Before Lynda Carter did her first spins in 1975, girls everywhere knew there was something special about Wonder Woman. The star-spangled heroine had a history of kicking butt for women’s rights long before it was cool and has been keeping it up ever since. Now that Wonder Woman has reached her 75th birthday, it’s a good time to look back on her life, times, and the little-known history of how she came to be.
Let’s go back to 1941: William Moulton Marston has an idea for a new comic book character. In the wake of World War II and long unimpressed by the direction comics were headed, Marston thinks the world is ready for a crime-fighting, justice-driven female. Loved by strong women (more on that later), Marston takes the advice of his wife, Elizabeth, and drafts a character to honor the recent struggle for a woman’s right to vote and add a new voice to a new age of patriotism. She “would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love.”
Diana Prince, better known as Wonder Woman, would make her debut in December 1941.
Marston was a man of many inventions and many women. He was known to be in a polyamorous relationship – something normal today, but was revolutionary and scandalous at the time. Married to his wife, Elizabeth, and in an extramarital relationship with Olive Byrne, the three lived in the same house and raised all the Marston offspring together. Elizabeth and Olive were, as described by William, models of the liberated woman. Dressed in bright blue culottes and a tiara atop her head, Wonder Woman was designed to be the kind of woman who could rule the world.
Oh yeah, Wonder Woman wore culottes. This was another contribution of Elizabeth, who believed that putting a superhero in a skirt would be a dumb idea – “It was too hard to draw and would have been over her head most of the time.” Relatable words for anyone who’s been walking to class in the wind – and perhaps the best reason to buy the trendy short pants this author has found.
The accoutrements he gifted Wonder Woman were not accidents. Those thick golden bracelets that can block speeding bullets? They were modeled after similar jewelry worn by Olive. The infamous, never-failing Lasso of Truth? This stems from Marston’s work with the original lie-detector test. As a psychologist, he found that women were considerably more honest than men and devised a weapon meant to force that honesty in anyone.
Don’t be fooled by the claims that Wonder Woman was meant to be weak or simply a feminine counterpart to Superman (also a new-ish creation in the 1940s). In the early days of her comics, Marston and main artist, Harry Peter, often depicted Wonder Woman breaking out of chains. It was intended as a direct connection to the Women’s Suffrage movement and representative of a woman’s ability to save herself, facts that are often glossed over in favor of the “damsel in distress” argument.
But this great feminist run didn’t last long. Following Marston’s death in the 1950s, D.C. Comics placed new writers on the project who turned the Amazon into a Modern Housewife. From then until “first wave feminism” in the late 1960s, Wonder Woman was anything but progressive. She was a fashion model, a babysitter, and even a glorified love-life advisor for a long time. She was even made the Justice League’s secretary, something that angered the surviving Marston family. First there was a lull in interest, and then her readership started to fade away.
1972: Ms. Magazine places Wonder Woman in her original costume on the front cover. Creator and original editor, Gloria Steinem, would say later it was a move to restore significance to a female figure who had been depowered by her male writers.
In no short time, D.C. Comics took notice. They revived Wonder Woman’s original story line, costume, and personality within a year of the Ms. Magazine debut. By 1975, the Wonder Woman television show was on the air, securing Lynda Carter forever as the very image of the hero who was finally getting the respect she deserved.
Wonder Woman, Female Icon – and that is the image we’ve kept her in ever since.
For the hundreds of women and girls who dress up as her – for Halloween, Comic Con, or to just feel invincible – Wonder Woman has been the cultural figure to turn to. She embodies all the best of womanhood – peace, justice, truth, and love – intertwined with the strength and independence that society forgets is also part of the feminine mystique. Somewhere in the last 75 years, the original, radical impact of Diana Prince had been lost to the world. Thankfully, we have re-discovered that history. Her new comic design and upcoming movie have renewed interest in her. People are even starting to re-imagine her, giving rise to innovative and relevant ways of depicting the modern definition of a “strong woman” and – oddly enough – what it means to be an Amazon, what it means to be an American.
Marston once said: “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power… 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.”
(True, this sounds weird to our modern years, but it would have sounded scandalously radical in the 1940s. Keep in mind: Rosie the Riveter hadn’t been created yet.)
For all this and more, we wish Wonder Woman a very happy diamond anniversary – and sincerely hope for 75 more years of empowerment.
For more information – or a great summer read: The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore.