet during his revamp, but John Byrne subsequently brought it back as a shape-changing alien artifact during the late nineties.

WHO ARE THE OTHER AMAZONS?

QUEEN HIPPOLYTA was Wonder Woman’s mother and, thanks to Byrne again, took the original Wonder Woman’s place within the Justice Society of America by travelling back in time to World War 2. Hippolyta was recently killed off during the Our World At War crossover. In fact, in turns out that she was the only casualty of that particular crossover.

DONNA TROY was Wonder Girl, Wonder Woman’s kid sister. Originally, Wonder Girl was actually Diana as a child, but this was changed so the character could join the Teen Titans during the sixties. When Wonder Woman’s existence was wiped out during the Crisis, Donna Troy’s history became extremely muddled until John Byrne sorted things out. Donna was killed off recently in the Graduation Day crossover. Nobody is particularly happy about it.

The current WONDER GIRL is Cassie Sandsmark. She gained her powers by challenging Zeus and, like her predecessor, joined forces with other teen sidekicks in Young Justice and, most recently, the revamped Teen Titans.

ARTEMIS was introduced as a “bad girl” Amazon from a tribe that lived apart from Paradise Island. During the nineties, Artemis briefly assumed the role of Wonder Woman, compete with a star-spangled thong and red silicone breast implants. Since then, she’s died, come back to life and now lives on Paradise Island.

IS WONDER WOMAN IMMORTAL?

It all depends on who you ask. The Amazons from Paradise Island are most definitely immortal, most of whom are over three thousand years old. However, Diana may or may not be immortal since some creators believe that Diana abandoned her immortality once she left Paradise Island.

The original Wonder Woman from the forties did age, albeit very slowly, and had grey hairs before she was shuffled off to limbo during the Crisis. The Lynda Carter Wonder Woman from TV was most definitely an immortal, not aging a day over the span of 40 years.

WHAT HAPPENED TO STEVE TREVOR?

Prior to the Perez revamp, Steve Trevor was always Wonder Woman’s primary love interest. In fact, Trevor was the fighter pilot who crash landed on Paradise Island, prompting Diana’s journey to Man’s World. However, believing that Wonder Woman is “above” romance, Perez decided to make Trevor a much older man, thereby nixing any possibility of him ever becoming Diana’s boyfriend. Steve Trevor has since married Eta Candy, Wonder Woman’s former comedic sidekick from the forties.

Subsequent creative teams have attempted to hook Wonder Woman up with various suitors, none of which have stuck. Wonder Woman is often paired with Superman, but only in stories taking place in a possible future. Superman and Wonder Woman did share a kiss once during the eighties, but that was the extent of their romantic relationship. Batman and Wonder Woman have also dabbled in romance, but that didn't really work out either.

COME ON, ISN’T WONDER WOMAN REALLY A LESBIAN ANYWAY?

Yes, some fans do believe this, but DC isn’t likely to address that theory anytime soon. Like Batman & Robin’s relationship, DC will probably never allow Wonder Woman’s sexuality to be explored in that way. However, it should be noted that several of The Amazons are indeed lesbians, although not all of them are.

HAS WONDER WOMAN APPEARED OUTSIDE OF COMICS?

A cartoon Wonder Woman appeared in all the incarnations of the Super Friends (which was essentially the Justice League) during the seventies and eighties. Wonder Woman also appears regularly in the current Justice League cartoon

During the late seventies, a live-action TV show was produced that starred Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman. The show ran only two seasons, the first taking place during World War 2, the second taking place in the present. It is fondly remembered by pop culture junkies thanks to its ridiculously cheezy theme song.

There have been rumors of a live-action Wonder Woman movie for years, but nothing has ever come of it. Joel Silver, producer of The Matrix & Lethal Weapon mega-franchises, is currently in charge of the production.

There is also tons of Wonder Woman merchandise out there, including T-Shirts, action figures, posters and lunch boxes.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE BOOKS RIGHT NOW?

Writer Greg Rucka has just come on board the book and finally drummed up interest in the character again. Whether or not Rucka will succeed in making Wonder Woman a best-seller again is up to the fans to decide.

[Fenix]

by HartyPotter

Thanks bored . I was wondering if I should ask about Wonder Woman sometime here in a thread, but didn't want to seem like too much of a newbie to comics. I picked up the Rucka issue and loved it.


by Artemisboy
Good summery. There were only two things that I disagree with:

1) Diana is as strong as Herakles: Her strength derives from the earth, or Gaea, itself so she is actually quite stronger than Herakles ever was.

2) Artemis wore 6-inch heels: Artemis never has. Actually, all of the 'outfits' Artemis has worn comprised of flat heeled shoes or boots. I don't think I've ever seen her in heels before, and I'm one of her biggest fans. You're right about the thong though. Outside of the bodysuit she once wore, Artemis' outfits tend to fall on the skimpyside.

- Peter

by HartyPotter

WEll, I wouldn't underestimate Hercules' power, considering I think he once substituted for Atlas in holding up the world for a while in mythology. I may be wrong. And also.... is there any place I can find these pictures of Artemis in the skimpy stuff? Even just telling me what issues she was featured in would help.

by Artemisboy
The only time I remember Herakles (the Greek version of the character which interacts with Diana) holding up anything was the island of Themyscira. He was turned to a HUGE stone statue of himself that supported the island for 1,000 years. After his punishment ended, he was shown to have held up the island in his mortal form for a short period during the War of the Gods storyline. So he is strong enough to hold up an island, but as the magic that blessed Diana as a child to access the strength of Gaea, I think her strength levels may far overpass Herakles'.

Regarding Artemis and her skimpy clothing, the skimpiest outfit I remember her wearing was in a Wonder Woman annual during the JLApe crossover. She pretty much only had belt-like bands all over her body. The very first costume she was shown in too (standard Bana-Mighdallian Amazon clothing) was pretty skimpy.

- Peter

[Fenix]

by Tynne Fanel.

saying that someone no one had ever heard of before was Hippolyta's arch enemy, and was forcing Donna (revealed as a magically created mirror-image twin of Diana) to live multiple lives that ended in tragedy is the PERFECT DEFINITION of "sorted things out", 'Dox. How dare you mock Byrne's revamp skills!

Next you're gonna make fun of the "Chapter One" costume he designed for Electro...only the best costume revamp ever made!

by theexpandingmaN

Would Amazons really be considered lesbians without even having the choice to couple with a male?

Thanks for the info, 3. You left out the Cathy Lee Crosby WW. I think her nemesis was Ricardo Montalban.

Also for those who don't know, WW's creator created the polygraph.

Who's idea was it to continuously feature WW in a series or lose her, the original creator's? What was behind all that exactly?

I'm just like Potter in the fact that I don't know too much about the character other than Perez' run. His #8 was a favorite of mine. So glad I picked up #195, too. Looking forward to an excellent run by Rucka and company.

by DDM

athy Lee Crosby made an awful Wonder Woman.

She was written more like a female Captain America.

However, the script was afwul regardless. How or why did DC agree to this Wonder Woman movie???


by davidS
There is a lot more going on between wonder woman and Superman than a simple kiss!

First their each other's best friends. Second in WW's comic a couple of years ago there was a story line called trinity. WW 140 and 141. {not the current 3 part story by that same titale, and which i recomend by the way} Diana was attacked by the ancient titains by giving her just what she wanted. bu using her own shape shipping ship they trapped her in a fantasy world of her own making by giving her just what she wanted and that was superman. When Superman and Batman tried to help her they to were trapped in her fantasy. In this fantasy where she was more than cotent Clark and diana met fell in love and married. She was perfectly happy, Clark seemed happy but always something was missing {LOis] Bruce finaly was the one that realized the whole thing was a fantasy world and wasn't real.

Than there was that action comic were they were trapped in vahalla for a thousand years, Their last night together she was sitting on his bed, he was wounded and they all most....... but it was Clark who put an end to what Diana and more likely than not what he wanted by saying, "I'm sorry Diana, I know it's silly and even if I know she is a thousand years and a world away it's still always Lois!"

At the end of our worlds at war when Superman was controled by Circe. QWhen Superman broke down with the guilt of all those who died in that war. It was Diana's shoulder he cried on.

[Fenix]

byBored at 3:00AM

Still, a kiss is as far as its gotten in current continuity. No super-groping or bumping uglies yet.

by Artemisboy

I have to agree. Diana may have liked him in the beginning, but Diana is no home wrecker. She would never come between Lois and Clark. This was proven during the Day In The Life issue. Diana even went to the extent of wanting Lois to take the Lasso of Truth to prove this fact. IMO the whole Diana and Clark angle is just fan-boy plots that don't really fit in with current continuity.

- Peter

[Fenix]

by DDM

True. But Wonder Woman & Superman have proven to be platonic as far back as Action #600 (written & penciled by John Byrne, inked by George Perez). In later issues of Wonder Woman--#18 (?)--Diana emphasizes that her friendship with Clark Kent is just a platonic one. The media scrutinized Diana when she was seen a lot with Superman (this is long before she joined the Justice League & had only met Superman once before in Legends).


byWonderBoi

I have a small correction. Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman TV show lasted four seasons. The first was on ABC and set in World War II. The second through fourth were on CBS and moved to the seventies, with more sci fi oriented plots.

Besides that, Wonder Woman appeared as a guest star in one episode of "The Brady Kids" a cartoon made by Filmation. She later appeared in one episode of the Ruby/Spears "Superman" cartoon. This was her first post-Crisis cartoon appearance and the first time she was shown to be able to fly in a cartoon.

And there was a live action pilot made, but never aired for a "Wonder Woman" sitcom in the sixties, made by the people responsible for the Adam West "Batman" series. In it, Wonder Woman was a homely spinster who lived with her nagging mother. When she looked in the mirror, she saw a lovely goddess... when in reality she was homely and awkward. She is shown to be able to fly in the pilot and no doubt hilarity would have ensued.

And finally, in the 90s, Wonder Woman came very close to headlining her own animated series (and accompaning doll line), "Wonder Woman and the Star Riders" which costarred DC heroines Ice and Dolphin as well as new made-up ethnic heroines. The series concept went through many changes. Throughout most of the pitches, Wonder Woman and her fellow heroines were teen age girls who transformed via magic crystals into super heroines in order to protect the environment. With the exception of WW, the other heroines had elemental powers. (Ice: er ice; Dolphin: water; Starlily: plants and Solara: Fire.) They rode into battle on winged unicorns. Their nemesis was Purrsia a spoiled feline villainess who had her own flying lion pet. (Why they didn't just use Catwoman or Cheetah I don't know.) Rumor had it that Supergirl was planned as a second year addition to the team. Needless to say the DC characters they DID use bore little resemblance to their comic book counterparts. (Ice's costume is mostly pink!) Bits of animation were completed, including a short animated film shown at the annual Toy Fair in New York. A promotional comic book was also created and packed in boxes of cereal. Pictures of the dolls were even published in both toy and comic book magzines. But for whatever reason, these toys were never produced (btw, they were created by Mattel and some of the items planned were reworked from the Princess of Power line of the 80s), and neither was the cartoon.

[Fenix]

by angentman

Another correction, Bored: Marston created Wonder Woman as a positive, female role model for boys, not girls. Marston wanted to introduce the concept of strong women to boys, and hoped that the comic book would provide a forum for this point.

by Bored at 3:00AM

I'd heard it the other way around. That Marston was trying to create a superheroine for girls to look up to---maybe he was doing it for both genders.

Anybody else heard this?

WonderBoi

This is from Wonder Woman: The Complete History by Les Daniels:
"The precise effect Marston had in mind can only be a subject for speculation, but today's feminists may have somewhat misinterpreted the situation by suggesting that Wonder Woman was intended as a role model who would encourage self-confidence in girls. Certainly that aspect was important to Marston, but Mayer felt that Marston 'was writing a feminist book but not for women. He was dealing with a male audience.' It's an open secret... that Wonder Woman's readers have always been predominantly male (estimates run as high as 90 percent)... If he really did succeed in altering the social climate, it might have been by exposing millions of boys (who would become men by the 1960s) to the ideals of feminism. After all, it's not much of a surprise that women might want to assert themselves, but it's quite a different matter when many of their supposed oppressors agree to go along with the idea."

My interpretation is, that comics were primarily read by boys. Marston was aware of this and set about trying to convey his views to his audience. If he were trying to reach girls, he probably would have pursued a different medium.

[Fenix]

by Bored at 3:00AM

Thanks for the info Wonderboi.

I was under the impression that plenty of girls still read comics back in the forties. Although they probably weren't reading superhero comics.


by davidS

Marstan was a bit weird

He lived in his house with his wife and kids and his girfriend and their kids. his secretary slash mistress always wore metal bracxellets which she never removed!

by Artemisboy

I don't think the first two one-hour episodes can be considered a season. Officially there were only three seasons. One year on ABC and two years on CBS.

- Peter


by WonderBoi

Technically, there were three. There was the Pilot which aired in November, then the show was brought in like a mid-season replacement in April. Two more episodes aired, Wonder Woman Meets The Baroness Paula Von Gunter and Fausta The Nazi Wonder Woman. So, yeah, whether that's consisdered a real season is up to individual judgement. Of course, after that there was a full season on ABC, then two on CBS. I was wrong when I said there were three on CBS.

[Fenix]

by tangentman

Didn't the CBS run also end w/two Wonder Woman specials, one about the "boy who knew Wonder Woman's secret id," involving aliens; and one about a disfigured man "haunting" a theme park?

by spoon_jenkins

You may want to use Wonder Woman' creator's full name (William Moulton Marston) in the FAQ, since calling him simply "Moulton Marston" makes it sound like Moulton is his first name. He wrote WW under the pen name Charles Moulton.

by Artemisboy

TangentMan, yeah, those were two-part episodes during the last season. The very last episode though showed that Diana was moving from the Washington D.C. branch of the IADC to the Los Angeles branch. And as a child character was introduced into that episode, the myth about "once a child is written into the script, the show is typically cancelled shortly there after" remained true.

- Peter

Here's a new question that seems to be on Wonder Woman fan's minds every so often:

Why do Wonder Woman writers feel a need to kill off massive amounts of Amazons?

George Perez did it when he had Amazons protect the deadly Doom's Doorway and again when the Amazons went into Man's World during the War of the Gods crossover. William Messner-Loebs killed off Amazons when their island was invaded by rogue Amazons and then sent off to a demonic realm. John Byrne FOR NO REASON WHAT-SO-EVER had Darkseid come in and kill off half of the population. Phil Jimenez killed Amazons with the second Amazon civil war. Now it seems that Greg Rucka has the same goal in his sights.

Just how many Amazons will there be left? 2? Maybe 3?

- Peter

[Fenix]

by Cardinal!

People always label the regular Amazon massacre as some underlying "mysogynist agenda," but I wonder how different that really is from the regular massacres that happen around the DCU.

In Gotham City: On top of the regular crime and killing sprees led by Joker and the rest of the Arkham clan, that city has had to deal with deadly/violent plagues, earthquakes, isolation and abandonment by the government, and God knows what else.

Any story featuring a big battle happening in the Superman books where Superman gets in a big fight with a robot in the middle of Metropolis doesn't ever seem to go into much detail as far as civilian casualties go, you know that city probably suffers quite a bit, too.

On top of these, what else is there? Since there's probably three dozen heroes living in New York, that city definitely gets a lot of grief. I remember one or two Australian cities being left completely destroyed back in the Invasion cross-over. Coast City got blew up a few years later. A few years after that, Kansas gets blown up. Keystone City had its foundations shaken, namely by Kobra during "Terminal Velocity."

It just seems a lot worse when Themyscira goes through the same stuff because its population happens to be entirely female, and because unlike the mainstream DCU, where cities like Metropolis and Gotham have a seemingly endless suppbyly of civilians to make for cannon fodder, the Amazons of PI also happen to be an "endangered species."

by tangentman

One question to also consider is this, "do new Superman or Batman writers begin their runs by visiting massacres and disasters on Metropolis or Gotham?" Does the new writer "make a mark" on those books by killing off major supporting characters? Sure, Metropolis suffered back in the 90s, but we still have Perry, Lois, Jimmy, Ma & Pa Kent. Despite Gotham suffering that earthquake, we still have the Commish, Barbara, Alfred, Tim, Dick, others.

Can't say the for Wonder Woman's supporting cast. Hundreds of Amazons killed in stories cited by Artemisboy. Hippolyta? Killed for shock value in a horrible DC crossover. Trevor Barnes? Killed by Simonson after Jiminez' run ended. Donna Troy killed off by a writer as a stunt for setting up new series. How would Superman fans feel if Ma Kent, Lana Lang, and Superboy were killed off in the space of 2 years, and left dead? Would Batman fans not feel cheated or abused by the writers if Alfred, Vicki Vale, and Robin were murdered as promotional stunts?

[Fenix]

by Artemisboy

Also, cities like Gotham and Metropolis are urban jungles in which villian after villian comes along. On Themyscira you have a society that has lived in peace (outside of guarding Doom's Doorway) for over three thousand years. It's been pretty much cut off from society, yet the massacres somehow always reach them none-the-less. And even though they are now social with outside peoples visiting the island, with FIRM groundings that no violent action can physically take place on Themyscira, new writers come along and try to kill off Amazons anyway or remove those safeguards. It's just a sad and ever typical story piece in the Wonder Woman mythos.

- Peter

by Cardinal!


The thing with Troia was definitely inexcusable, I won't argue that. While I don't mind character deaths, no matter how violent (which is why I'm not holding Hippolyta's death against anyone, considering it was vividly portrayed, well-written [IMO] and the ramifications are still existent), that was just horrible. Even Trevor Barnes' death was excellently written - and this isn't just because I didn't care for the character. In just those six issues, Simonson made you care more about the character than Jimenez had managed to do and gave him a "beautiful" farewell.

Troia's death, though, was as obvious a cheap sales stunt as there ever was one (along with Lilith's), considering the writer of Grad. Day had obviously not even gone to the trouble of reading any story involving any of the characters prior to him or else he at least would've known that Superboy, Wonder Girl, or Tempest could've easily beaten the tar out of that robot or that Lilith could've teleported away before the robot snapped her neck.

by tangentman

Hell, Lilith has precognitive powers! Why didn't those powers warn her of the menace posed by that damn Indigo or the Superman android? Lemme give a belated "Right On" to Starfire telling off Superman in TT! What a stupid gimmick.


by JKCarrier

quote:Originally posted by Patient Boy
Also, was there any given reason as to why Diana was suddenly able to fly in the 70s/80s/whenever?



She started "gliding on wind currents" sometime in the '60s, I think. After the CRISIS reboot, she had full flight -- no reason given, it was just another one of the powers given to her by the gods along with her strength, speed, beauty, and so forth.

I assume it was done to put her on a more equal footing with Superman. Or maybe Perez just didn't like the invisible plane.

by tangentman

quote:Originally posted by Patient Boy
Umm... Robin has already been murdered as part of a promotional stunt.

Also, was there any given reason as to why Diana was suddenly able to fly in the 70s/80s/whenever?



Yes, Jason Todd, the most unpopular Robin, by fans' demand. The only other death of importance was Batwoman, and that's possibly retconned thanks to Crisis. Murdering Donna Troy is comparable with killing off Dick Grayson, and killing Hippolyta equals knocking off Alfred or Commissioner Gordon. Diana's lost 2 pivotal supporting cast members, in less than 2 years! Now the mess with Paradise Island, and Rucka's "inspired" demolishing of it For all the praise about Rucka, in many respects, this is a bad time for a Wonder Woman fan.

by ouiyahtsiouiyah

Almost every character in the DCU has a problem with where they live all the time.

Bats had to deal with a deadly contagion, twice, an earthquake, No Mans Land, and then bein' a fugitive within his own city. I'm sure stuff consecutivley happens in Metropolis as well, (even tho I don't read Superman)

[Fenix]

Ok, That´s all I´ve got about WW´s FAQ. I hope you like them...I will try to post the GL FAQ´s and Fash later.

[Core]

Thanks again, Fenix.

Can we get a Sticky on these threads like on the old board?

[Cei-U!]

I have a quick correction.

The Emma Peel-style Wonder Woman of the late 60s was the work of Denny O'Neil and Mike Sekowsky under editor Jack Miller. They replaced Robert Kanigher, who'd been writing the strip since Dr. Marston's death and editing the book since '58. Kanigher took back over briefly after the bosses ordered Diana back into spandex but his retro approach failed to recapture the title's lost audience.

Cei-U!
I summon the detail!

[Fenix]

Thanks again, Fenix.

Can we get a Sticky on these threads like on the old board?

You´re welcome.

For a sticky you have to ask to Arune Singh or Bored at 3:00AM.

I asked Bored to get sticky the GL´s FAQ and he got it, but he didn´t do the same with Flash or WW FAQ´s.
I don´t really know why...

[Craig M.D.]

How's about a list ("Who's Who" style) of Wonder Woman's villains? I know some of the names (Circe, Ares, Cheetah, Devastation, Dr. Psycho, Silver Swan) but I don't really know the history of any of these characters.