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What is Wonder Woman's origin story?
Who created Wonder Woman?
Who is Wonder Woman based on?
When did Wonder Woman first appear in comic books?
ARTS & CULTURE. The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman. The history of the comic-book superhero’s creation seven decades ago has been hidden away—until now. Jill Lepore. October 2014. As...
- Overview
- Origin in the Golden Age
- The Silver Age and television success
Wonder Woman is an American comic book heroine created for DC Comics by psychologist William Moulton Marston (under the pseudonym Charles Moulton) and artist Harry G. Peter.
How did Wonder Woman get her powers?
Wonder Woman is an Amazon, a race of female warriors in Greek mythology. For the purpose of the Wonder Woman character, it was the Greek gods who gave her her powers. These powers include superhuman strength and speed as well as the ability to fly.
What does Wonder Woman do?
Wonder Woman is a powerful leader and warrior. Her strength, speed, near invulnerability to physical harm, and equipment (particularly her golden lasso) make her a strong character. She is part of the DC “trinity,” along with Batman and Superman, and is a founder of the Justice League, humanity’s defense against powerful threats.
What is the movie Wonder Woman 1984 about?
The details of Wonder Woman’s origin have changed many times over the years, but the basic premise has remained largely the same. U.S. Air Force pilot Steve Trevor’s plane crashes on the uncharted Paradise Island, home of the legendary Amazons. The raven-haired Princess Diana finds Trevor, and the Amazons nurse him back to health. A tournament is held to determine who will take the pilot back to “Man’s World,” but Diana is forbidden to enter. Disguising herself, she engages in the games, winning them and being awarded the costume of Wonder Woman. Diana takes Trevor back to the United States in her invisible plane, and she adopts the secret identity of Diana Prince. As Prince, she soon becomes Trevor’s assistant, and Trevor—much like a gender-reversed Lois Lane—never realizes that his coworker and the superhero who consistently comes to his rescue are the same person.
In her first 40 years of adventures, Wonder Woman wore a distinctive red bodice with a gold eagle, a blue skirt with white stars (quickly replaced by blue shorts with stars), red boots with a white centre stripe and upper edge, a gold belt and tiara, and bracelets on each wrist. The bracelets could deflect bullets or other missiles, and hanging from her belt was a magic golden lasso, which compelled anyone bound by it to tell the truth or obey her commands. Among her powers were prodigious strength and speed, near invulnerability to physical harm, and formidable combat prowess. On some occasions, she also displayed the ability to converse with animals.
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Wonder Woman was popular with readers for many reasons. For a nation engulfed in World War II, her unwavering patriotism was welcome. Male readers enjoyed the adventures of a scantily clad woman who was drawn in the style of one of Esquire magazine’s Varga Girl pinups and who was often tied up by male or female villains. Critics—most notably anti-comics polemicist Frederic Wertham—would call attention to the preponderance of bondage in Wonder Woman stories, but Marston claimed such scenes to be allusions to suffragist imagery. (This defense strained credibility, however, as the concept of “loving submission” to authority was pervasive throughout both Wonder Woman comics and Marston’s personal life.) Female readers liked the series because it presented a strong and confident woman who often spoke about the power of womanhood and the need for female solidarity. In an industry where superheroines tended to be used for cheesecake titillation or as adjuncts to their more powerful and popular male counterparts, Wonder Woman stood apart.
Unlike Superman or Batman, the other members of what would come to be known as DC’s “trinity,” Wonder Woman would never develop an especially memorable gallery of villains. Among her persistent foes were the catlike Cheetah, the towering Giganta, the sorceress Circe, and the telepath Dr. Psycho, whose mental powers were a sinister inversion of Marston’s “loving submission” credo. Besides appearing in her own two titles, Wonder Woman was a featured member of the Justice Society of America in the pages of All Star Comics.
Marston wrote Wonder Woman until his death in May 1947, with Peter providing the art during most of that time. Robert Kanigher succeeded Marston as writer in 1948, but the popularity of superhero comics had sharply declined in the postwar years. The heroine last appeared with the Justice Society in All Star Comics no. 57 (February 1951), and she was dropped from Sensation Comics after no. 106 (December 1951). Sensation was subsequently turned into a horror anthology to capitalize on that genre’s surging popularity, leaving her bimonthly series as the sole Wonder Woman title. Peter was replaced by artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, among others.
Kanigher had a flair for the outrageous, and he introduced many elements into the Wonder Woman mythos that rattled longtime readers. These included adventures featuring a younger Wonder Woman (as Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot), romantic suitors such as Merman and Birdman (and their youthful counterparts Mer-Boy and Bird-Boy), and bizarre villains like Angle Man, Paper-Man, and a sentient egg (and obvious “yellow peril” stereotype) known as Egg Fu. Resistance from fans would lead Kanigher to take the unorthodox step of writing himself, Andru, and Esposito into Wonder Woman no. 158 (November 1965), so he could personally “fire” the supporting cast that he had introduced and restore Wonder Woman to her “Golden Age” roots.
- Andy Mangels
Wonder Woman's origin story (from Golden to Bronze Age) 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.
- Princess Diana of Themyscira (Amazon identity), Diana Prince (civilian identity)
- DC Comics
Dec 27, 2016 · With an origin story drawn from Marston’s knowledge of feminist utopian fiction, Wonder Woman was a trained Amazon warrior sculpted out of clay by her mother who lived free from men on the...
Movies. History and life of Wonder Woman. Let's dive deep into the origins of comics' most iconic female superhero. By. Ruth Kinane. Updated on September 29, 2023 01:25PM EDT. Wonder Woman of the...
Jun 8, 2017 · At the beginning of her history, Wonder Woman carried the echo of the suffragette movement and first-wave feminism. The way her mythos reflected ongoing debates about womanhood...
Jan 11, 2021 · The Amazons of Greek mythology and the real-life warrior women that led to this iconic modern-day Wonder Woman might, in fact, have roots in ancient Persia – modern-day Iran. It is no longer...
