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Wonder Woman
An Amazon from the hidden island of Themiscyra (originally called "Paradise Island"), Wonder Woman is the daughter of the Amazon Queen Hippolyta. Her real name is Diana and she possesses powers of super-strength, agility, speed, telepathy, and short-range flight. These attributes are augmented by the beauty conferred on her by Aphrodite and wisdom bestowed by Athena. She wears bracelets forged from the metal feminum (or Amazonium) which can deflect bullets, an invisible jet plane which obeys her mental commands, and a magic lasso, spun from the girdle of the earth goddess Gaia, which compels those it ensnares to tell the truth. The character of Wonder Woman was created by Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston, who wrote under the pseudonym Charles Moulton to protect his professional reputation. Appearing as the last installment in the December, 1941 issue of All-Star Comics, Wonder Woman's first adventure was a propaganda piece meant to tie in with the recent attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the Second World War. After an airplane carrying Captain Steve Trevor crashes on the Amazon's hidden island, Hippolyta is ordered by the goddesses Athena and Aphrodite to send him back to America. Her daughter Diana takes him back and assumes both the identity of Wonder Woman and that of Diana Prince, a yeoman in the Army Intelligence office. The story caught on enough for Wonder Woman to appear in more stories, first in Sensation Comics and finally in her own comic book beginning in 1942. Though her primary targets were various agents of the Axis powers, Wonder Woman also battled mundane criminals, super-villians, and even the war god Mars and his henchman, the Duke of Deception, a master of illusions and deceit. While the readership was primarily male, Marston continued to incorporate feminist messages and ideas into the stories, though this was not always the case with other writers. When Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society of America, she was more often then not asked to monitor news reports on the radio while the male members went out to fight the villian, i.e. stay home while the boys go out to have fun. Nevertheless, Wonder Woman's feminist standpoint and the female exclusive nature of the Amazon's homeland led to charges that the comic books promoted lesbianism in Dr. Frederic Wertham's 1954 critique of comic books, Seduction of the Innocent . Like DC's other heroes, Wonder Woman was revamped in the 1950s with new abilities and a new origin. Now affiliated in her alter ego with the US Air Force, Wonder Woman was also a member of the Justice League of America, this time fighting alongside her male comrades rather than staying in the background. She fought new villians such as the Cheetah and the Angle Man, and was also featured in stories set during her childhood (as Wonder Tot) and teen years (as Wonder Girl). Wonder Tot and Wonder Girl were also introduced as Wonder Woman's younger sisters. While the original feminist message was much less pronounced, one new symbolic element was added to the mythos. If a man were ever allowed to remain on Paradise Island, both it and the Amazons would be destroyed. The character was revamped yet again the late 1960s, this time in a storyline which had Diana stripped of her powers and relying instead on martial arts and trading her patriotic gear for a jumpsuit, a transformation reminiscient of the Emma Peel character on the Avengers television series. Working for an intelligence organization, Diana Prince dealt mostly with more Bondesque villians, though occasional run-ins with more traditional comic book foes did occur, including a bout with Batman villian Catwoman. It was this toned down version of the Amazing Amazon which Cathy Lee Crosby portrayed in a Wonder Woman television film on ABC in 1974, co-starring Ricardo Montalban. This inspired a pilot for a television series, The New Original Wonder Woman, though the creators rather wisely decided to go with the more traditional version of Wonder Woman, which had also just been revived by DC Comics. Blonde Crosby was dropped in favor of brunette former Miss World USA Lynda Carter, who looked more like the comic book version. The pilot recreated the original origin story from 1941 and inspired a television series set during World War II with Diana battling Nazi spies and saboteurs. Back was the traditional costume. Back also were the feminist messages of the first comic stories, as when Wonder Woman informs guest villian Stella Stevens that the Third Reich she serves will never last because it does not value the strength and intelligence of women. ABC dropped the series after only one season, but it was picked up by CBS and ran for two more seasons, with the action brought forward to contemporary times. In 1987 the comic series underwent yet another revamp, this time under the auspices of writer George Perez. Perez decided to go back to the original feminist message of Moulton, and also to bring in more of traditional Greek myth. Paradise Island was renamed Themiscyra, after the traditional home of the Amazons, and the Amazons themselves were the reincarnations of women killed by the cruelty of men. Aphrodite was dropped as the primary deity of the Amazons, and Athena was joined by Hera and Gaia. No longer simply a crime-fighter, Diana was also an ambassador for her people to the world of men, and was also dedicated to fighting all forms of male oppression, including domestic violence. After being killed in one storyline, Diana was replaced in her role as Wonder Woman by her cousin Artemis, hot-tempered and disliking of men. Diana's mother Hippolyta, who blamed herself for Diana's death, journeyed back in time to battle the Axis as the original Wonder Woman. Eventually, Artemis rescued Diana from the Underworld, and the two now work together as Wonder Women, joined by a teen Wonder Girl. While Wonder Woman's readership, as with all comic books, has been mostly among young males, many young girls have read and been inspired by its messages. In an introduction to an anthology of Wonder Woman's adventures in the 1970s, Gloria Steinem noted the comic book's influence both on her character and her feminist philosophy. While many gay men may be attracted to the overall "fierce tough girl" persona and even the kistchy style of the 70s television series, Wonder Woman remains primarily a role model for women, both gay and straight, demonstrating that a strong, assertive female can not only survive but also thrive in a male-dominated society. At this writing plans are in the works to produce a new Wonder Woman feature film. Among the actresses being considered for the role are Sarah Michelle Gellar, Elisha Dushku, and Charisma Carpenter, all former cast members of the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Links: Wonder Woman - The Complete History Amazing-Amazon.com Home Page (Wonder Woman) Lynda Carter, Wonder Woman, The beautiful.. Humorous Critique of Wonder Woman
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