In 1972, just months after the groundbreaking US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, science fiction author Samuel R. Delany had planned a story for Ms. that culminated in a plainsclothes Wonder Woman protecting an abortion clinic. However, Steinem disapproved of Wonder Woman being out of costume, and the controversial story line never happened.[221]
GenresuperheroCharactersWonder Woman [Diana of Themyscira]; Jason; Steve Trevor; The Dark Gods [King Best; Savage Fire; Mob God; Karnell; The God with No Name]; Isabella; Danny; unnamed London residents; Ai; Vitaly; unnamed shooting victims; unnamed Chinese residents; unnamed A.R.G.U.S. staffSynopsisWonder Woman and Jason battle King Best in Washington, while the other Dark Gods attack other parts of the world. Jason then pursues Savage Fire to Paraguay.Reprints
While Superman watched out for Zod, Diana visited the deserted Themyscira to speak to her mother, still a clay statue. In her absence, a demon from Tartarus had escaped from its prison and roamed free on the island. Wonder Woman destroyed the creature and sealed the gates to Tartarus with her lasso. Leaving the island, she received word from Batman that Superman was engaging Zod and Faora in battle. Reaching Superman’s side, Wonder Woman steadily overwhelmed Faora until Zod threatened Superman’s life. Wonder Woman was forced to let the criminals go.[61]
The First Born imprisoned Wonder Woman in what remained of Olympus and ordered his forces to attack Themyscira. As they watched the confrontation, the First Born offered her a place in his goals of conquest, but she steadfastly refused, causing him to thrust a spike into her side.[46] As Diana lied mortally wounded, Eris dragged her to Themyscira, for she wanted Diana to see her home destroyed and humiliate her. Recovering her strength, Wonder Woman punched Eris down and took Zola and Zeke to Olympus. Her plan was to place Zeke on the throne, so that he could be the new king of Olympus and end the bloodshed, but before she could, Poseidon revealed his presence.[47]
As Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta immediately got involved in a time travel mission back to the 1940s with Jay Garrick.[81] After this mission, she elected to join the Justice Society of America and remained in that era for eight years, where her teammates nicknamed her "Polly". During that time she had a relationship with Ted Grant.[82] Hippolyta also made visits into the past to see her godchild Lyta, daughter of Hippolyta's protege Helena, the Golden Age Fury.[volume & issue needed] These visits happened yearly from young Lyta's perspective and also accounted for Hippolyta's participation in the JSA/JLA team ups. When she returned from the past, Hippolyta took Diana's place in the JLA as well.[83][84]
The demon Neron engaged Diana in battle and managed to kill her.[111] The Olympian Gods granted Diana divinity and the role of the Goddess of Truth who started to reside in Olympus; her mother Hippolyta then assumed the role of Wonder Woman and wore her own different incarnation of the costume.[111] In Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #136, Diana was banished from Olympus due to interfering in earthly matters (as Diana was unable to simply watch over people's misery on Earth).[111] She immediately returned to her duties as Wonder Woman, but ran into conflicts with her mother over her true place and role as Hippolyta seemed accustomed to her life in America.[111] Their fight remained unsolved, as Hippolyta died during an intergalactic war.[111] Themyscira was destroyed during the war, but was restored and reformed as a collection of floating islands.[111] Circe later resurrected Hippolyta in Wonder Woman Vol 3 #8.[112]
Marston was an outspoken feminist, swinger, and firm believer in the superiority of women.[25] He described bondage and submission as a "respectable and noble practice". Marston wrote in a weakness for Wonder Woman, which was attached to a fictional stipulation that he dubbed "Aphrodite's Law", that made the chaining of her "Bracelets of Submission" together by a man take away her Amazonian super strength.[26][27][28]
That hardly ended the controversy. In February 1943, Josette Frank, an expert on children’s literature, a leader of the Child Study Association and a member of Gaines’ advisory board, sent Gaines a letter, telling him that while she’d never been a fan of Wonder Woman, she felt she now had to speak out about its “sadistic bits showing women chained, tortured, etc.” She had a point. In episode after episode, Wonder Woman is chained, bound, gagged, lassoed, tied, fettered and manacled. “Great girdle of Aphrodite!” she cries at one point. “Am I tired of being tied up!”
After taking Despero to the authorities, Wonder Woman and Superman came across the mysterious Pandora, someone Wonder Woman was familiar with. She believed Superman could use her box to trap the evil she unleashed in ancient times; but when Superman touched it, he was overwhelmed by its power. While Pandora took the box and left, the two heroes received news that a new superhuman, Shazam, was entering the borders of Kahndaq. Their confrontation with Shazam turned violent until the rest of the Justice League and the Justice League of America intervened to defuse the situation. Suddenly, Dr. Light lost control of his powers and began absorbing Superman's solar energy, unleashing an energy beam at Wonder Woman. In a fit of anger, Superman killed Dr. Light with his heat vision, an action that caused a fight between the two Leagues.[65]
