The New 52 relaunch of DC’s main titles was controversial, to be sure. However, most fans agree that at least a few gems came out of that line. One of them was certainly the New 52 Wonder Woman. With the art by Cliff Chiang and storyline by Brian Azzarello, the Blood storyline that started Wonder Woman’s New 52 tenure was not just a brilliant iteration of a familiar character for comic book fans, but a great jumping-on point for anyone not entirely familiar with Diana’s characters.
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.
Indomitable Will: Wonder Woman has tremendous determination and strength of will. She refuses to ever give up, even when placed against seemingly insurmountable odds. Hence, despite the Germans invading Themyscira having far superior firepower, despite the extreme danger of German firepower in-between World War I trenches, despite having to fight the stronger and seemingly unstoppable Doomsday, despite having to battle the mighty Ares right after witnessing Steve Trevor's death, Wonder Woman promptly rose up, overcame her negative emotions, and kept on fighting, persisting until she eventually managed to gain the upper hand. Indeed, her indomitable spirit gave a renewed hope to the Wonder Men and inspired them past the point of purely monetary interests, with Chief resolving to no longer be neutral in the war and believing her story of the Olympians, Sameer finally admitting his passion for acting, and even the depressed Charlie struggling with PTSD finally beginning to sing again for the first time in years. When humanity's inherent potential for evil was revealed to her by Ares, Wonder Woman, while initially taken aback, ultimately rejected the prospect of alliance with Ares against them, even if that were to mean missing out on "paradise" on Earth, and instead courageously confronted him as the god killer. When seemingly beaten by Ares (who was only growing more powerful from her violence, rage, and hatred) and overcome by the weight of his words and the devastation of Steve's death, Wonder Woman recalled his great love for and undying belief in her, and was thereby able to muster enough willpower and love to overcome her violent emotions and defeat Ares. While mostly stepping away from superheroism for 100 years (emotionally crippled at her inability to save the Belgian villagers and Steve, and by seeing the ensuing "century of horrors"), Wonder Woman didn't entirely lose hope, and it was fully reignited again when she witnessed the self-sacrificing death of another selfless superhero, Superman (who combined the phenomenal godly might of Ares with the self-sacrificing morality of Steve Trevor), giving her enough faith to help Batman found the Justice League. During the League's battle against Steppenwolf's forces, Wonder Woman was able to inspire confidence into the inexperienced Flash and Cyborg, assuring them that they wouldn't need to fight the Apokoliptan invasion alone.
I can tell that this story was supposed to have a lot of pathos to it, but I just wasn't feeling it. I couldn't feel.much for Jason, he's been such a twit since he appeared, it is hard to feel for WW and her relationship with him, such as it is. The whole story was pretty meh, honestly. The art was good most of the time, and there were some really fantastic individual p ...more
Critics such as Valerie Estelle Frankel support Jenkins's vision. Frankel argues that the film subverts the male gaze,[242] stating that the construction of Wonder Woman tends to shift every few decades as it reflects the state of feminism during different time periods, including third-wave feminism (which reflects Jenkins's approach).[242][246][247] Zoe Williams offers a similar argument, stating that while Wonder Woman "is sort of naked a lot of the time," that is not, at the same time, "objectification so much as a cultural reset: having thighs, actual thighs you can kick things with, not thighs that look like arms, is a feminist act".[248] Williams then juxtaposes Wonder Woman to past female action heroes such as Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, and Lara Croft, whom she suggests were all constructed for the male gaze, in which a "female warrior becomes a sex object", (a point which she argues that Jenkins directly references in the film).[248]
Wonder Woman and Hermes briefly returned to Themyscira so that Diana could pay her respects to her petrified mother. When they got back to her apartment, they found Hera crying and mourning the days when she used to be a goddess. As Diana comforted her, she realized she would need help in finding Zola and Zeke. Wonder Woman went to the Taiga, Siberia, where she asked Artemis for her help. Artemis agreed, on the condition that she and Diana have a rematch. Knowing they are in Artemis' realm, Diana threw the fight in Artemis' favor.[40]
Following the events of the Darkseid War, Wonder Woman is told by the dying Myrina Black that on the night of Diana's birth, Hippolyta gave birth to a twin child. This child was revealed to be male, known as Jason, and is said to be incredibly powerful. Wonder Woman makes it her mission to find him.[160] At the same time, she finds the truth behind her origin and history is now cluttered, as she remembers two versions: the pre-Flashpoint one, and the New 52 rendition. She cannot locate Themiscyra or her fellow Amazons and the Lasso of Truth does not work for her anymore.
In 2010, Warner Bros. stated that a Wonder Woman film was in development, along with films based on DC Comics superheroes the Flash and Aquaman.[83] Both Wonder Woman and Aquaman were still under consideration for solo film subjects as of June 2013.[84] DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson said Wonder Woman "has been, since I started, one of the top three priorities for DC and for Warner Bros. We are still trying right now, but she's tricky."[85] On October 5, 2013, WB chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara said he wanted to get Wonder Woman in a film or on TV.[86] Shortly afterward, Paul Feig said he had pitched the studio an idea for Wonder Woman as an action-comedy film.[87][88] The studio then began to search for female directors to direct the film.[89] While Michelle MacLaren was the studio's initial choice to direct (and while she initially indicated interest),[90][91][92] she eventually left the project due to creative differences.[93]
The next day, Diana awoke to find that they'd hitched a ride on a larger ship and arrived in London. She was less than pleased at the sight of the city, stating that it was hideous. As they walked through the streets of London, Diana insisted that Trevor take her to the war. She was dismayed to hear that he intended to deliver Doctor Poison's notebook to his superiors in the British War Council. Trevor promised that if he went with her to deliver the notebook, he would take her to the war. Though annoyed by the detour, Diana agreed. Trevor then realized that she was only wearing her battle armor, and took her to a store to buy her some clothes. As they walked to the store, Diana was delighted to see a baby and ran toward it, with Trevor having to pull her away.
“I have the good Sergeant’s letter in which he expresses his enthusiasm over chains for women—so what?” As a practicing clinical psychologist, he said, he was unimpressed. “Some day I’ll make you a list of all the items about women that different people have been known to get passionate over—women’s hair, boots, belts, silk worn by women, gloves, stockings, garters, panties, bare backs,” he promised. “You can’t have a real woman character in any form of fiction without touching off a great many readers’ erotic fancies. Which is swell, I say.”
It was the fall of 1985...I walked into editor Janice Race's office to find out about the fate of Diana Prince. I was curious to learn who was going to draw her. Superman had [John] Byrne and [Jerry] Ordway, Batman had [Frank] Miller and [Alan] Davis (and later [David] Mazzucchelli). Wonder Woman had...No one. A writer, Greg Potter, had been selected but no established artist wanted to handle the new series. After exhaustive searches, it seemed Wonder Woman would have to be assigned to an unknown...I thought of John Byrne and Superman. What a giant coup for DC. A top talent and fan-fave on their premier character..."Janice" I heard myself say "What if I took on Wonder Woman for the first six months – just to get her out of the starting gate?"
The British War Council quickly gathered to discuss the notebook. Their codebreakers were unable to decipher the two different languages that it was written in, but Diana quickly identified them as Ottoman and Sumerian. She read the book out loud, informing the council that Doctor Poison had created a new form of mustard gas based on hydrogen instead of sulfur, which gas masks would be useless against.
After the disappointing downward trend of quality for this series, this volume was a somewhat refreshing addition. Though the plot was rather basic and a bit nonsensical at times, overall it was a decent enough addition to the series. The artwork is solid and makes the story more engaging. This volume also includes Wonder Woman Annual #2, which as a fan of the Star Sapphires I enjoyed. However, the ending to this arc was incredibly rushed and told in a way that completely removed any sense of su ...more
This version was conceived of as a prequel to the first live-action, theatrical appearance of Wonder Woman, in the 2016 film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,[96] placing Wonder Woman in the 1910s and World War I (a decision which differs from her comic book origins as a supporter of the Allies during World War II).[97] As for story development, Jenkins credits the stories by the character's creator William Moulton Marston in the 1940s and George Perez's seminal stories in the 1980s in which he modernized the character.[98] In addition, it follows some aspects of DC Comics' origin changes in The New 52 reboot, where Diana is the daughter of Zeus.[12][99] Jenkins cited Richard Donner's Superman as an inspiration.[100]
For a time she was given enhanced vision by Athena, which gave her the ability to see in darkness and through illusions. This also makes her resistant/immune to telepathy. Due to her wisdom she can learn languages faster than a regular person, she can talk to animals. She has also been shown to project herself astrally in order to commune with the gods and ask for special favors from them. She has also been shown to take on the abilities of certain of her patron goddesses as when she became a form of divine midwife to save the life of an unborn child.
As Diana, Victor and Arthur all try to simultaneously flank Superman (albeit unsuccessfully), Barry attempts to help using his speed, but Superman is able to see him and keeps up with the speedster. Despite Barry's best efforts, Superman is able to land a glancing blow, knocking him out before Batman arrives and gets Superman to stop. Wonder Woman tries to fight Superman again, yet she's knocked down. He then swats Batman and asks him the same question that Bruce asked him "Tell me, do you bleed?". Before Superman could kill Bruce, Lois and Alfred to stop him.
Flash and Cyborg save all the hostage, which Silas Stone tells Victor that Steppenwolf can not get the final Mother Box. Batman then jumps down into the Knightcrawler and saves Wonder Woman after a Parademon manages to briefly knock her out. The Knightcrawler gets attacked by Steppenwolf, and Barry helps Wonder Woman get her sword so she can help Batman.
In modern times, Diana operates as the curator of the Louvre Museum as Diana Prince. Two years following the Battle of Metropolis, Diana came into conflict with Lex Luthor, who discovered a photograph of Diana and the Wonder Men during his search for metahumans. During her pursuit of Luthor, Diana crossed paths with Bruce Wayne, who discovered her secret after their confrontation during his search for the White Portuguese. Later, along with the photograph on Luthor's files Bruce sent her, Diana discovered the evidence of metahumans in the world. With her mission fulfilled, Diana prepared to depart back to London, but the emergence of the monstrous Doomsday led Diana to ally herself with Superman and Batman to take down the monster in a fierce battle that ended with the tragic death of Superman.
A shocked Diana apologized to Antiope and abruptly left the training session. She wandered off to a cliff on the Themysciran seashore and examined her gauntlets in awe. As she stood there, she noticed an airplane burst through the forcefield surrounding Themyscira and crash in the nearby waters. Seeing even from a great distance away that someone was trapped inside the sinking aircraft, she leaped down the ocean and rescued the pilot, none other than a human soldier named Steve Trevor. She pulled him out of the water and onto the Themysciran shore. As he came to, she noted in disbelief that he was a man, as she had never seen one before. Though somewhat confused, Steve affirmed that he was, rhetorically asking whether or not he looked like one.
At the end of the 1960s, under the guidance of Mike Sekowsky, Wonder Woman surrendered her powers in order to remain in Man's World rather than accompany her fellow Amazons to another dimension. Wonder Woman begins using the alias Diana Prince and opens a mod boutique. She acquires a Chinese mentor named I Ching, who teaches Diana martial arts and weapons skills. Using her fighting skill instead of her powers, Diana engaged in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology.[35][36] This phase of her story was directly influenced by the British spy thriller The Avengers and Diana Rigg's portrayal of Emma Peel.[37]
Wonder Woman is suggested as being queer[247] or bisexual, as she and another Amazon, Io, had reciprocal feelings for each other.[248] Grant Morrison's 2016 comic Wonder Woman: Earth One, which exists parallel to the current DC comics Rebirth canon, Diana is depicted being kissed on her right cheek by a blonde woman who has put her left arm around Diana.[249]
Gloria Steinem, editor for Ms. magazine and a major supporter of Wonder Woman, stated "... [Marston] had invented Wonder Woman as a heroine for little girls, and also as a conscious alternative to the violence of comic books for boys."[237] Badower described a near-international incident (involving an unnamed Russian general rolling dozens of tanks and munitions through a shady mountain pass) as an outstanding example for standing up to bullies. "She ends up deflecting a bullet back and disarming the general," he says, adding that "she doesn't actually do anything violent in the story. I just think that Wonder Woman is smarter than that."[238]
Genius-Level Intellect: Wonder Woman is extremely intelligent, wise, well-read, perceptive, and sophisticated, primarily due to her tremendously long immortal lifespan, natural fluency in all human languages (even dead ones, like Latin, Ancient Greek, Sumerian, and Ottoman Turkish), her having read many books even while still on Themyscira, and her century of living in "Man's World" after World War I, all of which makes Wonder Woman the wisest and most emotionally intelligent member of the Justice League, despite her having initially been naive, headstrong, and idealistic at the time of leaving Themyscira with Steve Trevor. As such, Wonder Woman has no issues blending in with the high-class society of "Man's World." She held her own while verbally sparring with Batman (with the extremely experienced vigilante having trouble discerning her identity), was the first to realize that Doomsday's adaptive healing factor was energy-based, and was the only one on supergenius Lex Luthor's metahuman list to figure out that Lex was keeping tabs on her and had obtained a compromising photo of her with Steve Trevor (possibly due to her having been once been fooled by another deceitful supervillain, Ares). She also displays a keen understanding of technology and biomechatronics, shown when Wonder Woman uses the Batcomputer, remarks on Cyborg's Mother Box enhancements,[12] and when she deduced that resurrecting Superman with a Mother Box might produce a monster like Doomsday. Wonder Woman's intellectual genius extends itself to her combat, perceptiveness, stealth, arcane lore, and antiquities dealing skills.
Arriving at Chernobyl, Wonder Woman, Orion, Siracca and Hermes engaged Cassandra's forces to save Milan. Cassandra threatened to kill Milan if Wonder Woman did not reveal the First Born's location. Wonder Woman told her the First Born was in Olympus, but as she left, Cassandra strapped a bomb to Milan's chest. To contain the explosion, Orion took Milan through a boom tube. Returning home, Wonder Woman discovered Zola and Zeke had left, as Zola felt guilty that people were risking their lives to protect them.[39]
Poseidon Flash Comics #9 (September 1940) Poseidon is the God of the Sea, Earthquakes, and Horses who is based on the god of the same name. Post-Crisis, Poseidon was most often seen as an ally to Wonder Woman, though he eventually sided with Zeus and Hades after Athena took over Mount Olympus. In New 52, Poseidon's Appearance is blue-skinned half Toad, half Octopus.
