I really enjoyed the latest Wonder Woman movie and was surprised by how powerful she was both in it and in the previous Superman movie. So I decided to do some research since I knew virtually nothing about her as a character.

Here are some of the interesting things I learned.

• Wonder Woman was created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, who wrote as Charles Moulton.
• Marston was an inventor of the polygraph and a radical feminist, but he was also deeply into domination, submission, and bondage.
• He believed that women are superior and that they would eventually rule the world because they’re more compassionate and less aggressive.
• He also believed that women could be superior but simultaneously embrace submission to men as a source of sexual enjoyment.
• One of Wonder Woman’s main weaknesses is that if a man binds her at the wrists (bracers) using his hands or chains or whatever, she loses her powers.
• All throughout the comics and the 70’s TV show she would often appear in bondage, but she would always find a way to free herself, which counters the ‘damsel in distress’ concept.
• In the new Wonder Woman movie (2017) when she is thrown to the ground and wrapped and bound in metal (and then breaks free) which is without question a reference to that bondage and escape history.
• Wonder Woman is bisexual, and this is supported throughout the character’s history and also by the scene in the latest movie where she says men are unnecessary for pleasure.
• Marston and his wife were polyamorous and lived with two female lovers. One of the lovers, Olive Byrne, wore two bracelets, and is the inspiration for Wonder Woman.
• Wonder Woman was originally written to be made from clay and given powers by Aphrodite, but in the latest versions of her history she is the daughter of Zeus and has many of his powers, including the ability to control lighting.
• Her powers have changed and been lost and regained multiple times, but she is a Demi-goddess with powers similar to Superman and Thor in strength.
• Wonder Woman has repeatedly been relegated to lower roles within superhero teams due to sexism in the real world. In Justice League she was without question the most powerful hero there, yet she was given the role of secretary. This was probably directly referenced in the latest Movie (2017) when she asks what a secretary is.
• Wonder Woman has actually been the God of War before, which is interesting given the controversy around the fact that Gal Gadot is Israeli and that Wonder Woman’s primary directive is bringing kindness to the world.
• Her powers and items come from the Greek gods, and each of them have granted her different things.
• The bracelets are supposedly made from remnants of Athena’s shield, the Aegis, which is made from the hide of a she-goat that suckled Zeus as a baby.
• The Lasso of Truth (or Hestia) was forged by Hephaestus from the golden girdle of Gaea and can compel anyone to tell the truth, which makes sense given the fact that Marston was the inventor of the lie detector. Wonder Woman is also said in multiple places to be skilled in psychology, which is Marston’s field (he was a psychologist).
• Her tiara has been used as a boomerang in the past, and it also protects her from telepathic attacks and has been used to allow her to communicate with Amazons back home.
• Batman has called Wonder Woman the best melee fighter in the world.

Notes

1. Most of this was taken from the Wonder Woman Wikipedia page, as well as a few other guides online. It should be relatively accurate but I’m sure many items are up for debate, as with any superhero lore.