Powers and abilities

Diana is depicted as a masterful athlete, acrobat, fighter and strategist, trained and experienced in many ancient and modern forms of armed and unarmed combat, including exclusive Amazonian martial arts. In some versions, her mother trained her, as Wonder Girl, for a future career as Wonder Woman. From the beginning, she is portrayed as highly skilled in using her Amazon bracelets to stop bullets and in wielding her golden lasso. Batman once called her the "best melee fighter in the world".The modern version of the character is known to use lethal force when she deems it necessary. In the New 52 continuity, her superior combat skills are the result of her Amazon training, as well as receiving further training from Ares, the God of War, himself, since as early as her childhood.The Golden Age Wonder Woman also had knowledge in psychology, as did her Amazon sisters.

Personality

Princess Diana commands respect both as Wonder Woman and Diana Prince; her epithetical title – The Amazon Princess – illustrates the dichotomy of her character. She is a powerful, strong-willed character who does not back down from a fight or a challenge. Yet, she is a diplomat who strongly "favors the pen", and a lover of peace who would never seek to fight or escalate a conflict. She's simultaneously both the most fierce and most nurturing member of the Justice League; and her political connections as a United Nations Honorary Ambassador and the ambassador of a warrior nation makes her an invaluable addition to the team. With her powerful abilities, centuries of training and experienced at handling threats that range from petty crime to threats that are of a magical or supernatural nature, Diana is capable of competing with nearly any hero or villain. Many writers have depicted Diana in different personalities and tone; between both of her diametric extremes; that of a worldly warrior, a highly compassionate and calm ambassador, and sometimes also as a naive and innocent person, depending on the writer. What has remained constant, and is a mainstay of the character, is her nurturing humanity: her overwhelming belief in love, empathy, compassion, and having a strong conscience. This trait had been the reason for her induction into the Star Sapphires. Writer Gail Simone was applauded for her portrayal of Wonder Woman during her run on the series, with comic book reviewer Dan Phillips of IGN noting that "she's molded Diana into a very relatable and sympathetic character." Actress Gal Gadot described Wonder Woman as "an idealist. Experienced, super-confident. Open and sincere even in the midst of a gruesome, bloody conflict. Having many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she's a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence". In the Golden Age, Wonder Woman adhered to an Amazon code of helping any in need, even misogynistic people, and never accepting a reward for saving someone; while conversely, the modern version of the character has been shown to perform lethal and fatal actions when left with no other alternative, exemplified in the killing of Maxwell Lord in order to save Superman's life. The New 52 version of the character has been portrayed to be a younger, more headstrong, loving, fierce and willful person. Brian Azzarello stated in a video interview with DC Comics that they're building a very "confident", "impulsive" and "good-hearted" character in her. He referred to her trait of feeling compassion as both her strength and weakness. A distinctive trait of her characterization is a group of signature mythological exclamations, such as "Great Aphrodite!" (historically the very first one), "Great Hera!", "Merciful Minerva!", and "Suffering Sappho!', some of which were contributed by Elizabeth Holloway Marston.

Silver Age

During the Silver Age, under writer Robert Kanigher, Wonder Woman's origin was revamped, along with other characters'. The new origin story increased the character's Hellenic and mythological roots: receiving the blessing of each deity in her crib, Diana is destined to become "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, as strong as Hercules, and as swift as Hermes." At the end of the 1960s, under the guidance of Mike Sekowsky, Wonder Woman surrendered her powers in order to remain in Man's World rather than accompany her fellow Amazons to another dimension. Wonder Woman begins using the alias Diana Prince and opens a mod boutique. She acquires a Chinese mentor named I Ching, who teaches Diana martial arts and weapons skills. Using her fighting skill instead of her powers, Diana engaged in adventures that encompassed a variety of genres, from espionage to mythology. This phase of her story was directly influenced by the British spy thriller The Avengers and Diana Rigg's portrayal of Emma Peel.

As Diana Prince, Wonder Woman is a legal citizen of the United States with no criminal record. On Paradise Island, Diana is a recognized member of the royal family. DC Comics has never established an official first appearance of the Earth-One Wonder Woman. However, Wonder Woman (Volume 1) #98 provides Diana with a revised origin as well as new powers such as her ability to glide on air currents. The same issue re-introduces Diana's mother, Hippolyta, this time with a mane of golden hair, as opposed to the dark brown tresses of her Golden Age years. It is reasonable to presume that this issue firmly establishes the introduction of the modernized Pre-Crisis, Earth-One Wonder Woman. The I Ching era period of the comic book has its supporters and its detractors. Some critics welcomed the change from campy super-heroics to more serious, "topical" storytelling in the wake of the Batman TV series. Others felt that the comic had abandoned its history. Storylines included secret agent-style plots, as well as some occult tales. One controversial cover showed Diana Prince brandishing a machine gun and firing at an airplane; contrary to the traditional depiction of Wonder Woman, the updated version of Diana Prince was not against killing in order to defend herself or others. The revised series attracted some writers not normally associated with comic books, most notably science fiction author Samuel R. Delany, who wrote two issues. Part of the credit for the revival of Wonder Woman as a superhero was due to a campaign in which feminist Gloria Steinem - who was offended to see the most famous female superhero depowered—had a hand. The 1972 first issue of Steinem's Ms. Magazine featured Wonder Woman in her 1940s costume on the cover, and contained an essay in appreciation of the character. Ironically, the change in format was originally an acknowledgment of the Women's liberation movement. The I Ching era, despite the controversy, would continue to resonate for some years to come, both in the comic book and in live action adaptations of Wonder Woman a few years later. The 1974 Cathy Lee Crosby telefilm, and the second and third seasons of Lynda Carter's popular series (see below), would borrow heavily from the characterization of Diana Prince in the early 1970s.

Modern Age

Following the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths series, George Pérez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter rewrote the character's origin story, depicting Wonder Woman as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Pérez incorporated a variety of deities and concepts from Greek mythology in Wonder Woman's stories and origin. His rendition of the character acted as the foundation for the modern Wonder Woman stories, as he expanded upon the widely accepted origin of Diana being birthed out of clay. The relaunch was a critical and commercial success. In August 2010 (issue #600), J. Michael Straczynski took over the series' writing duties and introduced Wonder Woman to an alternate timeline created by the Gods in which Paradise Island had been destroyed and the Amazons scattered around the world. In this timeline, Diana is an orphan raised in New York. The entire world has forgotten Wonder Woman's existence and the main story of this run was of Diana trying to restore reality even though she does not properly remember it herself. A trio of Death Goddesses called The Morrigan acted as the main enemy of Wonder Woman. In this run, Wonder Woman wears a new costume designed by Jim Lee. Straczynski determined the plot and continued writing duties until Wonder Woman #605; writer Phil Hester then continued his run, which ultimately concluded in Wonder Woman #614.

In 2011, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of publications to attract a new generation of readers, and thus released volume 4 of the Wonder Woman comic book title. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang were assigned on writing and art duties respectively and revamped the character's history considerably. In this new continuity, Wonder Woman wears a costume similar to her original Marston-costume, utilizes a sword and shield, and has a completely new origin. No longer a clay figure brought to life by the magic of the gods, she is, instead, a demi-goddess and the natural-born daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Azzarello and Chiang's revamp of the character was critically acclaimed, but highly divisive among long time fans of the character. In a side story as part of "Harley's Little Black Book" Wonder Woman meets Harley Quinn in London and has a brief team up with her in which we find that Harley has been a huge fan of Wonder Woman for years and has a bit of a crush on her. After the fight with the villain the two retire to a local bar where Harley suggests they join an English super team and then steals her magic lasso, but just to wrap it around herself so they and some of the other patrons can play truth or dare. They are last seen with Wonder Woman carrying Harley out of the bar asleep, though an additional piece of art shows Harley tied up and planting kisses on Wonder Woman. In 2016, DC Comics once again relaunched all of its publications as part of the "DC Rebirth" continuity reboot, which has a new bi-monthly Wonder Woman series from writer Greg Rucka. The new series does not use a regular storyline that exists between each issue; instead two separate storylines share the book, with an installment of one story published every other issue, and those of the other storyline published in between those. This practice began with the storyline "The Lies" for the odd numbered issues, and "Year One" for the even numbered issues. The new storyline as presented in these issues effectively retcons the events from the previous New 52 series. "The Lies" storyline reveals that a number of events from the previous Wonder Woman series in which Diana was made the Queen of the Amazons and the God of War, was in fact all an illusion created by a mysterious villain, and she had never once been back to Themyscira ever since she left, nor is she capable of returning there. The "Year One" story is presented as an all-new origin story for Diana,which reveals how she received her powers from the Olympian Gods,which was intended to bring her back to her classical DC roots. Wonder Woman appears in DC Rebirth with a revised look, which includes a red cape and light armor fittings. Along with her lasso and bracelets, she now regularly utilizes her sword and shield. Wonder Woman: Rebirth artist Liam Sharp described the new armor as a utilitarian piece which allows her to move more freely. In July 2017, Wonder Woman Annual vol. 5, #1 was released, in which Wonder Woman teams up with allies Batman and Superman.