Wonder Girl
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| Wonder Girl | |
 Three of the Wonder Girls: Donna Troy, Wonder Woman, Cassandra Sandsmark, from the cover to Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #186, by Adam Hughes. |
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| Publisher | DC Comics |
|---|---|
| First appearance | Wonder Woman #105 (1958) |
| Created by | Robert Kanigher |
| Characters | Diana Prince Donna Troy Cassandra Sandsmark |
| Wonder Girl | |
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Wonder Girl #1 (Nov, 2007). Featuring the Cassie Sandsmark version of the character. Art by Sanford Greene. |
| Series publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | November 2007 - April 2008 |
| Number of issues | 6 |
| Main character(s) | Cassandra Sandsmark |
Wonder Girl is the name of three fictional characters featured as superheroes in the comic books and other media produced by 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.
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[edit] Characters
[edit] Diana
Although not named "Wonder Girl," a young Wonder Woman appeared as part of the character's origin story in All-Star Comics #8 (December 1941), Wonder Woman's first appearance. A teen-aged Princess Diana of the Amazons was featured in a back-story in Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #23 (May-June 1946), written by William Moulton Marston and designed by H.G. Peter.
Wonder "Girl" first appeared in "The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman," written by Robert Kanigher in Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #105 (April 1958). In this revised Silver Age origin it is established that Diana had in fact not been created from clay, but had been born before the Amazons settled on Paradise Island. 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 the character's made-from-clay origin in 1966.
From Wonder Woman #124 (August 1961) onwards, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and Wonder Tot frequently appeared together in stories that were labeled "impossible tales," presented as films made by Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, who had the power to splice together films of herself and Diana at different ages. The characters of Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman then began to diverge, as Bob Haney wrote Wonder Girl stories that took place in the same time period as those of Wonder Woman.
Haney was developing a new group of junior superheroes, which in its first informal appearance featured a team-up of Robin (Dick Grayson), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad, the sidekicks of Justice League members Batman, the Flash, and Aquaman, respectively. In their next appearance in The Brave and the Bold #60 (July 1965) they were dubbed the Teen Titans and were joined by "Wonder Girl," pictured in the same frame as Wonder Woman and calling Hippolyta "Mother."
[edit] Donna Troy
Wonder Girl and the other Teen Titans were next featured in Showcase #59 (December 1965) before being spun off into their own series with Teen Titans #1, cover-dated February 1966. With the character called only Wonder Girl or "Wonder Chick" by her teammates, her status as either the younger Wonder Woman displaced in the timeline or another character altogether is not explained until Teen Titans (vol. 1) #22 (August 1969).[1] In a story by Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane it is established that Wonder Girl is a non-Amazon orphan, rescued by Wonder Woman from an apartment building fire. Unable to find any parents or family, Wonder Woman brings the child to Paradise Island, where she is eventually given Amazon powers by Paula von Gunther's Purple Ray. The story ends with Wonder Girl wearing a new costume and hairstyle, adopting the secret identity "Donna Troy."
[edit] 1980s
Donna's origin is expanded in "Who is Donna Troy?" (January 1984), issue #38 of the 1980s relaunch of the team, The New Teen Titans. Robin investigates the events surrounding the fire from which his old friend had been rescued as a toddler, discovering that her birth mother had been a dying unwed teen who had given her up for adoption. The subsequent Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries (1985-1986) rewrote the history of many DC Comics characters; Wonder Woman's own pre-Crisis history was written out of existence, and the character was reintroduced in Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1 (February 1987) as a new arrival from Themiscira (the former Paradise Island).
With the character of Donna tied predominantly to the Titans, her origin was retconned to fit into the new continuity created by Wonder Woman's relaunch, one severing her direct ties to the Amazons. In the storyline "Who Is Wonder Girl?" featured in The New Titans #50-54 (December 1988-March 1989), the Titans of Myth enlist Donna's aid against the murderous Sparta of Synriannaq. It is revealed that the Titan Rhea had rescued a young Donna from a fire; Donna and Sparta had then been part of a group of 12 orphans from around the universe who had been raised on New Cronus by these Titans as "Titan Seeds," their eventual saviors. The Seeds had been given superhuman powers, and named after ancient Greek cities. Called "Troy," Donna (like the others) had eventually been stripped of her memories of her time with the Titans of Myth, and reintroduced into humankind to await her destiny; Sparta had retained her memories, and the knowledge had eventually driven her mad. Killing her fellows Seeds to "collect" their powers and destroy the Titans of Myth, Sparta is ultimately defeated by Donna and the only other Seed left alive, Athyns of Karakkan. In The New Titans #55 (June 1989), Donna changes her pseudonym from "Wonder Girl" to "Troia" and adopts a new costume incorporating mystical gifts from the Titans of Myth.
[edit] Post-Wonder Girl
Donna's origin was rewritten again in the 1990s, reattaching to the Wonder Woman mythos. It is revealed that the Amazon sorceress Magala had animated a mirror image of young Princess Diana to create for her a mystical, "identical twin" playmate. This twin is soon mistaken for Diana and kidnapped by Dark Angel. Dark Angel disperses 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.[volume & issue needed]
In at least one of these variant lives, Donna would become a superhero and encounter her grown sister, now Wonder Woman, and their mother Queen Hippolyta, without realizing who she really was or how she was related to them. After that timeline ends with the death of Donna's son, Diana and Hippolyta intervene to find what happened to Donna. Donna finally defeats Dark Angel, destroying the evil entity and regaining her original Amazon powers; she returns to reality to continue her life from that point.[volume & issue needed]
The 2005 miniseries The Return of Donna Troy reveals that Donna is actually an amalgam of every Donna Troy, who remembers all of her other incarnations. After the events of Infinite Crisis (2005-2006), Diana briefly passes the mantle of Wonder Woman to Donna. However, Diana continued to be the star of the book, and reclaimed the title of Wonder Woman in the first story arc of Wonder Woman vol. 3. Wonder Woman Annual (vol. 3) #1 gives Donna a new origin that combining elements of her three variant origins:
Donna was born as Princess Diana's mystic twin through the help of Amazon sorceress Magala. Months later, an old enemy of Queen Hippolyta 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 Themyscira where she received training from both the Amazons and The Titans of Myth and years after followed Diana into the outside world as Wonder Girl and helped form the Teen Titans.
[edit] 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 magical 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 by 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.
[edit] Superman & Batman: Generations
In Superman & Batman: Generations 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.
[edit] Wonder Girl in other media
[edit] 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.
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.[citation needed]
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.
[edit] 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.[2]
[edit] Teen Titans
The first animated appearance of Donna Troy as Wonder Girl was in the Teen Titans segments of 1967's The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, voiced by Julie Bennett. In the fifth season of the animated Teen Titans series, a girl bearing a resemblance to the Donna Troy version of Wonder Girl — a brunette with star-shaped earrings — is seen briefly in episodes "Homecoming, part II" (2005) and "Calling All Titans" (2006).[3] The character could not be used in the series or mentioned by name due to licensing issues.[3][4]
[edit] Teen Titans Go
The October 2006 issue (#36 "Troy") of the series' tie-in comic book Teen Titans Go! features this version of Wonder Girl as part of the team. She was seen briefly in the previous issue in a cameo on Paradise Island and has since appeared in subsequent issues of the series including the 2007 Valentine's issue.[4]
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Teen Titans (vol. 1) #22 (August 1969). The Grand Comics Database Project. Retrieved on March 14, 2009.
- ^ Wonder Girl with David Letterman
- ^ a b Teen Titans Characters: Wonder Girl - TitansTower.com Retrieved on January 1, 2009.
- ^ a b J. Torres on Wonder Girl - Newsarama.com Retrieved on January 1, 2009.
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