Wonder Woman: 42 mind-blowing facts about the superhero (list)

Wonder Woman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. 

Let’s see some amazing facts about Wonder Woman!

1. Wonder Woman is one of the strongest DC superheroes with superhuman strength that puts her at least in the same category as Superman.

2. She has superior strength, speed, and agility. She can fly and is trained in hand-to-hand comba. She also had the ability to talk to animals.

3. Wonder Woman has even overpowered Supergirl, who is sometimes considered more powerful than Superman.

4. While the extent of her powers as War Princess hasn’t been fully explored, she can telepathically control and communicate with the world’s soldiers. Whether she also developed Ares’s former power to raise dead soldiers for battle is still unknown.

5. Her silver bracelets were created from the remains of Zeus’s shield, they are unbreakable and can be used offensively.

6. In the New 52, Wonder Woman removes her bracelets in order to fight a God, explaining that the bracelets are what actually protected her opponents from her intense power. It remains to be seen how powerful Wonder Woman is compared to other superheros without her limiting bracelets on.

7. Wonder Woman’s tiara is so sharp she was able to cut Superman.

8. She hails from Paradise Island, later dubbed Themyscira, which is home to the Amazons.

9. She was granted her powers by the Greek gods in particular Aphrodite who created the Amazons. It is said that much of her strength comes from her training and channeling her mental powers into physical abilities.

10. Her mother is Queen Hippolyta, which makes her Princess of the Amazons. Inspired by Greek mythology, the Amazons are a race of warrior woman living free from men.

11. She Was Originally Formed Out Of Clay. She may now be the daughter of Zeus, but Wonder Woman was saddled with an embarrassing origin story for decades. In that, she was made of clay and believed to be reborn from the souls of all women who had been abused or killed. It was even claimed that Diana was the reincarnation of the first female child to have been killed by a man!

12. During World War II a US Army airplane crash landed on the island. Diana helps nurse the pilot, officer Steve Trevor, back to health and then takes on the identity of Wonder Woman when she returns with Steve to help men defeat the Axis powers.

13. In the New 52, Diana spent a year of her childhood on the island under the guidance of Ares, God of War, further developing her skills in combat. When she refuses Ares’s orders to slay the Minotaur, choosing instead to show it mercy, she loses his favor and respect. But her tutelage and history with him becomes important later, when she is forced to kill her former mentor during a conflict with her evil half-brother. In the process, she herself becomes the new War.

14. Wonder Woman has an invisible jet! It was meant to represent the “invisible” feminine compliance of the time that women felt they had to rely on to get by in male dominated work places. The plane was invisible so it wouldn’t be shot down by the guns of man’s world, a rather silly allegory really.It actually first appeared in the early ’40s when Diana debuted, and has been seen in live-action in both the ’70s TV series and the failed 2011 pilot.

15. For a period in 1960’s, she actually lost her powers and lived as Diana Prince, opening a trendy fashion boutique in New York’s Greenwich Village.

16. She ran for president, twice! She first ran for office in a comic book written by Marston in 1943, and then again in a cover story in Ms. magazine in 1972.

17. The character that would become Wonder Woman was partially inspired by Marston’s wife Elizabeth, along with Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship.

18. She was originally called Suprema, The Wonder Woman but her name was shortened before she made her comic book debut in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941.

19. William Moulton Marston created her to be a model liberated woman She was made to serve a purpose, and that is why she quickly became recognised as (and still is) a feminist icon. The word “iconic” is thrown around a lot in regards to these larger than life characters, but Wonder Woman is one of only a few who actually fits that description.

20. She was an inspiration for Suffragettes. For example, a recurring plot in Wonder Woman’s early stories saw her frequently bound in chains by men. This was inspired by suffragists who chained themselves to buildings during protests. However, it’s also been claimed that Marston had some sort of strange obsession with bondage, and both that and her skimpy outfit saw the series banned in the 1940s.

21. Her creator was also the inventor of polygraph!

22. Marston (her creator) also  tried to have lie detector tests used in courtrooms, but they rejected the machine because of what they considered to be a high frequency of error. He obviously wasn’t too pleased with the decision, and would later write a comic which saw Wonder Woman try to get confessions made with the help of her Lasso of Truth admissible in court.

23. She might have saved DC Comics! Possible comparisons (even though they were mostly unfounded) between Superman and the Nazis caused problems for DC Comics with parents, leading them to rethink which characters they should actually be focusing on. After Superman publisher M.C. Gaines read an article which argued that reading about superheroes might actually be good for children, he turned to William Moulton Marston for assistance in helping him save comic books. He recommended a female superhero to try and counter the violence and lack of femininity in them, and Wonder Woman was born.

24.Wonder Woman + Storm = Amazon. The 1990s were a very strange time for comic books as both Marvel and DC battled falling sales. That led to a lot of different gimmicks, including a crossover which merged the heroes and villains of both worlds into new characters. In the case of Wonder Woman, she was blended with X-Men character Storm and transformed into a hero known as Amazon. Amazon actually had more in common with Storm than she did Wonder Woman as Ororo was a “metamutant” who was rescued and adopted by Queen Hippolyta of the Amazons. They trained her to use her weather controlling powers, and Amazon could even create a lasso of lightning which would compel anyone who was bound by it to speak the truth.

25. She Hates Plastic Man Because He’s A Pervert.

26. She’s wielded Thor’s hammer. 

27. Her “back”caused more controversy than her boobs! Despite these complaints, no major alterations were made to the costume at the time, and her back has remained uncovered ever since!

28. The initial line up of the Justice League of America, which debuted in 1960, included only one female superhero: Wonder Woman. Also included on the team were Superman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman. Eventually, more females joined, including Zatanna and Hawkwoman. Wonder Woman is almost always depicted as a founding member, sometimes even acting as the groups leader along with Superman and Batman.

29. She Was The Justice Society’s Secretary. In a 1942 story, the team of heroes went off to fight the Nazis, but left Wonder Woman behind to reply to their mail and answer the phones.

30. She was replaced but she came back! During one reboot, Wonder Woman was replaced with Black Canary as a founding member of the new Justice League. Wonder Woman was eventually given her founding member status back though. The latest version of the Justice League in the New 52, which drops “America” from its title, features Wonder Woman as the only female founding member once again, but Atom (Rhonda Pineda) and Elemental Women also join the team.

31. Some of her enemies are Greek gods while others want to hurt the environment. Many of her primary enemies have been women including her arch-enemy Cheetah as well as Circe, Dr. Cyber, Giganta, and the Silver Swan. Other major enemies include the Greek god of war Ares, Dr. Psycho, Egg Fu, and Angle Man.

32. It may sound like fan-fiction, but Wonder Woman really is dating Superman in the comic books right now. Much to the disdain of some fans, Clark Kent and Lois Lane aren’t married in “The New 52” DC Universe, and have in fact never dated. That left the door wide open for the publisher to delve into the Man of Steel’s feelings for his Justice League teammate.

33. Their first kiss generated headlines worldwide and had some pretty major ramifications in the comics too, as time traveller Booster Gold vanished and the government set up their own Justice League in fear of what might happen if they decided to simply take over the world. Clark has even helped Diana create a new secret identity for them to date in peace!

34. Batman may be in love with her. They even dated for a time! That didn’t work out, but they remained friends. However, depending which reality a story is set in (or animated series for that matter), it’s also been implied that she’s interested in him too. 

35. In September 2011, DC Comics relaunched its entire publication line, 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 goddess daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, king of the Greek Gods. Her original origin is revealed as a cover story to explain Diana’s birth as a means to protect her from Hera’s wrath. Currently, Diana has taken on the role and title as the new “God of War”.

36. In Earth 2 #8 (2013), Wonder Woman’s adult daughter, Fury, is introduced. She is loyal to the Apokoliptian Steppenwolf.

37. Wonder Woman was granted her own series in 1942, and while it was meant to appeal to both sexes, the comic books included articles and advertisements designed to appeal to a female audience.

38. In 1967, there was a failed TV pilot entitled “Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?”, which was meant to have the same campy feel as the successful Batman series of the time. In it, Linda Harrison played Wonder Woman, while her alter ego, Diana Prince, was played by Ellie Wood Walker. Then, a made-for-TV movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby hit the small screens in 1974.

39. Just a year later, Diana would return to the small screen played by Lynda Carter for a new television show on ABC. It was cancelled after its first season, but CBS resurrected the show and kept it on for two more years.

40. In 1972 Wonder Woman was the first standalone on the cover of Ms. Magazine.

41. In 2011, NBC attempted to bring Wonder Woman back to television with their own television reboot. Adrianna Palicki, who now plays Mockingbird on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., was cast as Wonder Woman, but the project was cancelled before the pilot could even air.

42. Gal Gadot portrayed 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. Gadot will also star in the character’s first solo live-action film Wonder Woman, slated to be released on June 23, 2017.