Welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic and today we’re diving into the history of Wonder Woman.
Where she came from, what she can do, and some other interesting facts you may not know.
This is a superficial overview, so feel free to share your favorite Wonder Woman moments
in the comments below.
Wonder Woman first appeared in an issue of DC’s All Star Comics in 1941, with her first
cover being Sensation Comics #1.
She is an Amazonian, a warrior born and raised on an isolated island that was originally
called Paradise Island, but was later renamed to Themyscira, which is the capital of the
Amazons in Greek Mythology.
The Amazons are a society full of women, both warriors and scholars.
Wonder Woman herself is actually named Princess Diana, someday to replace her mother Queen Hippolyta.
DC gets a little confusing with timelines and continuities, so how Diana comes in contact
with the rest of the world has been written a few different ways.
In the original stories, Captain Steve Trevor crashes onto the island and she escorts him
back, where she makes contact with the Justice League and begins to work alongside them.
In newer stories, she was actually designated as an ambassador to the rest of the world.
She goes by the alias Diana Prince when she needs to.
Themyscira has a culture based around Greek mythology, meaning that gods like Zeus and
Ares are real and often reoccurring characters in Diana’s storylines.
In some versions of Diana’s origin, she’s the daughter of Zeus even, or oftentimes she
inherits powers from the gods themselves.
In one recent storyline, she even takes on the role that Ares held, as the god of War.
In general, her powers are inconsistent and often-changing.
A pretty consistent power of hers is her super strength, able to rival that of Superman.
She is also incredibly fast and durable, one of DC’s heaviest hitters in terms of physicality.
Her most unique powers come from various artifacts and weapons that she uses.
One of her classic weapons is the lasso of truth, a golden lasso that is nearly indestructible
and, like the name would imply, forces anyone caught in it to tell the truth.
There was a time when the lasso completely mind-controlled others, allowing Wonder Woman
to give them direct orders, but that power is also inconsistent.
She is also known for wearing two indestructible bracelets, which Diana is able to use to block
projectiles, like gunfire or energy blasts.
She can also slam the bracelets together to create a massive concussive blast.
Interestingly, there are also storylines that toy around with the idea that her bracelets
help her to contain her power, and if she removes them, she gains an incredible but
sometimes uncontrollable power.
Her third tool at her disposal is an invisible jet, which she used to travel.
While this likely originated as an interesting concept, it doesn’t really work in modern
day, becoming a bit of a joke.
The writers eventually just rewrote her abilities and gave her the ability to fly.
"Oh boy, the invisible jet!" "Come on!"
*laughing* Last one to the party can't fly!
Superman flying away: And you'll be the last to the party, because you can't fly.
"Fine, I'll just swim there."
She has plenty of other weapons and tools she uses too, but covering them all
would require an entire video by itself.
In terms of villains, she has a few reoccurring ones.
In the early days, she often faced off against Nazis and other Greek characters like Ares and Hades.
She’s also clashed with the sorceress Circe, who uses illusion and manipulation to get her way.
Wonder Woman also faces off regularly against a villain named Cheetah, which is a title
actually held by multiple women over this whole span of time.
In terms of allies, Wonder Women is a member of the Justice League.
Even though the way she gets to the Justice League is inconsistent, she’s consistently
one of the founding members of the Justice League of America, alongside Batman and Superman,
known together as DC’s “holy trinity.”
She features prominently in the many Justice League-themed cartoons and animated movies,
though has been underrepresented in live-action outings.
In the 70s, we got a Wonder Woman television show starring Lynda Carter, which ran for three seasons.
We recently met Diana in the film Batman v Superman, with her first solo movie coming
soon, played by actress Gal Gadot.
Her solo movie will be followed by an appearance in the Justice League film.
Her first ever appearance in a feature film was actually a Lego version of Diana, featured
in The Lego Movie.
In terms of other cultural impacts, Wonder Woman has been an icon for many many years
as a symbol of feminism.
The real world United Nations even honored Diana as an honorary ambassador for the empowerment
of women and girls, with both Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot speaking, as well as other representatives
from DC Comics.
One of the leaders of the feminist movement in the 60s and 70s, Gloria Steinem, is a big
fan of Wonder Woman and even confronted DC Comics when they depower Wonder Woman on various occasions.
"She was literally the only game in town. She was the only hero that made you feel good about yourself."
Wonder Woman has also more recently become
an icon for LGBT communities, with more and more allusions to the fact that she is bisexual.
Previous writers have talked on Twitter, they’ve talked in interviews… the consensus is that
it’d be impossible to not be, when you live in a community entirely of women.
Wonder Woman even officiated a wedding between two women in a 2016 issue.
So what are your favorite Wonder Woman moments?
Are you excited for her feature film?
Hopefully you found this interesting and thanks for watching!