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Real name Princess Diana of Themyscira

Wonder Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is a warrior princess of the Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and is known in her homeland as Princess Diana of Themyscira. When outside her homeland, she is sometimes known by the secret identity Diana Prince. She is gifted with a wide range of superhuman powers and superior combat and battle skills. She possesses an arsenal of weapons, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and (in older stories) a range of devices based on Amazon technology.

Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941 and first cover-dated on Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. Her depiction as a heroine fighting for justice, love, peace, and gender equality has led to Wonder Woman being widely considered a feminist icon. Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting Axis military 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. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a formidable cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon, including classic villains such as Ares, Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Psycho, and Giganta, along with more recent adversaries such as 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).

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. Since Carter's television series, studios struggled to introduce a new live-action Wonder Woman to audiences, although the character continued to feature in a variety of toys and merchandise, as well as animated adaptations of DC properties, including a direct-to-DVD animated feature. Attempts to return Wonder Woman to television have included a pilot for NBC in 2011, closely followed by another stalled production for The CW. In 2013, Warner Bros. announced that actress Gal Gadot would portray Wonder Woman in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, marking the character's feature film debut after over 70 years of history.

Biography

Golden Age
In her debut in All Star Comics #8, Diana was a member of a tribe of women named the Amazons, native to Paradise Island – a secluded island set in the middle of a vast ocean. Captain Steve Trevor's plane crashes on the island and he is found alive but unconscious by Diana and a fellow Amazon. Diana has him nursed back to health and falls in love with him. A competition is held amongst all the Amazons by Diana's mother, the Queen of the Amazons Hippolyte, in order to determine who is the most worthy of all the women; Hippolyte charges the winner with the responsibility of delivering Captain Steve Trevor back to man's world and to fight for justice. Hippolyte forbids Diana from entering the competition, but she takes part nonetheless, wearing a mask to conceal her identity. She wins the competition and reveals herself, surprising Hippolyte, who ultimately gives in to Diana's wish to go to Man's World. She then safely returns Steve Trevor back to his home and is awarded a special dress made by her mother for her new role as Wonder Woman.

Coming to America for the first time, Wonder Woman comes upon a weeping army nurse named Diana Prince. Inquiring about her state, she finds that the nurse wanted to leave for South America with her fiancé but was unable to due to shortage of money. As both of them looked identical and Wonder Woman needed a job and a valid identity to look after Steve (who was admitted in the same army hospital), she gives her the money she had earned earlier to help her go to her fiancé in exchange for her credentials. The nurse reveals her name as Diana Prince, and thus, Wonder Woman's secret identity was created, and she began working as a nurse in the army.

Wonder Woman then took part in a variety of adventures, mostly side by side with Trevor. Her most common foes during this period would be Nazi forces, and sometimes villains like Baroness Paula Von Gunther, The Cheetah, Doctor Psycho and Duke of Deception.

Silver Age
In the Silver Age, Wonder Woman's history received several changes. Her earlier origin, which had significant ties to World War II, was changed and her powers were shown to be the product of the gods' blessings – "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Mercury". The concepts of Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot were also introduced during this period.

Wonder Woman Vol 1 Issue #179 (Nov. 1968) showed Wonder Woman giving up her powers and returning her costume and title to her mother in order to continue staying in Man's World. The reason behind this was that all the Amazons were shifting to another dimension, but Diana was unable to accompany them as she needed to stay back to help a wrongly-convicted Steve. Thus, she no longer held the title of Wonder Woman and after meeting and training under a blind martial arts mentor I-Ching, Diana resumed fighting crime as the powerless Diana Prince. She ran a mod-boutique as a business and dressed in a series of jumpsuits while fighting crime. During this period, Samuel R. Delany took over scripting duties with issue #202. Delany was initially supposed to write a six-issue story arc, which would culminate in a battle over an abortion clinic, but Delany was removed reportedly due to criticism from Gloria Steinem, who, not knowing the content of the issues Delany was writing, was merely upset that Wonder Woman was no longer wearing her traditional costume.

Bronze Age
In Wonder Woman Vol 1 #204, Diana's powers and costume were returned to her and she is once again reinstated as Wonder Woman. I-Ching is killed by a mad sniper in the same issue. Later, Diana meets her "sister" Nubia, who is Hippolyta's daughter fashioned out of dark clay (hence Nubia's dark complexion). Nubia was the Wonder Woman of "The Floating Island", and she challenges Diana to a duel which ends in a draw. Returning to her home, Nubia would have further adventures involving Diana.

The last issue of Volume 1 showed Diana and Steve Trevor announce their love for each other and their subsequent marriage.

Modern Age

The events of Crisis on Infinite Earths greatly changed and altered the history of the DC Universe. Wonder Woman's history and origin were considerably revamped by the event. Wonder Woman was now an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira (the new name for Paradise Island) to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Various deities and concepts from Greek mythology were blended and incorporated into Wonder Woman's stories and origin. Diana was formed out of clay of the shores of Themyscira by Hippolyta, who wished for a child; the clay figure was then brought to life by the Greek deities. The Gods then blessed and granted her unique powers and abilities – beauty from Aphrodite, strength from Demeter, wisdom from Athena, speed and flight from Hermes, Eyes of the Hunter and unity with beasts from Artemis and sisterhood with fire and the ability to discern the truth from Hestia. Due to the reboot, Diana's operating methods were made distinctive from Superman and Batman's with her willingness to use deadly force when she judges it necessary. In addition, her previous history and her marriage to Steve Trevor were erased. Trevor was introduced as a man much older than Diana who would later on marry Etta Candy.

Starting in Wonder Woman Vol 2 #51, The Amazons, who had revealed their presence to the world in Wonder Woman Vol 2 #50, are blamed for a series of murders and for the theft of various artifacts. The Amazons are then taken into custody, Queen Hippolyta is nowhere to be found and Steve Trevor is forced by General Yedziniak to attack Themyscira. These events lead to the "War of the Gods" occurring. The culprit of the murders, thefts and the framing of the Amazons is revealed to be the witch Circe, who "kills" Diana by reverting her form back into the clay she was born from. Later, Wonder Woman is brought back to life and together with Donna Troy, battles Circe and ultimately defeats her. Circe would later return by unknown means.

When Hippolyta and the other Amazons were trapped in a demonic dimension, she started receiving visions about the death of Wonder Woman. Fearing her daughter's death, Hippolyta created a false claim that Diana was not worthy of continuing her role as Wonder Woman, and arranged for a contest to determine who would be the new Wonder Woman, thus protecting Diana from her supposed fate. The participants of the final round were Diana and Artemis, and with the help of some mystic manipulation by Hippolyta, Artemis won the contest. Thus, Diana was forced to hand over her title and costume to Artemis, who became the new Wonder Woman and Diana started fighting crime in an alternate costume. Artemis later died in battle with the White Magician – thus, Hippolyta vision of a dying Wonder Woman did come true, albeit not of Diana as Wonder Woman. Diana once again became Wonder Woman, a request made by Artemis in her last seconds. Artemis would later return as Requiem. Prior to Artemis' death, Hippolyta would admit to her daughter about her own part in Artemis' death, which strained their relationship as Diana was unable to forgive her mother for sending another Amazon to her death knowingly for the sake of saving her own daughter.

The demon Neron engaged Diana in battle and managed to kill her. The Olympian Gods granted Diana divinity and the role of the Goddess of Truth who started to reside in Olympus; her mother Hippolyta then assumed the role of Wonder Woman and wore her own different incarnation of the costume. In Wonder Woman Vol 2 #136, Diana was banished from Olympus due to interfering in earthly matters (as Diana was unable to simply watch over people's misery on earth). She immediately returned to her duties as Wonder Woman, but ran into conflicts with her mother over her true place and role as Hippolyta seemed accustomed to her life in America. Their fight remained unsolved, as Hippolyta tragically died during an intergalactic war. Themyscira was destroyed during the war, but was restored and reformed as a collection of floating islands. Circe later resurrected Hippolyta in Wonder Woman Vol 3 #8.

One of the events that led to Infinite Crisis was of Wonder Woman killing the villain Maxwell Lord in Wonder Woman Vol 2 #219. 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. 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.

At the end of Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman temporarily retires from her costumed identity. Diana, once again using the alias Diana Prince, joins the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Donna Troy becomes the new Wonder Woman and is captured by Diana's enemies. Diana then goes on a mission to rescue her sister, battling Circe and Hercules. Diana defeats the villains, freeing Donna and takes up the role of Wonder Woman again. Circe places a spell on Diana, which renders Diana into a normal, powerless human being when in the role of Diana Prince; her powers come to her only when she is in the role of Wonder Woman.

The storyline "The Circle" was focused on the revelation of a failed assassination attempt on Diana when she was a baby, by four rogue Amazons. These Amazons – Myrto, Charis, Philomela and Alkyone, collectively referred to as The Circle – were Hippolyta's personal guards and were extremely loyal and devoted to her. However, when Hippolyta decided to raise a daughter, The Circle was horrified and considered the baby ill-fate, one who would ruin their entire race. Thus, after Diana was sculpted out of clay and brought to life, The Circle decided to assassinate the baby. Their attempt was foiled however, and the four Amazons were imprisoned. After years, the Circle escaped their prisons with the help of Captain Nazi, and decided to accomplish their previously failed mission and kill Diana. Diana defeated Myrto, Charis, Philomela and then approached Alkyone, who runs off and succumbs to her death by falling into the ocean. The other three Amazons return to their prisons.

Issue #600 introduced Wonder Woman to an alternate time-line created by the Gods in which Themyscira had been destroyed and the Amazons scattered around the world. In this timeline, Diana is an orphan raised in New York who is learning to cope with her powers. The entire world has forgotten Wonder Woman's existence and the main story of this run was of Diana trying to restore reality even though she does not properly remember it herself. Diana has no memories of her prior adventures as Wonder Woman, recollecting her memories in bits and pieces and receiving different abilities and resources (such as the power of flight and her lasso) during the progression of her adventure. A trio of Death Goddesses called the Morrigan acted as Wonder Woman's main enemies. Diana ultimately defeats the evil goddesses and returns everything back to normal.

The New 52
In September 2011, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of publication to cater to a new generation of readers, dubbing the event The New 52. Among the major changes to the character, Wonder Woman now appears wearing a new costume similar to her older one, and has a completely new origin. In this new timeline, Wonder Woman is no longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods, but the demigodess daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, king of the Greek Gods.

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.
With the appearance of a bizarre, new, chalk-white enemy, the goddess Strife, Wonder Woman discovers she, herself, is the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus, who, after a violent clash, became lovers. 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.

The first of these half-mortal siblings to reveal himself to Wonder Woman was her older half-brother, Lennox, who could transform himself into living, marble-like stone and, before his death, was the father of Cassandra Sandsmark (Wonder Girl).

The story then focuses on Wonder Woman's quest to rescue Zola from Hades, who had abducted her and taken her to Hell at the end of the sixth issue of the series. The male children of the Amazons are introduced and Diana learns about the birth of her "brothers" – the Amazons used to infrequently invade the ships coming near the island and force themselves on the sailors, and then kill them. After nine months, the birth of the female children are highly celebrated and they are inducted into the proper ranks of the Amazons while the male children are rejected. In order to save the male children from being drowned to death by the Amazons, Hephaestus trades them from the Amazons in exchange for weapons.

After saving Zola from Hades, Wonder Woman tries to protect her further from Apollo, as it is prophesied that one of Zeus' children will be his downfall whom Apollo considers to be Zola's child. Wonder Woman receives the power of flight by one of Hermes' feathers piercing her thigh and Zola's baby is stolen by Hermes at the end and given to Demeter. The issue's last page shows a dark and mysterious man rising from the snow, taking a helmet and disappearing.

A stand-alone #0 issue was released in September which explored Diana's childhood and her tutelage under Ares, the God of War. The issue was narrated in the style of a typical Silver Age comic book and saw Diana in her childhood years. The main plot of the issue was Diana training under Ares as he thought of her being an extraordinary girl with immense potential. The issue ultimately concluded with Diana learning and experiencing the importance of mercy, as she hesitates and refuses to kill the Minotaur – a task given to her by Ares; however, this show of mercy makes her a failure in Ares' eyes.

Wonder Woman appears as one of the lead characters in the new Justice League title written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee. In August 2012, she and Superman shared a kiss in Justice League Vol 2 #12, which has since developed into a romantic relationship. According to Justice League writer Geoff Johns, their union is the new status quo. Johns revealed that both Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship will end badly. DC has since announced a Superman/Wonder Woman comic scheduled to debut in the fall of 2013. The book will focus not only on their romance but also on threats powerful enough to challenge even the Power Couple.

Earth 2
The New 52 version of Earth 2 was introduced in Earth 2 #1 (2012). In that issue, the Earth 2 Wonder Woman is introduced via flashback. She, along with Superman and Batman, are depicted dying in battle with forces from Apokolips five years in the past. In Earth 2 #8 (2013), Wonder Woman's adult daughter, Fury, is introduced.
This Wonder Woman appeared to worship the Roman versions of the Greek pantheon, as Mercury, Hermes' Roman counterpart, is seen in Earth 2 and he mentions Minerva, Neptune, Bacchus, Vesta, Mars, and Jupiter, Roman counterparts to the Greek gods normally appearing in the modern Wonder Woman comics set on Earth 1. He also mentions the Roman incarnation of Apollo. These gods were all said to be fighting to the death in the opening pages of Earth 2, with Mercury being the sole survivor, though he too dies five years after escaping imprisonment by an unknown force and turning Jay Garrick into the Earth 2 version of The Flash.