Wonder Woman is the first major female superhero, quickly becoming a superstar and joining Superman and Batman as the most popular heroes at DC Comics. Now, you could argue that she has been disrespected compared to the other two and there’s a lot to that. She’s rarely had more than one book, has never had her own animated series even though she definitely should have by now, and has never had a video game. Diana is still beloved and you can always find amazing stories starring the hero, though, and she has been given some of the same things as the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, including sidekicks. In fact, there’s a whole family of characters behind her, ready to take her place if needed.
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Wonder Woman has played a huge role in the history of the DC Multiverse and there always needs to be a Wonder Woman. Many of her partners have been looked at as her successors, whether they take up the mantle that Diana made popular or take her place on various teams. They were created to act as deputy Wonder Women, and some of them are among the best characters in comics. These characters have all been successors of Wonder Woman, each them stepping into the coolest boots in comics
8) Yara Flor
So, on the one hand, you could make the argument that Yara Flor has never actually been a successor of Wonder Woman. She didn’t take her place in the Justice League and she never got to graduate to the mantle of Wonder Woman, but she was meant to. Former DC head honcho Dan DiDio was pushing for “5G”, a storyline that would have fundamentally changed DC. This storyline that never happened referred to the fifth generation of DC heroes since the Silver Age, who were going to take over for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Yara was meant to be the main Amazon warrior of the Earth at some point in the not too distant future. However, DiDio was deposed before the story could make too many changes to the main continuity. Yara got her own series but it failed and she’s since become an also ran in the Wonder Woman comics. She has potential, but right now she’s not meeting it.
7) The Fury
Earth-Two is my favorite alternate Earth in comics. It took the Golden Age DC heroes and gave them a place to keep having adventures. Wonder Woman married Steve Trevor on Earth-Two and they eventually had a daughter, who they named after Diana’s mother Hippolyta. Lyta Trevor would grow up and eventually fight alongside her mother, joining Infinity Inc., the Teen Titans of the Justice Society (God, I love Earth-Two lore), and battling evil. Lyta would end up meeting and falling in love with Hector Hall, the son of Earth-Two’s Hawkman and Hawkgirl. They got married, Crisis happened, and she no longer was the successor of Wonder Woman. However, that doesn’t mean she disappeared; her and Hector were captured by Brute and Glob, with Hector forced to become the Sandman and eventually meeting the real Dream of the Endless. Lyta was pregnant and her son Daniel would become Dream, while she was driven crazy by the Kindly Ones to use as a weapon against the first Dream. Since then, she’s not been around very much; her story feels like it’s over, although past versions of her have showed up on new versions of Earth-2.
6) Artemis
The ’90s were amazing for DC, giving readers some of the most amazing stories ever. The company had loads of sales success replacing their icons and at the height of the Bad Girls craze in the mid ’90s, they did the same to Wonder Woman. First, she got a new costume, then she was replaced. See, Hippolyta learned that Wonder Woman was destined to die, so she decided to hold a new contest to see who would be Wonder Woman, inviting the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall to compete. Artemis ended up winning and she took Diana’s place. She was better with a bow and arrow than she was a lasso, but she was no less skilled with her weapon. She’d meet her death as Wonder Woman, but eventually was resurrected, becoming a champion of Themyscira and fighting alongside Diana and Wonder Girls numerous times. She also joined Red Hood’s Outlaws, teaming with the vigilante and Bizarro. She’s not amazingly popular, but she has her fans and has starred in some cool stories.
5) Nubia
Nubia was first created in the pre-Crisis years, created by Hippolyta to be a twin to Diana. The two of them were trained together and Nubia was a rival for the mantle of Wonder Woman. We all know how that turned out; Diana won the contest and got to put on the red, white, and blue swimsuit for the trip to Man’s World. Nubia would adventure with her sister before being made the guardian of Doom’s Doorway, and would sort of fade away over the years. She’d keep her post in post-Crisis DC and has since been made more important than ever. She’s been pushed to the moon and while she never got to wear the mantle of Wonder Woman, she always felt like exactly like a sister Wonder Woman. She’d eventually become Queen of Themyscira and has since been an important part of the Wonder Woman corner of the DC Multiverse. There’s also multiversal versions of Nubia, some of whom are Wonder Woman, her slotting into Diana’s spot and showing how powerful she really is.
4) Cassie Sandsmark
There have been numerous Wonder Girls over the years, with Cassie Sandsmark holding the mantle for almost two decades. She was introduced in the John Byrne run on Wonder Woman, where she used various magical objects to gain superpowers and fight beside Diana. It would later be revealed that she was actually a daughter of Zeus, and she ended up co-founding Young Justice, working with the young heroes of her generation to fight the biggest threats they could. They were eventually absorbed into the Teen Titans and she became an exemplary member of the team – she met a future version of herself who became Wonder Woman on a planet where Infinite Crisis killed the Trinity (although we didn’t know that at the time and I don’t think it was ever explicitly confirmed just heavily implied) – starting a relationship with Superboy before he died. She even led the team. Sure, she was a part of the dreadful New 52 Teen Titans and disappeared for a while, but that doesn’t change how cool she was in her prime and how cool she could be again.
3) Trinity
I feel like I’m the only Trinity fan and if I am, I will talk about her all the time. Trinity is the daughter of Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor. Steve and Diana had rekindled their relationship while she battled against the secret king of America known as the Sovereign. Steve ended up sacrificing himself so that Diana could keep the fight going and she decided to pay homage to him by using a piece of his soul to get pregnant. She named their baby Elizabeth. Diana took her into battle with Mouse Man and would end up training her daughter to become the next Wonder Woman. Trinity was babysat by Jon Kent and Damian Wayne and the three of them forged a friendship unlike anything their parents had. She had some time travel adventures with different temporal versions of herself (seriously, go read Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman; it’s amazing) and is currently starring in the “Wonder War” arc of Wonder Woman (Vol. 6). She’s a character with loads of potential and I hope we get so much more of her.
2) Hippolyta
Hippolyta was the first queen of the Amazons, leading her people for millennia (go read Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons and prepare to be astonished). Depending on the continuity, Hippolyta was the first Wonder Woman, which would technically make Diana her successor. In both post-Crisis DC (starting in the ’90s) and in modern continuity (as revealed in “JSA: Year One”), she was a member of the Justice Society. She made Diana and the gods blessed her, giving her the greatest daughter ever. She raised Diana to be a queen, but never wanted her to be Wonder Woman, trying to keep her out of the costume anyway she could and failing. She ended up taking Diana’s place when she became the Goddess of Truth during the Byrne run (I know I’ve brought it up twice, but it’s not good; if you want to read a good Wonder Woman run from the late ’90s/early ’00s, read Phil Jimenez’s), joining the Justice League for a short time before moving over to the modern JSA for a short time. She’s no longer queen, but she’s one of the toughest heroes ever.
1) Donna Troy
Donna Troy is absurdly complicated, but she’s an amazing hero. Retcons have played a huge role in her existence; the only reason she exists is because of one. See, at first Wonder Girl was the younger version of Diana, like Superboy. However, when the Teen Titans started, someone thought she should be a member. Eventually, someone remembered and her orphan saved from a fire by Wonder Woman and raised on Paradise Island origin was born, given powers by the Purple Ray and joining her adopted her sister in Man’s World. She’s a founding Teen Titan and has played a massive role in the history of the group. Her origin has been changed many, many times over the years, all because of the changes wrought by Crisis on Infinite Earths, but you can ignore a lot of the older changes. She’s been Wonder Woman a few times over the years, proving she has the goods. She’s one of the greats, held back by her convoluted history, but is easily the best Wonder Woman successor of them.
Who’s your favorite Wonder Woman successor? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
10 Best Wonder Woman Stories in DC Comics History
