Following the popularity of the Wonder Woman TV series (initially set during World War II), the comic book was also transposed to this era.[15] The change was made possible by the multiverse concept, which maintained that the 1970s Wonder Woman and the original 1940s version existed in two separate yet parallel worlds. A few months after the TV series changed its setting to the 1970s, the comic book returned to the contemporary timeline. Soon after, when the series was written by Jack C. Harris, Steve (Howard) Trevor was killed off yet again.[9]
In all three films Diana has been in, she is never referred to as "Wonder Woman". Likewise, the alias isn't seen anywhere in print either. The closest it has come is the logo used in Lex Luthor's data, being two "W"s. Likewise, Bruce Wayne is only called "Batman" three times in the run of the DCEU. Once by Perry White, once by Barry Allen, and once by Aquaman.
Wonder Woman’s appearance in the early golden age of comics made her the first prominent female superheroine. The psychologist William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman somewhat as a counter reaction to the presence of prominent male superheroes (at this time Superman, Batman and Captain America), as well as a counterbalance to the "blood curdling masculinity" that was dominant at the time, with the hopes that the character could serve as an inspiration for young children (though in certain ways it was geared more towards female readers.) Marston had been partially motivated to create this character because of the accomplishments of his own wife, who was also an accomplished academic at a time when it was difficult for women to fulfill this role. As a result, the first Wonder Woman series contained many complementary articles and features which sought to highlight the inner power of women. There were articles for instance on the different career paths that women could pursue (according to the standards of the 1940s) as well as a series of stories on famous and accomplished women, called the Wonder Women of History. Marston introduced the character in All-Star Comics #8 in 1941. She became the lead character in Sensation Comics in 1941, and got her first solo book in 1942.
Wonder Woman's powers and traditional costume were restored in issue #204 (January–February 1973).[12] Gloria Steinem, who grew up reading Wonder Woman comics, was a key player in the restoration. Steinem, offended that the most famous female superheroine had been depowered, placed Wonder Woman (in costume) on the cover of the first issue of Ms. (1972) – Warner Communications, DC Comics' owner, was an investor – which also contained an appreciative essay about the character.[13]
The success of the superhero television series Supergirl informed the marketing and promotion strategy used for Wonder Woman.[155] According to Time Warner chief marketing officer Kristen O'Hara, they wanted to approach the Wonder Woman marketing campaign in a light manner, similar to how they did with Supergirl. O'Hara elaborated that the modest campaign route they took for Supergirl aided in establishing a large central fanbase among women well in advance of the series, which reportedly generated 5 million female superhero fans in one week.[155] They were then able to model over time, and grow that audience leading up to the 15-months-later release of Wonder Woman.[155] Though neither the film nor the series are aimed exclusively at women, the latter's campaign gave them their first opportunity to begin collecting data about female superhero fans.[155] In May 2017, a promo for Wonder Woman was released during the season finale of Supergirl, featuring a remix of the song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" and Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) wearing Wonder Woman's boots.[156] The promo included an appearance by Lynda Carter, star of the 1970s Wonder Woman, who plays the American president on Supergirl.[156]
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]
Shortly after coming to the outside world, Diana interrupted a terrorist attack and was named "Wonder Woman" by the press.[5] She continued to use her gifts to fight for peace and justice in Man's World.[6] She later fought who she thought to be Ares, though in truth it was Phobos and Deimos who were disguised as their father. Fearing that she would eventually discover the truth and free Ares from his prison beneath Themyscira, the Gods of Olympus sent Phobos and Deimos to erase all memory of Themyscira from Diana's mind. The twin gods were unable to erase the memory, so instead they later implanted false memories regarding her home to deceive Diana, leading to a completely separate origin story and causing her to hallucinate new adventures. Diana was unaware that her memories had been tampered with, and believed the falsifications until her search for the truth led her to Ares himself years later.[7][8]
The New 52 universe does not have a "Diana Prince" identity as stated in an interview by series writer Brian Azzarello.[67] However, when she and Superman began dating, for her civilian identity she used the Diana Prince alias whenever she was around Clark Kent; such as when she introduced herself to Lois Lane at Lois's housewarming party under that name.[68]
Omnilingualism: Wonder Woman, as an Amazon, has the ability to fluently speak, read, and understand all human languages (even currently dead ones, which allows her to surpass even a polyglot like Sameer), as well as to instinctively identify a language's name when seeing its written form (doing so when seeing Dr. Poison's notes on hydrogen-based mustard gas). Wonder Woman has so far been known to speak or read English (albeit with a mild Middle Eastern accent), French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Mandarin, Chinese, Sumerian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Ottoman Turkish, and Blackfoot, thus making her the most polyglottic member of the Justice League.
Marston was sure he knew what line not to cross. Harmless erotic fantasies are terrific, he said. “It’s the lousy ones you have to look out for—the harmful, destructive, morbid erotic fixations—real sadism, killing, blood-letting, torturing where the pleasure is in the victim’s actual pain, etc. Those are 100 per cent bad and I won’t have any part of them.” He added, in closing, “Please thank Miss Roubicek for the list of menaces.”
In the wake of the 1954 hearings, DC Comics removed Bender from its editorial advisory board, and the Comics Magazine Association of America adopted a new code. Under its terms, comic books could contain nothing cruel: “All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes, depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.” There could be nothing kinky: “Illicit sex relations are neither to be hinted at nor portrayed. Violent love scenes as well as sexual abnormalities are unacceptable.” And there could be nothing unconventional: “The treatment of love-romance stories shall emphasize the value of the home and the sanctity of marriage.”
Superhuman Durability: Diana possesses a high resistance to damage and magical attacks. Her resistance to injury is not quite as great as Superman or Supergirl. However, due to her vast threshold for pain and her Amazonian ability to heal at a superhuman rate, this easily makes up for the difference. She has withstood considerable bludgeoning damage in the form of hand to hand combat with metahuman opponents such as Superman and Shazam.[105] She has considerable resistance to human weaponry, though this is not absolute; bullets, and edged weapons can cause minor to moderate injury, but never life threatening.[82] She once survived an Eighth Metal bullet to the head and was back on her feet and fighting again a few moments later.[106]
