Regenerative Healing Factor: Due to her Amazonian physiology, Wonder Woman can heal from wounds at considerable superhuman rates. This compensates for her vulnerability to sharp objects and bullets. During the Germans' attack on Themyscira during World War I, Diana suffered a wound to her shoulder that, even with much of her power being suppressed had healed completely a few hours later.
The original significance of Wonder Woman had the intentions of influencing many women of all ages, displaying the physical and mental strengths, values, and ethical attributes that not only men acquire. "Wonder Woman symbolizes many of the values of the women's culture that feminists are now trying to introduce into the mainstream: strength and self-reliance for women; sisterhood and mutual support among women; peacefulness and esteem for human life; a diminishment both of 'masculine' aggression and of the belief that violence is the only way of solving conflicts," Steinem wrote at the time.[223]
The Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age portrayals of Wonder Woman showed her using a silent and invisible plane that could be controlled by mental command[211] and fly at speeds up to 3,000 mph (4,800 km/h).[212] Its appearance has varied over time; originally it had a propeller, while later it was drawn as a jet aircraft resembling a stealth aircraft.[213]
Development of a live action Wonder Woman film began in 1996, with Ivan Reitman slated to produce and possibly direct. The project floundered in development hell for many years; Jon Cohen, Todd Alcott, and Joss Whedon, among others, were also attached to the project at various points. Warner Bros. announced the film in 2010 and Jenkins signed on to direct in 2015. Inspiration for Wonder Woman was drawn from Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston's 1940s stories and George Pérez's 1980s stories about Wonder Woman, as well as the New 52 incarnation of the character. Principal photography began on November 21, 2015, with filming taking place in the United Kingdom, France, and Italy before finishing on May 6, 2016, the 123rd anniversary of Marston's birth. Additional filming took place in November 2016.
She is able to astrally project herself into various lands of myth. Her physical body reacts to whatever happens to her on the mythical astral plane, leaving her body cut, bruised, or sometimes strengthened once her mind and body are reunited. She can apparently leave the planet through meditation and did this once to rescue Artemis while she was in Hell.[188]
Still puzzled as to Diana's identity, Bruce discovers more about her amongst the data he stole from Lex Luthor. He sees a photograph of her alongside the Wonder Men, taken in Belgium in 1918 during the closing days of World War I. He then makes contact with her via her laptop, sharing extra information that Luthor had on both her and other metahumans, such as the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. Diana is visibly intrigued and shocked at this revelation, as Flash's lightning reminds her of that of Ares, Aquaman reminds her of depictions of Poseidon, while the Mother Box that created Cyborg reminds her of the one she briefly saw back on Themyscira. Diana resolves to take some time to think this revelation over, does not answer Bruce's e-mail, and instead proceeds with her plans to depart Metropolis on a flight back to France, through Turkey.[5]
In one episode, a newspaper editor named Brown, desperate to discover Wonder Woman’s past, assigns a team of reporters to chase her down; she easily escapes them. Brown, gone half mad, is committed to a hospital. Wonder Woman disguises herself as a nurse and brings him a scroll. “This parchment seems to be the history of that girl you call ‘Wonder Woman’!” she tells him. “A strange, veiled woman left it with me.” Brown leaps out of bed and races back to the city desk, where he cries out, parchment in hand, “Stop the presses! I’ve got the history of Wonder Woman!” But Wonder Woman’s secret history isn’t written on parchment. Instead, it lies buried in boxes and cabinets and drawers, in thousands of documents, housed in libraries, archives and collections spread all over the United States, including the private papers of creator Marston—papers that, before I saw them, had never before been seen by anyone outside of Marston’s family.
Duing the Perez run on the character, there were not as many story arcs either, but they did become more defined. Her entrance into Man’s World was to stop a global nuclear war created by Ares. She also had introduced a modern version of the Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Psycho and Silver Swan. One of the defining story arcs at this time was the Challenge of the Gods, where she discovers the truth about her own past as she journeys into the underworld. In this time as well she was a part of numerous company-wide crossovers including Millennium, Invasion and one focused on herself, the War of the Gods. The latter was Perez’s swansong on the character and with Messner Loebs taking over afterwards the direction of the character changed again somewhat. Under his direction, Diana became involved in battle factions of organized crime in Boston, and faced off against Ares Buchanan and the White Magician. This resulted in Wonder Woman being marooned in space, and returning to uncover the plot. During the events of Zero Hour a slightly different version of her origin is told, and Artemis wins the right to be Wonder Woman in another contest. This ends eventually with Diana battling the White Magician after Artemis has been killed. The John Byrne run equally was without as many defined story arcs except specifically with how her death affected others. This was also incorporated into the company wide Genesis event. Once she returned she faced a new villain known as Devastation who she battled occasionally, and she also took responsibility for Cassandra Sandsmark (who would later become Wonder Girl.) As a prominent character within the DC universe she took part in company-wide crossovers like Our Worlds at War and the Joker’s Last Laugh. When Rucka took over, some of the character's most memorable story arcs occurred, and most famously among them Stoned and the Superman story arc Sacrifice which ended in Wonder Woman #219 with her killing Maxwell Lord.
As Wonder Woman returned to her apartment, Hermes brought her to Olympus, where the gods declared her the new Goddess of War. Diana asked Apollo to restore Hera's godhood, but Apollo refused. Diana returned to London, and Apollo told her that she would not be able to ignore her responsibilities as Goddess of War for long. Diana was still angry at Hermes for his betrayal and asked him to leave, with Hermes stating that, just like she forgave Hera, perhaps in the future, she would forgive him.[37]
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.
Hermaphroditus Wonder Woman #69 (April 24, 2019) Hermaphroditus is the God of Androgyny, Sexuality, Unions, Fertility and Marriage who is based on the god of the same name. In the DC Universe, Hermaphroditus is a transgender deity with angelic wings and goes by the name "Atlantiades". He revealed that he left Mount Olympus in hopes to get away from his mother Aphrodite and decided to take refuge on earth in a neighborhood called Summergrove in Connecticut. He used his powers to influence the Summergrove residents to submit to their inner desires.
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]
A few decades later, second-wave feminist Gloria Steinem's[228] Ms. Magazine debuted in 1972 with an image of Wonder Woman on the cover. Historian Tim Hanley suggests that this move shifted "the focus away from female superiority to sisterhood and equality, essentially making her a mascot of the women's movement".[225][229][230] This perception shifted over the years, as demonstrated in December 2016 when the United Nations decided to drop the title of "honorary ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls" which it had given to the comic book character Wonder Woman a few months prior, in a ceremony attended by the actors who had portrayed her (Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot).[231] The title was eliminated in response to a petition signed by 44,000 people which argued that Wonder Woman undermines female empowerment due to her costume, described as a "shimmery, thigh-baring bodysuit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots". The petition stated that "it is alarming that the United Nations would consider using a character with an overtly sexualised image at a time when the headline news in United States and the world is the objectification of women and girls".[232][233][229] Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins responded to both the petition and to the U.N.'s decision by stating that she thinks "that that's sexist. I think it's sexist to say you can't have both. I have to ask myself what I would apply to any other superhero".[234]
Wonder Woman figures were released for Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Prior to that, there were plans for a show called Wonder Woman and the Star Riders, which similar to Sailor Moon, would have featured Wonder Woman leading a team of teen magical girls. Prototype dolls for the series were made. There was also a statue from the animated Wonder Woman movie and a Wonder Woman action figure for the Justice League War movie. Wonder Woman dolls and figures were also released for the DC Super Hero Girls line.
The New 52 version of the character has been portrayed to be a younger, more headstrong, loving, fierce and willful person.[citation needed] Brian Azzarello stated in a video interview with DC Comics that they're building a very "confident", "impulsive" and "good-hearted" character in her. He referred to her trait of feeling compassion as both her strength and weakness.[75]
The final remaining relics Darkseid needed were being guarded by A.R.G.U.S. at their HQ, so Darkseid decided to use a Boom Tube to transport the building and all its contents to his base in the Amazon Rainforest. The Female Furies retrieved the relics and put them into place while Wonder Woman fought Darkseid. With the relics' power, Darkseid was able to open a portal to Themyscira. As it is impossible for one who has set foot on Themyscira to return after leaving, Diana was unable to follow Grail through the portal. Grail invaded and began transforming the Amazons into creatures resembling Darkseid's Parademons.[98] As Jason had never actually set foot on Themyscira, he followed Grail and met his mother Hippolyta for the first time since his birth. While Jason and Hippolyta fought off the transformed Amazons, Wonder Woman was able to defeat Darkseid through her love for her deceased father, Zeus, and her half-siblings, calling their spirits out of Darkseid's body and destroying him from the inside. The Amazons captured Grail and imprisoned her in the prison beneath Themyscira, alongside Ares, while Darkseid re-emerged somewhere on Earth. Jason was gifted a magical spear from his mother and returned to Earth.[99]
Diana's bulletproof bracelets were formed from the remnants of Athena's legendary shield, the Aegis, to be awarded to her champion. The shield was made from the indestructible hide of the great she-goat, Amalthea, who suckled Zeus as an infant. These forearm guards have thus far proven NIGH-indestructible (the Omega Beams of Grail have proven able to shatter them), and are able to absorb the impact of incoming attacks, allowing Wonder Woman to deflect automatic weapon fire and energy blasts.[203] Diana can slam the bracelets together to create a wave of concussive force capable of making strong beings like Superman's ears bleed.[63] Recently, she gained the ability to channel Zeus's lightning through her bracelets as well. Zeus explained to her that this power had been contained within the bracelets since their creation, because they were once part of the Aegis, and that he had only recently unlocked it for her use.[204] After the 2011 relaunch of the character, it was revealed that Diana was the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta[136] and that the bracelets are able to keep the powers she had inherited from Zeus in check.[189] In addition, Hephaestus has modified the bracelets to allow Wonder Woman the sorcerous ability to manifest a sword of grayish metal from each bracelet. Each sword, marked with a red star, takes shape from a flash of lightning, and when Wonder Woman is done with them, the swords disappear, supposedly, back into her bracelets. As such, she has produced other weapons from the bracelets in this way such as a bow that fires explosive arrows, spears and energy bolts among others.[205]
Diana lifts a tank ready to crush Doctor Poison with it, but hesitates when she thinks about the love and compassion that Steve brought to her life when she realizes that he professed his love for her before leaving to sacrifice himself. Dropping the tank, Diana spares Doctor Poison, telling Ares that he is wrong about humanity. She tells him that while humans are everything Ares says and can be capable of the worst crimes, she's learned that they are equally capable of so much more: unbridled love and compassion. Ares engages Diana in a final fight, but is defeated after she fully embraces her powers as the God Killer and blasts Ares with powerful divine lightning. The soldiers, free from Ares' corruption, stop their fighting, thereby finally ending the war.[3]
Superhuman Stamina: Wonder Woman's advanced musculature is considerably more efficient than that of a human and most of the other Amazons. As a result, her muscles virtually do not produce fatigue toxins during physical activity compared to humans and most other members of her race. Her virtually inexhaustible endurance allows her to exercise her maximum capacity for an indefinite period of time without tiring at all, as she never needs to slow down or catch her breath during her fierce battles with Ares, Doomsday, Steppenwolf and the resurrected Superman, despite being pressured considerably by all of them.
^ Sanderson, Peter (September–October 1981). "Thomas/Colan Premiere Wonder Woman's New Look". Comics Feature. New Media Publishing (12/13): 23. The hotly-debated new Wonder Woman uniform will be bestowed on the Amazon Princess in her first adventure written and drawn by her new creative team: Roy Thomas and Gene Colan...This story will appear as an insert in DC Comics Presents #41.
Deimos Wonder Woman #183 (July–August 1969) Deimos is the God of Terror who is based on the god of the same name. In the post-crisis universe, Deimos used manipulation to incite a third World War. Wonder Woman and her allies put an end to Deimos's plot, which resulted in his death. He was later resurrected by his brother Phobos, though he possessed the Joker's body. Post-Rebirth, Deimos appeared as a pompous pretty boy alongside his twin brother Phobos, and attempted to find the location of Themyscira to free his father Ares.
To find the perfect location to shoot the Amazon island of Themyscira, the birthplace of Wonder Woman herself, the film's producers searched all over the world, finally settling on the Cilentan Coast: a stretch of coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea, located in the Province of Salerno in Southern Italy.[134] It was chosen because most beaches in the world that sit below big cliffs disappear beneath the tide for part of every day. Production designer Aline Bonetto and her location manager Charles Somers considered 47 countries and visited several of them before they found what they were looking for. Bonetto explained that, "Italy had beautiful weather, a beautiful blue-green sea, not too much tide, not too much wave. Our effects team added some cliffs in post-production, and it was the perfect way to go".[135] The estuary at Lower Halstow in Kent is featured in the scene in which Diana arrives at a Belgian creek to make her way to the warfront.[136] Bill Westenhofer served as the visual effects supervisor for the film[137] and Martin Walsh served as editor.[127]
A day before Whedon's departure from Wonder Woman, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures purchased a spec script for the film written by Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland. Set during World War II, the script impressed executives at Silver Pictures.[77] However, Silver stated that he had purchased the script because he did not want the rights reverting; while stating the script had good ideas, Silver did not want the film to be a period piece.[81] By April 2008, Silver hired Jennison and Strickland to write a new script set in contemporary times that would not depict Wonder Woman's origin, but explore Paradise Island's history.[82]
Master Combatant: Wonder Woman, having been trained in combat tactics by Menalippe and Antiope, is a tremendously skilled, fierce, and formidable hand-to-hand combatant (being at least on par with Batman[9]), a master of a vast array of unique Amazonian martial arts, as well as an expert in most types of melee weapons (though she most frequently uses her bracelets, lasso, sword, and even shield). She has centuries of combat experience, with her claiming to have fought and defeated several beings from "other worlds" (which includes even the fearsome God of War Ares himself). Wonder Woman swiftly became the greatest warrior of Themyscira, her tremendous combat skills eventually becoming enough to rival even those of her mentor Antiope and ultimately surpassing her upon acquiring full potential, due to the latter (upon Hippolyta's insistence) training her much harder than any Amazon ever before her. Hence, Wonder Woman defeated the notorious Slipknot with effortless ease,[7] as well as many World War I soldiers (she defeated and killed even the enhanced General Ludendorff relatively quickly), and numerous Parademons single-handedly, seamlessly incorporating hand-to-hand combat, sword-fighting with the God Killer (and later with the Sword of Athena), and the Lasso of Hestia in her own personalized, formidable style. Indeed, Wonder Woman's tremendous skill and exceptionally versatile style make her capable of effectively holding her own against either more experienced or more powerful opponents, even the mighty God of War Ares (albeit only with considerable effort and initial failure, given his superior combat experience, and her need to use a non-violent mindset), the New God Steppenwolf, an enraged resurrected Superman, and the gigantic Doomsday, with her managing to temporarily knock the latter fearsome monster down (by smashing his feet from under him with her shield), and even temporarily restrain him with her Lasso of Hestia, as well as cut off his right arm with the Sword of Athena. Indeed, had Doomsday not had his incredibly adaptable healing factor, it is safe to assume that Wonder Woman's tremendous combat skills would have allowed her to ultimately defeat him. Moreover, even when Wonder Woman's sword was destroyed by Ares, she still held her own against the more powerful Old God. However, although she put up a considerable fight, Wonder Woman was ultimately fairly quickly defeated by the resurrected Superman, and was only saved by Lois Lane's timely intervention.
She is able to astrally project herself into various lands of myth. Her physical body reacts to whatever happens to her on the mythical astral plane, leaving her body cut, bruised, or sometimes strengthened once her mind and body are reunited. She can apparently leave the planet through meditation and did this once to rescue Artemis while she was in Hell.[188]
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?"[197] "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."[198] This corresponds to the original intent by William Moulton Marston, who wanted his character to be alluringly feminine.
Immortality: Wonder Woman, due to being an Amazon, has lived for millennia without visibly aging, with her being roughly 5000 years old (having been born right after the War of the Gods), and having been present in the "Man's World" since World War I. She is thus the oldest member of the Justice League by far (though still roughly a millenia younger than Enchantress, and even more so than Ares and Steppenwolf), making her an ageless immortal, much like Superman.
An iron-fisted general of the German Army during World War I.[29] Huston described Ludendorff as a "pragmatist, realist, patriotic, fighting for his country", further explaining, "he lost his son on the German front lines and was just quite tortured, diabolical, stubborn and believes that what he's doing is for the betterment of mankind."[30] On his character, Huston said, "Ludendorff is a believer that war is a natural habitat for humans." Huston stated the film as an anti-war film and "somebody like Ludendorff would probably think that the idea that love conquers all is quite a naive concept. But finally it's true and sometimes the best way to examine mankind is from another perspective." On the genre of the film, Huston said, "It's Greek mythology. It's the origin of story and sometimes we need demigods to look at us to understand what our weaknesses are. It serves the mythological world."[31]
Later, in London, Diana talked with Hessia about what being Queen really meant. Hessia told her the changes she was trying to impose were hard, and it might take a long time for the Amazons to accept them. Wonder Woman was called by the Justice League to look for the survivors of another missing village. As part of the operation, Superman explored the interior of a volcano until he was attacked by insects and lost contact with the League.[52] Wonder Woman and Batman were next to enter the volcano and found Superman safe and sound. Exploring the volcano further, the heroes found the missing villagers dead and their remains encased in cocoons by one of the volcano’s insectoid denizens. Wonder Woman almost killed one of these creatures, until the League intervened and took the creature to the Watchtower for medical attention. Upon returning to Paradise Island, Diana spoke to the spirit of Hippolyta. Comforting her daughter, Hippolyta motivated Diana into accepting her duty as God of War. Diana also learnt that relations between Amazons and the Sons of Themyscira had gone sour and the Amazons had created Donna Troy from magical clay, an Amazon who sought to replace Diana as Queen.[53]
In 2016, "Issue #48" of Sensation Comics, featured Wonder Woman officiating a same-sex wedding, drawn by Australian illustrator Jason Badower. "My country is all women. To us, it's not 'gay' marriage. It's just marriage", she states to Superman. Inspired by the 2015 June Supreme Court ruling that established marriage equality in all 50 United States, Badower says DC Comics was "fantastic" about his idea for the issue. In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, he said his editor "Was like 'great, I love it! Let's do it.' It was almost anticlimactic."[250] "Diana's mother, the queen, at the very least authorized or in some cases officiated these weddings," Badower says. "It just seems more like a royal duty Diana would take on, that she would do for people that would appreciate it."[238]
^ Sanderson, Peter (September–October 1981). "Thomas/Colan Premiere Wonder Woman's New Look". Comics Feature. New Media Publishing (12/13): 23. The hotly-debated new Wonder Woman uniform will be bestowed on the Amazon Princess in her first adventure written and drawn by her new creative team: Roy Thomas and Gene Colan...This story will appear as an insert in DC Comics Presents #41.
Ares appears as a major antagonist in the live action Wonder Woman film. In Queen Hippolyta's story about Ares which she reads to Diana, Ares was condemned by the other Olympian Gods for his warmongering which led to him killing the Gods where the images show him killing Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hades, Hestia, and Poseidon until Zeus drove him off of Mount Olympus with his thunderbolts. In his dying breath, Zeus created Themyscira for the Amazons and left them the "Godkiller" required to kill Ares should he rise again. This happens during World War I where Wonder Woman managed to slay Ares.
