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Wonder Woman in DC Comics: Her Powers, Allies and Enemies Explained



Diana then travels across Mount Olympus, first visiting Donna Troy and encourages her reintegration. Next Diana goes to Zola and Zeke, where Hera joins them and they discuss the isolation and the child. After leaving Zola, Diana travels to Hephaestus, where they tour his vaults and she reflects that she adopted the Wonder Woman suit as a girl and now she is a woman and changes into a new suit, armoured and covering her body. Her first expedition is to defuse a bomb set by a teenager, getting closer the hooded villain maces Diana but as she holds him up he escapes and disappears into the river, calling her the God of War, much to Diana's confusion.[59]


Having learnt of Wonder Woman's inability to return to Themyscira, Doctor Veronica Cale, a wealthy and powerful woman, set into motion a plan to use Wonder Woman to find Themyscira. Years earlier, Cale's daughter Izzy had her soul stolen by the gods Phobos and Deimos. They told Veronica that they would only return her daughter to her if she helped them find Wonder Woman, and got the location of Themyscira from her. Seeing no other option, Cale had formed a team called Godwatch, dedicated to locating Diana and Themyscira.




wonder woman in dc comics



After establishing the Amazon Embassy on Earth, Diana transferred back to Washington D.C. and there met her new neighbor, a girl named Emma who Diana learned suffered from memory problems, related to the death of her parents in an incident with a drunken driver. Bonding with the girl, Diana went with her to buy some furniture for his new apartment: while there, Wonder Woman saved a mother and his young son from certain death, as the woman was driving her car into a truck. Diana discovered that the woman was suffering from some sort of hallucination, thinking she was going together with his son to buy some ice cream.


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.[14][15] In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies bent on destroying her, including classic villains such as Ares, Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Poison, Giganta, Doctor Psycho, Maxwell Lord, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale and the First Born. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960).[16]


In an October 1940 interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium.[19] 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.[20] 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:[21]


William Moulton Marston, a psychologist already famous for inventing the polygraph, struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love. "Fine," said Elizabeth. "But make her 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.[22] Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (cover date Dec/Jan 1941/1942, released in October 1941),[23] scripted by Marston. Marston was the creator of a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph (lie detector). Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest than men in certain situations and could work more efficiently.[24]


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.[25]


Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.


The "battle pass" identity has been part of Wonder Woman's history since her comics debut in 1941. In the early Golden Age stories, Wonder Woman served as a military secretary during World War II, using Prince as her cover. Later occupations Wonder Woman performed as Prince included translator at the United Nations, Air Force captain and ambassador, and in the '70s TV series, Lynda Carter's Wonder Woman used Prince to serve as an agent of the Inter-Agency Defense Command. In the DC Extended Universe, Prince works as curator for the Department of Antiquities[56] at the extremely prestigious Louvre Museum and is held in very high esteem by the curator of the Gotham City Museum of Antiquities. Her tremendously long life span, accumulation of immense amount of knowledge and exceptional perceptiveness makes Diana Prince the wisest and most emotionally-intelligent female member of the Justice League.[57][58]


At last, in a world torn by the hatred and wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems and feats of men are mere child's play. A woman whose identity is known to none, but whose sensational feats are outstanding in a fast-moving world.


Actress Gal Gadot described Wonder Woman as "an idealist. Experienced, super-confident. Open and sincere even in the midst of a gruesome, bloody conflict. Having many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she's a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence".[72][73]


The Greek messenger god, Hermes, entrusts Wonder Woman with the protection of Zola, a young woman, who is pregnant with Zeus's child, from Hera, seething with jealousy and determined to kill the child.[132][133][134][135][136] With the appearance of a bizarre, new, chalk-white enemy, the goddess Strife (a reimagined version of Eris, the goddess of discord who had battled Wonder Woman in post-Crisis continuity), Wonder Woman discovers she, herself, is the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus, who, after a violent clash, became lovers.[137] Hippolyta revealed Diana's earlier origin story to be a lie, spread amongst the Amazons to protect Diana from the wrath of Hera, who is known for hunting and killing several illegitimate offspring of Zeus.[137]


Diana began to appear publicly as Wonder Woman. As Earth-Two Diana Prince, she joined the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant and became Col. Darnell's secretary.[169] In actual Golden Age comics, the character joins the U.S. Army and in one occasion returned to nursing.[170] The real Diana Prince later returned and tried to assume Diana's role, since her inventor husband was having financial trouble selling his weapon to the army. Wonder Woman saved Diana when she is kidnapped by a Japanese agent trying to steal the weapon; when it is successful Diana Prince began using her married name, leaving Wonder Woman in her identity.


Diana continued in her role as an elder stateswoman in the superhero community until the Crisis on Infinite Earths came to Earth-Two and erased its existence. She fought well and was protected from erasure at the end of the crisis by ascending to Mount Olympus with her husband. Both were forgotten by the history of the new Primary Earth, except for their daughter[178] (who was reformatted into the new universe as the daughter of Helena Kosmatos: Fury of World War II).


When the new, post-crisis Wonder Woman broke up a riot in Boston, she was interrupted by a woman she thought was her mother (Queen Hippolyta); Hippolyta was the golden-age Wonder Woman via time travel in her continuity. The intruder identified herself as Earth-Two Wonder Woman Diana Prince, who left Mount Olympus in order to guide Diana. She advised her post-Crisis counterpart to be "the one thing you haven't been for a very long time...human".[167] She urged Diana to intervene in a fight between Superman and his counterpart, Kal-L. Having left Mount Olympus, with her gods' blessings gone, Diana Prince faded away.


In the Silver and Bronze Ages of comics, Wonder Woman was able to further increase her strength. In times of great need, removing her bracelets would temporarily augment her power tenfold, but cause her to go berserk in the process.[191][192]


Her tiara's signature star symbol is now an eight pointed starburst. According to designer Lindy Hemming and director Patty Jenkins, every design decision made for Themyscira came down to the same question: "How would I want to live that's badass?"[218] "To me, they shouldn't be dressed in armor like men. It should be different. It should be authentic and real ... and appealing to women." When asked about the decision to give the Amazons heeled sandals, Jenkins explained that they also have flats for fighting, adding "It's total wish-fulfillment ... I, as a woman, want Wonder Woman to be sexy, hot as hell, fight badass, and look great at the same time ... the same way men want Superman to have ridiculously huge pecs and an impractically big body. That makes them feel like the hero they want to be. And my hero, in my head, has really long legs."[219]


Marc DiPaolo introduces us to Wonder Woman's creator and history and he demonstrates how she is a "WWII veteran, a feminist icon, and a sex symbol" all throughout her "career". Wonder Woman stars in multiple films and is most commonly known for her red, white and blue one piece, and her tall, sexy assertiveness. What many people don't know is that she is a big part of history in the comic and superhero world because of how her character influences real life people of all ages, sexes, ethnicities, and races. "Marston created the comic book character Wonder Woman to be both strong and sexy, as a means of encouraging woman to emulate her unapologetic assertiveness."[262] Charlotte Howell notes in her essay titled "'Tricky' Connotations: Wonder Woman as DC's Brand Disruptor" that Wonder Woman is "inherently disruptive to masculine superhero franchise branding because, according to her creator William Moulton Marston, she was intended to be 'psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who, [he] believe[d], should rule the world.'"[263] 2ff7e9595c


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