Hey, guys and gals! It’s time for another exciting Wonder Woman Wednesday. Wednesday is commonly referred to as “Hump Day,” because it’s the middle of the week. And if you can make it over the “hump,” it should be smooth sailing! Personally I think it should officially be changed to Wonder Woman Day. I mean, I know that doesn’t smoothly roll off the tongue and it’s been called Wednesday for a while now, but don’t you think it would be cool? Of course, it would!

Anyway, this week I thought I would share some fun and interesting facts about everyone’s favorite Amazon. I was surprised by the amount of contradictions the character has. They could have easily named her “Dichotomy Woman.”  Without further ado, here are some of my favorite Wonder Woman fun facts.



5. Death Becomes Her


The mid ’80s saw the release of DC Comics’ epic, company-wide event called “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” “Crisis” came about because DC felt the need to clean house a bit and make sense of their all-over-the-place continuity. There were different Supermans, Batmans, and Wonder Womans, all running around with different stories and backgrounds, costumes, and ages. Some were married, some weren’t. Some had children. Some didn’t. Some even had Super Pets! (Does “Bat-Hound” ring a bell?) Famous writer/artist John Byrne was initially asked to draw “Crisis” and he shot it down. Can you possibly wrap your mind around the fact that George Perez was the second choice for one of the pinnacles of his career? So, George stepped in and was all set to return to the popular New Teen Titans, a book he co-created with “Crisis” writer Marv Wolfman. That is, until he discovered Wonder Woman was on the list of characters DC wanted to kill off. Being a fan, George was so adamant about not killing her that he even offered to draw the book himself. So, instead of killing her, Marv merely had her eroded back to clay, so there could be a loophole in bringing her back.



4. My Sister Myself


Wonder Woman’s “sister,” Donna Troy, was a founding member of the Teen Titans. The story went that Wonder Woman found her in a burning building surrounded by a dead couple that WW thought to be the infant’s parents.
     
Rather than take her to protective services, Wondy elected to take Donna back to Paradise Island and shoot her with their “purple ray” technology and alter her genetic make up, turning her into a powerful Amazon.


After “Crisis on Infinite Earths” – and by the time John Byrne took over writing the book – Donna’s backstory had become so convoluted that Byrne decided to “fix” it. John had her become a childhood doppelgänger of young Diana created by a witch from a magic mirror. All was good in the hood until Dark Angel sought revenge on Queen Hippolyta by kidnapping her daughter. The only problem being that he accidentally kidnapped the doppelgänger. Not knowing what else to do, Dark Angel decided to have Donna live one horrible lifetime after another for all eternity. Oops!



3. It’s a Bird! It’s a plane! It’s Wonder Woman? 


When Wonder Woman was first introduced, she couldn’t fly. She could only glide on air currents… um. So, they gave her an invisible jet that she somehow managed to put together by herself. The jet has been evolved, replaced, and retconned many times since its first appearance. Wonder Woman was eventually given the ability to fly, but for some strange reason, the plane pops up randomly every so often.



2. Sexist Feminist?


One of the most interesting dualities in Wonder Woman’s history lies in her origins. Wonder Woman was created by William Moulton Marston to fill the void of positive female superheroes for little girls.  Boys had Batman and Superman and now little girls had Wonder Woman. The only problem was that Wonder Woman would go on to face major sexism. She was always submissive to Steve Trevor out of her love for him. She had to deal with endless sexist comments during the ’70s TV show. Also, the failed script attempt by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has been questioned recently for its approach to the character.



1. What’s in a Name?


Wonder Woman’s costume was made red, white, and blue to echo the patriotic sentiment being felt around the time of World War 2.


As she was considered a counterpart to Superman, she was originally going to be made Suprema. For some miracle of divine intervention, the powers that be decided Wonder Woman would be a better choice! (Phew! Dodged that bullet!)



So, there you have your five random WW facts! If you’d like to see more, please leave a comment below.


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Please do me a favor and follow me on Instagram (@michaelfitztroy) and we’ll see you next week!