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Characters / Wonder Woman (The Character)

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Wonder Woman Main Character Index
Title Character
Princess Diana of Themyscira/Diana Prince
Supporting Cast
Wonder Girl
Villains
A-L (Cheetah) | M-Z | Gods (Ares)

Wonder Woman

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Wonder_Woman2.jpg

Alter ego: Princess Diana of Themyscira / Diana Prince

Species: Amazon

First appearance: All-Star Comics #8 (October 1941)

"If it means interfering in an ensconced, outdated system, to help just one woman, man or child... I'm willing to accept the consequences."

Created for her mother with the wisdom of Athena, the strength of Demeter, the speed of Hermes, the beauty and loving heart of Aphrodite, the sisterhood with fire of Hestia and the hunter's skill of Artemis, Princess Diana of the Amazons was sent to Patriarch's World to defeat Ares, and afterward stayed to deliver her message of love and peace.

Specific iterations of this character on other character sheets include:

The Golden Age/Earth-Two daughter of Hippolyte and Aphrodite here.
The Earth One daughter of Hippolyta and Hercules here.
The New 52's daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus here.
The Earth-16 Wonder Woman as voiced by Maggie Q here.
The TV Show Wonder Woman as played by Lynda Carter here.
The DC Extended Universe's Wonder Woman as played by Gal Gadot here.
The DC Animated Universe's Wonder Woman as voiced by Susan Eisenberg here.
The DC Super Hero Girls's Wonder Woman as voiced by Grey Delisle here.
The Diana from the Elseworld depicted in The Legend of Wonder Woman here.
The Diana from the Elseworld depicted in Wonder Woman: Warbringer here.
    open/close all folders 

    A-F 
  • Abandoned Catchphrase: In the old days, Wonder Woman would say "Suffering Sappho!" This was writer William Moulton Marston's tongue-in-cheek Take That! to Moral Guardians who claimed she was secretly a lesbian, and it fell out of use when Marston left the book. She had about a half dozen similar exclamations that lasted her throughout the Silver Age, though, including "Great Hera!", "Thunderbolts of Jove!", "Neptune's Trident!", and "Shades of Pluto!" Nowadays, she is more likely to say "Great Hera!" or "Holy Hera!"
  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Wonder Woman has a sword forged by the god Hephaestus that is said to be so sharp it can cut the electrons off of an atom. In the New 52 she even splits an atom with it causing an atomic explosion.
  • The Ace: She's one of the most powerful heroes in the DC Universe, and while her strength level is typically just a little below or equal to Superman's (Depending on the Writer), she is a better fighter than he is, and one of the best, in fact. She's also beautiful, intelligent, can fly a plane, is skilled with just about any martial weapon in human existence, and unlike many of her colleagues, is trained to kill.
  • Ace Pilot: She flies the Invisible Jet and is a skilled pilot.
  • Action Fashionista:
    • Vol 1: During Diana's depowered "Mod" phase, she was constantly getting new hip outfits to fight in.
    • Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman: "Venus Rising": Diana claims having a "different Wonder outfit for every occasion" is one of the "perks of the job" when she changes into a Wonder Woman themed spacesuit.
  • Action Girl: The archetypical comic book Action Girl, created for just that purpose in 1941. Not the first female superhero, but a true cultural icon and never out of print in 67 years. (Since until recently, if DC didn't keep making it they would lose ownership).
  • Action Girlfriend: Anyone who dates her is going to fall into this trope, save maybe for Superman or Batman. Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman's golden age love interest, was a World War II U.S. intelligence officer, but couldn't exactly hold his own against Greek gods, sorceresses, or several hundred feet tall women.
  • Adaptational Backstory Change: Her original backstory was being sculpted by clay from her mother and brought to life by the Gods. Her newest origin story has being the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. However, her origin depends greatly on the writer.
  • Adaptational Hairstyle Change: During her original run under Charles Moulton, her hair as Diana and her hairstyle and Wonder Woman were very distinct and unchanging visual keys to telling which identity she was currently using. Diana kept her hair up in a prim bun, while Wonder Woman's curly locks flowed freely. In the Silver Age and all iterations since, her hairstyles are much more varied and are not as curly, with her sometimes being given entirely straight hair.
  • Adaptational Modesty: Zigzagged. Wonder Woman's first costume included culottes which sometimes looked like a skirt. Her look after that included tight shorts. As of 2016, she is drawn with action-like skirt.
  • Affectionate Nickname: "Angel" by Steve.
  • The Ageless: Due to her semi-divine origin.
  • Allegorical Character: Women's Strength & Courage (often associated with Feminism).
  • Alliterative Name: Wonder Woman.
  • All-Loving Hero: Pre-New 52, it was emphasized in her Blackest Night tie in, where even decapitating an enemy, the only emotion within her was love, and she was eventually deputized as a Star Sapphire. In the New-52, where Diana is a much harder person, she still tells Hades that she really did love him after the forced marriage deal he put her through, because:
    Wonder Woman: "Hell . . . I Love. Everyone."
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Wonder Woman is commonly depicted as a calm and dignified Lady of War. For added bonus, she's surrounded by other women, being an Amazon and all.
  • Amazonian Beauty: She is a literal Amazon and she is definitely beautiful. Even when she's portrayed as possessing a very muscular (yet voluptuous) figure for her body.
  • Ambadassador: Ambassador of Themyscira.
  • Ambiguously Bi: She's been this for years, Depending on the Writer, when it's not explicit. After all, she grew up in a Lady Land called Paradise Island. As of recently, Diana is confirmed to be bisexual.
  • Ambiguously Brown: In recent adaptations, Diana is presented with olive-tanned skin.
  • Animal Lover: Diana has a love for all creatures and they love her back.
  • Animal Motifs: Eagles. Her original costume had an eagle design. While her recent superhero outfits are 2 stylized "W"s, they also resemble an eagle. Her golden armor is eagle like in its' design. She is known to be brave, loyal, and inspiring, traits attributed to eagles.
  • Anti-Magic: Wonder Woman has shown to have a notable resistance against magic.
  • Archer Archetype: Because of her extensive training, Diana is proficient with the bow and arrow.
  • Artificial Family Member: Her original origin story was that she was crafted from clay by Hippolyta who yearned for a child and was given life by the Greek Gods. Post-Crisis all the Amazons are women whose bodies were crafted from clay and brought to life by the Amazon's patron gods, and their souls were from women in Hades who had been murdered by men.
  • As Long as There Is Evil: Diana has pledged that as long as there is evil and injustice, she will be there to fight it.
  • Ass-Kicking Pose: As Lynda Carter demonstrates, the "Wonder Woman Pose".
  • Astral Projection: As written by Marston Di ended up in the astral plane frequently, though not always by her own choice.
  • Author Appeal: With the bondage.
  • Babies Ever After: In two separate comics, she and Steve have two daughters — one is named Lyta while the other is named Stephanie aka "Stevie".
  • The Baby of the Bunch: Most comics show Diana as being the only child of her home.
  • Badass Cape: Part of her royal regalia/battle armor. Serves a dual purpose as diplomatic garb.
  • Bad Liar: To the surprise of nobody, the Spirit of Truth sucks at lying.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Diana is a trained warrior in hand-to-hand combat but recent works has her also use a sword and shield.
  • Battle Boomerang: Downplayed. Her tiara can be used as a boomerang-like weapon when needed but she rarelt uses it.
  • Battle Couple: She and Steve Trevor were in a relationship and fought side-by-side in most continuities including Earth-Two, Earth-One, Prime Earth.
  • The Beastmaster: Through her empathy and communication with animals, Diana can ask them for their help.
  • Beauty Equals Goodness: Diana is one of the most, if not the most, beautiful women in the DC universe and is also one of the most heroic.
  • Beware the Honest Ones: While Wonder Woman's (usual) insistence on truth, trying to reform her enemies, and taking down her opponents without killing them fits right in with the heroes she spends time with, they're not the only ones she interacts with, nor is Earth the only realm she operates on. To gods and monsters, her motivations and behavior are much more likely to be upsetting, confusing, and surprising.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Wonder Woman is once of the nicest, most selfless, and open-minded people in the DC world... but should you cross her in anyway, she's not afraid to fight, even kill.
  • The Big Girl: When she's on the Justice League. She is at least the second strongest after Superman. Combined with her martial arts training, she is the best melee fighter on the team.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Diana could, would and has fought gods and monsters to protect her fellow Amazon sisters, especially Donna Troy who is her actually her adopted sister or clone in some continuities. Diana also cares for Cassie Sandsmark whenever they meet.
  • Big Sister Mentor: Diana has a sister relationship to both Donna and Cassandra, including mentoring them in being a superhero.
  • Blind Weaponmaster: After blinding herself in her fight with Medusa, Wonder Woman is not much hindered by her new blindness in a fight, because she's trained blindfolded and has enhanced senses she's still a better fighter than most of the Justice League.
  • Bling of War: Sported a gold suit of Greek-style armor in a few stories.
  • Blocking Stops All Damage: A plot point with Wonder Woman, she even provides the page image. Her braces are divinely created to block just about anything.
  • Blood Knight: She shows this tendency in the New 52 Universe, mostly in the Justice League title.
  • Born During a Storm: Volume 3 posits that Wonder Woman was "born" on the night of a hunter's moon with an impressive electrical storm rolling in over the ocean.
  • Born of Magic: Her origin has been that her body was sculpted from clay, which Aphrodite breathed life into. This was discarded in favor of Zeus putting his dick in yet-another-thing for the New 52, in the process removing Cassie's status as one of Zeus' bastards while giving it to Diana. Wonder Woman (Rebirth) went back to the fatherless birth concept for Diana.
  • Brainy Brunette: Usually depicted with raven-black hair and is an intelligent superhero with tactical combat knowledge.
  • Brought Down to Badass:
    • Circe steals Diana's powers, which does not make her step down; Diana had years of martial arts training and experience. She is able to get back her powers herself even with a completely human set of abilities.
    • During her adventures with Conan the Barbarian, Wonder Woman appears to have lost her powers as well as her memories. A rush of 9 thugs were able to knock her out and during a drinking competition, Conan was easily able to drink her under the table. However she's still an amazing fighter and is the reigning champion of the local gladiator arena until she fought Conan.
  • Brought to You by the Letter "S": She has two stylized "Ws".
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center: A powerful warrior with a soft spot for children and animals.
  • But Not Too Bi: Despite being confirmed by Word of God to be bisexual, it's rarely ever elaborated upon and most of her onscreen relationships are with men (like Steve Trevor, Batman, and Superman).
  • Cain and Abel: In most continuities, Ares is her relative and one of her biggest enemies. She wants peace and love while he's all about war and destruction.
  • The Cape: Wonder Woman has always been an ideal loving hero who strives to help everyone, even her own villains.
  • The Captain: Diana acted as the captain of the rebel fleet's flagship while in the Sangtee Empire, and was responsible for the personnel of many other spacecraft besides as the leader of the main portion of the resistance.
  • The Casanova: Issue 2 of Wonder Woman DC Rebirth implies Diana was something like this, though it could've been just gossip.
  • Celebrity Superhero: Wonder Woman has been known as an ambassador of Themyscira on the United Nations as the Princess Diana when she's not fighting.
  • Chainsaw Good: In an alternative timeline, Wonder Woman uses a chainsaw as a weapon.
  • The Champion:
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: The Golden Age Wonder Woman got her super-powers from training in "Amazonian concentration" — it was even a skill that Amazons could teach to normal human females. The Silver Age of Comic Books retconned Wonder Woman as a clay statue brought to life with powers straight from the Gods.
  • Chest Insignia: For most of her history Diana has had a soaring eagle on the top of her one-piece. In 1982 it was replaced it with concentric W's (explained in-story as the logo of the "Wonder Woman Foundation" and, Post-Crisis, as Diana Trevor's WAFS insignia). The eagle has recently returned.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Diana will always help those in need.
  • Clark Kenting: In the Golden-era comics, Diana would wear glasses and a Prim and Proper Bun to disguise herself. The New 52 revisits the former.
  • Clothes Make the Legend: Wonder Woman started to wear pants and even armor instead/in addition to her traditional 'one-piece bathing suit' look. The traditional, core Wonder Woman has stuck more to the classic outfit with only a few notable exceptions. She has always kept her iconic bracers, hairstyle, and tiara though, to tie them together.
  • Combat Medic: At least, in the Golden era. Besides being a hero she was also a nurse.
  • Combat Pragmatism: Prior to the Max Lord incident Wonder Woman had one of the strictest no killing codes in the DCU, but it only applied to humans meaning that when she felt it necessary she could use force intended to kill against non-human foes. Following said incident her code was changed without in universe explanation to her not killing save as a last resort no matter who she's facing.
  • Combat Stilettos: The red boots she wears while performing superheroics were originally heeled. Sometimes, artists will draw her as wearing high-heeled boots in battle.
  • Combo Platter Powers: Originally, Diana's abilities came from Supernatural Martial Arts which granted her enhanced strength, speed, agility and durability, telepathy and the ability to glide on air currents. Post-crisis, Diana possess the standard flying brick abilities, a strong healing factor, the ability to communicate with animals, enhanced senses, the beauty of Aphrodite, restoring her health and strength by becoming one with the earth and the ability to astral project herself into various lands of myth.
  • Compressed Hair: When Diana wears a spacesuit for her rescue of Natasha her long flowing locks look perfect without a hair out of place when she takes off the helmet to introduce herself.
  • Cool Aunt: Depending on the Writer, Diana can be Cassie's aunt and is usually a loving, supportive figure to the young woman.
  • Cool Big Sis: Acts as a positive role model to both Donna Troy and Cassie, both of whom deeply admire her.
  • Cool Crown: A golden tiara with a big, red star on the front. It's even sharp enough to be used as a weapon.
  • Cool Plane: The Invisible Jet. Nowadays, it's only used if she needs stealth or to carry passengers or loads.
  • Cool Sword: In DC Rebirth she keeps the very sharp decorated sword which had replaced her lasso as her weapon of choice during The New 52.
  • Cosmic Motifs: Stars are seen throughout Wonder Woman's outfit (i.e., tiara, spandex).
  • Costume Evolution: She has gone through several minor costume changes, but she tends to return to her red and blue leotard. Other outfits give her pants or battle armor, or just add darker colors. Her original costume slowly morphed into the iconic leotard look after starting out with loose flowing athletic shorts that turned into tight bike shorts and got progressively shorter under different artists. These days she seems to have permanently moved on to include pteruges over her permanently shrunken shorts.
  • Covert Pervert: Though not usually addressed by her or others, at least one example of her being this is shown in a Post-Crisis story arc where Diana is trapped in a Lotus-Eater Machine and it starts addressing her personal desires, which apparently amounted to polyamory with Batman and Superman.
  • Cultured Badass: Wonder Woman is a princess, and thus remains very well-schooled in the ways of etiquette and grace even whilst fending off an alien invasion with her bare hands.
  • Cunning Linguist: One of Wondy's most consistent traits is her wide array of known languages. Growing up on a peaceful island that promotes intellectual pursuits is helpful and Athena granted her an unnatural ability to pick up new languages quickly.
  • Deadly Disc: Wonder Woman owns several round shields, and while she rarely uses them in her guise as a superhero when she is needed to act as the champion of Paradise Island she proves to be just as adept at throwing them as she is at using her tiara as a boomerang.
  • Defector from Paradise: Diana sometimes counts. She chose to leave Themyscira, an all-female utopia where women can practice a peaceful way of life and cultivate their minds, to become a worldwide superhero and diplomat in order to make the "Man's World" more like her home. However, this case is sometimes presented as an aversion, considering some stories present Themyscira as not being as perfect or flawless as previously believed... or present Diana still being able to visit home as she pleases.
  • Deity of Human Origin:
    • In pre-Flashpoint continuity (Wonder Woman (1987)), she became the Goddess of Truth for a short while after she was killed in action and the Greek gods decided to reward her for her devotion. However, she was too good to be a god, using her new powers more to help people than gain worshippers, so they eventually demoted her back to mortal superhero.
    • In the New 52 (Wonder Woman (2011)), she became the Goddess of War, taking the mantle from Ares.
  • Determinator: Wonder Woman definitely counts. Batman's plan to neutralize her during JLA: Tower of Babel was basically to trick her into believing that she was fighting an opponent equally as powerful as she was. Because she'd never give up a fight, she'd eventually drop dead from exhaustion. On a more general note, Wonder Woman possesses an incredible amount of durability and her Amazonian training gives her an immense pain tolerance. Make of that what you will.
  • Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Wonder Woman frequently goes up against Gods and ancient evils without question.
  • Dodge the Bullet: She regularly deflects bullets and any kind of energy weapon with her bracelets. The bracelets are Immune to Bullets, but moving her arms to block the bullets definitely counts as dodging. Justified by being "faster than Mercury" since her earliest appearances.
  • Does Not Like Guns: Wonder Woman is mostly nonchalant about guns, they're used as part of a reaction time improving game back home in her Golden Age appearances where Amazons play "bullets and bracelets" where they shoot at each other and deflect the bullets, she dislikes them more post-crisis where there are no guns on Themyscira. She however always hates that they're a weapon without any realistic non-lethal applications outside her home island and will often crush guns tossed her way if they're not going to be needed for a criminal investigation later.
  • Dude Magnet: Wonder Woman has men falling for her left and right. Even as a teenager on Paradise Island she had multiple teenaged boys courting her, despite the fact that she had never left her all female home meaning said boys were Cute Monster Boys.
  • Eating Optional: In some iterations, Diana doesn't have the need to eat for sustenance thanks to her Amazon heritage.
  • Embodiment of Virtue: When Athena resurrected Diana she could not bring her champion back as a human, and so pulling on Diana's ties to the truth made her into the Goddess of Truth, and therefore avatar of the truth, on Mount Olympus.
  • Establishing Character Moment: Diana rescuing Steve Trevor from his crashed plane despite not knowing who he is and helping to nurse him back to health. As well as defying her mother to join the contest to determine who will be her people's representative to Man's World.
  • Eternal Hero: While she can die, she's also from an ageless Amazon home. Thus, she can live a very long life.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: A number of women have commented on Diana's good looks.
  • Experienced Protagonist: A trained warrior and tactician.
  • Fake Memories: DC Rebirth has retconned Diana's New 52 history by establishing that the version of Themyscira she's visited during Brian Azzarello and Meredith Finch's runs was a fake. The Year One story being written by Greg Rucka reestablishes Diana's past as closer to what it was Post-Crisis, effectively meaning the stories about her past in the New 52 continuity are fabrications.
  • The Fettered: Zigzagged in some ways. Her own moral code is just as stringent as Superman's or Batman's. Since Kingdom Come, she is implicitly called a warrior it allows for killing to serve the greater good. This difference is played for dramatic tension in the prelude to Infinite Crisis, where she is forced to kill the villain Maxwell Lord and then condemned by both Superman and Batman for it.
  • Fight Clubbing: She holds the record for most submission victories within the Victor's Circle, an ancient underground fighting ring on Themyscira.
  • Fish out of Water: An immortal Amazon warrior is both amazed and baffled at Man's world.
  • Flag Bikini: Her standard costume the American flag in a superhero-like bikini.
  • Flanderization: Pre-New 52, Diana was fairly unique amongst DC's heroes in that she was willing to kill enemies, but only when absolutely necessary and when there is zero other options available. As of the New 52, this has been exaggerated into her ruthlessly killing any villain she confronts, which makes it pretty hard to believe that the other heroes would want anything to do with her. Her pre-New 52 willingness to kill is also an example of this, if a more gradual one. Originally she was the one of DC's Big Three who would not kill. She made an exception when it came to gods, because (as she herself pointed out) during Marston's run all gods had Resurrective Immortality. When the Silver Age came around she kept her no-killing rule as Batman and Superman also jumped on that train. When George Pérez rebooted her after Crisis on Infinite Earths he brought back her willingness to kill gods (and expanded it to include other supernatural creatures as well), but never addressed whether they were still immortal. Later this was rationalized as her being willing to kill "when it was absolutely necessary". Then that was expanded to hypothetically include humans as well as non-humans. Then she snapped Maxwell Lord's neck and the rest is history.
  • Flash Step: Wonder Woman has been able to use this trick, and be fast enough to leave after images, since the Golden Age. Once in Sensation Comics she managed to convince Steve Trevor both Diana Prince and Wonder Woman were standing behind a panel with holes cut out for their faces at a fair just by using her speed to quickly run between the two portholes.
  • Flight: She has the ability to fly.
  • Flight, Strength, Heart: Wonder Woman has flight, super-strength second only to Superman, reflexes fast enough to block bullets with her bracelets (and indestructible bracelets), an indestructible magic lasso that can break enchantments and force anyone bound with it to answer any question truthfully and a razor-sharp tiara she can throw like a boomerang. Did you know she can also talk to animals? Neither did most of the people who write her comic, judging by how often she does it. She can also talk with trees.
  • Flying Brick: Slowly evolved into this from a Lightning Bruiser.
  • Forgiveness: Wonder Woman's preferred method of defeating her enemies is through love and forgiveness.
  • Friend to All Children: Diana is nothing but love when children are concerned. If a child is threatened, she can be scarier than Batman.
  • Friend to All Living Things: One of her least utilized powers is the ability to communicate empathically with animals.

    G-L 
  • Generation Xerox: Long before Diana won the contest to become the Amazons' champion in the wider world meant to help people wherever they call on her Hippolyte won the contest and acted as the Amazons' champion.
  • Genius Bruiser: A masterful tactician as she is a combatant. In the Golden comics, she was also a nurse and scientist.
  • Gentle Giant: Diana may be Amazonian in every respect and has been known to kill in the past, but she is still quite possibly the most loving heroine in the DC pantheon, to the point where she would prefer diplomacy, will almost never give up on a friend turned enemy, and also communicates with animals.
  • Go-Getter Girl: She's defined by her determination to do what she thinks is right, hates to lose, and won't stop on a course of action one's she's made her decision, unless by extreme intervention by her outside forces. This trait has been used against her at times by her enemies and even by her allies such as Batman in the Tower of Babel arc.
  • Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: (Post-Crisis) Diana is a pure and all-loving hero who can't understand why villains would do horrendous things.
  • Good Is Not Dumb: A little naïve she may be about Man's World, Diana is an intelligent warrior not to be trifled with.
  • Good Is Not Soft: She has always been an icon of kindness and nobility, preferring peace and diplomacy to war and aggression. Yet, of all of the members of the Justice League of America, she alone has never hesitated to use lethal force when it was needed, reminding everyone the Amazons are, at heart, still a Proud Warrior Race.
  • Good Smells Good: Wonder Woman is described by Lois Lane in a tell-all interview as not wearing perfume or makeup, yet still permanently smelling of an impossible fusion of sweet white grapes, olive oil, and sculpted bronze, which gives her a perpetually enchanting allure on top of her other amazing qualities.
  • Good Wears White: Diana is normally a Primary-Color Champion but she has worn white on a few occasions. Namely, during the Dennis O'Neil era when she lost her powers, when she became the Goddess of Truth during John Byrne's run, when she became Goddess of Peace in a Future's End story and recently in DC Infinite Frontier #0 when she became a goddess.
  • Gorgeous Greek: Diana is canonically considered World's Most Beautiful Woman in the DC Universe due to being blessed by Aphrodite with perfect beauty and a loving heart.
  • Handicapped Badass: In her fight against Medusa, Diana blinds herself with the acid of one of the former's cut off snakes. She then proceeds to chop off Medusa's head.
  • Happily Married: In some storyline where she and Steve marry, they have a happy union.
  • Head-Turning Beauty: Men and women have to do a double-take when first meeting Diana.
  • Healing Factor: Wonder Woman is pretty tough to injure in the first place but if she is she recovers incredibly quickly. For example in Generations Cheetah impales her with a spear, and when Wondy yanks it out and throws it back in Cheetah's direction the gory hole is almost entirely closed by the time the spear hits.
  • The Heart: Some comics paint Wonder Woman as the one everyone gets along with. Ted Kord even lampshades it.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: Diana has become most associated with The Lasso Of Truth, which is only the second magic lasso in her books. The lassos of compulsion, transformation, submission and lightning can also get people to tell the truth while also compelling the ensnared to obey commands, changing it's molecular structure up to becomme a living fire breathing dragon, turned the ensnared into the holder's subordinate or electrocute the ensnared. Diana's is the only one that extract objective fact rather than what the victim merely believes to be true, however, force the target to acknowledge it, and even let the holder recognizes deceptions in general. Therefor it is the only one that has to be outright dropped from events like trial Trial Of The Amazons with In-Universe acknowledgement that it could solve everything.
  • The Hero: the first female hero of her own series even.
  • Heroes Fight Barehanded: Zigzagged. Wonder Woman knows how to fight in battle but isn't afraid to use her weapons.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords: Wonder Woman is a master swordswoman and recent comics depict her carrying a sword at all times.
  • Heroic Bastard: In the New 52, she's the result of Hippolyta's affair with Zeus. DC Rebirth revealed the New 52 Hippolyta is not the real deal, calling into question if Zeus really is Diana's father.
  • Heroic Spirit: When beaten up and exhausted, Diana still manages to win a battle through sheer willpower.
  • Hidden Weapons: Downplayed. Wonder Woman's tiara isn't often used in combat and is often seen as part of her costume. However, when she needs to, Diana can use the tiara as a sharpened boomerang.
  • Homosexual Reproduction: An interesting case. Traditionally and originally she was brought to life by magic combined with her mother's longing, Aphrodite's compassion and both of their love and both women call her daughter, though in practice when Diana talks of her mother she means Hippolyta. In some continuities Aphrodite gets help from a trio of other goddesses and Gaia is also oft used as Diana's other mother, as the clay used to form her body came from her.
  • Honor Before Reason: One of her vices is that she absolutely refuses to retreat or surrender, and a big enough Zerg Rush could occupy her until she collapses from exhaustion.
  • Hot God: Uniquely, Diana is this trope in two different ways while still being one of the most beautiful women in the DC universe.
    • In most works, Diana is technically a goddess because she was gifted by numerous Greek gods and goddesses.
    • In the New 52 storyline, Diana is the Semi-Divine daughter of Zeus.
  • Hot Librarian: When she's posing as "Diana Prince" she's an attractive uptight prim secretary wearing glasses with her hair in a bun.
  • Humble Hero: Wonder Woman is not only a superhero but also a princess, but doesn't brag and takes everything and everyone seriously and earnestly, seeing for instance no shame in taking a job as a Burger Fool in Wonder Woman (1987) and after being late on multiple occasions due to her heroics considering herself unworthy to keep coming to work when her coworkers are trying so hard to make ends meet.
  • I Am X, Son of Y: Sometimes introduces her self as "Diana [of Themyscira], daughter of Hippolyta", or some variant of it.
  • Ideal Hero: Depending on the Writer. She can be a paragon of justice, humility, kindness, and peace. In the New 52 she starts off as arrogant, hot-headed, sexist towards men, and a Blood Knight before Character Development.
  • Immortality Bisexuality: Confirmed bisexual and is a member of ageless Amazons.
  • Immune to Bullets: She even provides the page image. She is, strictly speaking, not immune to bullets — she's simply fast enough to block them with her armored bracelets. If a smart criminal (like Lex Luthor) had the sense to simply shoot her in the foot, she'd be hopping mad. Thanks to Power Creep, Power Seep, Diana's relative invulnerability changes depending on the story being told and the title it's being told in. Sometimes (such as when she needs to fight Superman) it's up to Superman's levels. Other times... yeah, she needs those bracelets. There was some attempt to explain that bullets because they're much smaller and put pressure on a smaller area of skin, are much more dangerous to her, but it's a pretty feeble handwave for someone being vulnerable to bits of lead yet able to take a punch from a Physical God. In the post crisis continuity "spirit of truth" isn't just a title or nickname but an actual upgrade which was supposed to permanently solve the bullets question, but not every writer got the message.
  • Immune to Fire: One of Wonder Woman's lesser-used powers is "sisterhood with fire" which grants her immunity to fire and heat. In one battle, she's knocked into a pool of lava and simply walks out smiling.
  • Immune to Mind Control: Sometimes among her or the Lasso of Truth's powers, Depending on the Writer.
  • Impossible Hourglass Figure: Depending on the Artist, Wonder Woman can have this body type.
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: Wonder Woman has weapons forged by Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths. Most famous is her Golden Lasso; unbreakable and anyone bound by it must tell the truth. Her original lasso, which forced those it held to follow her commands was even more story breaking. The other most famous of Wonder Woman's accouterments are her bracelets, gifted by Aphrodite and nigh indestructible. She also wields the Sword of Hephaestus, which is sharp enough to split molecules and because it is magic, can kill Superman. She can even use her tiara as a makeshift, sharp boomerang.
  • Improbable Piloting Skills: In the Golden Age—before Diana could glide on the winds—Diana was capable of piloting her own admittedly advanced air/spaceplane through impossible tasks, possibly helped along be the inclusion of the Amazon mental radio tech in the plane's piloting system. She was also able to pull off some impressive stunts in other planes, including piloting a heavily sabotaged plane so that it would be believable for her to survive the inevitable crash even as a baseline human.
  • Improbable Weapon User: A lie-detecting rope, a tiara, bracelets and an invisible telepathic airplane that (in the Silver Age version at least) used to be a flying horse. All perfectly normal. In the Golden and Silver Age comics, she also possessed devices such as the Purple Healing Ray (Exactly What It Says on the Tin) and the Mental Radio, a two-way radio/TV device that transmitted messages via telepathy.
  • Improvised Weapon: In addition to her standard armament of improbable weapons, she'll use whatever is available, including the invisible plane as a battering ram against larger foes.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Wonder Woman is usually written as this (especially during the Golden Age), being the chosen Amazon to lead humanity to a better place, since (Post-Crisis) she’s only one of her people who saw good in mankind. Diana is also a friend and protector of all children and frequently frees women from oppression even literally breaking them free from chains. This characterization started to slip when she killed Max Lord, and was tossed out entirely for the New 52, but Wonder Woman (Rebirth) brought Diana back to her roots as an idealized pure hero.
    • In the League of One, it's revealed that Diana regular uses the Lasso of Truth on herself to test her commitment to truth, and to make sure she doesn't lie at all, not even to herself. In another comic, she introduces herself to Batman and Superman by having all three of them holding the Lasso together so they may see each other's true intentions, an exchange in which Batman walks away implying that she is far more pure and heroic than both him and Supes.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Piercing, blue eyes to match her pure, heroic nature.
  • Interpretative Character: Wonder Woman has had many interpretations, ranging from a patriotic freedom fighter (Golden Age), a very lawful but less assertive hero who defers to her male teammates (Silver Age), a Lady of War on par with Xena, Ambiguously Bi, a Badass Normal super spy, a Straw Feminist, and a calm and mature authority figure (most modern incarnations tend to be a mix of this and Lady of War). It's been pointed out by one writer that one of the reasons Diana has so many interpretations is that every writer and artist has their own idea of the perfect woman.
  • Interspecies Romance:
    • Her main love interest is Steve Trevor, a mortal human.
    • As a teenager Diana went on a handful of dates with Renno, a merman and "Wingo," a male harpy, but neither of these relationships were serious.
    • The New 52 has her romantically paired up with Superman, a Kryptonian.
  • Intimate Marks: Wonder Woman is one of the Trope Codifiers within the Superhero genre. Her "WW" is in the shape of an eagle which, Depending on the Artist, is usually underneath her cleavage.
  • Invincible Hero: She's just as strong as Superman with more combat experience. And unlike the Man of Steel, she doesn't have an obvious or known kryptonite weakness.
  • Irony: She has a love for all animals but one of her biggest enemies is a cheetah-themed villain.
  • Jack of All Stats: In some stories, she's not as strong as Superman. She's smart but not as strategic as Batman. She has superhuman speed but the Flash is the fastest. That being said, she's stated to be the best fighter among them.
  • Jumped at the Call: Her origin story has her willingly leave her home to protect Man's World.
  • Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Wonder Woman was created partly to embody this. As Diana Prince, she had a lot of occasions to go out to dinner parties thrown by military brass in elegant evening gowns, jewelry, etc. She'd always have elbow-length gloves to cover up her bracelets. Sometime during the night, it was guaranteed she would have to do some kind of ass-kicking while still in her flossy attire. As Wonder Woman, her original outfit included knee-length pleated culottes, which looked like a skirt most of the time unless she was doing something extremely active.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Given she's a Friend to All Living Things, Diana has a soft spot for felines. Ironically, one of her biggest enemies is a cheetah-themed woman.
  • Knightly Sword and Shield: Wonder Woman uses a sword and shield and is one of DC's most well known paragons of justice.
  • Knows the Ropes: Her first weapon was a magic rope that became known as "the lasso of compulsion". The Golden Age Earth Two Diana had unknowing trained to weild it for years due to the Amazons playing games where they attempted to tie each other up. Her second lariat, The Lasso of Truth, is her most iconic weapon. The former forces those she snares to obey her commands, the latter forces those she snares to tell the truth, accept the truth if they firmly believe in a falsehood and can even let one see through illusions. Unfortunately, Diana is not good enough with the ropes to use both lassos at once, so she can't use both affects at once unless someone else(usually second Wonder Girl Donna Troy◊) holds the other one.
  • Kryptonite Factor: Early versions of Wonder Woman had her lose her powers if she was tied up by a man, under "Aphrodite's Law", leading to some bondage imagery that must have been blatant even at the time of its introduction. As noted in her entry, that was quite deliberate. In The Silver Age of Comic Books, she went into an Unstoppable Rage if her bracelets were removed. Currently, Wonder Woman has no Kryptonite Factor weaknesses.
  • Lady of War: Some of her incarnations. She is a master of many forms of combat and stated by Batman to be the best melee combatant in the world. She uses her bulletproof bracelets and Lasso of Truth to great effect and, while unarmed, graceful maneuvers and powerful blows, all while having a regal demeanor as Princess of Themyscira.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: Though preferring to be calm and reasonable, when emotionally pushed she can be reckless and jump to conclusions when it comes to confronting evils. At worst, she can go into Hysterical Woman territory.
  • Leotard of Power: She is the classic example, which is lampshaded in Justice League, where Gordon Godfrey snarkingly compares her to a showgirl. Also played with in the movie, when Steve Trevor says "Let's get you into an outfit that doesn't get me arrested for solicitation."
  • Lightning Bruiser: Not as invulnerable as Superman, or as fast as the Flash, but easily more dangerous than either to take on in a fight thanks to her strength and near-unparalleled combat skills.
  • Living Lie Detector: Thanks to her enchanted lasso, it is probably one of the most well-known examples. The Lasso is able to force people to tell the truth - it takes godlike willpower to prevent this, and the subject will not be able to lie, only avoid saying anything at all.
    • As she is the living embodiment of truth, being around Wonder Woman at all makes people slightly more truthful but this effect is easier to resist than being in contact with her lasso.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine: Zigzagged. Wonder Woman is a Tomboy with a Girly Streak and has long hair.
  • Loved by All: Wonder Woman may rarely have a city to call her own, but wherever she ends up for long enough she will always find herself loved by those around her. On Themyscira, she is beloved by all of her people.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Uses a shield in current works and thus uses it as a way to protect herself.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Diana is quite upset to learn that Ares is Hippolyta's father and even starts to deny that he could possibly be her grandfather before her innate connection to the truth and the lasso force her to accept it.

    M-R 
  • Made of Indestructium: Not even Superman or Captain Marvel can break her lasso. Her bracelets can withstand even Darkseid's Omega Beam, which is one of the few things that can harm Superman.
    • Her bracelets are ineffective against Eros' guns.
    • Pre-Crisis, her bracelets were made of "amazonium," a metal found only on Paradise Island. Depending on the Writer, it was one of or the hardest metals in the DCU.
    • Canonically her bracelets are made of the same material (the Golden Fleece) as the Aegis, Zeus' indestructible shield, and are literally unbreakable. They have withstood the combined divine power of the entire Greek pantheon and never broken.
  • Magical Girl Warrior: Wonder Woman has resembled this at times, with her magic origins, Transformation Sequence, and such. Most especially in the early Silver Age, when she was depicted having adventures as Wonder Girl, just as Superman was once Superboy. Later, a separate Wonder Girl character, Donna Troy, was introduced.
  • Magic Skirt: She even provides the page image. She even appears to defy gravity to uphold this trope.
  • Magnetic Hero: Wonder Woman is admired by civilians, other superheroes, and even some villains because of her incredible power, complex wisdom, genuine compassion, and humble attitude.
  • Mama Bear: Diana has a strong Mama◊ Bear◊ streak◊ fueled by her love of children. Also, unlike her Justice League colleagues who hold to Thou Shall Not Kill, since her Darker and Edgier revamp Diana believes anything that hurts the innocent should be dealt with using lethal force. So, any foe suicidal enough to hurt children around Diana will usually be swiftly turned into mincemeat by a pissed off Demi-Godesss.
  • Martial Pacifist: Traditionally this was part of being an Amazon. They are sworn to avoid violence and harming others whenever it is feasible, but play "games" like bullets and bracelets, have frequent archery and martial arts tournaments for fun and will easily take down any opponent they feel they must fight but they will absolutely not kill. The Amazons' backstory and motivations were then thrown out and they were reinvented for Volume 2, and they still avoid killing if at all possible even in situations where lives are at risk.
  • Master Archer: Not seen a lot, but Diana is skilled with a bow and arrow.
  • Master of All: Wonder Woman was specifically designed as a woman with enough powers to keep up with Superman, and therefore has Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Nigh-Invulnerability, Not Quite Flight, and an impressive Healing Factor along with powers authors often ignore like low level Telepathy which ties into her ability to talk to animals. Her ties to truth also mean she's far more successful at redeeming and befriending her villains than most heroes.
  • Master Swordsman: Diana was trained in the art of swordsmanship.
  • Mayfly–December Romance: An immortal Amazon warrior's main love interest is Steve, an ordinary human who also happens to be an Air Force pilot and spy.
  • Meaningful Name: "Diana" is Greek and Latin for "divine". And Diana of Themyscira is Semi-Divine.
  • Messianic Archetype: She had a miracle birth (at least before the New 52 storyline), is an All-Loving Hero, and can sometimes communicate with Gods and Goddesses.
  • Mildly Military: In the early Silver Age, you would never have guessed that being a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force required Diana Prince to do anything more onerous than wear a blue uniform.
  • Military Superhero: Silver-Age era. Diana was a U.S. Air Force lieutenant and secretly the superheroine, Wonder Woman.
  • Minidress of Power:
    • The Golden Age Wonder Woman's original outfit often looks like a skirt, but is really a pair of culottes, in a style that was fairly common for athletic young women at the time. After several issues, Wonder Woman started wearing the tight walking shorts that would remain for over a decade.
    • In the modern era, Wonder Woman sometimes wears skirted variants of her costume, usually either for a "formal" occasion or when gearing up for a really big battle, although this often falls under Lady Legionnaire Wear.
  • Modest Royalty: She may be a princess, but her jewelry is usually limited to her tiara, which doubles as a weapon, and her "bracelets" which are unquestionably designed as protective armor rather than for looks and her clothing tends to be jeans or very simple gowns.
  • Momma's Boy: Gender-inverted. Diana has a loving and close bond with her mother, Hippolyta. Diana deeply admires and respects Hippolyta.
  • More Deadly Than the Male: Unlike her male colleagues Superman and Batman, she lacks a no-kill policy, which leads to much conflict between her and the other two (though she only does this after exhausting all other options).
  • More Hero than Thou: On one occasion, after hearing a prophecy that said the entire JLA would perish while fighting an ancient evil, Diana decided to decommission the League (by force) and fight the monster solo, as a League of One, reasoning that her one death was preferable to the death of every one of her teammates.
  • Most Common Superpower: Depending on the Artist, Diana's large breasts can rival Power Girl.
  • A Mother to Her Men: Diana can be a mother figure for her own Amazons or even the Justice League members as she cares for both equally or anyone whose she’s close to in general.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Wonder Woman is a tall, very beautiful raven-haired Amazonian woman (and also the World's Most Beautiful Woman) who wears outfits (such as a revealing strapless leotard or a bustier-hotpants combo) that present her skin and highlight her muscular yet voluptuous body, large breasts, strong toned muscles (especially her large biceps), ripped broad shoulders, nicely toned buttocks, and long muscular legs. Her revealing outfits make sense in the context of Greek athletics where both sexes would be naked.
  • Muggle–Mage Romance: Her (a Amazon warrior blessed by Greek gods) and Steve (an ordinary human).
  • Multi-Melee Master: Diana is proficient with a wide array of weapons as while the Amazons are a peaceful society they understand the need for defense and really like archery and fighting competitions for fun. When the need arises she'll usually compliment her lasso with a sword, spear and bow. Batman even stated that Diana is the best melee fighter in all of the DC universe.
  • Multiple-Choice Past: Either sculpted from clay or the daughter of Zeus.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: Wonder Woman is a slim and athletic woman (Depending on the Artist) but can throw a tank.
  • Named Weapons: Orinally her lariat was simply known as "the magic lasso". This tool was later moved onto new character Donna Troy and called "The Lasso Of Compulsion", while Diana got a new lariat called "The Lasso of Truth" for its function at the time of its creation. Despite forcing people to tell the truth being a lot less versatile than forcing people to follow your every command, the lasso of truth has proven an invaluable tool for Diana over the years.
  • Nerves of Steel: She never hesitates to do what she must.
  • Nice Girl: She was designed to be an embodiment of love and peace in The Golden Age of Comic Books who first tried finding peaceful solutions and reforming her enemies compared to the more aggressive methods of her male counterparts. Most incarnations since have followed suit by making her surprisingly humble and an All-Loving Hero that can find compassion even for the most vile of her enemies.
  • Nigh-Invulnerability: Though not to the same level as Superman, which is why she has those wristbands. While she can take biblical amounts of blunt force and impact on par with Superman, she can be wounded by sharp or piercing objects.
  • Nonchalant Dodge: When dodging weapons, usually bullets, Wonder Woman sometimes displays this feat.
  • No-Sell: Those attempting to use mind control on her are always quite surprised at how entirely ineffective it is.
  • Not Quite Flight: Wonder Woman was originally unable to fly directly in the manner of Superman but (as with original Superman) they simplified all the handwaves to just give her flight. In Vol 1 during the The Silver Age of Comic Books, and the tail end of the The Golden Age of Comic Books, The Wonder Woman of "Earth One" developed the ability to "glide on air currents"—which somehow always seemed to be going in the right direction unless it became a plot point (like one story in which the villain encased a city in ice, which apparently meant that there were only downdrafts). This was retconned into full flight in the 1986 revamp, thanks to magic sandals donated by the god, Hermes, and has remained so ever since, though she can still glide on air currents which she now has more control over even without the sandals.
  • Older Than They Look: Some versions depict her as being thousands of years old while still looking like she's in her 20's.
  • Omniglot: She can speak her native Themysciran, Ancient and Modern Greek, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Mandarin Chinese (she expressed "difficulty" with the tones of Cantonese during an interview with Lois Lane), Russian and Hindi.
  • One-Woman Army: Can and has taken on whole armies and superhero teams single-handed.
  • Only the Chosen May Wield: The Lasso of Truth can only be wielded by one who is worthy.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When she puts aside her lasso and other tools meant to disable, and actually takes up a sword or axe, or both that time Medusa challenged her after killing a child in front of her, it means she has declared war and someone's going down- or possibly somearmy. It doesn't really apply to the Nu52 version who's, well, sword armed almost all the time, but it used to be a big deal for the champion of peace to take up a weapon meant to kill.
  • Painted-On Pants: During the J. Michael Straczynski run. She soon went back to the Leotard of Power. This was also planned for the New 52, but was ultimately scrapped for another version of the Leotard of Power. Certain covers and promotional images were even released with "pants" and "no pants" versions.
  • Photo Montage: Diana has a photo wall of fellow heroines in her Boston apartment, including Batwoman, Black Canary, Vixen, and Supergirl.
  • Physical God: Diana has powers of divine origin (Depending on the Writer she is either a child of Zeus or a clay statue brought to life and empowered by the gods) and has been compared to or even outright said to be a goddess. She is one of the most powerful beings in the DCU and has even held a position as a goddess twice.
  • Politically-Active Princess: Themiscyra's ambassador to Man's World.
  • Power Perversion Potential: Her lasso of truth. Gift from the gods. Unbreakable weapon beyond mortal understanding. Really good for making your friends embarrass themselves by blurting out the truth at inopportune moments. Her first lariat, now known as the lasso of compulsion, was even more so to the degree it got moved over to the Darker and Edgier Teen Titans book and given to Diana's less scrupulous counterpart Donna Troy.
  • Powers via Weapon: Her lasso of truth is either the source of Diana's truth related powers, a conduit for them or and entirely unrelated magical item that forces those wrapped in it to tell and face the truth depending on the writer and current continuity.
  • Pragmatic Hero: Post-Infinite Crisis. While she will always try to find a peaceful solution first, she is a warrior at heart and not hesitant to kill if she feels she needs to. Maxwell Lord learns this the hard way. This does mean she will sometimes butt heads with some of the heroes, especially Batman and Superman, the other members of the Trinity.
  • Pretty Princess Powerhouse: Diana is the Princess of Themyscira and is one of the strongest heroes of the DC Universe.
  • Pride: Part of her Royal Heritage, and a strength and weakness in one.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: In the Golden era, Diana wore a tight bun in her civilian guise.
  • Primary-Color Champion: A red and blue Leotard of Power, blue on bottom, red on top, yellow accents such as the WW logo, belt and golden lasso. Her New 52 design replaced the yellow accents with silver ones, but the red and blue (being the primary component of the trope) still stayed.
  • Princess Protagonist: Wonder Woman is the princess of the Amazons, daughter of their immortal queen Hippolyta.
  • Proud Warrior Race Girl: A Themysciarian warrior. Though her characterization as a "warrior" is relativley recent.
  • Raised by Dudes: Gender-inverted. Diana was raised by the all-female Amazons.
  • Raised by the Community: In most continuities, Wonder Woman was raised in a loving group effort by the Amazons as she was the first child in their isolated community in centuries
  • Rank Scales with Asskicking: Diana is the princess of Themyscira and the best fighter among them.
  • Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Zigzagged. She usually has white skin and raven-black hair. In recent works, her skin has been given a olive tone.
  • Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: Her creation was William Moulton Marston's attempt to address this in society:
    Marston: Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.
  • Rebellious Princess:
    • In the original comics after Steve Trevor crashed on Paradise Island, a contest was held to determine which Amazon would return him to the outside world. Princess Diana wanted to enter the contest but her mother Queen Hippolyta forbade her to do so. Diana entered the contest in disguise and bested all of the other contestants, winning the right to leave. Most retellings of Wonder Woman's origin maintain at least some tension between Diana and her mother when she first goes into Man's World (in the DC Animated Universe, she outright steals the Wonder Woman armor when Hippolyta takes a not-our-problem approach to the white martians' invasion). But it's outright deconstructed in Jill Thompson's Wonder Woman: The True Amazon, where Diana is portrayed as an immensely spoiled Jerkass who takes up the mantle of Wonder Woman as a penance for getting several other Amazons killed during the Contest.
    • The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016) is a revisiting a slight tweaking of Diana's WWII era origin and as a child and young adult she wants no part of being her mother's heir and runs away to secretly get training and learn things her mother tells her to drop and give up.
  • Red Baron: Wonder Woman is sometimes called "the Amazing Amazon" or "the Spirit of Truth".
  • The Redeemer: Wonder Woman has long had a habit of turning her villains into allies with her loving and forgiving nature.
  • Reluctant Warrior: Wonder Woman will fight when if she has to, she comes from an island of warrior women after all. But She'll try to go for the peaceful approach first, or trickery or another creative solution if that won't work. As Gail Simone wrote it:
    Wonder Woman: We have a saying, my people. 'Don't kill if you can wound, don't wound if you can subdue, don't subdue if you can pacify, and don't raise your hand at all until you've extended it.'
  • Restoration of Sanity: Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth has the ability to restore the sanity of those who have been driven insane via magical interference.
  • Rightly Self-Righteous: Her consistent speechifying and pontificating makes her come off as this to villains and fellow heroes alike. At times such as the League of One story arc, her sense of righteousness has put her into conflict with her allies, who would have helped her if she didn't feel her sense of judgment surpassed theirs. This "perfect" image she gives off tends to earn Diana the ire of many and other female heroes like Power Girl have voiced a desire to punch her for it at least once.
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: She's a princess and her people's champion.

    S-Y 
  • Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Diana has swung totally across the spectrum on this Depending on the Writer. Her creator and other writers like Grant Morrison favor her explicitly being a very happy BDSM enthusiast, whereas other writers omit that character trait entirely. Most stories will include subtle visual references to this at least, what with her classic metal bracelets and collars/chokers appearing fairly often in her costume designs.
  • Science Hero: Wonder Woman started out as a scientist with her own laboratory in which she and an Amazonian physician nursed Steve Trevor back to health, Diana aiding by inventing the Purple Healing Ray. She also flew an experimental stealth Space Plane. Later writers moved her further and further from the role, instead focusing on the ties her mother and birth via Aphrodite's aid gives her to Classical Mythology, despite the original comics usually treating those Olympians that showed up more as aliens than gods.
  • Secret Public Identity: Wonder Woman's identity as Diana the Amazon princess has been public knowledge since at least the '80s.
  • Semi-Divine: She is Ares' granddaughter and depending on continuity and writer she can be considered the daughter of Aphrodite or Athena rather than Hippolyta being her only parent.
  • Sensor Character: Diana can sense magic, and when the Saturnians are using the invisibility tech to stay invisible and communicating telepathically to keep silent she can tell where they are and even "see" them if she focuses.
  • Separated at Birth: In some stories, Diana has a "twin" sister, Nubia, born through the same process as her despite their very different appearances. However, they didn't meet until they were adults as Nubia was kidnapped as an infant.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Downplayed. Diana always looks beautiful but it shows more when she wears formal clothing.
  • Shield Bash: She's now seen using a shield in battle not only for defense by offense.
  • Ship Tease: With Superman, Batman and Aquaman at various times.
  • Shock and Awe: The New 52 gave her electric powers via her relation to Zeus. Even after being retconned, Diana kept her immunity to lightning by usually using her bracelets.
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Speechifies quite often to villains in an attempt to make them see the error of their ways. Unfortunately, due to the nature of superhero comics, this rarely works.
  • Signature Move: Has managed to gain three since her first introduction.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Her usual love interest, Steve Trevor, is a humble and friendly man who has the utmost faith and respect in her.
  • Skilled, but Naive: Diana is often portrayed this way in re-tellings of her origin where she is trained warrior new to the world of Man.
  • Sleeps in the Nude: She seems to have a habit of sleeping au natural. She even provides the page image.
  • Sleeves Are for Wimps: Seldom wears sleeves and hardly needs them.
  • Smash Sisters: With Donna, Cassie and any other Amazon who is part of the cast at the time. Sometimes written as such with Batman and Superman as well.
  • The Smurfette Principle: In the 1950s and 1960s, she was this for the Justice League. In most works, Wonder Woman is the sole and main female hero among her male co-workers.
  • The Social Expert: Being a diplomat, she's very good at getting to know the languages and customs of various groups she deals with and her natural charisma means she is capable of charming others with ridiculous and sometimes uncanny ease.
  • The Soft-Hearted Warrior: She even provides the page image. The Ambadassador from Themyscira, Diana is an Amazon warrior princess that was trained to be the strongest and fiercest of her kind. She is more than willing to put down enemies if there are no other alternatives, but she much prefers helping and healing those that will listen. This is symbolic with her Lasso of Truth, which is not only capable of binding foes but will repel illusions and Mind Manipulation and force the bound person to reveal the truth — even uncomfortable ones.
  • Something Person: Wonder + Woman.
  • Speaks Fluent Animal: Talking to animals is one of the lesser-known powers of Wonder Woman, though this is sometimes just written as her being a Friend to All Living Things and is usually a low level psychic power.
  • Spirited Competitor: Diana is this when she isn't being depicted as a Blood Knight. She enjoys sparring with friends and allies to test her skills against her own but (normally) isn't a sadist or warmonger.
  • Spock Speak: Some writers will have Diana talk without using contractions.
  • Star-Spangled Spandex: She wears a red top with blue shorts that have white stars on them.
  • Statuesque Stunner: She's always widely considered extremely beautiful, and Depending on the Artist she's quite tall.
  • Stock Shōnen Hero: Wonder Woman is an All-Loving Hero who dresses in primary colors, fights for the innocent and is the greatest warrior of her people. Her goal is to create a world of peace and prosperity for all, and she has shown herself to be quite pragmatic and cunning when the situation calls for it. She has also tried redeeming her foes with varying degrees of success. Her original incarnation was even a master of Supernatural Martial Arts and she has had a few rivals in the form of Artemis, Nubia and Orana. She even made her debut decades before the Trope Codifier himself.
  • Straw Feminist: If written badly, Diana can become this. Sometimes, though, it's used to explore values dissonance or as a foundation for character development, such as with Diana's origin story.
  • Stripperiffic:
    • Her iconic Leotard of Power which she only recently discarded in favor of an outfit with a skirt.
    • During the time when she lost the title of Wonder Woman to Artemis, Diana wore an outfit that consisted of a blue jacket, a black bra and black hot pants.
  • Strong and Skilled: Diana possesses godlike strength, speed, agility, durability and stamina. She is also a trained martial artist and weapon master with an affinity for strategy and tactics bestowed upon her by Athena.
  • Strong as They Need to Be:
    • The gap in power between Diana and Clark varies from writer to writer. Sometimes, she is depicted as being his near equal while in other instances she is so below him that characters that can pose a challenge to him can defeat her with contemptuous ease such as Mongul in For the Man Who Has Everything.
    • Diana has occasionally been depicted as struggling to defeat the likes of Deathstroke. While Slade does have superpowers, he barely qualifies as being above normal human and has often been defeated by non-powered foes like Batman meaning he should be a breeze for Diana.
    • And there is the issue of whether or not she is Immune to Bullets.
  • Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Zigzagged with Steve. Diana is by no means stupid and is actually a skilled tactician but Steve has shown to be an expert on spy work and often helps Diana in Man's World. Diana is the stronger the two, being able to toss tanks and survive hard hitting punches.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Diana can come off as this many times during her superhero tenure due to the combination of being an All-Loving Hero and a consummate warrior woman. This aspect of her becomes badly deconstructed when it starts to sabotage her personal relationships by coming off as superficially loving and coldly manipulative. An example would be when Diana got into a passionate relationship with the roguish Nemesis, who was deeply in love with her, but revealed she never had romantic feelings towards Nemesis at all; she was just exploiting his feelings towards her to get him to father her daughters and replenish the Amazon population.
  • Super-Hearing: Wonder Woman has exceptional hearing due to a blessing granted to her by Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, which has also enhanced all of her other senses.
  • Superheroes Wear Capes: Downplayed. It's not a part of her attire but some artwork and comic issues has her wear a red cape.
  • Superhero Gods: Wonder Woman gets half-points for a few reasons — she's an Amazon, which are basically a race of semi-immortal demigoddesses, and she was created when her mother, Hippolyta, prayed to the gods to create her from clay. The New 52 changed things so that she was Zeus' daughter, but DC Rebirth has changed it back. In Wonder Woman (1987) she briefly became the goddess of truth, but was able to return to her (semi-)mortal state as an Amazon in short order.
  • Superhero Sobriquets: The Spirit of Truth, the Amazing Amazon.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: Originally most of Wonder Woman's abilities (outside of immortality) were the result of being a master of Amazonian martial arts, which included training in mild telepathic abilities and were implied to be something any human could learn with enough patience and time.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: In the Golden Age the Amazons, including Wonder Woman herself, were depicted as avoiding contact with outsiders by swimming underneath their boats and ships and then pushing them away from their island from beneath without ever having to come up for air.
  • Superpower Lottery: Not only does Wonder Woman have strength, speed, and impact resistance within a hair of Superman, but she has a huge array of gear and minor abilities. Most people know about the block-anything bracers and the lasso that's unbreakable and made of truth (which is a "downgrade" from its old 'compel the target to do anything' powers, though recent writers have revealed it works by reaching down and grabbing someone's soul, which is fun), but did you know her tiara can cut anything? That she can speak with animals, and heals at an accelerated rate due to her connection to Gaia? That she's immune to fire? That thanks to the goddess Athena sharing her visions that she can see through illusions? That's not a complete list.
  • Super-Reflexes: How else can she deflect machine gun fire with only her bracelets?
  • Super-Senses:
    • Wonder Woman (1942): Diana can sense magic and her normal senses are enhanced beyond those of a baseline human as well.
    • A good demonstration of Diana's enhanced senses is in Wonder Woman (1987) where she was blinded and it did little to affect her ability to fight and act as a crimefighter, and she continues on almost as if nothing had happened.
  • Super-Speed: Super speed was one of Wondy's first established powers, as her Golden Age feature in Sensation Comics touts she's "swifter than Mercury". She's got a quicker reaction time than Superman making her a much faster combatant and can keep better track of Flash at his higher speeds but her speed is overall about the same as Supes and generally slower than him over long distances, especially when flying. One time Diana blocked attacks that came from "every corner of the universe" with her Super-Reflexes.
  • Super-Strength: Granted by Demeter (Goddess of the Earth). Diana is literally as strong as the Earth because of her link to the planet granted to her by Demeter. She is said to be "stronger than Hercules". Her strength depends on the writer and the era; in some appearances, Wonder Woman is as strong as Superman himself and able to physically outmatch other beings such as Supergirl.
  • Super-Toughness: Being a Flying Brick on par with Superman means she's got toughness to spare. While its often inconsistent about whether she needs to use her bracelets to defend against things like bullets and energy blasts, the fact that she can take hits from people like Superman and the like puts her firmly in the nigh invulnerable category.
  • Sweet Tooth: Many takes on her first interactions with America have her discovering, and loving, ice cream.
  • Swiss-Army Weapon: Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth. In addition to it's ability to compel the truth out of people, it protects Wonder Woman from the effects of mind control, dispel illusions, exorcise demons, allow Diana to read the minds of whoever is bound in it and remove impurities from the body.
  • Sword and Fist: Wonder Woman is trained in the art of the sword but typically fights empty-handed. Given she has strength and speed on par with Superman, her punches and kicks are normally all she needs to get the job done.
  • Talented Princess, Regular Guy: Zigzagged with Steve Trevor. He's no ordinary guy, as he's an Air Force pilot and sometimes a spy but pales in comparison to Wondy's profile — An immortal Amazon warrior princess with divine powers who goes on to be a famous superhero.
  • Team Mom: Wonder Woman can sometimes invoke this for Justice Society of America and Justice League, Diana has been an emotional anchor for even the most stoic members and she's broken up fights between heroes multiple times. Even Diana’s Darker and Grittier revamp in New 52 and to a lesser extent Rebirth, she remains a caring figure for the team. She usually plays this role opposite to TeamDads Superman or Batman.
  • Technical Pacifist: Pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths. These days, not so much.
  • Telepathy:
    • Under the writing of her creator Diana was a mild telepath, but she couldn't read minds only perceive and fight back when another telepath was trying to trick her or mess with her mind and send messages. Gail Young on the other hand can read minds and not much else, and can only really concentrate enough to get a clear read when she's blindfolded.
    • An overlooked telepathy power she has is a low level one with animals, in which she can communicate to them, to an extent.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Post-Crisis version of Wonder Woman has trained as a classical Greek warrior with a fighting practicality of that time. That means while she is willing to control herself in combat when possible when she decides that lethal force is necessary, she will use it without any regrets as seen when she beheaded the god Deimos in order to help her friends in peril. Notably at this point it was unclear if the gods retained their Resurrective Immortality from the previous continuity.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Depending on the Artist, as Diana can be seen as taller than Steven by an inch.
  • Tomboy Princess: The New 52 Wonder Woman is a proud warrior with a rough violent personality in addition to being a Rebellious Princess who wants to protect and help humanity.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: On one hand, she happily decapitates monsters and loves showing off her Amazon strength in battle. On the other hand, however, she adores children, likes wearing fancy dresses, is actually a very good secretary and often plays Team Mom to her teammates.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Ice-cream, as she is often seen eating the food in different types of media.
  • Transformation Sequence: Wonder Woman can sometimes change clothes by spinning with both arms extended to the side.
  • Tricked-Out Shoes: Before being granted the ability to fly on her own Diana relied on magic winged sandals to do so. After Zeus destroys the sandals, Gaia gifted Diana the ability to fly.
  • A True Hero: Depending on the writer, Diana is depicted as a more tactful hero than others such as Superman or Batman, because she shares similar abilities and moral character to the former, but also has the intellect and skills of the latter. In addition to this, unlike Superman or Batman, she considers herself to be a diplomat and if a crisis can be solved by extending a hand in friendship, then she'll gladly seek that option. But if the problem requires more permanent measures to be resolved, then she'll do what she must.
  • Twofer Token Minority: In some current issues, Diana is shown to be Ambiguously Brown and has been confirmed to be bisexual.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Has this dynamic with Batman and Superman.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Some idioitic villains don't take her seriously either because of her pacifism or just because she's a woman.
  • Underwear of Power: Her most iconic look includes this, though there have been versions with pants or skirts.
  • Upbringing Makes the Hero: Traditionally Wonder Woman's upbringing just helped to reinforce her naturally stellar personality and sense of responsibility but on some Elseworlds, such as Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman: Generations, it's made clear that her heroic nature is due to her mother's careful guidance and the fact that she and the other Amazons worked hard to instill the Amazon's code of ethics, which rejects killing if at all feasible even if it endangers themselves, into the superpowered child on their island.
  • Uptown Girl: If she's in a romance with either Steve Trevor or Superman — the former is a human Air Force pilot (and sometimes spy) while the latter's an alien raised on a small farm. However, she's the princess of an immortal race of Amazons.
  • Villain Killer: She's known for being the member of the Justice League most likely to use lethal force if the situation calls for it. How quickly she does so depends on the writer. A list of her kills can be found here
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Justified since she's the Action Heroine of the DCU and her traditional love interest is The Sneaky Guy and no stronger or more durable than any other human but attracts a lot of attention from superpowered foes.
  • Voice Changeling: Downplayed, but one comic showed she could mimic another person's voice through strict muscle control. It's obviously more difficult for her when she pretends to be a man.
  • Walking Armory: Wonder Woman has been written as this when going into a major fight she has time to gear up for, like Medusa's stadium challenge, with writers depicting her as carrying a sword, shield and other weapons in addition to her iconic Lasso of Truth.
  • War God: In the New 52 comics, Wonder Woman became the God of War after killing Ares.
  • Warrior Princess: She is the Amazonian Princess of Themyscira. While she is very compassionate, she's still a Demi-Goddesses who will protect her land with righteous fury. Diana can also been seen as Rebellious Princess since she left Themyscira to prove mankind was worthy of the Amazons' care. Wonder Woman also upgrades to Warrior Queen if Hippolyta is dead or turned to stone in some continuities, where the monarchy hadn't been abolished before this occurred.
  • Warrior Therapist: It doesn't make a lot of sense until you stop to consider that her lasso forces people to tell the truth, even when they're lying to themselves.
  • Weak, but Skilled: Zigzagged. While she's normally a Strong and Skilled warrior, she will usually fall into this given that she often faces off with Physical Gods. Notable, against her two main archenemies, Ares and Circe, the god of war and a powerful immortal Evil Sorceress respectively, her strength means little, so she had to rely on her wits, Amazonian training, and unstoppable determination to defeat them.
  • Weakness Turns Her On: The basis of Wonder Woman's attraction to Steve Trevor, in The Silver Age of Comic Books. Although Trevor's hardly a 98-pound weakling — he's an Army pilot, after all — all men seem fragile to Diana, who can bench press jeeps. In one story where Steve experiments with an electronic device that "releases brain energy into the muscles", he gets to have Super-Strength and bosses Diana around a bit, but she muses "Some girls like to have a man stronger than they are make them do things. Do I — like it? I don't know — it's sort of thrilling. But isn't it more fun to make the man obey?"
  • Weaponized Headgear: Diana's tiara is sharp enough to cut Superman's throat and decapitate Deimos.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: In some versions, most notable George Perez's run.
  • Wife-Basher Basher: Has been integral to her character from the beginning. Diana is the princess of the Amazons, as well as a symbol of female empowerment both in- and out-of-universe. As such, men who abuse women are THE LOWEST FORM OF SCUM ON EARTH for her. And if it's a little girl that is abused? Doubly bad.
  • Will Not Tell a Lie: She was the Goddess of Truth at one point, and still sticks to that ideal whenever possible. It's telling that she is the only one of the Trinity who doesn't have a secret identity, barring a few moments where DC tried to bring it back.
  • World's Best Warrior: Zigzagged. She's certainly the Amazon's greatest warrior, but other characters have been shown to defeat her in pure skill. However, she's also demonstrated that if she gets serious and trains enough, she can match anything anyone can throw at her.
  • World's Most Beautiful Woman: She is canonically supposed to be this, having been blessed at birth by the goddess Aphrodite.
  • World's Strongest Woman: While her Super-Strength was more modest in her first appearances, she is eventually generally portrayed as the strongest woman in the DC universe. Depending on who's writing her, she sometimes matches Supergirl's strength.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: She tends to pull out a lot of wrestling moves in adaptations. She is ancient Greek, after all.
  • Xenafication: She underwent this Post-Crisis; while she was already a superhero, the 80's version of the character played up her Amazon Warrior roots and even has her killing some of her foes. The 2011 Post-Flashpoint reboot takes this up a notch by ratcheting up the Amazon warrior aspect even further, carrying a sword and a shield full time, whereas she only used to resort to carrying more weaponry outside of her non-lethal lasso in the most dire of situations.
  • Your Eyes Can Deceive You: One time, Wonder Woman faced the gorgon Medusa in a duel to the death. Medusa had both a Compelling Voice and a Deadly Gaze. Diana decided to use one of Medusa's hair snakes to blind herself and then fought and killed the gorgon by relying on nothing but her other four senses. In a later issue after this, Diana displays her sharpened senses by taking on several members of the Justice League in a sparring match and winning while still blind.

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