704 WONDER WOMAN
mores of various eras—many of which deprived the Amazon of her authority in favor
of a more normative femininity. Her appearance on the cover of the fi rst issue of Ms.
magazine (1972) reinforced her status as a symbol of female empowerment and assured
she would always be recognized as an icon of feminist ideals.
Because of the length of her run in DC’s complex and changing universe, Wonder
Woman has gone through a number of transformations in her look and other characteris-
tics over the years. Her origin story has undergone changes as well, though the best-known
version has her as an Amazon princess living on isolated Paradise Island when American
intelligence agent Steve Trevor crashes his plane there. Helping to nurse Trevor back to
health, she then wins a tournament designed to choose a champion to return with him to
the United States to help fi ght the Nazis. She then remains in “Man’s World,” living as her
alter ego Diana Prince while using her powers to fi ght against Nazis and other villains.
Trevor, meanwhile, remains her love interest, but importantly remains in a secondary role
relative to Wonder Woman herself, playing Lois Lane to her Superman.
Conceived by Marston as a role model for the “new woman,” Wonder Woman was
originally envisioned as a tall, beautiful Amazon with superhuman speed, strength, and
agility. Th e possessor of special
Amazonian hand-to-hand com-
bat skills, she also bore a variety of
weapons, including a golden Lasso
of Truth with which she could
force the obedience and truthful-
ness of anyone she encountered;
she also owned an invisible airplane
that she could control by telepathy.
As her origins evolved to include
important Hellenic roots, she
acquired forearm bracelets (forged
from the shield of Zeus) that could
ward off bullets and other attacks,
while also producing a powerful
concussive force of their own when
slammed together.
Early on, she joined the Justice
Society of America , becoming its
fi rst female member, though (in a
refl ection of the expectations of
the early 1940s and in contrast
to Marston’s vision) she served
as the group’s secretary. In 1960,
she joined the Justice League of
America. Her long and variedLynda Carter, as Diana Prince, a.k.a. Wonder Woman, in
the CBS television series by the same name, which ran from
1976–79 and brought the character to a new level of celeb-
rity in American culture. ABC/Photofest