Wonder Girl


Wonder Girl is the alias of multiple superheroines featured in comic books published by DC Comics. Donna Troy, the original Wonder Girl, was created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani and first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #60. The second Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, was created by John Byrne and first appeared in Wonder Woman #105. Both are protégées of Wonder Woman and members of different incarnations of the Teen Titans. The alias has also been used in reference to a younger version of Wonder Woman as a teenager.
An original version of Wonder Girl named Drusilla appeared in the Wonder Woman television series, played by Debra Winger. Donna Troy makes her live adaptation debut in the DC Universe series Titans, played by Conor Leslie.

Fictional character biographies

Diana

Although not named Wonder Girl, a young Wonder Woman appeared as part of the character's origin story in All-Star Comics #8, Wonder Woman's first appearance. A teen-aged Princess Diana of the Amazons was featured in a backstory in Wonder Woman #23, written by William Moulton Marston and designed by H.G. Peter.
Wonder Girl first appeared in The Secret Origin of Wonder Woman, written and edited by Robert Kanigher, in Wonder Woman #105. In this revised Silver Age origin, it is established that Diana had in fact not been created from clay, but had been born before the Amazons settled on Paradise Island. Following this issue were several Wonder Girl adventures, and years later an additional character, Wonder Tot—Wonder Woman as a toddler—was also featured. Kanigher restored the character's made-from-clay origin in 1966.
From Wonder Woman #124 onward, Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl, and Wonder Tot frequently appeared together in stories that were labeled "impossible tales", presented as films made by Wonder Woman's mother, Queen Hippolyta, who had the power to splice together films of herself and Diana at different ages. The characters of Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman then began to diverge, as Bob Haney wrote Wonder Girl stories that took place in the same time period as those of Wonder Woman.
The last significant appearance of Wonder Woman as a child Wonder Girl was in November 1965. In the tongue-in-cheek Wonder Woman #158, the aforementioned Kanigher broke the fourth wall by having Wonder Girl and the rest of the supporting cast he had created come to the office of a "certain" editor. Protested by fans for ruining the character, Kanigher tells Wonder Girl that he does love her, along with all of his other daughters, such as Black Canary, Star Sapphire, and the Harlequin. Even so, with mounting pressure, he has no choice but to declare her retconned. Wonder Girl stoically accepts her fate as she and the others turn into drawings on Kanigher's desk. Soon after, Wonder Woman enters and is shocked to see her younger self "killed".
Regardless, Diana as a child Wonder Girl was never completely rejected. Reprints of Wonder Girl stories were occasionally included in the comic book. In issue #200, Wonder Woman, in her Diana Prince identity, is shown walking past children at play whereon she flashes back to when she was a fourteen-year-old Wonder Girl with a crush on Mer-Boy.

Donna Troy

While the characters of Wonder Girl and Wonder Woman were diverging, Haney was developing a new group of junior superheroes, whose first informal appearance featured a team-up of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad. During their next appearance in The Brave and the Bold #60, they were dubbed the Teen Titans and joined by Wonder Girl, pictured in the same frame as Wonder Woman and calling Hippolyta "mother".
Wonder Girl and the other Teen Titans were then featured in Showcase #59 before being spun off into their own series with Teen Titans #1. With the character called only Wonder Girl, or "Wonder Chick" by her teammates, her status as either the younger Wonder Woman displaced in the timeline or another character altogether is not explained until Teen Titans #22. In a story by Marv Wolfman and Gil Kane it is established that Wonder Girl is a non-Amazon orphan, rescued by Wonder Woman from an apartment building fire. Unable to find any parents or family, Wonder Woman brings the child to Paradise Island, where she is eventually given Amazon powers by the Purple Ray. The story ends with Wonder Girl wearing a new costume and hairstyle, adopting the secret identity Donna Troy.

Multiple origins

As special event comics like the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Infinite Crisis miniseries have rewritten character histories, the origin of Donna Troy has been revised several times. In brief, those origins are as follows:
  1. Rescued orphan: Donna Troy was rescued from an apartment building fire by Wonder Woman, who took her to Paradise Island to be raised as an Amazon by Queen Hippolyta.
  2. Titan Seed: The Titan Rhea had rescued a young Donna from a fire, adding her to a group of 12 orphans from around the universe who had been raised on New Cronus by these Titans as "Titan Seeds", their eventual saviors. The Seeds had been given superhuman powers and named after ancient Greek cities. Called "Troy", Donna had eventually been stripped of her memories of her time with the Titans of Myth, and reintroduced into humankind to await her destiny. In this version, Donna was not an Amazon and had no connection to Wonder Woman.
  3. Infinite Lives of Donna Troy: In a revision that incorporated the Titan Seed continuity while reattaching Donna Troy to Wonder Woman, it is revealed that the Amazon sorceress Magala had animated a mirror image of young Princess Diana to create for her a mystical, "identical twin" playmate. This twin is soon mistaken for Diana and kidnapped by Dark Angel. Dark Angel disperses the girl's spirit across the multiverse, condemning her to live multiple lives, each one cut short by the Dark Angel at a moment of tragedy. In at least one of these variant lives, Donna would become a superhero and encounter her grown sister, now Wonder Woman, and their mother Queen Hippolyta, without realizing who she really was or how she was related to them. After that timeline ends with the death of Donna's son, Diana and Hippolyta intervene to find what happened to Donna. Donna finally defeats Dark Angel, destroying the evil entity and regaining her original Amazon powers. She returns to reality to continue her life from that point.
  4. Pre Flashpoint version: Wonder Woman Annual #1 gives Donna a new origin that combines elements of her three variant origins. Donna was born as Princess Diana's mystic twin through the help of Amazon sorceress Magala. Months later, an old enemy of Queen Hippolyta, called Dark Angel, kidnapped Donna thinking she was Diana. Donna was placed in suspended animation by Dark Angel for years but was eventually rescued and returned to the Amazons' home, where she received training from both the Amazons and the Titans of Myth and was raised as Queen Hippolyta's second daughter. Years later, she followed Wonder Woman into the outside world as Wonder Girl and helped form the Teen Titans.
  5. Rebirth: It is revealed that Donna was created out of clay as part of a plan to destroy Wonder Woman but the Amazons gave her false memories of being an orphan rescued by Wonder Woman allowing her to live a normal life.

    Cassandra Sandsmark

Cassie Sandsmark is the daughter of Dr. Helena Sandsmark, an archaeologist, and Zeus. She has been a member of both Young Justice and the Teen Titans. Initially, her powers were derived from ancient Greek magical artifacts. Later, Zeus granted her the boon of actual powers. Her powers are similar to Wonder Woman's, though she carries a lasso that expels Zeus's lightning, which was given to her by her half-brother, Ares, the Greek god of war. When the Greek gods left the mortal plane during Infinite Crisis, Zeus stripped Cassie of her powers. However, she was granted powers by Ares in exchange for becoming his champion.
After Superboy's death, she quit the Titans for a time to be an independent vigilante. She was mourning the loss of her lover, Superboy, and bitter from the abandonment by Robin and Wonder Woman over the following year. She later rejoined the group after a battle with the Brotherhood of Evil and the return of Cyborg. She is close friends with fellow hero Supergirl.

Alternate versions

''Tiny Titans''

Both Donna and Cassie have a recurring roles in the Tiny Titans comic by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani. The two are depicted as cousins, with the Wonder Girl alias given to Donna and Cassie being referred to by her first name.

''Superman & Batman: Generations''

In #2, Wonder Girl first appears in 1953 as a "mystic projection" to take Wonder Woman's place while Diana gives birth. She finds a wounded Steve Trevor and takes him back to Paradise Island, but despite being subjected to the Purple Power Ray, he dies of his wounds, leaving Diana to raise their daughter, Stephanie, alone.
In 1964, Stephanie decides to go out on her own as Wonder Girl. She shares a link with Supergirl, as they were born at the same time. Years later, she becomes the new Wonder Woman. Her outfit is pretty much the same as her mother's, except that she does not possess either the tiara or the Magic Lasso of Aphrodite, instead possessing the winged sandals of Hermes. She also wears a mask. When she becomes the new Wonder Woman, she adds a cape to the ensemble. In Superman & Batman: Generations #3, she is killed by Darkseid.

Earth-2

Another version of Donna exists in the New 52 on the alternate Earth-2. In Earth-2: Society, the character, Fury, reveals her name is Donna. This character is the daughter of the late Earth-2 Wonder Woman and the New God, Steppenwolf. This is the first time Fury is used as a doppelganger of Donna Troy and not just an analogue.

''DC Comics Bombshells''

In the DC Comics Bombshells universe, Wonder Girl is not a single person, but rather a team of young Asian-American girls who are empowered by the mystical artifacts formerly used by Wonder Woman. The Wonder Girls consist of Donna Troy, Cassie Sandsmark, Yuki and Yuri Katsura, and Emily Sung.

''Injustice''

In the comic tie-in to , Cassie is with the Titans when the Joker's nuclear bomb goes off. Her attire is similar to that of Wonder Woman's in the game. She is sent to spy on Conner after he is devastated by Superman's actions to see what he's up to, and finds him at the Fortress of Solitude trying to find the Phantom Zone Projector. She and the other Titans try to help Conner stop Superman, but Superman mortally wounds him. She and the Titans are sent to the Phantom Zone by Superman to save Conner's life and to stop them from interfering with Superman's plans. In the prequel to Injustice 2, they are freed from the Phantom Zone thanks to the Insurgency. As evidenced during their fight with Amazo, her relationship to her mentor, Wonder Woman, is strained due to the latter allying with the Regime.

In other media

Television

Animated