In September 1990, the game ''Wing Commander'' was released by Creator/OriginSystems, Inc. [[Literature/LordsAndLadies And then it exploded.]]

Throughout TheNineties, it was rare to have a year without a Wing Commander release, whether an ExpansionPack or a new game, culminating in the online release of ''Wing Commander Secret Ops'' in 1998.

The series has been so influential on the entire space sim genre, even years after the last release (''Wing Commander Arena'', an Platform/XBoxLiveArcade game) and a dozen years after the last major game release (''Wing Commander Secret Ops''), many articles reviewing a game that involves space flight or involving storylines as an integral part of the gameplay will reference the Wing Commander series.

Along with the games, Origin (and later Creator/ElectronicArts, who purchased Origin in 1993) licensed works in other media to contribute to the WC universe, all of which counts towards {{canon}}.

The media in which Wing Commander has had a presence, in approximate order of the initial release:
* [[VideoGame/WingCommander The Wing Commander games.]]
** [[VideoGame/WingCommanderTheKilrathiSaga The Kilrathi Saga]]
** [[VideoGame/WingCommanderIVThePriceOfFreedom The Price of Freedom]]
** [[VideoGame/WingCommanderPrivateer The Privateer series]]
* [[Literature/WingCommander The novels.]]
* [[WesternAnimation/WingCommanderAcademy The 1996 cartoon show]] on Creator/USANetwork.
* [[Film/WingCommander The 1998 theatrical release.]]

For character related tropes covering all Wing Commander related media, please see the [[Characters/WingCommander characters page]].
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