The Beginnings of the Myth

If there us one thing I've learned about comic superheroes it is that they are defined by two things: their costume and their origin story. the slightest tweeak to either sending fans into a tizzy (at best) and an all-out screaming uproar (at worst). Now, I'll get to the question of her costume later, but first I want to talk about Wonder Woman's origin. Like every other superhero, the origins of Diana set the tone for every comic that follows in that series or run. They can make or break a particular run or storyline and don't always line up with what the creator originally had in mind for that character.

William Moulton Marston's origin for Wonder Woman acts a very condensed version of his theories on gender and the urges of men and women. It starts with Wonder Woman returning an injured Captain Steve Trevor to America after his brief time recuporating on Paradise Isle. Wonder Woman leaves behind scrolls that recount the beginnings of the world and the Amazons, which were born out of the fued between Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. A perfect allegory of his idea that men can only be forceful and aggressive, while women are capable of both force and love.



After a long time of women being enslaved and seen as worthless by Ares' men, Aphrodite then moulds the Amazons out of clay and makes them a perfect race of women. Later, after betrayal from Hercules (who tried to enslave them) she leads them to Paradise Isle, where no man may ever set foot. And to always remind them of what they were put through and why they were made, all Amazons must wear bracelets that resemble the shackles they were once threatened with.



Aphrodite also taught the Amazon queen, Hippolyte how to mould life. Hippolyte then moulded Diana, who Aphrodite blessed and named after the goddess of the moon. As the child grew, her speed and strength were obvious to all. Diana was greatly loved by her mother, so when Steve Trevor's injured body needed to be returned to America and Diana offered to go, Hippolyte refused. But she no choice but to allow her to when Diana won a contest and proved to be the best that the Amazon had to offer Aphrodite as an ally for America in World War II.



Though it must be said, that for all the feminist overtones and thoughts that Marston had and filled his work with, there are moments that show even he was still a product of his time. It just goes to show that no matter how against the grain or radical one may be for their time, some parts of the culture, especially in regard to gender roles, get drilled into your head. But, I digress.

Over the last seventy years, Wonder Woman has had many other versions of the her origin story. One by Mark Waid and Adam Hughes can be read here. It's quite brief and mentions nothing of the beginnings of the Amazons or the rivalry between Ares and Aphrodite. It shows Hippolyte making Diana out of clay, but instead of this happening because of Aphrodite's teachings, it is due to command from the gods as a whole. Diana's gifts are also given from all the gods, not just the goddess of love.



Another take on Diana's origin was written in 1987 by Greg Potter. Not only does it preserve a lot of Marston's original analogy, but in some ways it's much more brutal. When the story starts the gods are trying to find ways to bring people back to them, because without mankind's faith in them they will cease to be. Artemis suggests a race of perfect women to teach mankind the error of their ways. This idea is immediately hated by Ares, who desires mankind to be mindful of no other god but him and give in to it's sometimes hateful nature.






However, Artemis and other gods and goddesses travel to Hades to revive souls of women that would make up the perfect race, called Amazons.



Initially the Amazons lived amongst the people, but Ares was able to spread lies about them, driving many to be suspicious of them and even hate them. This isn't the only way it differs from Marston's version. When barbaric Herceles comes into the story and eventually enslaves them, the city they live is destroyed, plundered and the Amazons raped. With this kind of brutal detail, it shouldn't come as much of a shock when, once free, the Amazons' revenge is quite bloody and brutal. A far cry from the rehabilitation method that Marston's Wonder Woman employed. Another difference is that Diana becomes the chosen one or Wonder Woman before Steve Trevor is introduced into the storyline. A tournament still takes place to decide that Diana is indeed the one, but here it is done for the vague reason of the "will of the gods."

The amount of different storylines for a given character can be at once the most intriguing and daunting aspect of the comic book world. Wonder Woman has been no stranger to all the different interpretations that writers can impose on a character. Sometimes these reinforce or expound on the creator's intention, sometimes they ignore it entirely, but all are important ways of getting to the root of who a character is, what makes them what they are and why they are important.

The same could also be said when that same character is taken out of her original medium and put into another, whether it's film or the public's consciousness on the whole.