Out of personal interest and for my Master’s thesis, I’ve read a lot of the original 1940s Wonder Woman comic books. While reading some secondary sources, I came across an essay in The Ages of Wonder Woman: Essays on the Amazon Princess in Changing times, ed. Joseph J. Darowski, that discussed Wonder Woman during the women’s movement in the 1960s and ’70s. I was shocked to find out that during this time of social and political upheaval for women that Wonder Woman was stripped of her powers, deeming her mortal. While one could argue that this change was intended to make Wonder Woman more relatable, I personally found this run of WW difficult to read. This new Wonder Woman felt so wrong and against everything which the creator of Wonder Woman intended her to be.

Full disclosure: I am a huge Wonder Woman fan so I likely feel more strongly about this than most people.

The Original Wonder Woman

Self-proclaimed feminist William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman in 1942, with the first issue hitting stands in December under the pen name Charles Moulton. Marston was an interesting man. While he is known for creating Wonder Woman, he also created the lie detector and was a Psychology professor at Harvard University. Marston lived with his wife Elizabeth Holloway and their partner Olive Byrne, with Holloway and Byrne living together until Byrne’s death in 1990. These women helped create and influence Wonder Woman.

Marston’s Wonder Woman came from an island of Amazons known as Paradise Island. The women had been deceived by and fought with Hercules, and were enslaved by his men. Once freed, the Amazons decided that no men were allowed on their Paradise Island. The goddess Aphrodite had given Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyte, magical wrist bands to help the Amazons overcome men’s domination and stay free of male subjugation. Queen Hippolyte created Wonder Woman/Diana out of clay (no man was involved), with Aphrodite bringing her to life. Wonder Woman was as wise as Athena and as lovely as Aphrodite. She was also stronger than Hercules and swifter than Mercury (Marston mixed Greek and Roman names). Marston created Wonder Woman to be better than men.

During World War II, women were mobilized to help the war effort. This meant that women entered into paid work en masse, including the armed forces, such as the Women’s Army Corps and WAVES (US naval reserve). Wonder Woman originally agreed to travel to Man’s World to help Steve Trevor, a US pilot who crash landed near Paradise Island, catch spies during the war as Wonder Woman and worked as an army secretary as her secret identity Diana Prince. Imagine being a girl or woman in World War II reading a story like that.

Marston believed women were primarily driven by love and had created the character as a representation of what he viewed as an ideal woman. Wonder Woman/Diana was strong, kind, and full of love. She also rejected Steve Trevor’s marriage proposals numerous times, claiming that she couldn’t marry him because of Aphrodite’s law and because she didn’t want to submit to him when she could be out saving the world.

The Marston Wonder Woman comics also had a section titled ‘Wonder Women of History’ in each issue. This section focused on a different woman in each issue and showcased their achievements. Women featured in this section included women such as Florence Nightingale, Clara Barton, Susan B. Anthony, and Sojourner Truth.

Marston died in 1947, and with his death and the post-war period, Wonder Woman changed with the times. She was still a superhero but the superhero genre had waned in popularity during the late 1940s. In the mid-1950s, comic books were adapted to suit an older audience. Children that grew up reading comics during WWII and the golden age of comics had grown up, and silver age comics reflected this older audience. The themes and stories in comic books changed to reflect changes in society and often tried to ease anxieties about societal changes. They no longer focused on World War II but instead included topics such as nuclear weapons and communism. For example, in 1954 during the height of the Red Scare, Captain America became known as the ‘Commie Smasher’ whose goal was to oust communists within America.

Changing Times for Women

So what was going on in society during the 1960s and ’70s concerning women that made this new series of Wonder Woman so egregious? Answer: a lot. The women’s/feminist movement was born about out a number of factors and events, and primarily focused on equality and gender-based discrimination. Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, which was first published in France in 1949, brought about the distinction between biological sex and gender, and demonstrated how women were classed as ‘other’ in relation to men. Her book has been touted as the ‘feminist bible’ and is the origin of the quote “One is not born but becomes a woman”. The Second Sex brought women’s issues to the forefront of people’s minds at a time when much of Europe’s and America’s women had moved back into the home after World War II. This return to domesticity prized women as mothers and homemakers.

In 1960, the contraceptive pill was first released for widespread use in America. This revolutionised women’s lives as women had more control over their bodies and their reproduction. Women were now free to enjoy sex without the physical, emotional, and financial burden of having more children and could choose to limit their family size. The pill also helped young couple’s relationships, as they were now less likely to have unwanted pregnancies and get married due to social pressures.

What really sparked what is now known as second wave feminism was Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963, The Feminine Mystique discussed what Friedan termed “the problem with no name” as women in the 1950s were unhappy and unfulfilled moving back into the home post-WWII and being full-time homemakers. Friedan also criticised the popular portrayal of the 1950s woman as being damaging to women’s wellbeing and sense of identity. Friedan and The Feminine Mystique were directly influenced by Beauvoir’s Second Sex. Betty Friedan also became the National Organisation for Women’s (NOW) first president.

The feminist movement was able to gain a lot of political ground by utilising the protest and activism culture brought about by the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. This culture of political activism and protests helped women in their plight for equality. The feminist movement was born from women’s dissatisfaction of their daily lives and the discrimination they faced purely because they were women. Women in the civil rights movement were frustrated with their inferior treatment as women within an otherwise progressive movement. The civil rights movement and protests of the 1950s, in conjunction with the pill and rise of feminist texts all helped the feminist movement to sprout and become a huge political force by the 1960s and ’70s.

The New Wonder Woman

So with the 1940s Wonder Woman and the feminist movement in our minds, it will be easy to see why I find it disappointing to see the ‘new’ Wonder Woman of 1968. The creators of this run of Wonder Woman cut all ties to her original character, except for her name. Diana lost all of her powers, her family had left Man’s World forever and they killed Steve Trevor. Now, Diana Prince had a martial arts mentor and cool gadgets made by her friends. She essentially became a female James Bond. Personality-wise, Diana also became super unsure of herself, cried a lot, and needed to be told what to do before she was sure of making a move. Staying interesting to male love interests also became somewhat of a focus for Diana. She was no longer a strong, confident, and decisive leader. Disappointingly, when Trevor was killed off (the whole reason why Wonder Woman even came to Man’s World) Diana immediately fell in love with a man she had just met and didn’t even grieve her boyfriend’s death. Trevor’s death was completely glossed over and was never mentioned again.

In stark contrast to the ‘Wonder Women of History’ section of each Marston issue, this new Wonder Woman instead featured a section called ‘Marriage a la Mode’. This section focused on different marriage customs from countries all over the world. I think this change is quite illustrative of how much Wonder Woman had changed from its original inception and in what ways.

These changes could have been the result of a number of things. At the time of this series, The Avengers was a very popular British TV show starring Diana Rigg as Emma Peel. Peel was a female spy who went around the globe trying to save the world. The creators probably tried to use the popularity of The Avengers and elements that made the show popular in Wonder Woman to help boost sales and reader interest. Maybe the creators thought that taking away Wonder Woman’s powers and making her a mortal shop owner would make her more relatable to her readers? It is possible but I find it unlikely.

At the same time, the creators may have eliminated all feminist elements and ties to Wonder Woman as a way of easing male readers’ concerns over the women’s movement. Comic books have always been an escapist form of entertainment which more often than not tried to ease readers’ anxieties about ongoing real life events. Given the large absence of the women’s movement during this series’ publication, I can believe the creators tried to smooth over fears that the feminist movement was going to disrupt the typical readers’ daily way of life. Personally, I think it would have been much better for the readers and for Wonder Woman to embrace the women’s movement instead of avoiding it. Wonder Woman has been a feminist since her inception and an icon to many for a long time. That is why she was created by Marston. It feels backwards and disappointing to have a huge feminist icon to be rendered powerless, both as a superhero and as a woman, at one of the most progressive and influential times for women’s rights.

Wonder Woman Saved

In the end, Wonder Woman was saved by feminist Gloria Steinem. Steinem grew up with Marston’s Wonder Woman and lobbied DC Comics, both publicly and privately, insisting that they reinstate the original Wonder Woman. She also placed Marston’s 1940s Wonder Woman on the cover of Ms., a feminist magazine she was co-founder and editor of, in 1973. Wonder Woman’s powers were reinstated in 1973 and her origin story was returned to Martson’s version. Note: comic books creators can essentially rewrite a character’s origin story, background, and powers so it’s not uncommon for characters to be disjointed and contradictory based on changes to the creative team.

All in all, this run of Wonder Woman was not an enjoyable read for me. To be fair, I read the original comics and am a feminist who did not live through the 1950s, ’60s or ’70s. I can understand why the creators might have wanted to move away from Wonder Woman’s feminist side at a time of great social change but to me it feels very tone-deaf and completely the wrong move. However, hindsight is 20/20 and I would always love to have a super buff and feminist Wonder Woman. Currently, Wonder Woman dresses in cool armour with a sword and shield, although there are variations in her costume depending on which series of comic book you are reading, e.g Wonder Woman Rebirth, Wonder Woman Odyssey, etc. She is also pretty buff for a female character which hasn’t always been the case. In most of her renditions, Wonder Woman is a conventionally attractive woman with little to no visible muscle mass despite her superhuman strength (unlike Superman, for example). Her father is Zeus, making Hippolyte a liar (Diana was not made out of clay) and makes Wonder Woman a demi-god. To be honest, I can’t say I’m a fan of this change but at least Wonder Woman is no longer a powerless crying mess.