This year, Wonder Woman
celebrates her 75th anniversary. Created by William
Moulton Marston and Elizabeth
Holloway Marston, Wonder Woman became a symbol for peace
and feminist empowerment. This past Friday, the United Nations
recognized that and named her a Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of
Women and Girls.
 |
| Wonder Women Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot attend the United Nations ceremony. |
To celebrate this event, and Wonder
Woman’s anniversary as well, we’re going to take a look back at her
incarnations outside of the comic page.
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| Diana Prince, her alter-ego, and her...delusional alter ego. |
While Wonder Woman has been around
just as long as Superman
and Batman,
she wasn’t adapted as quickly as the rest of the DC Comics
trinity. Superman and Batman had radio shows, animated shorts, film serials and
live-action television series in the two decades since their creation. Wonder
Woman’s first foray out of the comic page wouldn’t come until 1967. William Dozier,
producer (and narrator) of Adam
West’s
Batman, commissioned the
production of a pilot for a proposed Wonder
Woman series. The show would have been a comedy, and Diana Prince (Ellie Wood)
would have been the focus. A five-minute portion of the pilot was filmed and
showed that when Diana donned her Wonder Woman costume she appeared as a
different person to herself (played by Linda Harrison).
The project was ultimately abandoned.
Wonder Woman’s first televised
appearance came on Saturday mornings (see, there IS a point to this!) as a
guest-star in Filmation’s The
Brady Kids when
the kids ended up back in ancient Greece. Wonder Woman (Jane Webb) helped the kids avert
changing history and eventually return home. Filmation had previously
introduced Wonder Woman’s spin-off character/sidekick Wonder Girl
in their Teen
Titans cartoon
shorts, and had planned to produce a Wonder Woman show until they lost DC
Comics rights to Hanna-Barbera.
Hanna-Barbera
Productions
 |
| Original Wonder Woman character model (above) and her later appearance. |
Wonder Woman finally achieved a
starring role as one of the principal members of the Justice
League in every incarnation of Hanna-Barbera’s Super Friends franchise. Shannon Farnon
voiced Wonder Woman up until The
Legendary Super Powers Show where she was replaced by Connie Cawlfield,
who in turn was replaced by B.J.
Ward
for Galactic Guardians. The series
largely focused on the heroics of the characters, rather than their overall
lives. While some mention of Wonder Woman’s origins was made, her life before
joining the League and alter ego weren’t a central focus.
Another live-action attempt came in
1974. During the 1970s, Wonder Woman had lost her abilities and entered a mod/espionage
phase inspired by Emma Peel (Diana Rigg)
of the British television series The Avengers. ABC commissioned a pilot
movie for a proposed series and it stuck fairly close to this interpretation of
Wonder Woman, while also letting the character maintain some enhanced physical
abilities. Other differences included the fact that Wonder Woman (Cathy Lee Crosby)
was blonde and had a concealed golden cable that used for grappling and
capturing fleeing enemies. Although ABC ultimately passed on the concept, they
had enough interest to commission another attempt at the pilot.
Warner
Bros. Television
The next pilot resulted in a more
faithful adaptation and became the lead-in for the well-known 1970s Wonder Woman series. Initially set
during World War II (when the comics first debuted), Wonder Woman (Lynda Carter)
fought against Nazi plans alongside Colonel Steve Trevor
(Lyle Waggoner)
and the United States military. Although the series achieved solid ratings,
being a period piece made it expensive to produce and ABC ultimately did not
renew it. CBS
picked up the show and it was retooled to take place in the modern day to allow
for greater story potential as well as reduced costs, earning the name The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman didn’t age due to her Amazon roots and Waggoner became his
character’s son, Steve Jr. As members of the IADC, Diana Prince and Steve would
investigate various crimes and encounter some super powered foes. With this
format, the show ran an additional two seasons before receiving its final
cancellation. While the show was mostly faithful to the source material, it did
manage to make its own contribution to the comics via how Diana changed into
Wonder Woman by spinning. Before then, in the comics, she would either change
at super speed or spin her lasso around her.
Ward reprised the Wonder Woman role
for a guest-appearance on Ruby-Spears’ Superman
series. This appearance was notable as being the first for the Post-Crisis
version of the character. The event series Crisis
on Infinite Earths was
an attempt by DC to consolidate and simplify its long and complicated
continuity, while also leading to some modifications of their characters. Following
the event, during George
Perez’s acclaimed
run
on her solo title, Wonder Woman gained through the Greek gods the ability to
fly without her invisible jet as well as super speed; made her stronger than
Superman; mastery of languages and strategy; kinship with animals and enhanced
senses; stunning beauty and a kind heart; and resistance to fire that ties into
her Lasso of Truth ability.
Wonder Woman’s first video game
appearance came with Sunsoft’s Justice
League Task Force. The game was a 2-D fighting game which saw the Justice
League pitted against each other and three foes, including frequent Wonder
Woman foe, Cheetah.
Because the rights to the character
were tied up in various movie and television deals, Wonder Woman wouldn’t
return to television until Justice League
debuted in 2001. The series was a continuation of the original DC Animated
Universe established with Batman:
The Animated Series and
Superman:
The Animated Series with
the first introduction of the Justice League to that world. Once again, Wonder
Woman (Susan
Eisenberg, and Dakota Fanning
once voiced her when she was reduced to a younger age) was new to man’s world
which caused some culture clashes between her and her teammates. This version
of the character was again largely influenced by Perez’s run and was shown to
have some kind of mutual attraction with Batman (Kevin Conroy).
When the show switched to Unlimited in
order to incorporate additional DC characters, Wonder Woman’s role was reduced
along with the rest of the original team, but she still had a prominent
presence.
A Game Boy Advance game
based on the Justice League animated
series that pitted the League against Lex Luthor
and his Injustice Gang. The player was given two Leaguers each level that could
be alternated during gameplay.
Also based on the Justice League animated series, the game
featured various members of the League teaming up for each of the game’s three
levels. For the final level, Wonder Woman was teamed with Superman and Martian Manhunter.
Wonder Woman’s first video game
speaking portrayal came in Justice League
Heroes, courtesy of Courtenay
Taylor. Developed by Snowblind Studios, players were
assigned two of the roster of heroes (largely influenced by the Justice League cartoon) to play with
each level. Experience could be gained to increase a hero’s stats, as well as
boosted by any combination of orbs collected. Over the course of the game,
additional heroes and costumes could be unlocked. Wonder Woman’s costumes
included a Themyscria
toga,
her biker
outfit, and her Amazonian
battle armor.
Warner
Bros. Animation
A direct-to-video adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s
DC:
The New Frontier mini-series,
which was set in the 1950s and featured the Golden
Age
versions of the Justice League characters (with some elements from later years
thrown in). In a bit of inspired casting, former Xena star Lucy Lawless
was cast in the Wonder Woman role.
It was a match-up years in the
making. Warner Bros. Games and Midway Games came together to bring the fighters
of Mortal Kombat
in a face-off with the Justice League and several of their foes. The plot
centered around the simultaneous defeat of Shao Khan (Patrick Seitz)
and Darkseid (Perry Brown)
in their own universes causing a cosmic collision that brings the two worlds
together. Believing each world responsible for the schism, they fight while
being subjected to moments of rage outbreaks brought on by the fused being Dark Khan
(also Brown & Seitz). Tara
Platt voiced Wonder Woman in this outing.
Warner
Bros. Animation
Part of the DC
Universe Animated Films line, the direct-to-video Wonder Woman was the animated origin of
the character based largely on Perez’s run. The film was produced by Bruce Timm,
one of the driving forces behind the DC Animated Universe, and starred Keri Russell
as Wonder Woman.
Warner
Bros. Animation
Wonder Woman appeared in a
non-speaking cameo in the Silver Age-inspired
Batman: The Brave and the Bold in
2010. The following year, she appeared in the cold open for another episode
voiced by Vicki
Lewis and accompanied by an arrangement of the 1970’s show
theme song, and more prominently in a third episode teaming-up with Batman and
Superman. Wonder Woman’s design was largely inspired by her appearance in the
comics from 1965-68, before entering her above-mentioned mod phase.
Warner
Bros. Animation
A direct-to-video movie featuring
the Justice League facing off against their evil alternate universe
counterparts, the Crime
Syndicate of America, first introduced in Justice League of America #29-30
(1964). Wonder Woman (Vanessa
Marshall) was seen engaged in a rivalry with Superwoman (Gina Torres)
despite the fact her identity was changed from being Wonder Woman’s counterpart
to that of Mary
Marvel’s.
Warner
Bros. Animation
Eisenberg returned to the role (as
did several other actors from the DCAU) in this direct-to-video adaptation of “The
Supergirl from Krypton” storyline from the Superman/Batman comic series, which was
a new origin for the Kara Zor-El
version of Supergirl (Summer
Glau).
Wonder Woman was tasked with keeping the newly arrived Supergirl on Paradise
Island for training until she’s kidnapped by the forces of Darkseid (Andre Braugher).
Wonder Woman joined Superman (Tim Daly)
and Batman (Conroy) in her recuse and single-handedly took on Darkseid’s elite
guard, the Female
Furies.
Warner
Bros. Animation
Young
Justice was a series that focused essentially on an updated version of the
Teen Titans being trained to act as a covert action squad where a subtler
approach than the Justice League could offer was needed. Maggie Q
voiced Wonder Woman in her few appearances throughout the show, although she
was largely absent the second season after the Justice League were imprisoned
off-world for crimes they committed under mind control.
The world-building video game
featured multiple downloadable content packs, amongst them various skins that
could be placed on the characters. One of them was Wonder Woman, voiced by Jules de Jongh.
The massive MMORPG gave players the
ability to create their own heroes or villains in order to stand side-by-side
with characters from the DC Universe. Initially, Torres voiced Wonder Woman but
was replaced by Eisenberg for later content.
Wonder
Woman (2011)
Warner
Bros. Television
Warner Bros. Television partnered
with David
E. Kelley to bring a new Wonder
Woman television series to life. Networks had passed on the idea until NBC reconsidered and ordered
a pilot produced. The premise took great liberties with the source material, as
all traces of Wonder Woman’s (Adrianne Palicki)
Amazon heritage and mystical elements were omitted or not recognized. This
version of Wonder Woman was a crime fighting entity of Themyscria Industries
(using the name of the Amazons’ home island), which she ran as Diana
Themyscria. Wonder Woman also had a third identity: that of Diana Prince, which
allowed her to attempt to live and enjoy a normal life. Diana would struggle to
balance the three aspects of her personality while dealing with the rising
threat of an evil businesswoman and her designer drug. Wonder Woman’s costume
took some inspiration from the Jim
Lee redesign, which gave Wonder Woman pants along with
her usual corset. The television show chose to make the pants blue instead of black
in keeping with the classic design, which did eventually appear at the end of
the pilot. NBC ultimately passed on the project and the pilot was never aired,
however it managed to find its way onto the internet and bootleg DVDs.
Warner
Bros. Animation
Serving as a sequel to Crisis on Two Earths, the
direct-to-video movie was an adaptation of the “Tower of Babel”
storyline from the series JLA. Immortal villain
Vandal Savage (Phil
Morris) was able to get ahold of Batman’s (Conroy)
contingency plans against the League if they ever went rogue and hired a team
of villains with vendettas against each member to make use of them. Eisenberg
again reprised her role.
Warner
Bros. Animation
 |
| Wonder Woman protects Steve Trevor from Amazon sentries. |
In 2011, Warner Bros. began airing a
DC
Nation Block on Cartoon Network.
The hour-long block featured two shows based on DC properties with some vignettes
in between. One of those vignettes was a series of shorts that saw DC’s
characters reimagined in various ways by a rotating line-up of creators. The
three Wonder Woman shorts retold her origin in the style of a 70s action show
with highly stylized character designs. Eisenberg reprised the role once again.
Since their inception, the Lego
videogames have become incredibly popular for both their humor and their
faithfulness to whatever property they adapt. They also became infamous for the
number of glitches that tend to occur. A sequel to LEGO Batman, the game was
expanded into an open-world format and included members of the Justice League.
Wonder Woman (Laura
Bailey) was accompanied by the 1970s theme every time she
flew. Notably, this became the first LEGO videogame to feature full voice
acting, rather than the miming and mumbling from the previous ones.
TT
Animation
Bailey reprised her role for this direct-to-video
movie. The film was largely comprised of the cutscenes from LEGO Batman 2 intermixed with original
content to replace the moments of gameplay.
The fifth entry in the Scribblenauts series became the
first to be based on a licensed property. The series’ protagonist, Maxwell, has
the ability to manifest any object or person by scribbling it into his magical
notepad. In this game, he was able to summon any of the over 2000 DC Comics
characters, including the New 52 (see
Justice League: War) Wonder Woman, to
help him solve a puzzle. Additionally, he was able to summon an alternate
version of those characters by adding an adjective to their names. You want a
zombie Batman? You got a zombie Batman!
Warner
Bros. Animation
A direct-to-video adaptation of the
“Flashpoint” crossover event, the film followed Flash
(Justin Chambers)
using his powers to go back in time to prevent his mother’s murder. As a
result, the entire world had changed, the Justice League had never been formed,
and a war was about to break out between the Atlanteans and the Amazons.
Leading the Amazons was a fiercer, merciless Wonder Woman (Marshall).
Warner
Bros. Animation
In 2011, DC Comics decided that
their comics had once again become too convoluted and overloaded with history
and continuity, making them prohibitive to new readers. Following the
“Flashpoint” crossover event, DC cancelled all of its titled and started publishing
all-new #1 issues for their 52 planned series. The characters, while familiar,
all had significant changes made to their origins and backstories in an effort
to make them both accessible and more modern. The lead-in story showing the
formation of the Justice League in Justice League
was set five years prior to any of the other titles. War was a direct-to-video movie adapting that story, and was the
inaugural title in a shared continuity called the DC Animated Movie Universe.
This version of Wonder Woman (Michelle Monaghan)
was no longer born of clay, but rather was the daughter of Zeus
and Hippolyta.
Wonder Woman’s costume was modified to feature long fingerless gloves under her
gauntlets and a piece to cover her chest as part of her regular corset.
Warner
Bros. Animation
An original direct-to-video film saw
Lex Luthor (Fred Tatasciore)
stuck in suspended animation for 1,000 years until he’s accidentally awoken by members
of the Legion of
Superheroes. Raiding a future museum, Luthor discovers Superman’s (Peter Jessop) secret identity
and a device allowing him to travel through time. Grey DeLisle portrayed Wonder
Woman.
The LEGO Movie (2014)
Village Roadshow Pictures, Lego System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment,
Lin Pictures, Animal Logic,
RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Warner Animation Group
Lord Business (Will Ferrell) wants order, and
seeks to attain it by supergluing the Lego world in which he lived. Only The
Special (Chris Pratt) could
stop his plans with the help of his friends and the Piece of Resistance. The
comedic film became a massive hit, incorporating a good number of LEGO’s
then-current licenses and original concepts into one massive story. The DC
Comics license, as well as the film being made by Warner Bros., allowed for the
presence of several DC characters; chiefly Batman (Wil Arnett), but Wonder Woman (Cobie Smulders) got a few lines
in her brief screen time. She was also featured in the video game adaptation.
Injustice: Gods Among Us
(2014)
The next fighting game in the
Justice League franchise by NetherRealm Studios saw the team splintered as the
death of Lois Lane
caused Superman (George Newbern,
reprising his role from Justice League)
to become a tyrant who wanted to bring peace to the world at any cost.
Supporting him as both his lover and a member of his Regime was Wonder Woman
(Eisenberg). Once again, alternate costumes were present for the characters
involved taken from various points of their comics career. Her initial costume
was similar to the 2011 pilot’s interpretation with some more severe and
battle-ready details added. Other costumes included a more armored version of
her classic look, the New 52 costume, Superman: Red Son, Flashpoint
(see Flashpoint Paradox below), the
above-mentioned Jim Lee redesign, and Ame-Comi Girls. The
mobile versions would get an updated costume based on her appearance in Dawn of Justice (see that entry below).
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
(2014)
Travellers
Tales
The sequel to LEGO Batman 2 expanded on the original concept and added additional
locations and characters from the DC Universe. Bailey reprised the role of
Wonder Woman, who was made to resemble her New 52 incarnation.
Warner
Bros. Animation
An original TV movie featuring the
LEGO version of the Justice League. The movie follows Batman (Troy Baker) as he teams up with
various members of the Justice League while resisting their invitation to join
the team shortly before they—and the villains they fight—vanish. DeLisle voiced
Wonder Woman again.
Warner
Bros. Animation
A sequel to War, this direct-to-video movie was loosely based on the “Throne of Atlantis”
story that ran in the New 52 versions of Justice
League and Aquaman
books in which Aquaman
(Matt Lanter) and the League
had to prevent Ocean Master
(Sam Witwer) form conquering
Metropolis. Rosario Dawson
took over the role of Wonder Woman for this outing.
Infinite Crisis (2015)
Infinite
Crisis was a short-lived multiplayer online battle arena that brought
together various alternate versions of DC Comics characters. Players fought
other player teams comprised of “champions” and drones in order to achieve
points. Marshall reprised the role for several versions of Wonder Woman.
DC Super Friends (2015)
Warner
Bros. Animation
Fisher-Price entered into a
partnership with DC Comics to produce toys based on their characters as part of
their Imaginext line. The figures are largely stylized and their giant feet are
used to activate devices found on vehicles and playsets. In 2010, an original
video was produced called The Joker’s
Playhouse, which utilized the toys’ designs, as well as took a lot of
inspiration from Hanna-Barbera’s Super
Friends franchise, and was included on a DVD with the toys. In 2015, the
animation returned with a 7-episode YouTube
webseries later collected on DVD. For this series, Rachael MacFarlane played
Wonder Woman.
Warner
Bros. Animation
As Batman (Baker) is elected the
leader of the Justice League, Lex Luthor (DiMaggio) forms his own super team to
combat them: the Legion of Doom. DeLisle reprises her role as Wonder Woman.
Warner
Bros. Animation
A direct-to-video standalone sequel
to Be-Leaguered, Bizarro League follows
the deformed Superman clone Bizarro (both Nolan North) as he
steals a device to create his own version of the Justice League while also
dealing with an attack by Darkseid (Tony Todd). Kari Whalgren voiced Wonder Woman and
her clone, Bizarra, in this outing.
DC Super Hero Girls (2015- )
Warner
Bros. Animation
In an attempt to appeal to a younger
female audience, DC and Mattel launched a
line of action figures that put emphasis on the women of the DC Universe
reimagined as teenagers. To promote the toys, Warner Bros. Animation launched a
series of short webisodes on YouTube that showed how the characters dealt with
the awkwardness of growing up with super powers while attending Super Hero High
School. DeLisle reprised her role for the series.
Traveller’s
Tales
 |
| The (somewhat) invisible jet returns! |
The most ambitious version of the
Lego videogame franchise yet, Traveller’s Tales took a good number of LEGO’s
licensed properties and assembled them together in a massive story. Unlike the
other Lego games, Players had to buy actual, physical LEGO minifigures that
could be placed on a special game pad and transported into the game to use.
Each figure came with either a vehicle to be built, a special device, or both,
depending on the pack being purchased. Wonder Woman (Bailey) came with her
invisible jet, despite still having her ability to fly (and the 70s theme).
Warner
Bros. Animation
The Lego Justice League finds
themselves pitted against Brainiac (Phil LaMarr)
who sends the various members through time. DeLisle reprises her role as Wonder
Woman.
A movie originally about an older
and cynical Batman (Ben
Affleck) taking issue with Superman’s (Henry Cavill)
handling of the invasion of Metropolis from Man of Steel, the film quickly
became a launching point for a Justice League movie in order to compete rival
Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. Numerous League members were featured in cameo
roles, with Wonder Woman’s (Gal
Gadot) being more substantial. This version is an antiques
dealer who used her position to steal data from Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg)
that revealed her Amazonian heritage. Gadot is set to reprise the role in a
Wonder Woman solo movie and a Justice League film.
Warner
Bros. Animation
 |
| Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah. |
The next entry in the DC Animated
Movie Universe had Dawson reprising her role from Atlantis. The direct-to-video movie is an examination into the past
and lineage of Titan member Raven
(Taissa Farmiga) that draws
in both the Titans and the Justice League.
Warner
Bros. Animation
This direct-to-video movie featured
the Lego version of Batman (Baker) being convinced to take a vacation while the
Justice League and members of the Teen Titans watch over Gotham City in his
absence. DeLisle reprised her role as Wonder Woman.
Warner
Bros. Animation
 |
| Wonder Woman and Cyborg. |
Wonder Woman is set to appear as one
of the central Justice Leaguers in the new show, voiced by Rachel Kimsey.
This version’s costume takes inspiration from the Gadot costume; featuring
thigh-high boots with a more armored style, a sword and a shield.
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