7. The Origin Story
DC ComicsOkay, so this is another one that we sort of understand. Unlike Superman or Batman, Wonder Woman doesn't really have a set, classic origin story that has stayed consistent throughout all her various incarnations. There's no doomed alien planet or murdered parents, just an ever-shifting ancestry and modus operandi that can be difficult to pin down. Especially with the aforementioned seventy or so years of history, during which time her book's been relaunched dozens of times and her history changed irrevocably during each and every one of them. The first time Wonder Woman debuted - in All Star Comics #8 - she was an Amazon champion who went to the US to return a soldier who'd crash landed on her secret island home. And to fight Nazis. Obviously that needed updating after the end of World War II, so she became not only an Amazonian but one who had literally been blessed by the Greek gods with their powers. In the sixties she lost those powers, abandoning her people to live in Man's World permanently. The morta Diana Prince abandoned her superhero codename and learned martial arts. Things changed again in the eighties when she turned out to be formed from clay by the Greek gods and sent out as an emissary and ambassador from her home country to Patriarch's World, in order to broker peace. In the New 52 this has been changed again so that Diana is a demigod, daughter of a human woman and Zeus. That's the current status quo, and it's a little less awesome than the made-of-clay, smash-the-patriarchy thing, but we hope that's all cleared up now.