Wonder Woman: A TVCU Quickie

What's a quickie?  See this blog.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wonder Woman is a superheroine created by American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston and published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in December 1941 and first cover-dated on Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. TheWonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986.^[1] Her depiction as a heroine fighting for justice, love, peace, and sexual equality has led to Wonder Woman being widely considered a feminist icon.^[2][3][4]Wonder Woman is a warrior princess of the Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and is known in her homeland asPrincess Diana of Themyscira. When outside her homeland incognito, she is sometimes known by the secret identity Diana Prince. She is gifted with a wide range of superhuman powers and superior combat and battle skills. She possesses an arsenal of weapons, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in some stories, an invisible airplane.

Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting the Axis military forces, as well as an assortment of supervillains. Since then, Wonder Woman has gained a formidable cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon, including classic villains such asCheetah, Ares and Circe and newer ones like Genocide and The Circle, as well as many gods and monsters from Greek mythology. Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960).^[5]

In addition to the comics, the character has appeared in other media; most notably, the 1975–1979 Wonder Woman TV series starringLynda Carter, as well as animated series such as the Super Friends and Justice League. Since Carter's Wonder Woman however, studios struggled to introduce a new live-action Wonder Woman to audiences, although the character continued to feature in a variety of toys and merchandise, as well as animated adaptations of DC properties, including a animated featuree. Attempts to return Wonder Woman to television have included a pilot for NBC in 2011, closely followed by another stalled production for The CW.^[6][7] In 2013 however, it was announced that actress Gal Gadot would portray Wonder Woman in the upcoming untitled Man of Steel sequel.^[8]

Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superheroine of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor Sr & Jr, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979.

From me:

The Wonder Woman television series is in the TVCU via a a crossover with Count Cagliostro.  But beyond that, due to the inclusion of the All-Star Squadron (which has numerous crosses with films in the TVCU), we can consider the golden age comics to be canon as well.  I've wanted to do a Wonder Woman blog for some time, but something else already came first, so let's have a quickie with Wonder Woman.

In the real world, I wasn't allowed to read Wonder Woman comics when I was young.  My dad forbid me from reading any comics with a female lead.  So I was only exposed to her in comic form in the Justice League of America.  But for some reason it was okay for me to watch her show, which I consider part of a golden age of sci-fi and action television.  And of course, she was a regular part of the Super Friends, also in TVCU canon.

So, in the history of the TVCU, Wonder Woman's story begins both in the show, and the comics.  Her origin stories in both mediums were the same event told from different perspectives.  Following that, the golden age comics and the first season of the television show both are in canon, with episodes of the taking place between issues of the comic. It's at war's end that things get complicated.  First, let me mention that as always with the TVCU, the show's canon takes priority over other medium.  So having said that, let's work this out.

In Season two of Wonder Woman, it's now the present (1970s).  The premise is that after the war, Diana left Man's World and returned to Paradise Island.  In the late 1970s, she returns, and poses as Diana Prince's daughter, also Diana Prince (meaning that the older Diana had her daughter out of wedlock!  How scandalous!)    Steve Trevor was now Steve Trevor, Junior, a bit less scandalous.

It's possible that we could just say that no post-WWII Wonder Woman comics were canon for the TVCU.  For any instance where there is a Wonder Woman of the late 1940s that pops up in a story that can't be left out of canon, we could follow DC's lead and say it was Miss America.  (Incidentally, Dale Drinnon has a theory that mirrors the replacement Captain America concept Marvel later retroactively implemented, in which the Miss America beauty queens were replacement Wonder Women.  I don't buy the beauty queen idea, but I do appreciate the mirroring of the replacement Caps with Wonder Woman.)

So perhaps we can say that in 1945, when Diana left, Miss America replaced Wonder Woman.  The Golden Age is a story by DC that I consider canon, and in that story, Miss America dies in 1950.  Perhaps if there were any 1950s stories that needed to be placed in canon, we could say it was Fury, a Roy Thomas created character who was meant to replace the golden age Wonder Woman in a post-crisis continuity.

When we get to the 1960s and 1970s, this idea gets more critical.  And it's because of the Justice League of America.  In a future blog, I will specifically cover the JLA, but for now, let's focus on the team in its relation to Wonder Woman.  Remember that Diana came back in the late 1970s.

Not only is the Super-Friends in the TVCU, but so is the Justice League of America segments of the Superman/Aquaman Hour, a show from the late 1960s.  The TVCU Justice League should have formed based on that show at least by 1966.  But later, the Super Friends comic book will reveal that the roster of the Justice League of America of the early 1970s is the exact same as the DC Comics version of the team.  I'm not taking that as an indication that all of the JLA comics are in the TVCU exactly as printed.  But I think we can assume that perhaps the team was founded in 1960, as in the comics, and the members shown from the Superman/Aquaman Show and Super-Friends joined in years they did in the comics.  It should also be pointed out that the Super Friends was a school for teen heroes.  Over time, the JLA and Super Friends names became synonymous, but they didn't start out that way.

So that would mean that Wonder Woman was a founding member in 1960, even though her return was in the late 1970s.  The two solutions are to either assign another replacement Wonder Woman, or the one I prefer.  I like to think that Diana actually returned to Man's World in 1960, during the Appelex invasion, and joined the team, but did not return to her Diana Prince guise until the late 1970s.  Thus Super Friends featured the original Wonder Woman.

In 1985, part of the effects of the Crisis on Infinite Earths was that thew world forgot about the existence of super-heroes, super-villains, and the events they were involved in, such as alien invasions, supernatural monsters, and so on.  Wonder Woman again returned to Paradise Island.

Since then, she has returned.  She was a member of the revived JLA that fought the Predators and met Bugs Bunny and others from the Looniverse.

Come join the discussion about Wonder Woman or other TVCU related topics here.



And now, a mini-chron:

1948--SHIVERING SHERLOCKS--NOT A SHERLOCK HOLMES CROSSOVER...The trio witness a robbery.  At first, they are suspects, but they pass a lie detector test.  (Incidentally, the lie detector was created by William Moulton Marston, a psychologist who also wrote fictionalized accounts of the adventures of WONDER WOMAN.)  The trio are released, but are in danger, since they are the only three who can identify the crooks.  To get away for a while, their friend Gladys invites them to come with her to check out a house in the country she is planning on buying.  But when they get there, they find it is the hideout of the crooks.  The crooks take off with Gladys, but the trio, who despite their bumbling can be quite heroic, save her.

1950s--TOOBWORLD--The government forms a new JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA with founding members SUPERMAN, BATMAN, WONDER WOMAN, and the Scarlet Cyclone.

1972--THE BRADY KIDS--"That Was No Worthy Opponent, That Was My Sister"--Superman and Wonder Woman meet the Brady Kids.  This is a precursor to Superfriends.

Spring to Summer 1973--SUPER FRIENDS--Batman II (Dick Grayson) becomes an instructor along with Robin II (Bruce Wayne Junior), Superman (Kal-El/Clark Joseph Kent), Wonder Woman, and Aquaman to train new heroes Marvin and Wendy (and later Zan and Jayna).  They also work as part of the Justice League of America.  The team is nick-named the Super Friends, and later will be code named the Super Powers Team.  The team works secretly for the U.S. Government and the United Nations.  The team was actually founded in 1967 and disbanded in 1985.  It's entire roster over it's long run included:  Aquaman, Batman II, Robin II/Batman III, Robin III, Superman (Kal-El/Clark Joseph Kent), Wonder Woman, Atom II, Cyborg, Firestorm, Flash II, Green Lantern Hal Jordan, Hawkgirl II, Hawkman II, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, El Dorado, Rima the Jungle Girl, Samurai, Green Arrow II, Plastic Man, Wendy Harris, Marvin White, Wonderdog, Zan, Jayna, Gleek, Captain Marvel I, Huntress II, Black Canary II.  See the end of this blog, where I will go through all the super-heroes (and villains I have brought in so far with little bio info on each.  I want to make clear that even though the shows for the most part appear just like you see them, in general the public isn't aware or clear of the activities of these heroes.  The primary foes of the Super Friends would be the Legion of Doom:  Bizarro, Black Manta, Brainiac, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Giganta, Gorilla Grodd, Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor, Doctor Natas, the Riddler I, the Scarecrow II, Sinestro, the Toyman II, Mordru, and Dr. Sivana.  During their final years, they mostly fought Darkseid and his minions.  Additional bad guys they faced were:  Bizarra, Joe Chill, the Crime Syndicate of America, Felix Faust, Gentleman Ghost, Joker Junior, Mirror Master, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Penguin II, Royal Flush Gang, the Shark, Dracula, Frankenstein, Orville Gump, the Phantom Zone villains, and Zy-Kree.



1977--BUGS BUNNY MEETS THE SUPER-HEROES--All the Looney Tunes characters show up for Porky's birthday party, but so do Batman, Robin, and Wonder Woman.  A year later, the Tunes and heroes reunite for BUGS BUNNY IN SPACE, not to be confused with the clip show cartoon special of the same name and year.



1978--LUPIN THE THIRD:  THE SECRET OF MAMO--Salvatore Cucinotta says:  Well, here's a weird bit. In a "Batman vs. Lupin III" thread, someone linked an image of Lupin in a picture with Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, Superman and Aquaman. It comes from the Lupin film "The Mystery of Mamo", 1 hour, 16 minutes, 40 seconds in. Currently available to watch on Hulu.



2001--ELEKTRA WOMAN AND DYNAGIRL--The duo come out of retirement.  Aquaman appears and Flash , Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are all mentioned as real people.

May 2005--FAMILY GUY--"Blind Ambition"--Stewie catches the Keebler Elves plotting against Snap, Crackle, and Pop; later on it is implied that Snap was killed during the ambush by the Keebler Elves.  The entire final scene in which Peter receives his award is a reenactment of the ending of the original 1977 Star Wars film (A New Hope), complete with John Williams’ music, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. (The episode first aired the Sunday before the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith). In the same fashion, the credits were done to the Star Wars theme and style.  At the bowling alley, Peter sees Judd Hirsch working on a missile below the lanes. Later in the show, the Keebler Elves plot against Snap, Crackle and Pop, “assuming Judd Hirsch delivers with the goods.” Judd Hirsch voiced himself in this episode.  Peter spent a week with Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Batman in the Fortress of Solitude from the Superman movies. Peter interrupts their meeting, in which the heroes are discussing how to foil Lex Luthor, and asks Superman to use his powers to pick up Mr. Pibb and Cheez-Its, because it is a 800 mile drive for him (Peter), but five seconds for him (Superman), referencing the speed the superhero possesses.

September 2006--DRAWN TOGETHER--"Lost in Parking Space"--

• Seen at the mall parking lot are SPEED RACER in the Mach-5, HE-MAN on his Battle Cat, and WONDER WOMAN in her invisible jet.

October 2007--SOUTH PARK--"Imaginationland"--The boys discover Imaginationland.  This is actually simply a portion of the Looniverse where Anomaly sometimes teleports real beings from the multiverse due to the nature of the Looniverse and it's Tulpa state.  Thus, we can consider this a major crossover event.  In Imaginationland, the Council of Nine (the true leaders of the land) are:

• Aslan the Lion (The Chronicles of Narnia)
• Gandalf the Grey (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)
• Glinda the Good Witch (The Wizard of Oz)
• Jesus Christ (The Bible)
• Luke Skywalker (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)  Characters from Star Wars have also appeared to interact with people from Quahog, Rhode Island and Springfield, but Bongo Universe often pulls people randomly through time and space and then returns them with no memory of what happened, so it's uncertain of these people were pulled from Imaginationland or from a galaxy far far away.
• Morpheus (The Matrix)
• Popeye (Popeye)
• Wonder Woman (DC Comics)
• Zeus (Greek Mythology)

The other good guys are:

• Astro Boy (Astro Boy)
• Baby Mario (Mario)
• Boo Berry
• Br'er Rabbit
• Calvin & Hobbes
• Care Bear (Care Bears)
• Captain Planet
• Cheetara (Thundercats)
• Cinderella (Cinderella)
• Count Chocula
• Crest Toothpaste
• Dorothy and Toto (The Wizard of Oz)
• Franken Berry
• Franklin (Franklin)
• Garuda (Buddhism/Hinduism)
• Gizmo (Gremlins)
• God (The Bible)
• Mad Hatter (Alice's Adventure in Wonderland)
• Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
• Link (The Legend of Zelda)
• Mayor of Imaginationland
• Mr. Clean
• Mr. Tummnus (The Chronicles of Narnia)
• Optimus Prime (Tranformers)
• Orko (He-man)
• Pacman (Pacman)
• Perseus (Greek Mythology)
• Peter Pan
• Puss in Boots (Shrek 2)
• Quasimodo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
• Raggedy Ann and Andy
• Rapunzel
• Rockety Rocket
• Rocky and Bulwinkle (The Rocky and Bulwinkle Show)
• Ronald McDonald (McDonald's Restaurant)
• Santa Claus
• Scarecrow (the Wizard of Oz)
• Silver Surfer (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)
• Smurf
• Smurfette
• Snarf (ThunderCats)
• Strawberry Shortcake (Strawberry Shortcake)
• Super Best Friends
• Super Mario (Mario series)
• Superman
• The Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz)
• The Flash
• The Lollipop King
• The Scarecrow (The Wizard of Oz)
• Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro)
• Twinkie the Kid (Mascot for Twinkies)
• Voltron (Voltron)
• Wild Thing (Where The Wild Things Are)
• Waldo (Where's Waldo?)
• Yoda (Starwars)

And the bad guys:

• Akuma/Gouki (Street Fighter II)
• Sagat (Street Fighter)
• Bluto (Popeye)
• Bowser (Mario series)
• Br'er Fox
• Captain Hook (Peter Pan)
• Cards (Alice's Adventure in Wonderland)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (Creature from the Black Lagoon)
• Darkseid (DC comic)
• Flying Monkeys (The Wizard of Oz)
• Frankenstein (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)
• Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street)
• Ganondorf (The Legend of Zelda)
• Goro (Mortal Kombat)
• Headless Horseman (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow)
• Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th)
• ManBearPig
• Orc (The Lord of the Rings)
• Predator (Predator series)
• Pinhead (Hellraiser)
• Sinistar
• The Woodland Critters
• The Minotaur (Greek Mythology)
• Venom (Spider-Man)
• Wario (Mario series)
• The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
• The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia)
• The Wolfman
• Tripod (war of the worlds)
• Xenomorph (Alien series)

2008-1010—Warehouse 13--Season Two; Episode Two: "Mild Mannered"
During an establishing shot in the Warehouse, Thor's Hammer, the Penguin's
Umbrella, Green Arrow's bow, and Wonder Woman's magic lasso can be seen.

Since this episode was entirely based around the idea of superheroes in the real
world, the identification of the artifacts is assured. This is not an issue for the Penguin or Green Arrow, technology changes and surely older versions of their signature gadgets would end up in the warehouse; but we must ask ourselves, how did Thor’s Hammer and Wonder Woman’s lasso arrive here? 

22nd Century--PROJECT:  A-KO--Salvatore Cucinotta
This one may be known already, but it's one of my favorites. The movie series "Project A-Ko" was one of the first anime films to see stateside release in the wake of "Akira". And it's silly. So very silly. In the film and its sequels, the main characters are revealed to have crossover heritage with some western comic book characters. The title girl, A-Ko (Eiko) is revealed at the end of the first movie to be the daughter of Superman and Wonder Woman (he's reading the daily pl(e)net with the word "Superm-" and "Mad Scie-" on the cover; her face is modeled after Lynda Carter and the daughter wears power-limiting bracers), and her rival B-Ko (Biko) is revealed to be the daughter of Iron Man (visual design and penchant for power armor). There's a dozen other references, but none really make a proper crossover besides them. The movie is a bizarre comedy, but for anime fans like me, it was one of the first ones we got--so it has a special place in our hearts.

ALTERNATE REALITIES:  OK, now for the alternate Earths depicted on screen.  For an understanding of alternate realities in the TVCU, check out my intro blog simply titled "Television Crossover Universe".

CINEMULTIVERSE--These take place in various Cineverses:  Kiinni on ja pysyy (1955), Superman vs. the Gorilla Gang (1965), Who Wants to Kill Jessie? (1966), Zoom, Zoom, Superman! (1973), Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978), The Return of Superman (1979), Superman (1980), La segunda guerra de los niños (1981), The Sex O'Clock News (1984), Certain Fury (1985), Superman (1987), Hot Shots! (1991), 7 jin gong (1994), Les complices (1999), Mattress of Solitude (2000), Sam & Janet (2002), American Splendor (2003), Fast Times at Hero High (2003), Behind the Mask (2003), A Uniform Used to Mean Something... (2004), Hindsight Is 20/20... (2004), Grayson (2004), World's Finest (2004), Losing Lois Lane (2004), Blockbusters (2005), Teenage Superhero Pregnancy Scare (2005), Bryan's Journals (2006), Superhero's Son (2006), Roomies (2006), Wonder Woman: Balance of Power (2006), Color Me Olsen (2007), I Am Bob (2007), I Do? (2007), The Daily Grind (2007), Satisfy Me (2007), David (2008), The Lex Luthor Show (2008), Superman ieotdeon sanai (2008), Playball (2008), Aquaman Fan Film (2008), The Greatest Fan Film of All Time (2008), No Justice Just Us (2009), Super Lunch (2009), Heroic Ambition (2010), Die Laughing (2010) 

EARTH-12 (DC ANIMATED UNIVERSE:

• 2001 to 2006--JUSTICE LEAGUE--A new League is formed.  The team is Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern John Stewart, the Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl. 

And here are some blogs about the Toobworld Wonder Woman.

And from TV Tropes and Wikipedia:

• Superman and Batman have been appearing in comics together since the Silver Age, and Wonder Woman joining in isn't rare, either. Generally they team up, though having them fight each other is always a good way to draw in readers.

Static from Static Shock teams up with a variety of DC Comics heroes, including Superman, Batman, and at one time the members of the Justice League (except for Wonder Woman).

Superman and Wonder Woman, at one point, once crossed over with the animated incarnations of the kids from The Brady Bunch. (The Brady Kids episode "That Was No Worthy Opponent, That Was My Sister")

Michelangelo, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Green Lantern, and other LEGO characters. (The Lego Movie)

TVCU CREW REVIEW

Here are some of the more recent posts regarding Wonder Woman in the TVCU discussion forum.






And check out more Wonder Woman Lost Issues here.

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Bonus.  Horror Crossover Universe!

JLA:  THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU (DC COMICS)

Release Date:  2002 (Setting is 1888)

Series:  JLA

Horror Crosses:  Island of Doctor Moreau

Non-Horror Crosses:  Justice League of America; Green Lantern; Black Lightning; Wonder Woman; The Flash; John Jones, Manhunter from Mars; Aquaman; Hawkman; Green Arrow

The Story:  The original story of the Island of Doctor Moreau is conflated with the Justice League of America.  

HCU Comments:  This is an alternate universe that must be part of the Horror Crossover Multiverse.  Fortunately, it means I don’t have to explain more super-heroes in the HCU, especially ones created by Moreau!!!