# Q: Superheroes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094 "2002-08-09T04:07:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/21 "2002-08-13T05:27:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Intaglio \* > \*\*Wonder Woman’s origin, I have a different recollection. > > We are talking about the Hall of Justice/Justice League. > > The Gods and Goddesses told Queen Hippolyta, that the outside world needed a champion, and Paradise Island/Themyscira needed to send their very best. > > This is how the Contest became, to choose Wonder Woman. > The Queen forbade Princess Diana, to compete but she disobeyed > and masked herself and got into the contest. Because of her Goddesses given gifts when she was created (from the sand) > Diana won the contest, and became Wonder Woman (the outfit, Tiara, The Belt with the Magic Lasso, Bracelets, The Boots). > > She got the Invisible Jet went into the world, and met up with the other heroes and saved the world. She was always Wonder Woman, she never had the other personalities, either Princess Diana or Diana Prince. > > The Comic Book and the Wonder Woman Show origin is pretty much the same, she rescued Steve Trevor, and took him back to America. Wonder Woman/Diana decided Steve trevor needed to be looked after. So, she decided to take up the Diana Prince > persona, his secretary (Yeoman Diana Prince). She decided her last name should be Prince, since she couldn’t think of a better last name. \*\* About the Superfriends version of Wonder Woman: She was not created from sand or clay in the cartoon. They never said she was anything but Princess Diana, daughter of Queen Hippolyta. It was still Paradise Island, and Diana retained the title of Princess, even if they didn’t use it throughout her Superfriend incarnation. We don’t know if they had their secret identities because it never was referred to. That does not mean that they did not have them. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/22 "2002-08-13T11:48:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hastur \* > \*\*Her origin changed MANY times after her creator died in 1947, and there were quite a few different versions. > \*\* Including the ghastly (but kinda cool, in an Earth-Bizarro way) origin from about 1956 or so (WW #105) where she had a daddy and a mommy and (IIRC) where daddy taught her all about how to be a super-hero. :: shudder :: (I read a reprint of it a while back, and now can’t remember where…any ideas **Hastur**?) Fenris ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/23 "2002-08-13T16:53:17Z")
Hell, let’s go on an alternate-timeline tangent… I remember an old SF episode where the Legion of Doom went back in time and mucked with the heroes’ origins. Hence: -Baby Kal-El’s rocket was diverted; I believe they sent it to Mars instead. -Giganta (or whatever her name was) snuck into the contest on Paradise Island and beat Wonder Woman, thus getting the tiara and bracelets for herself. -Lex Luthor jumped into Hal Jordan’s test rocket and took his place meeting Abin Sur. He boldly walked into the Legion of Doom HQ after that. “Look, it’s Green Lantern!” Lex: “Wrong, it’s the _Green Luthor_!” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/24 "2002-08-13T17:41:57Z")
This thread just wouldn’t be complete without a link to [Seanbaby’s hilarious Superfriends page](http://www.seanbaby.com/super.htm), where you can see some of the other oddball characters created for the cartoon, like Apache Chief, El Dorado, Samurai, and Black Vulcan (with his amazing never-drawn-the-same-way-twice costume). ---
**Author:** ![Intaglio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71e660/32.png) [@Intaglio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intaglio)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/25 "2002-08-13T17:45:03Z")
I thought the Superfriends cartoon glossed over Diana’s creation. I know they had the “Bullets and Bracelets” Contest to pick Wonder Woman, that Diana won, her mother forbade her to be in and she disguised herself. She got the outfit, boots, Tiara, Belt and Magic Lasso, and the Invisible Jet. There was even an episode where the Legion of Doom was trying to get rid of the 3 powerful members of the Justice League, Cheetah (being WW’s arch-enemy) snuck her onto Paradise Island, entered the contest and won with rigged bracelets, becoming WW, but after returning to the Legion of Doom, returned to Cheetah, getting rid of WW. I always thought Cheetah should have become an evil WW, after winning. As far as I know there were no secret identies. ---
**Author:** ![Koffing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@Koffing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koffing)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094/26 "2002-08-13T17:47:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\* > [ul][li]Black Vulcan (arguably original, though similar to the comic book “Black Lightning” character, which debuted around the same time)[/li][li]Samurai[/li][li]Apache Chief[/li][li]El Dorado[/li][/ul] > > As far as I know, origins were never provided for any of these characters. \*\* Black Lightning was originally going to be on the show. However, the Powers That Were had problems with giving Tony Isabella (creator and writer of Black Lightning) royalties so they ever so slightly changed the character. Tony’s a little bitter about this, yes. Apache Chief and Giganta share an origin. There was a powder that Apache Chief had to quest for that would magnify a person’s emotional state at the time in addition to granting the ability to grow. Apache Chief had noble intentions for finding the powder. Thus, he became more noble and heroic. Giganta, however was being selfish and evil (she’d overheard the explanation about the powder and decided to seize the power for herself) and became more so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-superheroes/123094.md?page=1)