"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman."
-William Moulton Marston
WONDER WOMAN I (Princess Diana of Themyscira, Diana Prince) (Golden Age)
Created By: William Moulton Marston & Harry G. Peter
First Appearance: All Star Comics #8 (Dec. 1941)
Role: The Iconic Female Superhero
Group Affiliations: The Justice Society of America, Themyscira
PL 13 (259)
STRENGTH 15
STAMINA 15
AGILITY 4
FIGHTING 11
DEXTERITY 3
INTELLIGENCE 4
AWARENESS 5
PRESENCE 5
Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+12)
Athletics 1 (+15)
Deception 1 (+6, +10 Attractive)
Expertise (History) 2 (+6)
Expertise (Mythology) 9 (+13)
Expertise (Science) 6 (+10)
Insight 3 (+8)
Intimidation 1 (+6)
Investigation 4 (+9)
Perception 4 (+9)
Persuasion 4 (+9, +14 Attractive)
Stealth 2 (+6)
Technology 6 (+10)
Treatment 2 (+6)
Vehicles 1 (+4)
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attractive 2, Defensive Attack, Diehard, Equipment 7 (Invisible Jet), Extraordinary Effort, Fast Grab, Fearless, Great Endurance, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Interpose, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 9, Takedown 2
Powers:
Power Lifting 5 (12,000 tons) [5]
"Super-Polyglot" Comprehend 3 (Speak To & Understand All Languages & Writing) [6]
"Magic Lasso" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [18]
"Grab Multiples" Affliction 14 (Strength & Will; Hindered & Impaired/Defenseless & Compelled) (Feats: Reversible, Tether) (Extras: Ranged, Area- 15ft. Burst +1/2) (Extras: Limited Degree, Limited to One Group of Targets, Compelled Limited to Telling the Truth) Linked to Ranged Strength 15 (29) -- (30 points)
- AE: "Single Snare" Affliction 16 (Strength & Will; Hindered & Impaired/Defenseless & Compelled) (Feats: Reversible, Tether) (Extras: Ranged, Extra Condition) (Flaws: Limited to One Target, Limited Degree, Compelled Limited to Telling the Truth) Linked to Ranged Strength 15 (26)
"Magic Bracelets" (Flaws: Removable) [22]
Deflect 12 (12)
Enhanced Dodge 2 (2)
Impervious Toughness 13 (Extras: Sustained +0) (13)
-- (27 points)
"Throwing Tiara" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [7]
Blast 4 (Feats: Homing, Ricochet 2) (11 points)
Equipment:
"Invisible Jet" (Gargantuan, ST 11, Flight 8- 500 mph, Defense -2, Toughness 11, Features- Navigation, Concealment Visuals 2) (34)
Offense:
Unarmed +11 (+15 Damage, DC 30)
Magic Lasso +12 (+12 Ranged Affliction, DC 22)
Grab Multiples +12 Area (+12 Affliction, DC 22)
Initiative +8
Defenses:
Dodge +10 (+12 Bracelets, DC 22), Parry +11 (DC 21), Toughness +15 (+7 Impervious), Fortitude +15, Will +11
Complications:
Motivation (Fixing Man's World)- Diana is on a mission to teach Man's World the proper way of doing things.
Relationship (Steve & Lyta Trevor)- Diana fell in love with brave male soldier Steve Trevor, and eventually wed him and had a daughter, whom she named Hippolyta, after her own mother.
Relationship (Hippolyte)- Diana's mother forbid her from entering the tournament to enter Man's World- Diana wore a mask to disguise herself.
Responsibility (Themyscira)- Diana's mother Hippolyte is Queen of Themyscira, and Diana owes her allegiance to them.
Power Loss (All Powers)- Wonder Woman will lose all of her powers if someone binds her bracelets together.
Relationship (Etta Candy)- The chubby, sweets-loving Etta is WW's closest pal amongst regular people, and leads the local all-girls college in helping out Diana at times.
Enemy (The Cheetah, Paula von Gunther)
Total: Abilities: 124 / Skills: 54--27 / Advantages: 37 / Powers: 58 / Defenses: 13 (259)
The Golden Age Wonder Woman:
-Wonder Woman debuted in late 1941 as the Princess of an island of Amazons, empowered by the Greek Gods, who won the right to return the fallen American intelligence officer Steve Trevor to "Man's World" and fight the Nazis when the Goddess Aphrodite realized someone needed to fight their evil. Discovering a nurse with her exact appearance, she took the woman's name and job, becoming "Diana Prince". With a costume based off of the American flag, and Girl-Next-Door good looks (she looks like a pinup model in a skirt and tight-fitting bodice), she was a mega-hit immediately, and the standard by which all other Golden Age heroines were measured (she wasn't the first, but she was the BEST). She pretty quickly became the most popular one on the block, and was an immense success, though she didn't spread out to a thousand books like Superman & Batman did.
-Diana was even added to the Justice Society of America, a team-up book... as their secretary. An infamous, now-quaint, look at how little women were regarded in the 1940s. But primarily the book was about Diana, her secret identity as a nurse, and her love of Steve Trevor- the two having one of those "Chaste 1940s Couple" things going for a while. But the dynamic was thrown a bit because BOTH were adult, capable adventurers, though Steve would still often require saving. Her creator, William Moulton Marston, was an infamous kook as much as a brilliant man. The inventor of the lie-detector test (yes, the guy who invented a Lasso that compelled people to only tell the truth invented the LIE-DETECTOR), Marston believed in female superiority, and tried to create the "Ideal Woman", lacking the weaknesses associated with girly things like submissiveness and focus on peacemaking, though the character made attempts at reforming bad guys. Diana KICKED ASS and people loved her for it.
Diana Evolves:
-So yeah, Diana was a hugely-popular character right away, becoming the biggest superheroine on the block. She got a pile of powers, introduced many others, and had kinky, fetishy adventures featuring an unusual amount of bondage and girls tying each other up in weird games. She was the JSA's secretary, but largely didn't show up on adventures because she had her OWN book. In 1947, Marston died, making Diana one of the first major "Orphaned" characters- Robert Kanigher took over the strip, making fewer Feminist-focused stories. Fredric Wertham found in his works that
Wonder Woman promoted lesbianism in the subtext between WW and the Holliday Girls at the local all-girls college (to be fair, that isn't a exactly a huge reach by any stretch, but naturally Wertham thought that gayness was totally evil). Diana also started to moon over Steve Trevor a lot more. The focus on the Greek Gods that empower her ebbs and floes- she always says "Great Hera!" and "Suffering Sappho!", but they're not always major characters- at other times, she directly interacts with them.
-Diana was popular enough that she survived the dead zone of the 1950s- something accomplished by very few superheroes, and no other superheroines. Mary Marvel, her closest competitor? GONE by 1953. All of Timely's characters (Namor, Cap, Torch)? GONE. DC ended up jettisoning the Flash & Green Lantern, replacing them as the official beginning of the Silver Age... but Wonder Woman ALWAYS had a book, and so she stuck around. To the point where there's no real "moment" where Diana becomes her Silver Age self- like Batman & Superman, it just kinda slowly happened at some point, and we were dealing with the "Earth-One", modern Wonder Woman instead of her older "Earth-Two" self.
Earth-Two Wonder Woman:
-As Diana continued in modern times, her book changed repeatedly, dropping villains and supporting characters all the while. But this freed up her Golden Age self, still appearing in the occasionall crossover tale, to actually SETTLE DOWN and evolve as a character. This version of Diana married her Steve Trevor, gave birth to Hippolyta Trevor, the Fury of
Infinity Inc. fame, and grew older and greyer. Appearing in this form, she was in the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and was given one of the happier endings of "lost" characters- she was elevated to the role of Goddess, and then ignored forever... until she gets a mini-cameo in
Infinite Crisis, giving the modern WW a snippet of information, and then fading away, having sacrificed her existence in leaving Olympus.
-Her role as the "Golden Age Wonder Woman" provided some continuity issues, as DC was a big fan on making every story "count", and so at first we were told that a Golden Age character named Fury (Helena Kosmatos) was in that role- THIS Fury would be the mother to the modern-age Fury (Hippolyta Trevor), since of course that character needed a mom. This was Roy Thomas's rapid-fire solution, anyways. Years later, however, John "Back To Basics" Byrne would stick his chubby fingers in there, deciding that NO- there WAS a Golden Age Wonder Woman after all! In his story, Diana's mother Hippolyta (previously depicted as a blonde-haired, slender woman in the Silver Age, and buffer and as an "Older Diana" by George Perez) goes back in time to World War II and SHE decides to act as Wonder Woman. This makes those old stories "count", and is established as the new reason why Donna Troy is called "Wonder Girl"- she claims inspiration from THIS one.
Golden Age Wonder Woman's Powers:
-Golden Age Wonder Woman is remarkably-tough and strong, and can easily fit onto any JLA/JSA team-up, but could get the occasional weird power like ESP or Telepathy or whatever. The specifics could pop in and out, I assume, as WW always had tricky issues with random powers. Her tiara could also be used to communicate with Amazons at one point, in addition to the occasional use of it as a boomerang. Notably, Wonder Woman could not fly under her own power at first (which is why she has an INVIVISIBLE PLANE, duh)- I believe by later crossovers she could fly as her Silver & Bronze Age versions could- this would add Flight 9 or so to the build (costing 282 points).
-Her Lasso has turned out to be a rather complex construct- the
DCA Heroes Handbook portrays it as Ranged Strength + Compelled Affliction, but this completely ignores its effects as a Snare- adding those attributes, it becomes a pricier three-pronged Affliction. Her Bracelets are a combination defensive Device and Complication- "to remind them of what happens to a girl when she lets a man conquer her", said Marston, which is why if a man binds them together, Diana loses all of her powers.