Following the events of Infinite Crisis, she disappeared for a year in order to rediscover herself, and took part briefly in the events of 52. In the span of One Year Later, she was re-imagined once again and was forgiven by Batman and Superman while given her third ongoing monthly title. Batman helped her establish a role at the Department of Metahuman Affairs under the name of Diana Prince (paying homage to her golden age alter ego.) She worked alongside Tom Tresser and eventually became romantically involved with him. A move among fans across the different companies occurred with characters reverting to their original numbering of series (this for instance happened to Iron Man at Marvel as well) and the third Wonder Woman series was relaunched with Wonder Woman #600. This was actually accurate at the time as it was the indeed the 600 issue released (not including issues numbered otherwise such as with a zero or a million). Issue 600 was used as a chance to reinvent the character as she discovers herself with no memories and in a new costume. This was a short lived experiment as the entire DC lineup was soon to be re-imagined into the new 52, though certain aspects of her redesigned costume remained.
Wonder Woman has been the subject of a discussion regarding the appearance and representation of female power in general, and of female action heroes in particular[227] since her initial 1941 appearance in Sensation Comics,[227] as she was created to document "the growth in the power of women", while wearing "a golden tiara, a red bustier, blue underpants and knee-high, red leather boots."[228] She was blacklisted a year later in 1942 in the "Publications Disapproved for Youth" because, the group behind the list argued, she was "not sufficiently dressed".[228][229]
Due to the format of most golden age comics, the majority of story arcs at the time for all characters were the same, Wonder Woman included. More accurately that is to say that there were not story arcs at all, as issues contained two to three stories, all of which started and concluded within the issue in question. There was therefore not much continuity in Wonder Woman until she reached the silver age. The few exceptions to this were in issues which contained a common theme, such as Wonder Woman meeting some leprechauns and each of the three stories dealing with that. Alternately there were some common themes for the character at the time, one of which was dealing with enemy saboteurs. These were mostly contemporary, and thus started as either the National Socialists in Germany or the Imperial Japanese. Later these became others.
Paquette detailed the changes he made to Wonder Woman's costume, stating that he removed the iconic American flag theme and instead incorporated a Greek influence: "The animal associated to Aphrodite is a dove so instead of an eagle on [Wonder Woman's] breastplate, it will be more of a dove. It's not the American eagle, it's the Aphrodite dove. Stuff that creates [the letter] W is by accident, so it's not like she already has a letter of the alphabet on her [costume]. In the end I've created a structure so it feels inevitable for Wonder Woman to look the way she does."[246]
But under the new 1987 re-boot of the title, under the editorship of Karen Berger, and with the writing and art of George Perez at the helm of the book, the same-sex appreciation by Wonder Woman and the Amazons was more than hinted-at and this was established quickly in the new run of the title. Upon her first sight of supporting character Vanessa Kapatelis (in issue #3), she is shown smiling upwards at Kapatelis, thinking to herself "I've never seen another woman quite like her...she's so young...so vulnerable...so beautiful..."[247] Three years later, in the very first issue (#38) of a new decade, there is a story-line presenting a cultural exchange between appointed leaders from 'Man's World', who are the first mortals to visit Themyscira in this continuity, and the Amazons of Themyscira, in Themyscira, itself. The guest Unitarian minister, Reverend Cantwell, asks the Amazon Mnemosyne "..."Don't you miss the sharing God intended for the sexes?" to which Mnemosyne replied "Some do. They have sworn themselves to Artemis, the virgin hunter, and Athena, the chaste warrior. Others choose the way of Narcissus. But most of us find satisfaction in each other -- three thousand years can be a long time, reverend."[248]. Probably more than at any other time in the then nearly fifty-year history of the character, the Amazons were explicitly and unequivocally defined, in general, as lesbian. Additionally, Kevin Mayer, brother of the major supporting character Myndi Mayer, was openly gay and this was treated sympathetically[249]. By this time, DC Comics was a Warner Brothers-owned company, and had been for over 20 years.
Lennox suggests meeting Siracca, a fellow demigod daughter of Zeus as well. She travels to Lybia and finds a girl trapped in a vase. The girl tells Wonder Woman that when the soldiers came, everyone hid in a bunker. Leading her down, she triggers a trap which sends a plethora of knives, swords and daggers at her. Blocking them all but one, Diana looks to find the girl dissolving to sand. Crying at her failure, her time to mourn is cut short as the real Siracca, albeit in a zombie like form, ambushes her.
Wonder Woman was minorly associated with the series 52, and in the One Year Later universe following Infinite Crisis she becomes a member of the Department of Metahuman Affairs. The most memorable story arc from this era was the much maligned Amazons Attack story arc, which many fans felt was not engaging nor did it do enough service to the well-established characters. After Gail Simone took over the series, a number of memorable story arcs took place, foremost among them Rise of the Olympian and Warkiller. Following the departure of Gail Simone the character was relaunched into the storyline Odyssey, where she must discover who she is and what has happened to her life. During this period she also took part in the events of Blackest Night where she was first a Black Lantern and later a Star Sapphire.
Nick Pumphrey stated that Wonder Woman stands as a non-violent beacon of hope and inspiration for women and men.[239][240] Grant Morrison stated "I sat down and I thought, 'I don't want to do this warrior woman thing.' I can understand why they're doing it, I get all that, but that's not what [Wonder Woman creator] William Marston wanted, that's not what he wanted at all! His original concept for Wonder Woman was an answer to comics that he thought were filled with images of blood-curdling masculinity, and you see the latest shots of Gal Gadot in the costume, and it's all sword and shield and her snarling at the camera. Marston's Diana was a doctor, a healer, a scientist."[241][242][243][244][245]
Storylines The 18th Letter • A League of One • A Piece of You • Amazons Attack! • Beauty and the Beasts • Birds of Paradise • Bitter Rivals • Blood • Bones • The Bronze Doors • The Challenge of Artemis • Challenge of the Gods • Champion • The Circle • The Contest • Counting Coup • Depths • Destiny Calling • Devastation • Devastation Returns • Down to Earth • Ends of the Earth • Expatriate • Flesh • The Game of the Gods • God Complex • Gods and Mortals • Gods of Gotham • Godwar • Guts • Iron • Judgment in Infinity • Land of the Lost • Levels • Love and Murder • Lifelines • Marathon • The Men Who Moved the Earth • A Murder of Crows • Odyssey • The Pandora Virus • Paradise Island Lost • Revenge of the Cheetah • Rise of the Olympian • Sacrifice • Second Genesis • Stoned • Three Hearts • Trinity 98 • The Twelve Labors • War • Warkiller • War-Torn • Who is Donna Troy? • Who is Troia? • Who Is Wonder Woman? • The Witch and the Warrior • Wrath of the Silver Serpent
One of the events that led to Infinite Crisis was of Wonder Woman killing the villain Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #219.[114] Maxwell Lord was mind-controlling Superman, who as a result was near to killing Batman. Wonder Woman tried to stop Superman, Lord (who was unable to mind control her) made Superman see her as his enemy Doomsday trying to kill Lois Lane. Superman then attacked Wonder Woman, and a vicious battle ensued. Buying herself time by slicing Superman's throat with her tiara, Wonder Woman caught Lord in her Lasso of Truth and demanded to know how to stop his control over Superman. As the lasso forced the wearer to speak only the truth, Lord told her that the only way to stop him was to kill him. Left with no choice, Wonder Woman snapped Lord's neck and ended his control over Superman.[114] Unknown to her, the entire scene was broadcast live around every channel in the world by Brother Eye. The viewers were not aware of the entire situation, and saw only Wonder Woman murdering a Justice League associate. Wonder Woman's actions put her at odds with Batman and Superman, as they saw Wonder Woman as a cold-blooded killer, despite the fact that she saved their lives.[115]
Mikos delivers Ventouras's dead son to him, presumably killed by the rebel faction. This causes him to seek revenge against the Rebels and Diana. They turn into monsters and attack Diana. Diana fights the witch's forces but is overpowered by the witch herself, but only after retrieving the scroll from Stavros who was already attacked and severely wounded. The scrolls ends up in Julia's hands, and she immediately goes to work decoding it in an effort to save Diana and discover the witch's weakness. Diana is taken to the witch's stronghold, where she is revealed to be Circe, a sorceress possessing the soul of Hecate, the moon god after they had entered into a pact to drive the world into chaos. She tells Diana what became of her aunt Antiope, who was killed by Circe herself after manipulating Antiope's husband Theseus's former wife. Circe explains to Diana that her existence is a threat to her mission, due to Diana's goal of promoting peace and equality among mankind, and therefore she must be eliminated. Circe is about to kill Diana when she is interrupted by Julia and the rebels. Julia had decoded the scroll and knew how to stave off the witch's attacks. But they are beaten by Circe and almost killed when Circe herself is suspiciously summoned off from the island by an unknown force, later revealed to be the god Hermes.
On October 21, 2016, the United Nations controversially named Wonder Woman a UN Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Women and Girls in a ceremony attended by Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information Cristina Gallach and by actors Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot.[231][232] The character was dropped from the role two months later after a petition against the appointment stated Wonder Woman was "not culturally...sensitive" and it was "alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualized image".[233]
It's too bad that "Wonder Woman" strayed from its origins after it moved from ABC to CBS. The original ABC episodes were probably some of the best efforts at bringing comic book fun to life. Once the series was moved from its WWII setting to the present, the only thing that improved was Lynda Carter's costume. "Wonder Woman" became too much of a routine type of adventure show and lost its sense of good-natured fun and camp that the WWII episodes served up (and poor Lyle Waggoner became practically non-existent as "Steve Trevor, Jr.")
Wonder Woman is trained in the a variety of martial arts, making her a master of unarmed and armed combat (even proving adept with pistols). Before Flashpoint Batman considered Diana the best melee fighter on the planet, even putting her ahead of Superman, due to the combination of her power and the depth of her training. Even when depowered, she is on par with some of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the DC Universe.
Carolyn Cocca has stated that Wonder Woman possesses a "duality of character" due to the character possessing both feminine and masculine qualities in her physical abilities and attitude, which Cocca felt made her more appealing to a wide audience.[224] Wonder Woman's first female editor, Karen Berger, claimed that, "Wonder Woman [is] a great role model to young women, but also contains many elements that appeal to males as well. Wonder Woman crosses the gender line.".[224] Berger worked with George Pérez on the new issues of Wonder Woman starting in 1987, and the new Diana "works with friends and allies to teach lessons of peace and equality."[225]
Wonder Woman, Hermes and Zola is at a café where a guy called Lennox, who knew that Zola is pregnant with Zeus and who Wonder Woman and Hermes really is arrived there, and tells to Wonder Woman that he is Diana’s brother. He tells to Diana that she has to be at the London Bridge at six, or she’d regret it. She’s there at six, and Poseidon arrives, and tells Diana that he wants to be the new god of the gods, whereas Lennox goes into a cave shown to him by Hermes, and there he meets Hades who also wants to claim the throne of the Heavens. After Hera arrives, Wonder Woman tricks all of them, and Hades goes back into his cave, and tricks Zola to come to him and kidnap her, he told Diana that they struck a bargain, and when she has fulfilled her’s, she shall get Zola back.
Various Wonder Woman enemies would debut in the comic series. Issue #1 introduced Wonder Woman's nemesis, Ares, as the embodiment of all abnormal emotions, evil, and essentially all that Wonder Woman was against. Issue #5, the character of Doctor Psycho, a murderous psychopath with an intense hatred of women, was debuted,[5] Issue #6 introduced Cheetah while issue #9 introduced Giganta. Also Issue #9 debuted Queen Clea, which would later help form the female supervillain team, Villainy Inc.. Later on Issue #49 debuted another recurring enemy, Circe.[1]
Wonder Woman's sexual and bondage themes in her earliest days were not without purpose, however. Her creator, William Moulton Marston, theorized that human relationships could be broken down into dominance, submission, inducement and compliance roles which were embedded into our psyche. Because males were, more often than not, dominant in societies, Marston believed that "Women as a sex, are many times better equipped to assume emotional leadership than are males." [265] Marston wanted to convey his progressive ideals, through his use of bondage imagery, that women are not only capable of leadership roles, but should be in charge of society. Although Marston had good intentions with these themes, in Wonder Woman's early appearances, the bondage elements were controversial, as they were often seen to overly fetishize women in power rather than promote such women. Noah Berlatsky criticized this imagery in Wonder Woman's earliest days noting that "the comics take sensual pleasure in women’s disempowerment." [266] Despite having the mixed messages of this imagery, Marston fiercely believed that women would soon rule the earth and meant to showcase his predictions through sexual themes in his stories. He was an open feminist while studying at Harvard where he once said "Girls are also human beings, a point often overlooked!" [267]
The character's depiction in the New 52 has been mostly along the same lines as the remainder of her modern appearances, though as of yet much remains to be explained about her character. One development with the character in this new universe is that some of the developments which occurred during Flashpoint are occasionally referenced (such as her using London as her base of operations). In her New 52, written by Brian Azzarello, Wonder Woman's origin is that she is the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus; no longer is she a golem of clay and earth, but an actual demigoddess.
The princess of the Amazons, armed with superpowers of a god, Wonder Woman is one of Earth's most powerful defenders of peace, justice, and equality and a member of the Justice League. She is often considered an archetype for many non-comicbook heroines. She stands for Love and peace. Her original origin allegorically depicted her as a clay figure brought to life by the gods, but in recent years she has been depicted more literally as the daughter of Zeus and the Amazon queen Hippolyta.
Trudging on, Hades expects their presence and tries sending spirits in order to stall and attack Diana and Hermes. Successfully defeating them, they wonder through a forest and find a cabin resembling Zola's farm house. Zola pops out and happily hugs Wonder Woman. Hades at that moment makes his grand entrance and frees them. Though, just before they escape, Hades beckons Wonder Woman to look behind, and shoots her with Eros pistols. She urges Hermes and Zola to leave while she is left at the mercy of Hades who wants her to be his bride. Here, she is preparing to wed Hades when she gives Diana her lasso, saying that if he truly loves him, she will confess it due to the properties of the lasso. She says yes, but will not go on with the wedding as it is more or less forced and not real love. She escapes his clutches and shoots him as a means of payback for shooting her.
"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."
Mikos delivers Ventouras's dead son to him, presumably killed by the rebel faction. This causes him to seek revenge against the Rebels and Diana. They turn into monsters and attack Diana. Diana fights the witch's forces but is overpowered by the witch herself, but only after retrieving the scroll from Stavros who was already attacked and severely wounded. The scrolls ends up in Julia's hands, and she immediately goes to work decoding it in an effort to save Diana and discover the witch's weakness. Diana is taken to the witch's stronghold, where she is revealed to be Circe, a sorceress possessing the soul of Hecate, the moon god after they had entered into a pact to drive the world into chaos. She tells Diana what became of her aunt Antiope, who was killed by Circe herself after manipulating Antiope's husband Theseus's former wife. Circe explains to Diana that her existence is a threat to her mission, due to Diana's goal of promoting peace and equality among mankind, and therefore she must be eliminated. Circe is about to kill Diana when she is interrupted by Julia and the rebels. Julia had decoded the scroll and knew how to stave off the witch's attacks. But they are beaten by Circe and almost killed when Circe herself is suspiciously summoned off from the island by an unknown force, later revealed to be the god Hermes.
As early as the 1950s,[210] Wonder Woman's tiara has also been used as a razor-edged throwing weapon, returning to her like a boomerang.[183] The tiara allows Wonder Woman to be invulnerable from telepathic attacks, as well as allowing her to telepathically contact people such as the Amazons back on Themyscira using the power of the red star ruby in its center.[63]
The Silver Age format for comic books also did not generally favour a lot of story arcs, or at least, not memorable ones. In this period though the character did undergo some consistent changes as she battled a variety of common foes including Kobra, but the changed format gave her the ability to develop more as a character. The silver age stories of Wonder Woman can be broken into a few general arcs – the depowered stories (in the mod girl phase), undergoing tests to re-enter the Justice League of America, a golden age story about her work during the Second World War, her adventures as an astronaut for NASA, the hunt for Kobra, and eventually the return of Steve Trevor and the internal politics of working at the Pentagon. The most famous story which she was involved with at this time was “For the Man Who Has Everything”, a story focused on Superman, but also involving herself and Batman. The first major story arc which she was part of was Crisis on Infinite Earths, which also ended her silver age appearances.
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.[39] 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.[40] With sales of the title continuing to decline in 1985 (despite an unpublished revamp that was solicited), the series was canceled and ended in issue #329 (February 1986) written by Gerry Conway, depicting Steve Trevor's marriage to Wonder Woman.
When faced with a larger threat, Diana will wear her Amazon battle armour for added protection as well as use martial weapons such as swords. Technically speaking as well, as reimagined under the George Perez 1980s reboot, the iconic costume is in fact simply the breastplate of this armour. She will also additionally use a shield for added defense when she deems it necessary.
In the New 52, the night when she turned 8, Ares appeared before Diana and offered to train her above and beyond the abilities of the Amazons, having seen her potential to eventually become his replacement as the God of War. Though the training was one for one night each month, the year was noticed with Diana improving tremendously compared to the other Amazons.
Another major outfit change for Wonder Woman came about as part of DC Comics' 2011 relaunch of its entire line of publications, The New 52. The character's original one-piece outfit was restored, although the color combination of red and blue was changed to dark red and blue-black. Her chest-plate, belt and tiara were also changed from gold to a platinum or sterling silver color. Along with her sword, she now also utilizes a shield. She wears many accessories such as arm and neck jewelry styled as the "WW" motif. Her outfit is no longer made of fabric, as it now resembles a type of light, flexible body armor. Her boots are now a very dark blue rather than red. The design previously included black trousers, but they were removed and the one-piece look was restored during the time of publication.[196]
Diana meets Barbara Ann Minerva for the first time. Minerva wants Diana's lasso and tricks Diana into believing that she has Antiope's Girdle of Gaea. Diana discovers the ruse and storms out of the house. Barbara transforms into the Cheetah and attacks Diana. Julia Kapatelis shoots Cheetah and fends her off. Diana returns to Themyscira. Zeus is infatuated with Diana and asks her for a physical communion to which Diana refuses. Angered, Zeus sends her on a mission, a "Challenge
^ McAvennie, Michael "1960s" in Dolan, p. 131 "Carmine Infantino wanted to rejuvenate what had been perceived as a tired Wonder Woman, so he assigned writer Denny O'Neil and artist Mike Sekowsky to convert the Amazon Princess into a secret agent. Wonder Woman was made over into an Emma Peel type and what followed was arguably the most controversial period in the hero's history."
Membership Adam Strange · Agent Liberty · Amazing Man · Ambush Bug · Amethyst · Andrew Bennett · Antaeus · Animal Man · Atomica · August General in Iron · Azrael · Aztek · Batwing · Big Barda · Black Condor · Black Lightning · Black Orchid · Bloodwynd · Blue Beetle · Blue Devil · Blue Jay · Booster Gold · Bronze Tiger · Bulleteer · Captain Atom · Captain Cold · Captain Marvel · Catwoman · Congorilla · Creeper · Crimson Fox · Dark Flash · Deadman · Detective Chimp · Doctor Fate · Doctor Light · Doctor Mist · Donna Troy · Element Woman · Elongated Man · Enchantress · Equinox · Etrigan · Faith · Fire · Firehawk · Firestorm · Frankenstein · General Glory · Geo-Force · G'nort · Godiva · Guardian · Guy Gardner · Gypsy · Hourman · Huntress · Ice · Icemaiden · Jade · Jesse Quick · Jessica Cruz · John Constantine · John Stewart · Katana · Killer Frost · Kyle Rayner · Lex Luthor · Lightray · Lobo · L-Ron · Madame Xanadu · Major Disaster · Man-Bat · Manitou Raven · Maxima · Maya · Metamorpho · Mera · Mindwarp · Mister Miracle · Mon-El · Moon Maiden · Mystek · Nightmare Nurse · Nightwing · Nuklon · Obsidian · Olympian · O.M.A.C. · Oracle · Orion · Pandora · Phantom Stranger · Plastic Man · Power Girl · Ray · Red Arrow · Red Tornado · Rocket Red · Shade the Changing Man · Silver Sorceress · Simon Baz · Starfire · Stargirl · Starman · Steel · Steve Trevor · Swamp Thing · Super-Chief · Supergirl · Tasmanian Devil · Tattooed Man · Tomorrow Woman · Triumph · Vibe · Vixen · Zatanna · Zauriel
Wonder Woman gets a little jealous with Supergirl's arrival, believing she is trying to catch everyone's attention. When she realized that Supergirl is actually a better superhero because she looks up to Wonder Woman, they became friends and Wonder Woman helps to train Supergirl. She is among the heroes to battle against Granny Goodness and the Female Furies. She is voiced by Grey Griffin.
^ Esposito, Joey; Norris, Erik (December 14, 2011). "The Best of DC Comics in 2011. What are the best books coming out of the DC relaunch?". IGN. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012. Sometimes it takes a completely fresh set of eyes to reignite the flame of creativity...By deeply rooting their new Wonder Woman series in Greek mythology, Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang have tapped into a creative well that appears bottomless.
Granted by Hermes (God of Messengers), her top speed has never been well documented, but she has entered the speed force under her own power, implying she can accelerate to at least light speed. The Flash has said that Wonder Woman can easily keep up with him and she has been seen keeping up with Flash going faster than hypersonic speed. She has been shown to be on par with some of the fastest characters in the DC Universe such as Jesse Quick. She can disarm human opponents of their weapons instantly and she can immobilize her opponents in the blink of an eye, as she showed when she speedblitzed White Martian and Genocide into space in no time and was able to take down Amazo before he could finish a word. She is such a well trained athlete that in combat, her reflexes even surprise the likes of Superman.