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Wonder Woman is a superheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in Sensation Comics #1 in January 1942. She was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter in 1941. Marston's wife, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance. She is the biological daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. She is one of the first DC superheroes and is one of the most influential superheroes of all time. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously ever since.
An Amazon-Olympian princess and warrior, Wonder Woman is known in her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, by her official title Princess Diana of Themyscira. When blending into the society outside her homeland, she sometimes adopts her civilian identity, Diana Prince. Wonder Woman's original/first origin story dates from the Golden Age of Comic Books, which relays that she was sculpted from clay by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and given a life as an Amazon and Olympian by birth, along with superpowers as gifts from the Greek goddesses.
Following DC's continuity re-setting storyline Flashpoint in 2011, Diana was one of multiple characters who had their origins significantly altered, as in the Post-Flashpoint continuity she was re-written as the biological daughter of the Greek god Zeus. This current canon origin for Diana has been used in multiple adaptations since; it was the origin of Diana from the DCEU live action universe (2013-2023) and the DCAMU animated universe (2013-2020).
However, alternate universe continuities have continued to use her original clay origin and it was re-established as her origin in DC's mainline continuity in the early 2020's after DC had begun re-inserting elements of pre-Flashpoint DC canon into the post-Flashpoint DC universe.
Other popular adaptations like the DC Animated Universe have also established their own takes on Diana's origin, with their iteration of Diana potentially being the daughter of Hades, who claimed to have helped Hippolyta, a past lover of his in this continuity, mold her from clay. This included briefly losing her powers entirely in the late 1960s, and being reinvented in the 1980s by artist George Pérez with an athletic look which emphasized her Amazonian heritage. She possesses an arsenal of magical items, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in older stories, a range of devices based on Amazon technology.
Wonder Woman's character was created during World War II; the character in the story was initially depicted fighting Axis forces as well as an assortment of colorful supervillains, although over time her stories came to place greater emphasis on characters, deities, and monsters from Greek mythology. Many stories depicted Wonder Woman freeing herself from bondage, which counterpointed the "damsels in distress" trope that was common in comics during the 1940s. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies bent on destroying her, including her archenemy Cheetah and classic villains such as Ares, Circe, Doctor Poison, Giganta, Doctor Psycho, and Doctor Cyber, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale, the Silver Swan, Genocide and Grail. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society of America (1941) and Justice League (1960).
The character is an archetypical figure in popular culture recognized worldwide, partly due to being widely adapted into television, film, animation, apparel, merchandise, video games, and toys, with Wonder Woman Day celebrated on October 21 of each year (the anniversary of her first appearance). Shannon Farnon, Susan Eisenberg, Maggie Q, Lucy Lawless, Keri Russell, Rosario Dawson, Cobie Smulders, Rachel Kimsey, and Stana Katic, among others, have provided the character's voice for animated adaptations. Wonder Woman has been depicted in film and television by Linda Harrison, Cathy Lee Crosby, Lynda Carter, Megan Gale, Adrianne Palicki, and Gal Gadot.
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