Alias of multiple DC Comics superheroines
This article is about the DC Comics characters. For the American music producer, see
WondaGurl
. For the South Korean band, see
Wonder Girls
.
Wonder Girl
is the alias of multiple
superheroines
featured in
comic books
published by
DC Comics
.
Donna Troy
, the original Wonder Girl, was created by
Bob Haney
and
Bruno Premiani
and first appeared in
The Brave and the Bold
#60 (June/July 1965). The second Wonder Girl,
Cassie Sandsmark
, was created by
John Byrne
and first appeared in
Wonder Woman
(vol. 2) #105 (January 1996). Both are
protegees
of
Wonder Woman
and members of different incarnations of the
Teen Titans
. The alias has also been used in reference to a younger version of Wonder Woman as a teenager. In the 2020s, DC introduced a third Wonder Girl in
Yara Flor
, who hails from a Brazilian tribe of Amazons and was shown in a flashforward to one day succeed Diana as Wonder Woman.
An original version of Wonder Girl named
Drusilla
appeared in the
Wonder Woman
television series, played by
Debra Winger
.
Donna Troy
makes her live adaptation debut in the
DC Universe
series
Titans
, played by
Conor Leslie
.
Fictional character biographies
[
edit
]
Diana
[
edit
]
A teen-aged Princess Diana of the
Amazons
first appeared in a
backstory
in
Wonder Woman
#23 (May/June 1947), written by
William Moulton Marston
and designed by H.G. Peter.
[1]
Wonder Girl first appeared in
The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman
, written and edited by
Robert Kanigher
, in
Wonder Woman
#105 (April 1959). 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) onward, 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.
The last significant appearance of Wonder Woman as a child Wonder Girl was in November 1965. In the tongue-in-cheek
Wonder Woman
#158, Kanigher broke the
fourth wall
by having Wonder Girl and the rest of the supporting cast he had created (Wonder Tot, the Glop, Bird-Boy, Mer-Boy, Birdman, and Manno) come to the office of a "certain" editor. Protested by fans for ruining the character, Kanigher tells Wonder Girl that he does love her, along with all of his other daughters, such as
Black Canary
,
Star Sapphire
, and the
Harlequin
. Even so, with mounting pressure, he has no choice but to declare her
retconned
. Wonder Girl stoically accepts her fate as she and the others turn into drawings on Kanigher's desk. Soon after, Wonder Woman enters and is shocked to see her younger self "killed".
Regardless, Diana as a child Wonder Girl was never completely rejected. Reprints of Wonder Girl stories were occasionally included in the comic book. In issue #200, Wonder Woman, in her Diana Prince identity, is shown walking past children at play whereon she flashes back to when she was a fourteen-year-old Wonder Girl with a crush on Mer-Boy.
Donna Troy
[
edit
]
While the characters of Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman were diverging, Haney was developing a new group of junior superheroes, whose first informal appearance featured a team-up of
Robin
(
Dick Grayson
),
Kid Flash
(
Wally West
), and
Aqualad
(
Garth
). During their next appearance in
The Brave and the Bold
#60 (July 1965), they were dubbed the
Teen Titans
and joined by Wonder Girl, pictured in the same frame as Wonder Woman and calling Hippolyta "mother".
[2]
Wonder Girl and the other Teen Titans were then featured in
Showcase
#59 (December 1965) before being
spun off
into their own series with
Teen Titans
#1 (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
#22 (August 1969).
[3]
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 the
Purple Ray
. The story ends with Wonder Girl wearing a new costume and hairstyle, adopting the
secret identity
Donna Troy.
Multiple origins
[
edit
]
As special event comics like the
Crisis on Infinite Earths
and
Infinite Crisis
miniseries
have rewritten character histories, the origin of Donna Troy has been revised several times. In brief, those origins are as follows:
- Rescued orphan:
Donna Troy was rescued from an apartment building fire by Wonder Woman, who took her to Paradise Island to be raised as an Amazon by Queen Hippolyta.
- Titan Seed
: The Titan
Rhea
had rescued a young Donna from a fire, adding her to 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. In this version, Donna was not an Amazon and had no connection to Wonder Woman.
[4]
- Infinite Lives of Donna Troy:
In a revision that incorporated the Titan Seed continuity while reattaching Donna Troy to Wonder Woman, 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
(revealed in the Return of Donna Troy mini-series to be the Donna Troy of Earth 7). 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.
[5]
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.
[6]
- Pre Flashpoint version:
Wonder Woman
(vol. 3) Annual #1 gives Donna a new origin that combines 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 but was eventually rescued and returned to the Amazons' home, where she received training from both the Amazons and the Titans of Myth and was raised as Queen Hippolyta's second daughter. Years later, she followed Wonder Woman into the outside world as Wonder Girl and helped form the Teen Titans.
[7]
- New 52/Rebirth
: Donna was created out of clay as part of a plan to destroy Wonder Woman. The Amazons later gave her false memories of being an orphan rescued by Wonder Woman allowing her to live a normal life.
[8]
Cassandra Sandsmark
[
edit
]
Cassie Sandsmark is the granddaughter of
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 her father,
Ares
, the Greek god of war. 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 the return of
Cyborg
. She is close friends with fellow hero
Supergirl
. She later didn't need anyone to empower her as she grew stronger herself.
Yara Flor
[
edit
]
Yara Flor is the daughter of an Amazon and a Brazilian river god, who becomes the defender of the Esquecida Amazon tribe. The character debuted in January 2021 as part of DC Comic's "
Future State
" storyline, in which she is shown to be the Wonder Woman of the future.
[9]
[10]
In the present day DC Comics narrative, Yara is introduced as part of the
Infinite Frontier
publishing event. She is unaware of her Amazon heritage, but, responding to a prophecy, the
Olympian Gods
and the
Amazons
of
Themiscyra
,
Bana-Mighdall
, and a third tribe in the Amazon rainforest separately begin to converge on her location as she makes a trip from the US to Brazil, the country of her birth.
Queen Hippolyta
sends Wonder Girl
Cassie Sandsmark
to protect Yara, where she encounters
Artemis of Bana-Mighdall
.
As an Amazon-Guarani demigoddess, Yara inherits abilities the average Amazon does not. Yara has superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, durability, agility and senses. Yara also has the ability of hydrokinesis (manipulating water), which she discovers after she gets her golden
bolas
. Yara also rides a white winged horse from Olympus named Jerry.
According to the character's creator,
Joelle Jones
, Yara's appearance was inspired by the Brazilian model
Suyane Moreira
.
[11]
Collected editions
[
edit
]
Title
|
Material collected
|
Pages
|
Publication date
|
ISBN
|
Volume 1
|
Teen Titans Spotlight: Wonder Girl
|
Wonder Girl
(vol. 1) #1?6.
|
144
|
July 9, 2008
|
978-1401218300
|
Volume 2
|
Wonder Girl: Adventures of a Teen Titan
|
Wonder Girl
(vol. 2) #1,
Adventure Comics
(vol. 1) #461,
GirlFrenzy! Wonder Woman: Donna Troy
#1,
Teen Titans
(vol. 1) #22,
The Brave and the Bold
(vol. 1) #60,
Wonder Woman
(vol. 1) #105, and
Wonder Woman
(vol. 2) #105, 113.
|
160
|
August 30, 2017
|
978-1401271657
|
Volume 3
|
Wonder Girl: Homecoming
|
Wonder Girl
(vol. 3) #1?7,
Wonder Girl 2022 Annual
#1, and
Future State: Wonder Woman
#1?2.
|
272
|
November 8, 2022
|
978-1779516664
|
Alternate versions
[
edit
]
Tiny Titans
[
edit
]
Both Donna and Cassie have a recurring roles in the
Tiny Titans
comic by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. The two are depicted as cousins, with the Wonder Girl alias given to Donna and Cassie being referred to by her first name.
[12]
Superman & Batman: Generations
[
edit
]
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, Stephanie, 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
.
Earth-2
[
edit
]
Another version of Donna exists in the New 52 on the alternate Earth-2. In
Earth-2: Society
, the character,
Fury
, reveals her name is Donna.
[
volume & issue needed
]
This character is the daughter of the late Earth-2 Wonder Woman and the New God, Steppenwolf.
[
volume & issue needed
]
This is the first time Fury is used as a doppelganger of Donna Troy and not just an analogue.
[
volume & issue needed
]
DC Comics Bombshells
[
edit
]
In the
DC Comics Bombshells
universe, Wonder Girl is not a single person, but rather a team of young
Asian-American
girls who are empowered by the mystical artifacts formerly used by Wonder Woman. The Wonder Girls consist of Donna Troy (a
Nisei
Japanese-American), Cassie Sandsmark (a mixed-race girl of partial Japanese heritage), Yuki and Yuri Katsura, and
Emily Sung
.
[13]
In other media
[
edit
]
Television
[
edit
]
Animation
[
edit
]
Live-action
[
edit
]
- An original incarnation of Wonder Girl named
Drusilla
appears in
Wonder Woman
, portrayed by
Debra Winger
.
[18]
This version is an Amazon and younger sister of Wonder Woman.
[19]
In the two-part episode "The Feminum Mystique", Hippolyta sends her to bring Wonder Woman back to Paradise Island to resume her duties as princess, but Drusilla inadvertently becomes involved in a Nazi plot to discover the secret of Wonder Woman's magical bracelets and her transformation capability. Drusilla adopts the alias of Wonder Girl to combat them, but Nazi forces believe her to be Wonder Woman and capture her. Nonetheless, Drusilla breaks free and joins forces with Wonder Woman to foil the Nazis. In the episode "Wonder Woman in Hollywood", Drusilla joins forces with Wonder Woman to stop the Nazis from kidnapping American soldiers and forcing them to take part in a Nazi propaganda film. Following her appearances, a
Wonder Girl
spin-off series was put into development until Winger broke her contract and left the main series.
[
citation needed
]
- The Donna Troy incarnation of Wonder Girl appears in
Titans
, portrayed by
Conor Leslie
.
- The CW
,
Greg Berlanti
, and Dailyn Rodriguez intended to develop a
Wonder Girl
TV series focusing on Yara Flor,
[20]
but The CW later decided not to move forward with the series as of February 2021.
[21]
Film
[
edit
]
Video games
[
edit
]
- The Donna Troy incarnation of Wonder Girl appears in
DC Universe Online
, voiced by Deena Hyatt.
- The Cassie Sandsmark incarnation of Wonder Girl appears in
Young Justice: Legacy
, voiced again by Mae Whitman.
- The Cassie Sandsmark incarnation of Wonder Girl appears in
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
, voiced by
Kari Wahlgren
.
- The Cassie Sandsmark incarnation of Wonder Girl makes a cameo appearance in
Cyborg
's ending in
Injustice 2
.
- The Cassie Sandsmark incarnation of Wonder Girl appears as a playable character in
DC Legends
.
[24]
- Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark both appear as playable characters in
Lego DC Super-Villains
.
Miscellaneous
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019).
DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle
. DK Publishing. p. 51.
ISBN
978-1-4654-8578-6
.
- ^
Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016).
The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe
. DK Publishing. p. 329.
ISBN
978-1-4654-5357-0
.
- ^
"
Teen Titans
#22 (August 1969)"
.
The Grand Comics Database Project
. Retrieved
March 14,
2009
.
- ^
The New Titans
#50-54 (December 1988 ? March 1989)
- ^
Wonder Woman
(vol. 2) #131-136 (March ? August 1998)
- ^
Wonder Woman
(vol. 2) #136 (August 1998)
- ^
Wonder Woman
(vol. 3) Annual #1
- ^
Titans
(vol. 3) Annual #1 (May 2017)
- ^
Craig, David (November 17, 2020).
"Who is Yara Flor from DC Comics'
Wonder Girl
series on The CW?"
.
Radio Times
. Retrieved
August 11,
2022
.
- ^
Nelson, Samantha (January 5, 2021).
"Future State:
Wonder Woman
#1 unleashes the wild potential of a new hero"
.
Polygon
. Retrieved
January 6,
2021
.
- ^
@LuconMarcus (October 19, 2020).
"Joelle Jones on Yara Flor"
(
Tweet
).
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2022
. Retrieved
August 11,
2022
– via
Twitter
.
- ^
Tiny Titans
#1
- ^
"Wonder Woman confronts Japanese-American internment in DC's 'Bombshells United'
"
.
NBC News
.
- ^
"J. Torres on Wonder Girl"
.
Newsarama.com
.
[
permanent dead link
]
Retrieved on January 1, 2009.
- ^
Webb, Charles (March 2, 2012).
"Interview: Becoming 'Super Best Friends Forever' With Lauren Faust"
. MTV.com
. Retrieved
March 10,
2013
.
- ^
"Young Justice Interview: Greg Weisman & Brandon Vietti Talk Saturday's Season Premiere - KSiteTV"
. 26 April 2012
. Retrieved
13 October
2014
.
- ^
"Search Ask Greg : Gargoyles : Station Eight"
.
www.s8.org
.
- ^
Pingel, Mike (February 23, 2012).
Channel Surfing:
Wonder Woman
. pp. 54?55.
ISBN
978-1468183030
.
- ^
Green, Paul (2017).
Encyclopedia of Weird War Stories: Supernatural and Science Fiction Elements in Novels, Pulps, Comics, Film, Television, Games and Other Media
. McFarland & Co. p. 209.
ISBN
9781476666723
.
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (November 16, 2020).
"
Wonder Girl
TV Series With Latina Lead From Dailyn Rodriguez & Berlanti Productions In Works At the CW"
.
Deadline
.
- ^
Agard, Chancellor (February 12, 2021).
"The CW is not moving forward with Wonder Girl series"
.
Entertainment Weekly
.
- ^
"
'Scooby Doo: Wrestlemania Mystery' Stuns Viewers With a 'Young Justice' Easter Egg"
.
The Outhouse - The Journalism the Comics Industry Deserved
. Archived from
the original
on 2016-04-09
. Retrieved
2018-10-08
.
- ^
"
'Young Justice's' Brandon Vietti Pairs Scooby-Doo & WWE, Hints at DC Return"
. 25 March 2014. Archived from
the original
on 28 September 2015
. Retrieved
8 October
2018
.
- ^
https://community.wbgames.com/t5/Official-Announcements/Wonder-Girl-and-Giganta-Are-Here/td-p/1874338
[
dead link
]
External links
[
edit
]