Wonder Woman Wannabe

The Wonder Women are here!^note Center: Diana herself.
L - R, top to bottom: She-Ra, Xena, Nariko, Sif

"...if I were going to save you in a dramatic fashion, I would totally dress as Wonder Woman."

— Kate Kane, Batwoman (2019)

Wonder Woman is more than well known for being the first comic book superheroine and for setting the stage for more female heroes to come after her, whether as original characters or a Distaff Counterpart to a male hero. However, some comic writers in other companies take some inspiration from the character herself when creating their own superhero universe. Indeed, most creators often copy from Diana's origins, powers, costume, and even her whole supporting cast to make essentially an Expy.

Across various comic companies, there are many a Captain Ersatz of Wonder Woman in some form. No matter if this character in question is played straight, parodied, or deconstructed, there will be a female superhero that takes cues from the Amazing Amazon.

These characters often include the following traits:

• They hail from a Lady Land or just generally a magical society hidden from humanity and is generally inspired by various Myths (mostly Classical Mythology). Also, but not always, should be a princess or royalty of some kind.
• Is either a Defector from Paradise or even a Defector from Decadence.
• They are Born of Magic (not all, but generally)
• They are functionally immortal, if not straight-up divine in some fashion.
• Is either a Flying Brick or a Lightning Bruiser. Sometimes, they may not have powers at all.
• Is usually an Amazonian Beauty.
• Can be a Captain Patriotic of some kind.
• Can either be straight, Ambiguously Bi, explicitly Bisexual or a lesbian. Generally is involved in a Mayfly–December Romance.
• Wears a Leotard of Power with (sometimes heeled) red boots (or even a variation of her original Golden Age outfit).
• Carries around a magic lasso (that may or may not compel others to tell the truth when bound), bullet-deflecting bracelets and/or (sometimes) a magic sword.
• Can either be a Technical Pacifist, a Martial Pacifist, or a Blood Knight.
• If played straight (or even parodied), is an All-Loving Hero.
• Has a supporting cast and Rogues Gallery similar to Wonder Woman.
• If a Cosmic Motif is present, it will most likely be of stars.

See also: Superman Substitute, Batman Parody, Spider-Man Send-Up, Captain Fishman, The Fantastic Faux, HULK MASH!-Up, and Wolverine Wannabe for more superhero expies.

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Examples:

Advertising

• This Volkswagen SUV advert starts with a kid attending a premiere of a movie about a blue-clad superheroine who's clearly based on Wonder Woman.

Anime and Manga

• From Project A-Ko: Eiko Magami’s parents are Lawyer Friendly Cameos of Superman and Wonder Woman. The manga adaptation even calls them Diana and Clark.
• My Hero Academia’s female Big Good Star and Stripe is the Wonder Woman expy of The 'Verse being a patriotic Amazonian Beauty Flying Brick who wears a metallic corset and bracelets and similar to modern incarnations of Diana, has some Reality Warper powers. She even has her own signature Jet like Wondy. She also bares similarities to Stargirl.

Comic Books

• Marvel Universe:
  • America Chavez is a Flying Brick princess who hailed from another universe that contained an all-female utopia. She willingly left her world for the main universe because she wanted to be a hero.
  • The different versions of Zarda Shelton, a.k.a. Power Princess, from Squadron Supreme. The whole Squadron is based on the Justice League (Hyperion for Superman, Nighthawk for Batman, and so on), Zarda being Wondy's analog. The Heroes Reborn (2021) version of Zarda is even more similar to Wonder Woman than previous incarnations with her costume basically a palette-swapped version of the Amazonian princess' traditional garb and her own version of the Lasso of Truth in the form of the Chain of Veracity, which she tries to use it on Hercules.
  • Britannia of The Union wears a costume inspired by the British flag, has long, dark hair and fights with a Knightly Sword and Shield.
  • Lady Sif thanks to her Xenafication from Norse Mythology in Journey into Mystery (Immonen) and an In-Universe Adaptational Dye-Job to make Sif’s blonde hair black, she’s extremely reminiscent of Wonder Woman and even wears similar armour with a Cool Crown.
  • Thena from The Eternals is a pretty apparent Wonder Woman analogue right down to the similar armour, Cool Crown, Flying Brick powers and being tied to Greek Mythology like the rest of Eternals, being a representative of the goddess Athena. Although she uses a spear instead of a sword. Thena also bares similarities with Big Barda, which is hardly surprising since they were both created by Jack Kirby.
  • Angela, Thor’s sister, while less visually obvious than Sif still bares multiple similarities to Wonder Woman being a crown-wearing, blade-wielding warrioress who’s had relationships with women similar to Diana in the past. She’s also similar to DC’s Artemis.
  • Thundra who debuted in Fantastic Four is very clearly a Wonder Woman Expy being an Amazonian Beauty with a tiara and rope-like weapon (a chain in her case). Thundra comes from a world where women are the dominant species but unlike Diana (at least most versions of Diana), she has Straw Feminist values that she eventually loses after fighting The Thing and considering him a worthy opponent and reassessing her opinion of men. In later comics, Thundra even has a relationship with Hyperion who’s fittingly a Superman Substitute.
  • Ever since her 2012 relaunch as Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers has often been pushed as Marvel’s Wonder Woman, due to the absence of a “main” superheroine in the MU ^* Not helping matters was the fact some of the most iconic Marvel heroines like Invisible Woman, Storm, Rogue and Jean Grey were all owned by Fox until 2019 . Carol similar to Diana is now a Primary Colour Champion and an idol to young women within the Marvel universe on top of being the female Flying Brick of the Avengers and most powerful next to Thor. Also thanks to a retcon she even shares Diana’s mixed heritage with an otherworldly parent. Though this is still relatively downplayed with Carol, as she lacks the mystical elements of Wonder Woman and has more similarities to Hal Jordan.
  • Psylocke in Excalibur (2019), after taking the mantle of Captain Britain she changes costume from her ninja leotard to an armoured getup which like Wonder Woman has a segmented skirt with a crotch flap and instead of Psionic Sai Betsy wields the starlight sword and a Psionic Shield as well making her very similar to Wonder Woman.
• Big Barda from the New Gods created in 1971 by Jack Kirby. Though Barda exists in the same universe as Wonder Woman, she has been noted to be very similar, being a Statuesque Stunner and powerful melee fighter who serves as the Action Girlfriend to their physically weaker partners Steve Trevor and Mister Miracle respectively. Fittingly Barda has frequently been a Friendly Rival to Diana in their several encounters together.
• Alan Moore's Promethea has some elements in common with Diana as both are warrior women whose stories focus on mythology and magic.
  • Promethea is actually based on Moore's plan for Extreme Entertainment Glory - see below - but company went bankrupt. So, Moore took his ideas and founded a new company, America's Best Comics, and created Promethea. This is origin story for several other ABC books, like Top 10 (based on an unnamed concept of making a superhero police procedural) and Tom Strong was based on Moore's ideas for Prophet.
• Winged Victory from Astro City. She's empowered by the Council of Nike (the collective Hive Mind of several women) to defend women's rights and empowerment.
• Glory from Image Comics was always based around Wonder Woman (a Greek demi-goddess [who was also half-demon] who went to Earth and became a superhero), but it became even more blatant once Alan Moore began writing her. Moore did so by introducing characters based on Wonder Woman (specifically the the Golden Age version)'s own supporting cast, like "The Danger Damsels" being counterparts of the Holliday College girls, archenemy Madame Melissa Von Manacle an Expy of Paula Von Gunther and Glory's boyfriend Trevor is also a blatant Steve Trevor copy.
• Queen Maeve from The Boys is a Corrupted Character Copy of Wonder Woman. She is an alcoholic Broken Bird who genuinely wanted to be a hero, but various terrible circumstances have driven her to complete apathy. Despite that, though, she's still the Token Good Teammate of the rest of the Seven.
• Isis from the Captain Marvel comics, a Canon Immigrant from the TV series is a pretty blatant Wonder Woman-analogue with Greco-Roman origins being swapped for Egyptian mythology. Granted Isis’ powers at least fairly different to Diana with control over nature and telekinesis besides the usual enhanced strength, toughness, and flight.
• Zealot (Zannah of Khera) from Wild CATS Wild Storm is a Darker and Edgier version of Wonder Woman, a superpowered swordswoman from an all-female warrior sect of the Kherubim alien culture, who is a tough soldier with no hesitation about dicing her enemies.
• Eric Stanton created a pornographic parody called Blunder Broad that played up the bondage elements with her constantly getting captured and tied up by villains.
• Freya (no not Marvel’s Freya) from WildStorm’s The American Way while she started off as a Thor analogue, she becomes closer to Wonder Woman as the comic goes on being an honourable fighter and one of the few members of her team with redeemable traits.
• The Pro has one called "The Lady" amongst a team of Justice League expies.
• The Multiversity has a few Wondy clones. Earth 34 has Herculina whose outfit is nearly identical to Diana with the only difference being she’s got a Lion helmet. Earth 35 has Venus who is a homage to the aforementioned Glory who was a pastiche of Wonder Woman. Earth 36 has War Woman (not to be confused with Invincible’s War Woman) like Diana she’s an Amazon blessed by the gods.
• Planetary:
  • An unnamed one appears in issue #10 who came to America from a Lady Land. The Four assassinate her before she makes landfall to prevent her becoming a threat to their plans.
  • Jakita Wagner is a Long-Lived attractive dark-haired woman who is a super strong hand-to-hand combatant from ancient civilisation, in this case the Lost City of Opak-Re in Africa. Granted Jakita‘s personality is quite different from Wondy being less patient and more cynical and violent along with a strong dislike of boredom.
• The Filipino superhero Darna has a costume and powers similar to Wonder Woman's, including magic bracelets. Her later expy Zsazsa Zaturnnah is based on Wonder Woman as well, with the twist that Zsazsa is actually a man who transforms into a Super Gender-Bender.
• Big Bang Comics which is a send-up to Golden Age and Silver Age comics has Venus, not to be confused with the aforementioned Multiversity’s Venus who’s a pastiche of the aforementioned Image Comic’s Glory who’s a ripoff of Wonder Woman. Venus also has a lot of inspiration from Thor and (in her “Silver Age” incarnation) the New Gods.
• Invincible has War Woman, a very blatant expy of Wonder Woman right down to having a similar sounding name.
• Moon Mistress from Brat Pack is an expy of Wonder Woman, being a heroine claiming to embody feminism with an alliterative codename (with Luna being the equivalent of Wonder Woman's sidekick Wonder Girl).
• A crossover Simpsons Comics issue with Bartman and Radioactive Man where the citizens of Springfield got superpowers had Sherri and Terri become the Mirror Maidens, who used magic jump ropes to force anyone to obey them.

Films (Animated)

• The 1978 Korean film Run, Wonder Princess. Wonder Princess has a similar costume and has a Transformation Sequence similar to the Wonder Woman TV show.
• By the end of DC League of Super-Pets, the pets are paired up with Justice League members. PB the pig gets adopted by Wonder Woman and gets a similar costume.

Films (Live-Action)

• The Post-Credits Scene of Brightburn mentions that more villainous versions of DC heroes exist, including a woman who strangles her victims with a rope.
• Eternals has Thena a millennia old Greek Lady of War who wears a similar outfit complete with Cool Crown and unlike the comics version of Thena fights with a sword and shield (albeit summoned ones) just to heighten the parallels with Diana. By the climax, she’s even set against the Superman Substitute of the film Ikaris. Also a bit of Casting Gag since Angelina Jolie has been approached to play Wonder Woman herself in the past.
• Lynda Carter played a couple as an Actor Allusion to her playing Wondie in Wonder Woman (1975):
  • She plays Principal Powers in Sky High (2005). A major superheroine who retired to run the titular Superhero School. Jokingly says "I'm not Wonder Woman, you know" at one point.
  • The Post-Credits Scene for Wonder Woman 1984 shows a black-haired woman implied to be Wonder Woman save a baby from a falling pole. She turns around and reveals herself as Carter. The credits identify her as Astoria, a legendary Amazon whose armor is acquired by Wondie.

Literature

• Princesses of the Pizza Parlor: From Princesses Don't Play Nice, Princess Isabel Coeur de Lion Solaire, who, before a few edits, is effectively Wonder Woman:
  celestial heritage [...] flying unicorn mount, the bridle of invisibility, the lasso of truth.
• Hero by Perry Moore has Warrior Woman. She's a female Flying Brick with a magic sword and is implied to come from a Lady Land.
• Downplayed in Soon I Will Be Invincible with Damsel. She's the setting's most famous (active) superheroine, and she originally formed a trio with a Superman Substitute and a Batman Expy (the latter of whom is currently her ex-husband). However, her origin is quite different, being the Half-Human Hybrid of a superhero and an alien princess (implied to be Apparently Human Merfolk), and aside from flight, her main power is force fields.
• A few of the characters in The Quorum are fans of comics parodying DC superheroes with Amazon Queen being based on Wonder Woman.
• Minister Faust's From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain has Iron Maiden who's this setting's Wonder Woman with shades of The Mighty Thor.
• Guinevere from The Supervillainy Saga is the World's Most Beautiful Woman, an Amazonian Beauty, and also from an island of female druids as well as an Arthurian warrior that wields the power of Caliburn. She's notably also Morgana Le Fey's daughter with Mordred as her twin brother.
• Worm: Alexandria fits the bill. An Amazonian Beauty Action Girl superheroine who is known as one of the most powerful and beloved capes of the world. She has a Flying Brick powerset and is implied to be The Ageless, and while she doesn't have Diana's magical gear, she makes up for it with Super-Intelligence. Alexandria even has a classical motif to top it off, her codename initially being Library of Alexandria before being shortened. However, Alexandria is arguably a deconstruction: She is in truth a Well-Intentioned Extremist Sociopathic Hero working for Cauldron.

Live-Action TV

• Xena: Warrior Princess obviously draws a lot of inspiration from Wonder Woman, being about a dark-haired Warrior Princess who gets into adventures fighting Greek gods and monsters in a Feminist Fantasy and has lesbian subtext. Funnily enough though, thanks to Xena’s popularity, following Wonder Woman media would actually start taking a few cues from her making Diana a more violent battle-hungry character who more frequently uses a sword and kills people. Ironically fans would actually accuse DC and Warner Brothers of ripping off Xena, especially when the first images of Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman was revealed, even though Diana predates Xena by multiple decades. See also the trope Xenafication.
• The Boys (2019):
  • Just like the original comics, Queen Maeve who dresses in an "Amazon" outfit that's colored red and silver, and includes matching headband, wristbands, and knee-high boots. She has Super-Toughness and Super-Strength, but can't fly, so she's either carried into a mission by Homelander or has to catch up by her own means. She also has a drinking problem which stems from her public life being controlled by the Vought Corporation to the last detail, as well as the time that Homelander convinced her to ditch an airliner full of passengers that he accidentally disabled when they took out the high-jackers.
  • In "Herogasm", the titular orgy has a woman dressed similar to Wonder Woman who has a man hog-tied with a glowing rope. A clear reference to the Lasso Of Truth.
• Moon Knight: Layla becomes one during the finale after she agrees to be the avatar of the Egyptian goddesses Taweret (similar to how Wondy is empowered by Greek gods). As a result, Layla becomes a Flying Brick, an inspiration for other women and she even does the signature “bullets and bracelets” trick when Harrow’s mooks shoot at her. She also bears a striking similarity to Isis, the Captain Marvel heroine of DC.
• The Tick (2001) has Captain Liberty, an Expy of American Maid from the animated series.
• Golden Goddess from The Guardians of Justice fills the role in the titular group, being the setting's strongest superheroine and ruling an extra-dimensional Lady Land.

Puppet Shows

• When Lynda Carter guest-starred on The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy appears as Wonder Pig.

Radio

• Ninfowoman from Lo Zoo Di 105 was supposed to be a parody of Wonder Woman but she acted more like a slutty, female Batman.

Tabletop Games

• Mutants & Masterminds:
  • In the Halt Evil Doer! setting, Athena is the Wonder Woman counterpart, being a defector from the Olympian pantheon with the usual Flying Brick powers and wearing a costume that "deliberately invokes the American flag despite her international outlook".
  • In the Freedom City setting Lady Liberty fills Wonder Woman's role as a Captain Patriotic Amazonian Beauty Flying Brick, but has a very different backstory, with the same origin as DC's Uncle Sam.
  • The fan setting "World Half Empty"/"World Too Far) (on the now-defunct M&M discussion boards, Internet Archive copy here) had an interesting attempt at a Rare Male Example (presumably to counterbalance the setting's female Superman Substitute) with Sir Perceval, who left an extradimensional version of Camelot to quest in the modern world. The parallel was most obvious with his rogue's gallery, which included the sorceress Morgana la Fey (Circe), Herne the Hunter, an eco-terrorist who transformed himself into a beast man (Cheetah), and Mr Toxic, a sadistic Master Poisoner (Dr. Poison).

Toys

• In 1991, McDonald's released a set of four Looney Tunes figures with snap-on superhero costumes in their Happy Meals. Petunia Pig's superheroine alter-ego was Wonder Pig, complete with a costume nearly identical to Wonder Woman's.

Video Games

• Bayonetta is a near-600-year-old witch born to a clan of mystically empowered women. She has a Friendly Rivalry with her fellow witch Jeanne, who can be considered Bayonetta's equivalent of Artemis. Bayonetta also uses an arsenal of Magical Weapons, has a human male love interest whose rescue she frequently comes to, and has a very blatant BDSM theme as displayed by her outfit, taunts, and torture attacks. She even wears glasses just like Wonder Woman often does in her Diana Prince guise.
• Maiden Justice from City of Heroes was given a magic girdle that gave her the powers of a goddess, which she passed down to her daughter, Miss Liberty who then passed it to her own daughter, Ms. Liberty. Ms. Liberty is a cross between Wonder Girl and Supergirl and both Liberties also inherited powers from Maiden's Superman Substitute husband, Statesman.
• The Soul Series has Sophitia Alexandra, a female Greek warrior who’s compassionate and brave, leaves her home to fight evil, and prays to the gods for strength and wisdom. Although Sophitia has actually fought with a sword and shield from her debut, whilst Diana has only had that as her main fighting style in more recent comic continuity.
• Nariko from Heavenly Sword has a few similarities to Wonder Woman (especially in the latter’s earlier continuity): she’s the best fighter of her tribe, wears a tiara, has weapons blessed by the gods, and shares a close bond with another female character. On the flipside, she’s a much edgier character than Diana and, despite being the daughter of her clan’s leader, is an outcast for being born female and isn’t regarded or treated like a princess like Diana is. With her red hair and pessimistic attitude, she's almost more similar to Anti-Hero Substitute Artemis.

Web Comics

• The Non-Adventures of Wonderella: The titular Wonderella has a costume similar to Wonder Woman's, but the personality of The Lad-ette, a heavy-drinking, foul-mouthed Jerkass (with very rare Jerkass with a Heart of Gold moments). She also has much stranger powers, like killing plants with a word and coughing up octopi when restrained.

Western Animation

• The Fairly OddParents!:
  • In the episode "The Big Superhero Wish", Trixie Tang's superhero identity is Wonder Gal, with a near-identical outfit, lasso, and bullet-deflecting bracelets.
  • In the episode "Power Pals!", one of the eponymous Power Pals is Joan Jet, an amalgamation of Wonder Woman and The Flash, having the former's overall looks and characterisation, but the latter's powers.
  • Less directly, the Tooth Fairy's design is in many ways a Palette Swap of Wonder Woman, and even holds the title of (Fairy) World's Most Beautiful Woman. The connection is played up a lot more in her debut episode, where she equips Timmy with gadgets like bulletproof braces and a floss lasso of truth.
• She-Ra: Princess of Power was inspired by Wonder Woman and Adora shares many similarities to Diana being a super strong warrioress who wears a gold headdress, possesses a Cool Sword and fights in a skirt similar to Golden Age Wonder Woman. The 2018 show if anything strengthens the connection by having Adora be in a lesbian relationship with Catra similar to Wonder Woman’s same-sex relationships with Mala and Kaisa in the comics.
• League of Super Evil has the hero "Wow Woman", whose abilities and appearance are similar to Wonder Woman, except her outfit being colored green, white, and aqua instead of the usual red, blue, and gold.
• The Tick: American Maid is a pastiche of both Wonder Woman and Captain America, being an Amazonian warrior who dresses in a maid outfit patterned after the American flag. Instead of a lasso, she uses her high-heeled shoes as throwing weapons. Unlike most examples here, she has no superpowers.
• The Venture Bros. has Warriana, a Wonder Woman expy who sports a truth-lasso, an invisible flying chariot pulled by invisible geese, and is by all appearances an actual Amazon, up to her right breast being visibly absent.
• On The All-New Popeye Hour, toward the end of the short "Popeye's Self-Defense", Olive Oyl becomes one after she eats Popeye's spinach, enabling her to repair her gymnasium single-handedly.
  Olive: W.O.W., Woman of Wonder! I like it, I like it!
• Tiny Toon Adventures: In "The Just-us League of Supertoons" (part of "New Class Day"), Babs Bunny's superheroine alter-ego is Wonder Babs, featuring a near-identical outfit and lasso.
• Atomic Puppet has a recurring hero named Princess War Tickle, whose appearance and powers are very similar to Wonder Woman (and to a lesser extent Xena) Like Wonder Woman she has a lasso of truth, reflective bracelets, and a magic sword; is a Lightning Bruiser known for being one of the strongest superheroes of the show's universe; and lives in a mystical palace with strong Greco-Roman influence.
• The Powerpuff Girls: In the episode "Super Zeroes", the girls decide to re-imagine themselves. Blossom becomes "Liberty Belle", based on her favorite heroine "Freedom Gal", who is pretty much a blonde Wonder Woman expy.
• As in the original comic, Invincible (2021) has a Wonder Woman expy in the form of War Woman. Besides her inspiration, she incorporates elements of Hawkgirl, Thor, Valkyrie, and Big Barda into her appearance and personality.
• DOTA: Dragon's Blood has Mirana who’s a dead ringer for Wonder Woman with her tiara, armour, and later Leotard of Power, in addition to being a princess who serves the gods (or just god singular in Mirana’s case). She’s also a strong physical fighter who leaves/is exiled from her isolated home and like Diana with Steve manages to fall in love with a good man Davion (who himself is reminiscent of another character). If that wasn’t enough Season 2 reveals she’s really a Physical God just like modern versions of Wondy. On the other hand, Mirana is an archer whereas Diana rarely uses a bow and arrow.
• Majestic from the Miraculous Ladybug episode, "Miraculous World: New York" is a Flying Brick superheroine whomis basically a female Superman. Though Word of God said she was meant as a cross between Superman and Wonder Woman.
• In the Random! Cartoons short "Hero Heights", the character Olympia is more or less Wonder Woman as a preteen girl.

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