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Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #3 returns to Diana’s controversial time as a spy in the 1970s and shows how she persevered without her powers.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for “Espionage” from Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #3, on sale now from DC Comics.
Since her introduction in the 1940s, Wonder Woman has made waves as a feminist icon. However, not every era of this heroic ideal has lived up to her empowering origins. Although characters in comics often change to fit the times, not all of these changes have aged particularly well with time. Now, Diana Prince has returned to one of these radically different eras of her long history and provides a glimpse of how she made it through.
The story “Espionage” from Wonder Woman: Black and Gold #3 by Robert Vendetti, Steve Epting and Andworld Design returns to one of the character’s most controversial eras, that of “The New Wonder Woman” of the 1970s. In this story, Wonder Woman is being interrogated in the country of Modora after she is captured during an espionage mission. Even though this may seem like a ridiculous thing for the Amazonian Princess to be doing now, it was the status quo in the early 70s.
When Dennis O’Neil and Mike Sekowsky took over the series with Wonder Woman #177, things radically changed. They decided not just to give Diana Prince a new look but a massive shift in her status quo, with the greatest change of all being that she was stripped of her powers.
With the Amazons of Themyscira apparently depleted of their magic, they had to retreat to another dimension to renew it. Diana wished to stay in Man’s World to help Steve Trevor, but the only way for her to stay was to give up her amazing abilities. Soon after, she met I-Ching, a master of martial arts, who trained Wonder Woman to fight without her powers and also assisted her in her new life as a spy. If all that wasn’t bizarre enough, the fearsome warrior was now the owner of a clothing boutique.
The longer the adventures of this “New Wonder Woman” went on, the more controversial they became, not only because Diana had lost her powers, but because her new mentor, Ching, was a man. Given Wonder Woman was a champion of women’s independence, it didn’t sit well that she now needed a man to show her how to survive as a regular human.
The new story in Wonder Woman: Black and Gold gives a fresh perspective on this odd era and shows how Diana got through it all, despite everything she lost. An interrogator asks a captured Diana a simple question regarding her identity, and she replies “I am Wonder Woman” no matter how many times she is asked, enduring three weeks of advanced interrogation techniques while never once faltering.
This tale explains how Wonder Woman is able endure this punishment by taking a brief trip to the days of Diana’s training on Themyscira. Her mother Hippolyta scolds her for trying to win through “secret and shadow” and instead tells her to be true to her principles. That’s exactly what she does here. She sticks to her principles and tells the truth whenever asked, never deceiving her interrogator because she is Wonder Woman.
Her commitment and resolve eventually lead to her real target taking notice and entering the room. At this point, Diana breaks free and takes down everyone with ease, telling Ching that she has secured her target. It goes to show that her commitment to truth is what got her through this unconventional era. During her youth, her mother told her that the world will try to make her fight on its terms, which it essentially has done by forcing her to surrender her powers. Hippolyta’s advice then to remember that who she is holds true. It doesn’t matter if she’s powerless, or a spy, she is and always will be Wonder Woman.
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