Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World's Most Famous Heroine
With Superman and Batman more popular than ever thanks to successful film franchises, Hanley turns an eye to Wonder Woman, the most famous female superhero. Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, an academic whose research helped invent the lie detector test, Wonder Woman was a mighty Amazon who reflected Marston’s beliefs that a female-dominated world would be a more peaceful one. Even as Wonder Woman took on Nazis and mad scientists, Hanley notes that the prevalence of bondage in the original comics adds a sexualized element and complicates Marston’s assertions that men should submit to women. Nonetheless, Wonder Woman remained a feminist and a fetishist until the 1950s, when censure and societal pressure made her more domestic. The Lynda Carter–fronted TV show brought Wonder Woman to the silver screen as a tough and dynamic heroine, but she has since been eclipsed by her male counterparts as her comics have grown stale and attempts to bring her back to the screen have floundered. A lively and important examination of a key feminist icon. --Kristine Huntley