Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	All Star Comics #8 (December 1941)
Created by	William Moulton Marston Harry G. Peter
In-story information
Alter ego	Princess Diana of Themyscira
Team affiliations	Justice League Amazons of Themyscira Department of Metahuman Affairs Black Lantern Corps Star Sapphires White Lantern Corps
Partnerships	Superman
Notable aliases	Diana Prince
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, stamina, and durability Flight (only after 1960) Superior hand-to-hand and weapons combat skills Animal empathy Regeneration Resistance to magic Ability to discern truth Access to magical weaponry.

Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously since the company's 1944 inception, except for a brief hiatus in 1986.^[1]

Wonder Woman is an Amazon (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and was created by Marston, an American, as a "distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men."^[2] Her powers include superhuman strength, flight, super-speed, super-stamina, and super-agility. She is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and in the art of tactical warfare. She also possesses an animal-like cunning and a natural rapport with animals, which has in the past been presented as an actual ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. She uses her Lasso of Truth, which forces those bound by it to tell the truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, and an invisible airplane.

Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting the Axis military forces, as well as an assortment of supervillains. In later decades, some writers maintained the World War II setting, while others updated the series to reflect the present day. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960). Arguably the most popular and iconic female superhero in comics, Wonder Woman is also considered a feminist icon,^[2] and she is regarded as extremely physically attractive even by the standards of the superheroine. She was named the twentieth greatest comic book character by Empire magazine.^[3]

In addition to the comics, the character has appeared in other media – most notably the 1975–1979 Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, but also cartoons such as the Super Friends and Justice League. Although a number of attempts have been made to adapt the character to live-action film, none has yet emerged from "development hell". An animated film was released in 2009, with Keri Russell voicing the title role.

Publication history

Wonder Woman's first cover, Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942)

Creation

In an October 25, 1940 interview titled "Don't Laugh at the Comics", conducted by former student Olive Byrne under the pseudonym "Olive Richard" and published in Family Circle, William Moulton Marston described what he saw as the great educational potential of comic books.^[4] This article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics. At that time, Marston decided to develop a new superhero. Family Circle published a follow-up article two years later.

In the early 1940s, the DC line was dominated by superpowered male characters such as the Green Lantern, Batman, and its flagship character, Superman. According to the Fall 2001 issue of the Boston University alumni magazine, it was Marston's wife Elizabeth's idea to create a female superhero:

Marston introduced the idea to Max Gaines, co-founder of All-American Publications. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman with Elizabeth, whom Marston believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman.^[5] Marston was also inspired by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polygamous/polyamorous relationship.^[6] Both women served as exemplars for the character and greatly influenced the character's creation.^[5] Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), scripted by Marston and with art by Harry G. Peter.

Marston was the creator of a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, which was crucial to the development of the polygraph (lie detector). Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest and reliable than men and could work more efficiently.^[7]

"Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world," Marston wrote.^[1] Although Gloria Steinem placed Wonder Woman on the first standalone cover of Ms. in 1972, Marston, writing in an earlier time, designed Wonder Woman to represent a particular form of female empowerment. Feminism argues that women are equal to men and should be treated as such; Marston's representative of femininity is a 6-foot-tall Amazon wielding a golden lasso that forces obedience on those it encircles. In Marston's mind, women not only held the potential to be as good as men but to be superior to men.

In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote:

During this period, Wonder Woman joined the Justice Society of America as the first female member,^[8] albeit as the group's secretary – the custom was for characters with their own comic books to hold honorary membership only.

Evolution of the character

Initially, Wonder Woman was an Amazon champion who wins the right to return Steve Trevor – a United States intelligence officer whose plane had crashed on the Amazons' isolated island homeland – to "Man's World" and to fight crime and the evil of the Nazis.

During the Silver Age, Wonder Woman's origin was revamped,^[9] along with other characters'. The new origin story increased the character's Hellenic and mythological roots: receiving the blessing of each deity in her crib, Diana is destined to become "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules, and swifter than Mercury."^[10]

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. Becoming a mod boutique owner, the powerless Diana Prince acquired a Chinese mentor named I Ching. Under I Ching's guidance, Diana learned martial arts and weapons skills and engaged in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology.

Because of the popularity of the Wonder Woman TV series, the character later returned to her superpowered roots in Justice League of America and to the World War II era in her own title.

Following the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths series, George Pérez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter relaunched the character, writing Wonder Woman as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world.

In July 2010 (Issue #600) DC Comics replaced the character's iconic stars-and-stripes singlet with a blue jacket, red and gold top and dark pants, retaining only her tiara and lasso.^[11]

Powers and abilities

Pre-Crisis

Originally, Wonder Woman owed her abilities to the goddess Aphrodite creating Amazons superior to men, with Diana being the best of their kind.

The Golden Age Wonder Woman was later updated by Marston to be able to will a tremendous amount of brain energy into her muscles and limbs because of her Amazon training, endowing her with extraordinary strength and speed. According to her first appearance, she is stronger and more agile than a hundred of the best human athletes. In Sensation #6, she is able to tear a steel door off its hinges. In one of her earliest appearances, she is shown running easily at 80 mph.^[12] In the same comic, she jumps from a building and lands on the balls of her feet. She can even type at a rate of over 160 words a minute during a test given to her. It was implied, and ultimately confirmed, that any woman who underwent Amazon training would gain superhuman strength.^[13] The TV series took up this notion,^[14] and in the first episode of Super Friends, Diana states to Aquaman "... the only thing that can surpass super strength is the power of the brain". In early Wonder Woman stories,^[15] Amazon training involves strengthening this ability using pure mental energy.

Her powers would be removed in accordance with "Aphrodite's Law" if she allowed herself to be bound or chained by a male.^[16] In the television series, her magic belt allowed her to retain her powers when she was not on Paradise Island; removing it weakened her.^[17]

With the inclusion of Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot in Diana's back-story, writers provided new explanations of her powers; the character became capable of feats which her sister Amazons could not equal. Wonder Woman Volume One #105 reveals that Diana was formed from clay by the Queen of the Amazons and was imbued with the attributes of the Greek and Roman gods by Athena – "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Mercury, and stronger than Hercules."^[18] Wonder Woman's Amazon training also gave her limited telepathy, profound scientific knowledge,^[18] and the ability to speak every language known to man and beyond. She was even fluent in caveman^[19] and Martian.^[20]

Although Wonder Woman's mythos was returned to its original interpretation between 1966 and 1967, new abilities were added: super breath, the ability to blow jet streams or transform water into snow, which apparently came from Hercules; ventriloquism; imperviousness to extremes of heat and cold; the ability to ride the air currents as if flying, even sensing air updrafts with her fingers; telepathy, including the ability to project images; microscopic vision; the ability to vibrate into another dimension; the ability to bestow wisdom to other beings; the ability to throw her tiara with such skill it could stop bullets; and others, according to the Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume Two (1976).^[21]

Depending on the writer, Diana's invulnerability and power varied greatly according to the needs of the story. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Robert Kanigher, for example, portrayed Wonder Woman as being so strong that she, after standing atop her hovering plane and lassoing it with her magic lasso, was able to effortlessly lift Themyscira out of the way of an approaching tsunami using just one hand. Kanigher showed Wonder Woman as a preteen able to lift whales and also as a toddler able to blow so hard on her birthday cake that she sent it into orbit.^[22]

In the Silver and Bronze ages of comics, Wonder Woman was able to further increase her strength. She was unable to remove her bracelets without going insane. In times of great need, however, she would do just that, in order to temporarily augment her power tenfold. Since she would become a threat to friend and foe alike, she would use Amazonian berserker rage only as a weapon of last resort.^[23]

Before Crisis On Infinite Earths there were two Wonder Women: the first one lived on Earth-Two; the second, on Earth-One. The first canonical appearance of the Earth-One Wonder Woman is Wonder Woman vol. 1 #80. Their first published meeting is Justice League of America vol. 1 #100; however, their earliest meeting within the DC continuity is Wonder Woman vol. 1 #228, which takes place in 1943, prior to the events of the Justice League of America story.

Post-Crisis

After a brief interrogation, Diana places the head of To-Choi Industries in a state of slumber.

Wonder Woman's body is a mystical creation made from the clay surrounding Themyscira. Through divine means, her disembodied soul was nurtured in and retrieved from the Cavern of Souls.^[24] Once the soul was placed into the body, it immediately came to life and was blessed with metahuman abilities by six Olympian deities.

Demeter, the goddess of agriculture and fertility, blessed Diana with strength drawn from the Earth spirit Gaea, making her one of the physically strongest heroes in the DC Universe.^[25] She has been observed assisting in preventing large chunks of the Moon from crashing onto the Earth,^[26] supporting the weight of bridges,^[27] hefting entire railroad trains,^[27] and physically overpowering Supergirl. Diana is often considered to be the most powerful female in the DC universe, and second in terms of strength only to Superman.^[28]

While not invulnerable, she is capable of withstanding great concussive force,^[25] shrugging off high-powered rifle fire with some pain but little injury,^[29] being knocked through a building, and even surviving a warp-core explosion.^[30] She is durable enough to survive the rigors of space until she runs out of breath. While her superhuman strength affords her great resistance to blunt-force trauma, her skin can be cut by weapons if they are sharp enough.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, blessed Diana with great beauty and a loving heart.

Pallas Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, granted Diana great wisdom, intelligence, and military prowess. Athena's gift has enabled Diana to master over a dozen languages (including those of alien origin), multiple complex crafts, sciences and philosophies, as well as leadership, military strategy, and armed and unarmed combat. More recently, Athena bound her own eyesight to Diana's, granting her increased empathy.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, animals, and the Moon, graced Diana with the Eyes of the Hunter and Unity with Beasts. The Eyes of the Hunter ability gives Diana a full range of enhanced senses, including enhanced sight and hearing. Unity with Beasts grants her the ability to communicate with all forms of animal life and to calm even the most ferocious of beasts.^[27]

Hestia, goddess of hearth and home, granted Diana "sisterhood with fire, that it might open men's hearts to her." This power has been shown to control the "Fires of Truth," which Diana wields through her lasso, making anyone bound by it unable to lie. This ability also grants her resistance to both normal and supernatural fire.

Hermes, the messenger god of speed, granted Diana superhuman speed and the ability to fly. By concentrating, Diana can mystically defy the laws of gravity and propel herself through the air to achieve flight. She is capable of flying at speeds approaching half the speed of light.^[25] She is swift enough to deflect bullets, lasers, and other projectiles with her virtually impenetrable bracelets. Her brain can process information at an incredibly fast rate.

Diana possesses the ability to relieve her body of physical injury and toxins by becoming one with the Earth's soil and then reforming her body whole again.^[31] During John Byrne's run, it was stated that this is a ritual so sacred that it is used only in the most dire of circumstances.^[32]

She is able to astrally project herself into various lands of myth.^[33] 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.

Skills

All versions of Diana depict her as a masterful athlete, acrobat, fighter and strategist, trained and experienced in many ancient and modern forms of armed and unarmed combat, including exclusively Amazonian martial arts. In some versions, her mother trained her, as Wonder Girl, for a future career as Wonder Woman. From the beginning, she is portrayed as highly skilled in using her Amazon bracelets to stop bullets and in wielding her golden lasso.^[34] She is a superior warrior who has beaten Batman, Big Barda, and Black Canary in sparring matches. The modern version of the character differs from her compatriots in that she is willing to use deadly force when she deems it necessary.

Weapons

Diana has an arsenal of powerful god-forged weapons at her disposal, but her signature weapons are her indestructible bracelets and the Lasso of Truth.

Her bullet proof 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 indestructible and able absorb the impact of incoming attacks, allowing Wonder Woman to deflect automatic weapon fire and energy blasts.^[35] Diana can also slam the bracelets together to create a wave of concussive force capable of making Superman's ears bleed.^[36] 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.^[37]

The Lasso of Truth, or Lariat of Hestia, was forged by Hephaestus from the golden girdle of Gaea.^[27] It is virtually indestructible;^[27] the only times it has been broken were when truth itself was challenged, such as when she confronted Rama Khan of Jarhanpur,^[38] and by Bizarro in Matt Wagner's non-canonical Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity.^[39] In Sensation #6 Hippolyta claims that not even Hercules can break it. The Lasso burns with a magical aura called the Fires of Hestia, forcing anyone within the Lasso's confines to be truthful. It also at one time had the power to force anyone caught to obey any command given them, even overriding other kinds of mind control; this was effective enough to defeat strong-willed beings like Captain Marvel.^[40] Diana wields the lasso with great precision and accuracy and can use it as a whip or noose.

As early as the 1950s,^[22] Wonder Woman's Golden Tiara has also doubled as a dagger and a throwing weapon, returning to her like a boomerang.^[27] Its sharpness and mystical nature proved enough to cut even Superman.^[36]

Diana once possessed the Sandals of Hermes, or talaria, which granted the wearer great speed and flight, and the ability to travel beyond the mystical veil that protected the island of Themiscyra from Man's World. They were passed on first to Artemis and later to Wonder Girl. Diana also once possessed the Gauntlets of Atlas, which magnify the physical strength and stamina of the wearer; they too were passed on.

The Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age portrayals of Wonder Woman showed her using an Invisible Airplane that could be controlled by mental command. It was variously described as being either a creation of Amazon technology or the legendary winged horse Pegasus transformed into an aircraft. Its appearance varied as well; originally it had a propeller, while later it was drawn as a jet aircraft resembling a fighter plane. The Post-Crisis or Modern Age Wonder Woman has continued to use the Invisible Plane, in the form of a small lightweight disc of alien (Lansinar) technology that, when triggered by her thoughts, transforms into a transparent version of whatever object or vehicle is appropriate for her needs. This disc was revealed to be a sentient life-form. Following the One Year Later continuity jump, Diana was given a new invisible plane, created by Wayne Industries, because her original invisible plane was stuck on Themyscira.

Diana occasionally uses additional weaponry in formal battle, such as ceremonial golden armor with golden wings, war-skirt, chest-plate, and a golden helmet in the shape of an eagle's head. She also possesses a sword forged by Hephaestus that is sharp enough to cut the electrons off an atom.^[27]

As a recent temporary inductee into the Star Sapphires, Wonder Woman gained access to the violet power ring of love. This ring allowed her to alter her costume at will, create solid-light energy constructs, and reveal a person's true love to them. She was able to combine the energy with her lasso to enhance its ability.

In other media

See also: Justice League in other media

See also: Cultural impact of Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman as she appeared in the 2009 animated film Wonder Woman voiced by actress Keri Russell.

Video games

Wonder Woman is a playable character in the 1995 game Justice League: Task Force for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, the 2006 game Justice League Heroes for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, and Nintendo DS, and the 2008 game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Wonder Woman is also playable in the Game Boy Advance games based on the Justice League cartoon, Justice League: Injustice for All (2002) and Justice League: Chronicles (2003), while she appears as a summonable "striker" character in Justice League Heroes: The Flash for the Game Boy Advance.

Books

Wonder Woman has appeared in many books.

In their Archive Editions line, DC reprinted the complete run of All-Star Comics from 1940s. The series comprises 12 volumes. Wonder Woman is featured beginning in the third volume, #2. (The first volume was numbered "0".) (See the Collected Editions section below.)

The character has been written about in such titles as Seduction of the Innocent by Frederic Wertham, The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia by Phil Jimenez, and Wonder Woman: Amazon. Hero. Icon. by Bob Greenberger. Wonder Woman has also been referred to in StarForce and Star Log magazines, and in Terry Moore's series Strangers in Paradise.

TV series

An ABC television series called The New Original Wonder Woman, which later moved to CBS as The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, starred Lynda Carter in the title role and aired for three seasons from 1975–1979. The costume was designed by Hollywood designer DONFELD. Some of the early episodes were broadcast in 1975 as specials before the TV show became a weekly series in 1976.

A made-for-television movie called Wonder Woman was written and produced by John D. F. Black in 1974, a year before Carter popularized the role, and featured a Wonder Woman-type heroine played by the blonde Cathy Lee Crosby. This Wonder Woman, however, had no super-human powers; her approach was closer to that of James Bond and Modesty Blaise, and she did not resemble the dark-haired amazon people identify as Wonder Woman. The TV movie fared well in the ratings, but the ABC television network decided to give Douglas S. Cramer permission to pursue his approach. He did so through Warner Brothers Television, which had become DC Comics's parent company and full owner; this included full ownership of the Wonder Woman copyright. Cramer's more closely resembled the comic-book version, and it resulted in Carter winning the lead role in the subsequent weekly series, which became a ratings success. Crosby's incarnation of Wonder Woman has a one-panel cameo in the comic book Infinite Crisis #6 as part of an alternate Earth.

Animated film

A direct-to-video animated film adaptation of Wonder Woman was released on March 3, 2009 on DVD and Blu-ray disc as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series produced by DC Comics animation veteran Bruce Timm and released by Warner Bros.^[41] The film stars Keri Russell as Wonder Woman and is directed by Lauren Montgomery. It features Russell's Waitress costar Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor, as well as Alfred Molina, Rosario Dawson, and Virginia Madsen.^[42] The DVD sold 102,890 copies in its first week, ranking number 5 on the DVD sales chart in America.^[43]

Undeveloped projects

Fourth television project

In the late 1990s, a new Wonder Woman project was announced for television. This would be the fourth attempt to bring the comic character to the small screen: there had been an aborted 1967 campy send up by Batman producer William Dozier; the aforementioned 1974 movie starring Cathy Lee Crosby; and the Lynda Carter series. The 1990s success of Xena: Warrior Princess prompted interest in another live action Wonder Woman series, given the similarities between the two characters. For this fourth attempt, Deborah Joy LeVine was tasked with writing the premise and pilot.^[44] LeVine had created the moderately popular Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. The basic premise had Diana living in modern-day Los Angeles, where she worked as a professor of Greek mythology at a local college. This series advanced far enough that some casting calls were initially made. Ultimately the project never moved beyond these early stages. At the time, the official explanation was that producers were unable to find an actor comparable to Lynda Carter.

Live-action film

In January 2001, producer Joel Silver approached Todd Alcott to write a Wonder Woman screenplay, with Silver Pictures backing the project.^[45] Early gossip linked actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Beyoncé Knowles, Sandra Bullock, Rachel Bilson, Nadia Bjorlin, Megan Fox, and Catherine Zeta-Jones to the role of Wonder Woman.^[46] Leonard Goldberg, speaking in a May 2001 interview, named Bullock as a strong candidate for the project.^[47] Bullock claimed that she was approached for the role, while wrestler Chyna expressed interest.Lucy Lawless, who had turned down the role in the past, indicated that she would have been more interested if Wonder Woman were portrayed as a "flawed hero."^[48] The screenplay went through various drafts written by Alcott, Jon Cohen, Becky Johnston, and Philip Levens.^[49] By August 2003, Levens was replaced by screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis.^[50]

Besides [Wonder Woman's] great origin story, there's nothing from the comics that felt right 100 percent, no iconic canon story that must be told. Batman has it made — he's got the greatest rogues gallery ever, he's got Gotham City. The Bat writes himself. With Wonder Woman, you're writing from whole cloth, but trying to make it feel like you didn't. To make it feel like it's existed for 60 years, even though you're making it up as you go along. But who she, and what the movie, is about, thematically, has never been a problem for me. But the steps along the way, it could be so easy for them to feel wrong. I won't settle. She wouldn't let me settle.

—Joss Whedon in November 2006, explaining the delay in developing a proper script.^[51]

In March 2005, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures announced that Joss Whedon would write and direct the film adaptation of Wonder Woman.^[52] Whedon's salary was reported to be $2 to $3 million.^[53] Since Whedon was directing Serenity at the time and required time to research Wonder Woman's background, he did not begin the screenplay until late 2005.^[54] According to Joel Silver, the script would cover Wonder Woman's origin and include Steve Trevor: "Trevor crashes on the island and they go back to Man's World."^[55] Silver wanted to film Wonder Woman in Australia once the script was completed.^[56] While Whedon stated in May 2005 that he would not cast Wonder Woman until he finished the script,^[57] Charisma Carpenter^[58] and Morena Baccarin^[59] expressed interest in the role.

After nearly two years as script-writer, Whedon had not managed to write a finished draft. "It was in an outline, and not in a draft, and they [studio executives] didn't like it. So I never got to write a draft where I got to work out exactly what I wanted to do."^[60] In February 2007, Whedon departed from the project, citing script differences with the studio.^[61] Whedon reiterated: "I never had an actress picked out, or even a consistent front-runner. I didn't have time to waste on casting when I was so busy air balling on the script." Whedon stated that with the Wonder Woman project left behind, he would focus on making his film Goners,^[61] but said, "I would go back in a heartbeat if I believed that anybody believed in what I was doing. The lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming."^[1]

A day before Whedon's departure from Wonder Woman, Warner Bros. and Silver Pictures purchased a spec script written by Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland. Set during World War II, the script impressed executives at Silver Pictures.^[62] However, Silver has stated that he purchased the script because he didn't want the rights reverting; while the script has good ideas, Silver doesn't want the Wonder Woman film to be a period piece.^[63] By April 2008, Silver had 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.^[64]

Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO spoke about Wonder Woman in 2010, saying that a film is currently in development, along with films based on her counterparts The Flash and Aquaman.^[65] Nicolas Winding Refn has expressed interest in directing the film.^[66][67]

According to FoxNews.com, Warner Bros. are indeed developing a Wonder Woman movie which is slated for release in 2013, and according to Warner Bros., the villain of the film will be an entirely new one.^[68] X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner told Scifiwire.com that she's campaigning to produce the Wonder Woman film.^[69] Batman Begins and The Dark Knight writer David S. Goyer is rumored to be involved with the film as a director or a writer.^[70]

Justice League film

A film about the superhero team the Justice League was slated for a 2009 release before being put on indefinite hiatus in April 2008. It was based upon the DC Comics publication Justice League, which has included a number of superheroes at various times, Wonder Woman among them. Producer Joel Silver said in 2007 that that due to the impending release of Justice League, the Wonder Woman film would be placed on moratorium.^[71]

Jessica Biel was approached for the role of Wonder Woman in the Justice League film but declined it,^[72] while Missy Peregrym,^[73] Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Teresa Palmer, Shannyn Sossamon, Beyoncé Knowles,^[74] and Christina Milian^[75] expressed interest. Eventually, Australian supermodel Megan Gale was cast.^[76][77] In early January 2008, production of the film was delayed because of the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.^[78] When asked whether the film would still affect the solo Wonder Woman movie in April 2008, Silver said it would not, because the Justice League film had been put on indefinite hold.^[79] In August 2008, however, director George Miller and actress Megan Gale confirmed that the film was still on, with a plan to resume filming in 2009.^[80] In an article in The Wall Street Journal, Warner Bros. president Jeff Robinov expressed studio interest in the production of a Justice League film but confirmed that the project that had been in development had been shelved.

Bibliography

• Wonder Woman (Vol. 1) #1–329 (Summer, 1942 – February 1986)
• Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) #1–226 (February 1987 – April 2006), #0 (October 1994), #1,000,000 (November 1998)
  • Annuals 1–8 (1988–1999)
  • Special 1 (1992)
• Wonder Woman (Vol. 3) #1–44, #600–present (August 2006–present) (after #44 (July 2010) numbering reverted back to original Vol. 1 with #600, August 2010)
  • Annual 1 (November 2007)
• Les Daniels, Wonder Woman: The Complete History, (Chronicle Books, 2000).
• Michael L. Fleisher (with the assistance of Janet E. Lincoln), The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes Volume 2: Wonder Woman, (DC Comics, 2007; orig. pub. 1976).
• Joshua Glen, "Wonder-working Power," The Boston Globe, 4 April 2004.
• Malcom, Andrew H."She's Behind the Match For That Man of Steel". The New York Times. 18 February 1992.
• Marguerite Lamb, "Who Was Wonder Woman? Long-ago LAW alumna Elizabeth Marston was the muse who gave us a superheroine," Boston University, Fall 2001.
• Richard, Olive. Our Women Are Our Future. Family Circle, 14 August 1942.

Collected editions

See also

• Alternate versions of Wonder Woman for Elseworlds and other characters to bear the title
• Amazons (DC Comics)
• Cultural impact of Wonder Woman for appearances of Wonder Woman in other media
• Publication history of Wonder Woman
• Darna
• Diana Prince
• List of Wonder Woman enemies
• List of Wonder Woman supporting characters
• Orana (DC comics)
• Portrayal of women in comics
• Woman warrior
• Wonder Woman (film)
• Wonder Woman (TV series)
• Wonder Woman in literature

References

Major sources

• Beatty, Scott (2009). Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide To The Amazon Princess. Dorling Kindersley Publishing. ISBN 0-7894-9616-X. 

External links

• Wonder Woman's Official Website
• Wonder Woman's Origin @ DC Comics
• Carol A. Strickland's Wonder Woman site
• amazonarchives
• Wonder of Wonders