WONDER WOMAN I (Diana)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter; Revamped by George Pérez

Wonder Woman; Art by Terry Dodson

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Diana
Aliases: Diana Prince
Occupation: Ambassador, former Princess of the Amazons, former Goddess of Truth
Place of Birth: Paradise Island
Marital Status: single
Known Relatives: Queen Hippolyta (mother); Antiope (aunt); Donna (sister)
Base of Operation: New York, formerly Olympus, formerly Paradise Island (Themyscira) and Gateway City
Group Affiliation(s): Justice League of America (current), former reserve member of the Justice League Europe; Free Sisterhood
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 135 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: (historical): All-Star Comics #8/3 (winter 1941)
(current): Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1 (February 1987)
Creators: William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter; Revamped by George Pérez

Amazons! Hear your queen! Even as Apollo's sun gives birth to this glorious day, I have gathered you here to witness a birth of another kind! The champion has been chosen... ...the gods have been satisfied! - Hippolyta Quote taken from Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1

OVERVIEW

One of the most respected heroes in the world, an advocate of peace who often finds herself drawn into violent conflict, Wonder Woman, the daughter of Hippolyta, is the ambassador of Paradise Island, representing them both to the United Nations and in the JLA.

HISTORY

In the age when men were hunter-gatherers, existing as small tribes, an injury to a dominant hunter could mean that his family starved, it meant being ostracized from society and generally being made the scapegoat. One unfortunate was teased and goaded by his fellows into such a rage that he ended up killing the one person that cared for him, his poor unsuspecting wife. In savagery and pain she died, yet her spirit did not pass onto the other side, it was intercepted by the earth goddess Gaea and like thousand of female souls to come it was held and nurtured deep in the realm of Hades in the Cavern of Souls.

The Olympian goddesses foresaw a time when men would forget the old gods that they themselves would fade into the distance without followers. They decided to create a society of women to act as guides and teachers to spread the world of Olympus far and wide. Zeus was neutral on the scheme, while Ares was openly hostile to the idea. However Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter and Hestia lead by Artemis with the help of Hermes traveled to the Cavern of Souls and used their power to release the souls there contained. The female souls rained down upon a remote lake in Greece where new bodies formed from the clay in the mud at the bottom of the lake. Thus were born the race of the Amazons.

The first two too emerge from the lake were the sisters Hippolyta and Antiope, they ruled the Amazons as Queens. As a sign of trust they were given two girdles of Gaea to wear. The Amazons spread their message, but many local rulers felt threatened by this society of freedom and legends of brutality and violence was spread about the female race. Their reaction was to withdrawal, stepping back from the work that the goddesses had given them.

It was still an age of myth and the demi-god Herakles bidden by Hera on his twelve labors found himself compelled to obtain one of the girdles of the Amazons. Goaded by the agents of Ares he battled Hippolyta and was defeated. The Amazons welcomed Herakles and his men into their city in good faith but Herakles drugged Hippolyta. While he made his way to Troy his men enslaved the Amazons. Hippolyta was freed by Athena and led her people in an uprising against their enemies.

In the aftermath the Amazons split into two groups, half followed Antiope in rejecting the Olympian gods while the other half led by Hippolyta remained loyal to their gods and bid by Athena made their way to the seashore. There they were met by the goddesses and informed that despite their loyalty that their previous sin of withdrawing from their destined line was to be punished. They were to become the defenders of the world against the darkness of Tartarus on the far Paradise Island and while they succeeded in their task they would be immortal and gifted.

For thousands of years the Amazons kept the gateway to Tartarus closed and succeeded in their duties. They were also charged with rescuing females drowning at sea. Via this route they rescued Diana Trevor a USAF pilot who died by their side keeping the evils of Tartarus captive, she was honored by a statue in the Temple of Ares. The Amazons mistakenly took the winged insignia and star-spangled flag on her clothing by her insignia and so honored them.

With due course Hippolyta felt the calling of her unborn daughter whose soul still resided in the Cavern of Souls. So the goddesses let her craft a form from the clay on the shoreline of a baby. As the unborn soul was infused into the clay form it was blessed by the goddesses and sprang to life as a new born child. Named Diana after Diana Trevor she was raised by all the people of Paradise Island and excelled at almost every activity.

Meanwhile the plans of Ares continued in man's world and it became necessary that the Amazons should send a champion to stop his plans. A contest was called and Diana entered against her mothers wishes, disguising herself with a full mask like the other contestants. Diana won with ease and despite her maternal feelings Hippolyta was forced to respect the result. Diana was equipped with a costume based on the insignia of Diana Trevor. Journeying to man's world she eventually found Ares mad scheme to destroy mankind. With the help of Steve Trevor (Diana Trevor's son) and others, Diana confronted Ares and ensnared him with the Lasso of Truth (forged from the Girdle of Gaea) which forced him to realize that if he destroyed mankind then there would be nobody to worship him and his own power would dwindle.

Diana remained in mans world as an ambassador from the Amazons to fulfill the original duties set down by the gods to spread the virtues of peace and love to mankind. She befriended Julia Kapatelis and her daughter who took Diana in and taught her English. She also befriended Myndi Mayer a publicist who worked to promote Diana's message across the world, she came up with the name Wonder Woman based on the double-W on Diana's costume, she also launched promotional lines and merchandise. In also most no time at all a massive media campaign had transformed Wonder Woman into one of the most recognizable names in the country.

There were set backs along the way. Mayer died of a drug overdose and a cult sprang up to Wonder Woman in Greece prompting many right wing religious groups to brand her cause pagan. Despite this a world tour and the setting up of a Wonder Woman Foundation to promote peace did a lot of good. While never a superhero as such, Diana participated in the Darkseid Anti-hero riots and served as a reserve member of the JLE. After an mistaken first encounter she has grown close to Superman and each recognizes that in another situation they might have been lovers.

The sorceress Circe devised a plan to throw the various pantheons of gods into war as a means of achieving power of her own. She was eventually defeated by a collation of both the superheroes of Earth and Wonder Woman. In the aftermath of the war the Olympian gods left this dimension for their new home of New Olympus.

Queen Hippolyta found herself stricken with a vision of the future where she foresaw the death of Wonder Woman. In desperation she declared that Diana had failed and that a new contest should be held. The Amazon Artemis from the tribe of Antiope joined the contest. Hippolyta had a spell cast that when Artemis and Diana were present together, part of Diana's skill and power went into Artemis. Via this manipulation Diana lost the mantel of Wonder Woman, but she continued acting in man's world under her own name and as the leader of the Justice League.

Eventually Artemis died in battle and Diana reclaimed the costume of Wonder Woman. She fought Darkseid in a battle that cost the lives of twelve hundred Amazons. She also battled Morgaine Le Fay who sought to steal Diana's immortality little realizing that she had forsaken it when she left Paradise Island. It was only after many months while battling the Cheetah that the effect of the god's departure became evident. Diana and her Amazon sister were reverting to the clay from which they were formed without the backing of their gods' presence. With the help of Harold Champion Diana traveled to Paradise Island where it was revealed that he was actually the god Herakles who had secretly fallen in love with Diana.

Herakles alerted the Olympian gods to the plight of the Amazons and after a debate the gods returned Olympus to this dimension atop its namesake mountain This restored the Amazons and Wonder Woman to full health. Meanwhile Artemis had been restored to life [and via the manipulations of Neron sought to kill Jason Blood who was at that time assisting Diana. Via a series of events Diana, Hippolyta, Blood, Artemis and their friends found themselves the captives of Neron. Artemis managed to wound Neron allowing them to escape but not before be blasted Diana into a coma as revenge.

While the Justice League and the New Gods battled Ares at the source wall to stop him absorbing the so called "Godwave", Diana lay near death in a Gateway City hospital. Even the combined talents of Superman, J'onn J'onzz and Green Lantern could not help her. The efforts of rogue Dr Zuel to switch minds with Diana so that she might possess her body went a stray and caused the death of both of them.

The Olympian gods decided that they could not allow their most trusted follower to simple die so they resurrected her by the most convenient method. They raised her up to be equal to their own, as Diana Goddess of Truth. In her place as Wonder Woman the Amazons placed Hippolyta. Diana was forbidden to contact her human friends for the next one hundred years, but when her friends ended were trapped in hell during a battle against Dark Angel, Morgaine Le Fay and Merlin, Diana helped her friends as by giving them inspiration. But this was still enough to invoke Zeus's wrath who then revoked Diana's transgression and returned her to her mortal form, after which Diana once again assumed the identity of Wonder Woman.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Wonder Woman was granted strength and power by Demeter, beauty and a loving heart by Aphrodite, wisdom by Athena, hunting ability and unity with the beasts by Artemis, sisterhood with fire by Hestia and speed and the power of flight by Hermes. This combined with her natural skill allows her to stand as an equal to such figures as Superman and Captain Marvel.

She is normally armed with the Golden Lasso of Truth, which forces anybody snared by it to tell the truth it could also life mind control effects from people. She can use the Sandals of Hermes to pierce the veil of distortion that separated Paradise Island from the normal world. Like all Amazons she wears bracelets as a symbol of their imprisonment by Herakles.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Wonder Woman in chronological order click here

PROFILE REFERENCES

Who's Who in the DC Universe #4 (November 1990)

JLA Secret Files #1 (September 1997)
Wonder Woman Secret Files #1 (March 1998)
Wonder Woman Secret Files #2 (July 1999)
Wonder Woman Secret Files #3 (May 2002)
JLA-Z #3 (January 2004)