Wonder Woman is a character created for comic books in 1941, the medium in which she is still most prominently found to this day. As befitting an icon of her status, she has made appearances in other forms of media and has been referenced and meta-referenced beyond the scope of traditional superhero entertainment. For several years in the 1950s, the only three superheroes to have their own comic book were Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.
The cultural impact of the character, once derided by psychologists and anti-comic book crusaders as an anti-male lesbian, has steadily increased over the years, having served as an iconic exemplar of the feminist movement and a continuing symbol of female empowerment.
As such, she appears in numerous media, from cereal box covers and popular magazines to being referenced both directly and indirectly in film, animation and television programming. As a cultural icon, she is the subject of several homages and parodies in many forms of media.
In media
Wonder Woman's viewpoints and characteristics reflect those of her creator, William Moulton Marston, who was a strong supporter of feminist ideals and female empowerment:
In art
Wonder Woman is the subject of a 1978 - 1979 video art piece by Dara Birnbaum, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman. In this work she uses appropriated images of Wonder Woman to subvert the ideology and meaning embedded in the television series. Author T.J. Demos writes, "(the) opening with a prolonged salvo of fiery explosions accompanied by the warning cry of a siren, Technology/Transformation: Wonder Woman is supercharged, action-packed, and visually riveting... throughout its nearly six minutes we see several scenes featuring the main character Diana Prince... in which she transforms into the famed superhero.". The exhibit currently resides in New York's Museum of Modern Art.
In theatre
Wonder Woman's origin, the invention of the lie detector and the unconventional troika marriage between Dr. Marston, Elizabeth Holloway Marston and Olive Byrne are interwoven in a 2014 production, Lasso of Truth. The last act engages two current-day characters discussing what Wonder Woman means to them individually, reflecting on her influence on society in general.
In nightclubs
In Christine Jorgensen's nightclub act, she sang several songs, including "I Enjoy Being a Girl", and at the end made a quick change into a Wonder Woman costume. She later recalled that Warner Communications, owners of the Wonder Woman character's copyright, demanded that she stop using the character; she did so and instead used a new character of her own invention, Superwoman, who was marked by the inclusion of a large letter S on her cape.
In film
Images of and references to Wonder Woman abound in film. The apparent first appearance of the character was in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy wherein a little girl covers her face with a copy of DC Comics' Wonder Woman #178. Later appearances have female (and male) characters of all ages appearing in Wonder Woman's costume or T-shirt representations of said costume. Wonder Woman entered the cultural lexicon, as characters were compared to Wonder Woman due to their athletic prowess, beauty and/or height.
Cobie Smulders performed the voice for Wonder Woman in 2014's The Lego Movie. Wonder Woman reappeared briefly as a non-speaking character in follow-up The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
The first live action theatrical film featuring Wonder Woman was 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The second was 2017's Wonder Woman.