Wonder Girl

Infobox comics set index


caption=Three of the Wonder Girls: Donna Troy, Wonder Woman, Cassandra Sandsmark, from the cover to Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #186, by Adam Hughes.
code_name=Wonder Girl
publisher=DC Comics
debut="Wonder Woman" #105 (1958)
creators=Robert Kanigher
characters=Diana Prince
Donna Troy
Cassandra Sandsmark
seealso=
cat = super
subcat = DC Comics
hero = y
villain =
sortkey = Wonder GirlThree fictional characters named Wonder Girl have appeared as superheroines in DC Comics. The original was a younger version of Wonder Woman. The second and third are protégés of Wonder Woman, and members of different incarnations of the Teen Titans.

Characters

Diana

Although not named Wonder Girl, Diana Prince was originally introduced as a girl in "All-Star Comics #8", 1941, and a back story in the "Wonder Woman" comic as a teen-aged Princess Diana of the Amazons in Wonder Woman v1 #23, May-June 1946, Written by William Moulton Marston and designed by H.G. Peter.

Wonder 'Girl' first appeared in Wonder Woman v1 April #105, 1958 "The Secret Origin Of Wonder Woman". " In this revised 'Silver Age' origin it is assumed Diana was not created from clay and was born before the Amazons settled on Paradise Island as this story reveals, written by Robert Kanigher. Following this issue were several Wonder Girl adventures and years later an additional character, Wonder Tot, (Wonder Woman as a toddler), was also featured. Kanigher restored her original origin in 1966 as part of the 'Golden-Age Revision experiment'. Kanigher also created the Wonder Tot and later, The Wonder Family of characters during the 1950s and early to mid '60s.

From "Wonder Woman" #124 (August 1961) onwards, all three versions frequently appeared together in stories that were labelled "impossible tales," presented as films made by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, who had the power to splice together films of herself and Diana at different ages. However, by the time the Teen Titans made their first appearance, the characters of Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman had begun to diverge; Haney began writing Wonder Girl stories that took place in the same time period as those of Wonder Woman.

Bob Haney was developing a new junior team: The Teen Titans and used the Wonder Girl character that was depicted in the impossible tales, not realising it was in fact Diana at a different age. In 1968 the Amazons left this plane to another dimension to refresh their powers and magical abilities. Wonder Woman chose to remain behind and renounced her Amazon powers and heritage and became the mortal, Diana Prince. Readers questioned as to how Diana as a teenager could appear in the Teen Titans fully powered as well as appearing at a younger age. Finally in Teen Titans #22 it was revealed that it was not Diana, but Donna Troy (see below).

Donna Troy

Donna made what is generally considered her first appearance in "The Brave and the Bold" #60 (July 1965), and was portrayed as a member of a junior Justice League consisting of Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad. The young heroes joined together to battle wrong-doers as the Teen Titans.

There is some disagreement among fandom as to whether this should be considered the first appearance of the character Wonder Girl as a distinct "little sister" rather than merely Diana's younger self. As mentioned in the previous section, the characters of Wonder Woman & Wonder Girl had already begun to diverge in the "Wonder Woman" title.

The relationship between this Wonder Girl and the younger version of Wonder Woman was not fully explained at the time. In fact, Wonder Girl was referred to by the other Titans as "Wonder Girl" or "Wonder Chick" rather than by any other, more "personal" name, until Teen Titans #22. In that issue, the mystery of Wonder Girl's background was finally addressed in a story by Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane, in which it was explained that Wonder Girl was actually a non-Amazon orphan, rescued by Wonder Woman from an apartment building fire. Unable to find any parents or family for her, Wonder Woman brought her to Paradise Island, where she was eventually given Amazon powers by Paula's Purple Ray. The origin story ended with Wonder Girl making a new costume for herself, one unrelated to Wonder Woman's, & taking the civilian name "Donna Troy."

This origin was expanded and modified in later issues of "The Teen Titans". From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, Donna rarely appeared or was mentioned in the pages of "Wonder Woman", & came to be thought of as part of the Teen Titans family of characters.

In the 1980s, due to the relaunch of Wonder Woman as a new character in a new series, & under the theory that Donna was more a Titans character than a Wonder Woman character, Donna was retconned into a character with no direct ties to the Amazons. In the story-line "Who Is Wonder Girl?", the Titans of Myth enlist Donna's aid, & tell her that they raised her after the Titan Rhea rescued her from a fire. Following victory in a cosmic battle, Donna gained new powers, growing into her role as a "Titan Seed." Since by this time she was a married woman, Donna changed her "nom de guerre" from "Wonder Girl" to "Troia."

In the 1990s, Donna was reattached to the Wonder Woman mythos. In the new version of her origin, Magala (an Amazon sorceress) animated a mirror image of young Princess Diana, creating a mystic identical twin for Diana to play with. A few months after, the mystic twin was kidnapped by Dark Angel (who thought she had taken Diana). Dark Angel dispersed the girl's spirit across the multiverse, condemning her to live multiple lives, each one cut short by the Dark Angel at a moment of tragedy.

In at least one of these variant lives, Donna would become a superhero & encounter her grown sister, now Wonder Woman, & their mother Queen Hippolyta, without realizing who she really was or how she was related to them.

After that timeline ended with the death of her son, Diana & Hippolyta intervened to find what happened to their friend Donna. Donna finally defeated Dark Angel, destroying the evil entity and regaining her original Amazon powers, then returned to reality to continue her life from that point.

The 2005 mini-series "The Return of Donna Troy" revealed that Donna is actually an amalgam of every Donna Troy, who remembers all of her other incarnations. But this did not help make her origin story linear or accessible.

After the events of "Infinite Crisis," Diana passed the mantle of Wonder Woman to Donna Troy. However, Diana continued to be the star of the book, & reclaimed the title of Wonder Woman in the first story arc of "Wonder Woman" vol. III.

As of the recent Wonder Woman Annual vol. 3 #1, Donna had a new origin that combined the essential elements of her 3 variant origins. As it was shown in Wonder Woman Annual #1:

Donna was born as Princess Diana's mystic twin through the help of Amazon sorceress Magala. Months later, an old enemy of Queen Hippolyte called Dark Angel kidnapped Donna thinking she was Diana. Donna was placed in suspended animation by Dark Angel for years and was eventually left to die in a burning building. But fate intervened and the now grown-up Diana came onto the scene as Wonder Woman and rescued Donna. She was brought back to Paradise Island where she received training from both the Amazons & The Titans of Myth and years after followed Diana into the outside world as Wonder Girl and helped form the Teen Titans.

Cassandra Sandsmark

Cassie Sandsmark is the daughter of Dr. Helena Sandsmark, an archaeologist; her father is Zeus. She has been a member of both Young Justice and the Teen Titans. Initially, her powers were derived from ancient Greek artifacts. Later, Zeus granted her the boon of actual powers. Her powers are similar to Wonder Woman's, though she carries a lasso that expels Zeus's lightning which was given to her by Ares, (the Greek god of war) who is her half brother.

When the Greek gods left the mortal plane during "Infinite Crisis", Zeus stripped Cassie of her powers. However, she was granted powers by Ares in exchange for becoming his champion.

After Superboy's death she quit the Titans for a time to be an independent vigilante. She was mourning the loss of her lover Superboy and bitter from the abandonment from Robin and Wonder Woman over the following year. She later rejoined the group after a battle with the Brotherhood of Evil and return of Cyborg. She is close friends with fellow hero Supergirl.

"Superman & Batman: Generations"

In "" 2, Wonder Girl first appears in 1953, as a "mystic projection" to take Wonder Woman's place while Diana gives birth. She finds a wounded Steve Trevor, and takes him back to Paradise Island, but despite being subjected to the Purple Power Ray, he dies of his wounds, leaving Diana to raise their daughter alone.

In 1964, Stephanie, or "Stevie", decides to go out on her own as Wonder Girl. She shares a link with Supergirl (Kara Kent), as they were born at the same time. Years later, she becomes the new Wonder Woman. Her outfit is pretty much the same as her mother's, except that she does not possess either the tiara or the Magic Lasso of Aphrodite, instead possessing the winged sandals of Hermes. She also wears a mask. When she becomes the new Wonder Woman, she adds a cape to the ensemble.

In "Superman & Batman: Generations" 3, she is killed by Darkseid.

Wonder Girl in other media

"Wonder Woman"

In 1976 a version of Wonder Girl appeared in the "Wonder Woman" TV series, played by Debra Winger in one of her first mass-media roles.

Although the pilot episode revealed that Wonder Woman's alter-ego, Princess Diana of Paradise Island, was Queen Hippolyte's only child, later episodes featured Diana's younger sibling, Drusilla. This may have been a cloaked referenced existing in the comics that Diana was Hippolyta's only biological child since Donna Troy/Wonder Girl was adopted and raised on Paradise Island.

Drusilla first appeared in the two-part episode titled "The Feminum Mystique". In that episode, Queen Hippolyte (Carolyn Jones) sends Drusilla to America in order to bring her sister home to Paradise Island.(It should be noted that Queen Hippolyte is never referred to by name in any of the televised specials in which she appeared.)

Drusilla gets tangled up in a Nazi plot to discover the secret of Wonder Woman's magical bracelets, and in the process masters the spinning transformation used by her older sister. Although Drusilla creates the persona of Wonder Girl, the distinction is lost on the Nazis, who believe her to be Wonder Woman and abduct her.

Drusilla appeared again in the final episode of the first season, "Wonder Woman in Hollywood". A Wonder Girl series was in development when actress Debra Winger broke her contract and left the series. The Drusilla/Wonder Girl character was rumored to be written back into the series in several later episodes, this time played by actress Eileen Chesis previously seen in the Secrets of Isis episode Scuba Duba as Nancy. Fact|date=August 2007

A figure resembling Winger's Drusilla made a cameo appearance in "Infinite Crisis #6", as the Wonder Girl of Earth-462. In the comics, Cassandra Sandsmark would later adapt the alias of Drusilla to protect her identity.

"Late Night with David Letterman"

In 1993, Debra Winger promoted her new movie "Wilder Napalm" on "The Late Show with David Letterman". David enjoyed engaging Winger in a discussion of her first major role as Wonder Girl after showing the audience a clip of her on the Wonder Woman series. Winger, obviously prepared for this, then burst out of her "civilian" clothes and sported the Wonder Girl outfit that she hadn't worn in 17 years, running out of the studio in costume saying she was late for something she had to do. [ [http://www.freewebs.com/meanderings0/wondergirl.htm Wonder Girl with David Letterman] ]

"Teen Titans"

Wonder Girl's first animated appearance was in the Teen Titans segments on "The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure" in 1967.

Wonder Girl once worked with the Boy Wonder and Batman, but was fired for not following Batman's directions. Fact|date=February 2008

Wonder Girl had long been rumored to appear on the "Teen Titans" animated series. In "Homecoming" (part two) and "Calling All Titans" a character resembling Donna Troy appeared in several brief scenes, though she was not named.

"Teen Titans Go"

Wonder Girl appeared in issue #36 ("Troy") of the "Teen Titans Go!" series, acting as if she has been on the team for some time.

Parodies and References

In first episode of the animated-short series, Robot Chicken, there is one sketch scene in which Marvel and DC superheroes parody MTV's The Real World, and in one scene, Batman refers to Wonder Woman as "Wonder Girl".

External links

* [http://www.titanstower.com/source/whoswho/wondergirl.html "Titans Tower" Biography]
* [http://www.carolastrickland.com/wfintro.html Wonder Family Index]

References