“Remember that in a world of ordinary mortals, you are a wonder woman.” Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman was the first female superhero. She is strong, fast, smart, beautiful, and she can fly. She is a champion of love, peace, and justice. Wonder Woman doesn't need to be saved, she does the saving. She’s endured over the years and is easily as iconic as her male coworkers Batman and Superman. She’s empowered generations of girls to be heroes, to save the day, and to be strong themselves. Here are 42 steely facts about Wonder Woman.
42. Seeing Double
There are two versions of Wonder Woman in DC comics. “New Earth” Wonder Woman, which started in the 80s and ran through the mid-2000s, and “Prime Earth” Wonder Woman, which started after DC comics rebooted the universe in 2011 with their New 52 initiative. Prime Earth Wonder Woman is considered the current Wonder Woman, but a lot of fans still love the old Wonder Woman stories from the 80s.
41. Oh, Baby!
According to her origin story in the 80s, Wonder Woman–or Diana–was the first child born on Paradise Island in the 3,000 years the Amazons had been living there. The gods told her mother, Queen Hippolyta, to sculpt a baby from clay, and then they breathed life into her.
40. Famous Father
Since her New 52 reboot, however, Diana’s origin is much easier to understand. Now, her mom (still Queen Hippolyta), happens to be one of Zeus’ many baby-mamas.
39. Power up
Diana was given her abilities by the Greek gods. Demeter granted her strength, and Athena wisdom and courage. Aphrodite blessed her with beauty and a loving heart, Hestia sisterhood with fire (Whatever that means. Step it up Hestia!), and Hermes gave her skill and flight. All in all not a bad set of gifts, even if Hestia kinda gave her the shaft there.
38. Madam Ambassador
Eventually, the gods decided that it was time for the Amazons to send an emissary into our world. To choose who would represent them in “the world of man,” the Amazons held a contest. Diana’s mom was a little too worried about her daughter competing, so she forbid her from entering. Diana did what most teenagers do, ignored her mom, and entered anyway. Once she won, she earned her place as Ambassador of the Amazons, and left Paradise Island to come to our world.
37. Ivy League Bound
The first city Diana lived in was Boston, Massachusetts. While there, she lived with Harvard Professor Dr. Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa.
36. Good PR.
Diana has a publicist. When Diana first got to our world, she hired Myndi Mayer to be her PR rep. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes even superheroes need a good agent.
35. First Crush
In her 80s run, Wonder Woman got a bit of a crush on Superman after she first met him. She went so far as to ask Myndi (her publicist) to set up a date with him. Quickly after that first date, she realized she’d be better off just friends with the Man of Steel. In the mid-2000s reboot, however, Wonder Woman and Superman have a long-term relationship.
34. Godly Advances
In the universe where Zeus isn’t her father, Zeus once put the moves on Diana—you know, asked her for a little Olympus and chill. Diana very wisely said no, which made Zeus pretty angry, but Diana wasn’t a fool. She’s read her Greek myths, she knew it was better to cheese off Zeus than Hera.
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33. Greatest Treasure
Taking rejection terribly, Zeus commanded that Diana go down to Hades and rescue his most precious treasure if she didn’t want to sleep with him. Deciding that literal hell was better than being Zeus’ booty call, Diana went down to Hades and rescued none other than Zeus’ son Hercules.
32. Royal Couple
Diana briefly dated Aquaman while he was estranged from his wife. In fact, the King of Atlantis even woke Wonder Woman up from a cursed sleep with a kiss during the Queen of Fables story arc.
31. Fair Season
One of the publicity stunts that Myndi Mayer arranged for Diana was a Wonder Woman Fair. Like any big event involving a superhero, it was promptly attacked by a supervillain.
30. Contest of Champions
Diana, as the champion of the Greek Gods, once had to fight the champion of the Roman Gods, Captain Marvel. Diana won that fight, probably proving once and for all that the Greek Pantheon is totally better than the Roman one.
29. Missing in Action
Wonder Woman was off-planet for Superman’s infamous fight with Doomsday in Death of Superman. Unfortunately, the princess of the Amazons arrived too late to help her friend fight, but she did attend his funeral.
28. In Charge
After Superman’s death, Diana was the field leader of the Justice League of America, often called the JLA.
27. Minimum Wage Worker
Diana once worked at a Taco Whiz, the DC comics version of Taco Bell. Apparently, she wanted to better understand the mind of an average citizen.
26. Brightest Day and Darkest Night
Wonder Woman was a member of the Star Sapphires for a brief period during Blackest Night. The Star Sapphires are a Lantern Corps (kind of like the Green Lanterns) and their power comes from love. Diana’s love of the world and the people within it made her a perfect fit for the pink Star Sapphire ring.
25. Meat Is Murder
Diana is a vegetarian. Considering the fact that she can speak to animals, it’s really understandable.
24. Ms. Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman was on the first cover of Ms. magazine, a feminist magazine founded by Gloria Steinem.
23. Sidekicks
Diana has had two sidekicks, called Wonder Girl, during her tenure as Wonder Woman. The first, Donna Troy, helped to found the Teen Titans. The second, Cassie Sandsmark, was a member of Young Justice.
22. The Princess and Her Dark Knight
Batman and Wonder Woman have been romantically linked. The pair has shared more than a few kisses, and were a popular couple in the animated show Justice League Unlimited. Ultimately, though, they've decided that it’s probably better to just be friends.
21. Oh My Goddess
Like most superheroes, Diana has died in the comics. After battling a demon, she was unable to recover from the wounds she had sustained during the fight. After Diana died, she was resurrected by the Olympian gods as the Goddess of Truth. As a goddess, she oddly couldn’t do as much good as she could have as a hero, as she now could only help people if they called on her.
20. Mother Takes the Mantle
Diana’s mother Hippolyta stepped in and was Wonder Woman while Diana was busy being a goddess. It was a role she learned to love, but she stepped aside when Diana was made mortal again.
19. An Ambassador
Wonder Woman was once made—then quickly dropped as—an honorary UN ambassador.
18. Lasting Tenure
In the comics, Diana has also been a UN ambassador, and the comics UN kept her around a lot longer than we did.
17. New York Times Best Seller
In the comics, Wonder Woman once published a collection of highly progressive essays that was a bestseller, even thought it caused a lot of controversy once it was published. Apparently, some people just didn’t want to hear what she had to say.
16. Fight Night
Diana was once challenged by the Gorgon Medusa to a fight; Medusa is infamous as the mythical creature with snakes for hair and a gaze that turns people to stone. The fight was televised so that the world could see the demise of Wonder Woman. At first, Diana wore a blindfold to protect herself from Medusa's gaze, but when that failed she went so far as to blind herself with one of the Gorgon's snakes.
15. Champion of Athena
Right after her fight with Medusa, Diana wasn’t even allowed much downtime. She was quickly called to Olympus and forced to fight as Athena’s Champion. The goddess of Wisdom had challenged her father Zeus for the throne and needed Diana to fight. Diana won by using Medusa’s head and turning Zeus’ champion into stone. After that, Athena became the Queen of Olympus (if only briefly).
14. Gift From the Gods
Athena soon offered up Diana a reward for her valuable service, though Diana didn’t ask for her sight to be restored. Instead, she asked that Athena save a young boy Medusa had turned to stone. Athena obliged, but also restored Diana’s sight as a bonus gift.
13. Super Fight
Superman and Wonder Woman once had a knock-down brutal brawl. Under mind control, Superman thought that Wonder Woman was Doomsday, the monster who had killed him. The fight was a bloody match, and it only ended when Wonder Woman managed to create a diversion and find the man controlling Superman, Maxwell Lord. Wonder Woman wrapped Maxwell Lord up with the Lasso of Truth and asked how to end the mind control. Lord replied that she would have to kill him—and Diana obliged, breaking his control over Superman.
Flickr, James H.
12. Warrior’s Way
While most superheroes have an oath that forbids them from killing, Diana was raised as a warrior and will kill her enemies if necessary. However, when Diana killed Maxwell Lord, Superman and Batman were furious with her and kicked her off the Justice League. Maybe Superman and Batman need to understand there should be exceptions to the "no killing" rule.
11. Wonder Woman No More
The backlash from killing certified supervillain and all around jerk Maxwell Lord was too much for Diana to handle. Apparently, killing a man who can mind control Superman (a weapon powerful enough to destroy the entire Earth) isn’t something everyone accepts. Diana gave up her mantle as Wonder Woman and started working for a government agency that keeps an eye on metahumans.
10. Exonerated
Wonder Woman did hire a lawyer to see if she should go on trial for the death of Maxwell Lord. She did eventually come before a grand jury, but they refused to indict her for the action. Afterward, she eventually took up the mantle of Wonder Woman again and even rejoined the Justice League.
9. Captured
Diana was once captured, imprisoned, and tortured by the United States government. They wanted her to divulge information that would allow them to build a weapon of mass destruction. She refused to give it, and eventually she was rescued.
8. Wonder Woman Gone Wild
At one point, Wonder Woman was taken over by the villain Darkseid, and helped him take control over Earth. Luckily, with the help of some other heroes, Wonder Woman broke free from his control and helped defeat him. That’s what Darkseid gets for trying to make a good woman do bad things.
7. Fall From Grace
Diana once lost the title of Wonder Woman, if only for a little bit. When a lost tribe of Amazons was found, they rejoined the Amazons on Paradise Island. As a result, a second contest was held to see who would be Wonder Woman. This time, Hippolyta manipulated the contest so Diana would lose. Hippolyta had visions of Wonder Woman dying and didn’t want her daughter to have the title.
After Diana lost the contest, the Amazon Artemis became Wonder Woman until her foretold death, and then Diana took over again. Once Diana found out what her mom had done, she was understandably pretty upset about her mom’s manipulations and willingness to sacrifice someone else to save her.
6. Following the Leader
When Artemis was Wonder Woman, the JLA refused to follow her orders. They stayed loyal to Diana.
5. Wonder Woman’s Boyfriend Steve Trevor
Steve Trevor was the first love interest created for Wonder Woman. The two dated in the original run, and the pair are also a couple in the Wonder Woman movie, where Steve Trevor is played by Chris Pine. Since the latest reboot at DC Comics, Rebirth, Steve Trevor is back as Wonder Woman’s boyfriend once again.
4. What's in a Name?
In her 80s run, Diana didn’t get her name from the goddess of the hunt, Diana. Instead, she got her name from Diana Trevor, who yes, was Steve Trevor’s mom. She had visited the island some years before Diana was born. Diana Trevor was a pilot who ended up crashing onto Paradise Island. She helped the Amazons, but ultimately perished in battle.
3. Dude, Where's My Jet?
Wonder Woman’s famous invisible jet is alien technology. Technically the jet is a “morphing disk” that’s able to become whatever Wonder Woman needs it to be. Most often she just uses it as her invisible jet.
2. Real Life Lasso of Truth
The creator of Wonder Woman—William Moulton Marston—also helped create the modern lie detector by tracking a subject's blood pressure changes while they were lying. No wonder he gave his famous heroine a lasso that compelled people to tell the truth.
1. Powered Down
By the early 1970s, Wonder Woman had lost her superpowers. During that time, she was working as a secret agent again, but she got her powers back with a little help from none other than Gloria Steinem. A longtime Wonder Woman fan, Steinem was “horrified to find out she had no superpowers. She said that could not stand. Girls and women needed to know about the strength and power that was Wonder Woman as a superhero.” As a result, they put Wonder Woman back in her classic costume on the cover of Ms. magazine, which prompted DC comics to allow Wonder Woman to return to her super-powered roots.
