Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. Due to her depiction as a heroine fighting for justice and to reduce male domination over the world, Wonder Woman is widely considered a feminist icon.
Wonder Woman is a warrior princess of the Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and is known in her homeland as Diana of Themyscira. She is gifted with a wide range of superhuman powers and superior combat and battle skill. Also well-known is her arsenal of weapons, such as the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in some stories, an invisible airplane.
Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting the Axis military forces, as well as an assortment of supervillains. Since then, Wonder Woman has earned a formidable cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon such as classic villains like Cheetah, Ares and Circe and newer ones like Genocide, The Circle and many gods and monsters from Greek mythology . Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960).
In addition to the comics, the character has appeared in other media; most notably, the 1975–1979 Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, as well as animated series such as the Super Friends and Justice League. Although a number of attempts have been made to adapt the character to live-action film, none have yet emerged from development hell. An animated film was released in 2009, with Keri Russell voicing the title role. In 2011, Adrianne Palicki starred in the TV series pilot of Wonder Woman that did not get picked up due to "scheduling issues". In September 2012, it was revealed that CW, the creator of popular Superman show Smallville, was developing a potential Wonder Woman origin TV series titled Amazon. Wonder Woman has also appeared in the form of a variety of toys, merchandise and pin-ups.
Read more about Wonder Woman: Secret Identity, Characterization, Costume, Reception, Alternative Versions, Collected Editions
Famous quotes containing the word woman:
“We are all androgynous, not only because we are all born of a woman impregnated by the seed of a man but because each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other—male in female, female in male, white in black and black in white. We are a part of each other. Many of my countrymen appear to find this fact exceedingly inconvenient and even unfair, and so, very often, do I. But none of us can do anything about it.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)