Moxie

By Lauren Linhard – moxie.lauren@gmail.com

Wonder Woman was welcomed to the pages of DC Comics by heralded superheros Batman and Superman in 1941. Though she was the company’s solution to the blood and violence it was accused of promoting, she represented “a great movement now underway – the growth in the power of women” for Wonder Woman creator Dr. William Moulton Marston.

Diana Prince, the Amazon warrior princess who becomes Wonder Woman, was directly inspired by the feminists in Martson’s life – his wife and mistress. Elizabeth Holloway Marston chose not to embrace the homemaker norm of the early 1900s and instead became a psychologist and lawyer – she is thought to have inspired Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth, harking back to the lie detector she created with her husband.

Olive Byrne, who lived happily with Marston and his wife and gave birth to two of his kids, was the niece of Margaret Sanger, birth control and women’s rights activist. It’s believed Wonder Woman’s bullet-proof wrist cuffs were based on bracelets Marston had given to Byrne.

As for the creator himself, Marston regarded women as the eventual leaders of the world: “Women have twice the emotional development, the ability for love, than man has. As they develop as much ability for worldly success as they already have ability for love, they will clearly come to rule business and the nation and the world.”

But Wonder Woman, despite being one of the longest lasting superheroes in comic book history – this year marks her 75th anniversary – has remained overlooked by the movie industry until now. The trailer for “Wonder Woman,” the very first live-action movie featuring the female superhero as the lead, was revealed at the 2016 Comic Con this week.

The feature film, set to come out in June of 2017 as part of the Justice League series, is once again brought to the masses by two amazing women who are dedicated to the Wonder Woman story – actress Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins.

“Wonder Woman is my favorite superhero,” Jenkins said at Comic Con. “I couldn’t believe everyone hadn’t made [her movie] yet. I made ‘Monster’ and my first meeting after, I met with Warner Bros. and I said, ‘I want to make Wonder Woman.'”

Though those first meetings had no results, the studio eventually agreed to let Jenkins move forward with the project leading to the casting of Gadot, who Jenkins said is Wonder Woman.

Gadot said she sees Diana Prince as a character who can make an impact, not just for a young female audience, but for audiences of all sexes and ages. Wonder Woman is a strong hero who leads from her heart, not her head, she added.

“It felt like we were just a vessel for a greater story that we need to share with everyone,” Gadot said of the filming experience. “It isn’t about me as an actress or Patty as a director. It felt like, now is the time.”