Original Air Date
- May 30, 2023
Hero Song (3:30)
- “Hold My Heart” by Lindsey Stirling Featuring ZZ Ward on Vocals
Superhero Smash
- Featuring the best in “Superhero Music and Comic Book Lore”
- Focusing on current superhero movies and popular culture
- Playing the best music that features superheroes and is highlighted in superhero movies and shows
- Also playing great music that is tied to the idea of heroism
Audio Episode Theme: Wonder Woman
- Wonder Woman
- The DCEU (DC Extended Universe) will get a reboot in the Summer 2023 movie The Flash from Director James Gunn
- Release Date: June 16, 2023
- Rumor has it that Gal Gadot will return as Wonder Woman in The Flash, but wether she will remain in the DCEU beyond that is uncertain
Instrumental Piece (3:44)
- “Wonder Woman Main Theme” by Tina Guo
Collector’s Item Classic Comic Book
- Wonder Woman first appeared in All Star Comics #8 as a backup story
- All Star Comics feature the first superhero team, the Justice Society, which Wonder Woman eventually joined
- The Justice Society have appeared on the CW in Smallville, Legends of Tomorrow, and Stargirl
- More recently, several members of the Justice Society were featured in the Black Adam film staring The Rock
- Wonder Woman was then featured in her own comic book called Sensation Comics #1
- Publication Date: December 1941
- Publisher: National Comics Publications which later became DC Comics
- Written by Professor William Moulton Marston
- Penciled by Harry G. Peter
- Sensation Comics #1 is valued at $400,000
- All-Star Comics #8 sold in 2017 for $936,000
- The original costume had Wonder Woman wearing a skirt, though later this was changed to a spandex type bathing suit when Linda Carter famously took up the role for the Wonder Woman TV show
Wonder Woman Song #1 (1:39)
- “Wonder Woman (TV Theme Song)” from Sci-Fi’s Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Defenders of Justice
Origin Story
- Wonder Woman has a fascinating origin story
- In her first appearance, we learn the following: “At last, in a world torn by the hatreds and wars of men, appears a woman to whom the problems and feats of mean are mere child’s play–a woman whose identity is known to none, but whose sensational feats are outstanding in a fast-moving world! With a hundred times the agility and strength of our best male athletes and strongest wrestlers, she appears as though from nowhere to avenge an injustice or right a wrong! As lovely as Aprhodite — as wise as Athena — with the speed of mercury and the strength of Hercules — she is known only as Wonder Woman!”
- Wonder Woman was named Diana after goddess of the hunt and the moon
- In the comics, Diana was formed from clay by her mother Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, and then bestowed with life and power by the Greek Gods
- She grew upon Themyscira, a land where no men lived
- During World War II an American pilot named Steve Trevor crash lands on the island, but the goddesses Athena and Aphrodite order Hippolyta to send the pilot back to America along with an Amazon champion to help fight the Nazis
- The Amazons hold a series of trials to see who will be chosen, and using a mask to hide her identity, Diana wins
- Her mother is not happy, but agrees to send her to man’s world and gives her a magic lasso and bracelets
- Later DC comics changed the story to have her by the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus although initially Wonder Woman was meant to be from a world free of men
- Wonder Woman is courageous
Wonder Woman Song #2 (3:40)
- “Brave” by Sara Bareilles
- And in honor of Memorial Day and all the Veterans out there
Wonder Woman Back Story
- Professor Marston was a famous psychologist who had invented the polygraph
- Initially, though, he kept his identity as the writer of Wonder Woman a secret, using the name Charles Moulton rather than William Marson on the issue
- Marston believed that the girls were rejecting feminine archetypes because they lacked strength and power, so he set out to create “a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman”
- Marston saw Wonder Woman as “the new type of woman who, [he believed], should rule the world” (“The Surprising Origin Story of Wonder Woman” by Jill Lepore for Smithsonian Magazine)
- There is also a film about Wonder Woman’s creation called Professor Marston and the Wonder Women
Wonder Woman Song #3 (3:05)
- “Wonder Woman” by Miley Cyrus
The Lost Legends
- The Cheetah
- The Cheetah was Wonder Woman’s arch nemesis
- She first appeared in Wonder Woman #6
- Her real name was Priscilla Rich, a 1940s-era blonde debutante who suffered from an inferiority complex.
- After being eclipsed by Wonder Woman at a charity event, she returned to her room and collapsed in front of her makeup mirror.
- This is when Priscilla suddenly had a split personality emerged. Marston created the Cheetah by drawing upon his psychological knowledge, in this case of personality disorders.
- As Priscilla “looked in the mirror, she saw a woman dressed like a cheetah. ‘Horrors!’ she cried, as she gazes at her evil inner-self for the first time. ‘Don’t you know me?’ replied the reflection. ‘I am the REAL you—the Cheetah—a treacherous, relentless huntress!” The Cheetah personality told Priscilla to create a costume from a cheetah-skin rug. Then the mirror image said, ‘From now on, when I command you, you shall go forth dressed like your TRUE self and do as I command you” (from The Cheetah entry on Wikipedia).
- The Cheetah then went on to fight Wonder Woman for many years.
Lost Legends Song (2:48)
- “Cheetah Sisters” by The Cheetah Girls
Romantic Interlude
- Diana Prince and Steve Trevor
- Great scene in Wonder Woman in which the traditional male gaze which objectifies women is reversed and Steve becomes the object of the gaze
- Directed by Patty Jenkins
- Earned $412 million
- Only later surpassed by the Jennifer Lee who Co-Directed Frozen 2 and Anna Boden who Directed Captain Marvel (See “Box Office: The 25 Highest-Grossing Movies Ever Directed by Women” by Travis Bean)
Romantic Melody (2:49)
- “Wonder Woman” by John Legend
Continued Next Issue
- Same Bat Time, same Bat Channel–Tune in next time for: Spider-Man
- And remember…
- You don’t need superpowers to be a hero. The only thing it takes to be a hero is the courage to do the right thing when someone needs your help.
End Credits Song (4:00)
- YouTube Clip: From Zach Snyder’s Justice League (@ 3:05 “Is everyone alright?”)
- “Wonder Woman” by Kacey Musgraves