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Line 1: − + − She was created by William Moulton Marston. Marston created the character because he wanted to make sure there was a female alternative to male superheroes, who he didn't think served as the proper role models for girl readers. Despite her place as a modern [[feminist]] icon, Diana is an odd figure among modern superheroines, in that she is canonically a virgin.+ − + + + + + + + + +
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[[Image:ARoss Wonder Woman.jpg|right|300px|thumb|''Wonder Woman'', by Alex Ross]]
[[Image:ARoss Wonder Woman.jpg|right|300px|thumb|''Wonder Woman'', by Alex Ross]]
'''Wonder Woman''' is a [[superhero]]ine, the character owned by [[DC Comics]]. Real name Diana, she is a princess from [[myth]]ical Themyscira, called also Paradise Island, a land with a society made up entirely of [[immortality|immortal]] Greek women called Amazons.
'''Wonder Woman''' is a comic book [[superhero]]ine currently owned and published under several titles by [[DC Comics]]. Created by a psychologist in 1941 as a result of a need to address the lack of a female character within a pantheon of male heroes, Wonder Woman is one of the longest-running and most popular titular characters in comic history, the subject of animated and live-action television shows, graphic novels, and an up-coming major motion picture.
Based on the [[Amazon]]s of Greek mythology, Wonder Woman is a princess from the island of Themyscira, the daughter of Queen Hippolyta.
Wonder Woman possesses great strength, speed and agility, and endurance, though unlike [[Superman]] she is not bulletproof. She can fly and has very keen senses. Wonder Woman also has a pair of [[magic]] bracelets that allow her to deflect bullets, and a golden lasso that is effectively indestructible and forces anyone bound in it to tell her the truth. Originally, each component of Wonder Woman's costume was the true source of her power--i.e., her boots granted her the speed of Hermes, the mythical Greek messenger god; this has since been rewritten so that the only powers not innate to her are her ability to deflect bullets and her lasso.
==History==
In 1938 the most famous of the comic characters - [[Superman]] - debuted, marking the beginning of the Golden Age of comics. This was followed up a year later by another massive success, [[Batman]]. Rivals Fawcett Publications and Timely Comics would follow with their own successes, [[Shazam|Captain Marvel]] and [[Captain America]], respectively. Created with the superheroes were titles devoted to graphic horror, sex, true crime, and so on, and the biggest group of readers were kids, particularly young boys. Naturally, critics would enter into the fray, with newspapers less than two years following Superman's creation calling them a "national disgrace." "Ten million copies of these sex-horror serials are sold every month,” wrote an editor at the ''Chicago Daily News'', who called for a ban on them all.<ref>http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/#CBIuJkzetIBymJRm.99</ref>
Maxwell Charles Gaines was the co-publisher of All-American Publications, a small company with a number of successful titles, in part due to the financial backing of Henry Donenfeld, CEO of National Allied Publications and Detective Comics; all three would eventually combine into DC Comics. To counter the critics in 1940, Gaines brought in a psychologist of some repute to act as a consultant, Dr. William Moulton Marston, the inventer of the [[polygraph]]. That summer a staff writer for ''Family Circle'' Magazine, Olive Richard, visited Marston at his home and asked him his expert opinion about comic book controversy, specifically the torture, sadism and other cruelties sometimes found in the books. "Unfortunately, that is true," Marston stated, "but when a lovely heroine is bound to the stake, comics followers are sure that the rescue will arrive in the nick of time. The reader’s wish is to save the girl, not to see her suffer.”<ref>http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/origin-story-wonder-woman-180952710/#CBIuJkzetIBymJRm.99</ref>
Marston then suggested to Gaines that a female character be created, because he wanted to make sure there was a female alternative to male superheroes, who he didn't think served as the proper role models for girl readers.
:''"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."''<ref>http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/17/a-psychologist-and-a-superhero/</ref>
Wonder Woman debuted in ''All Star Comics'' #8 for December, 1941; her cover debut would take place in the January, 1942 issue of ''Sensation Comics'' #1. The new character possessed great strength, speed and agility, and endurance, though unlike [[Superman]] she is not bulletproof, but to deflect them she wears a pair of [[magic]] bracelets, and a golden lasso that is effectively indestructible and forces anyone bound in it to tell her the truth, obviously the result of Marston's polygraph.
==Television==
==Television==