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Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. First appearing in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), she is one of three characters to have been continuously published by DC Comics since the company's 1944 inception (except for a brief hiatus in 1984).
Wonder Woman is a member of a fictional, all-female tribe of Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) who is sent to "man's world" as an ambassador. Among the Amazons she is known as Princess Diana (being the daughter of Amazon queen Hippolyta); in "man's world" she takes the secret identity of "Diana Prince." Her powers include Super strength, Flight, Super speed & reflexes, stamina, God-given Invulnerability, Enhanced vision, perception and hearing. She is an expert in almost all forms of hand-to-hand combat. She also makes use of her Lasso of Truth (which forces those bound by it to tell the truth), a pair of bullet-deflecting bracelets, and an invisible plane.
Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting the Axis military forces, as well as an assortment of supervillains and supervillainesses. In later decades, some writers and their editors preferred to retain the World War II setting, while others updated the series to reflect an ongoing "present day." Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in the team books Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960). Arguably the most popular and iconic superheroine in comics, she is informally grouped with Superman and Batman as one of a "Trinity" of DC characters who are regarded as especially important, both within their fictional universe and without. She was named the twentieth greatest comic book character by Empire Magazine.[
In addition to comics, the character has appeared in other media — most notably the 1975-1979 live-action Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, but also in cartoons such as the Super Friends and Justice League. Although a number of attempts have been made to adapt the character to live-action film, none have yet emerged from "development hell." An animated film will be released in 2009, starring Keri Russell in the title role.
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