As Pride Month draws to a close, superhero publisher DC Comics is under fire. For the fifth consecutive year, it has celebrated Pride with a feast of LGBT+ characters, including Batwoman and Poison Ivy. Bravo! But missing was their number one queer icon, Wonder Woman – arguably the most socially significant comic superhero of all time.
Ever since the inception of the annual DC Pride anthology in 2021, its covers and stories have featured all of DC’s top LGBTQIA+ characters – but never Wonder Woman. If DC were willing to acknowledge their biggest female star’s queer identity, she’d be front and centre of the DC Pride anthology every year, to boost the sales of their Pride output. Tellingly, she’s not.
This looks like straightwashing by a supposedly pro-LGBTQIA+ publisher and reeks of double standards: it’s okay for DC’s characters to be queer – except if they’re the most famous and lucrative female one.
As far as I can tell, cynical commercial reasons seem to lie at the heart of this cover-up: a queer Wonder Woman would be banned in many countries, and less marketable to conservative households – therefore generating less revenue for DC.
Sounds like corporate greed… but at what cost? By failing to acknowledge Wonder Woman’s queerness during Pride Month, DC is effectiely condoning the very homophobia it claims to combat.
When asked to comment for this article on whether Wonder Woman was LGBTQIA+ or merely an ally, DC failed to respond.
However, longtime Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka has unofficially confirmed that the character had “obviously” loved and had relationships with other women. Sadly, this has never been proudly and unabashedly portrayed in any of her adventures since her debut in 1941.
Wonder Woman’s queer origins are indisputable. She comes from the all-female island paradise of Themyscira, where men were forbidden and immortal women warriors – known as Amazons – lived blissfully for millennia; the implication being that lesbian relationships were the norm. Indeed, DC confirms it is “a place of constant, open queer love.” Until adulthood, Wonder Woman had never even met a man!
Early Wonder Woman stories were full of allusions to lesbianism, including her catchphrase “Suffering Sappho!” Sappho was an ancient Greek poet from the island of Lesbos, who celebrated love between women in her writings.
But outside of rare and niche alternate universe stories, DC’s main mass-market comics and films never depict Wonder Woman as having same-sex love interests. She’s always portrayed as heterosexual – despite the fact that many of the female characters in her life (mothers, friends, foes and fellow Amazons) have been acknowledged by DC as LGBTQIA+. So why cover up her sexuality?
The official DC Book of Pride, published in 2023 and not amended since, laudably includes profiles of 57 LGBTQIA+ characters.
These include the son of Superman, Robin, Harley Quinn, and even Wonder Woman’s lesbian mothers, Hippolyta and Philippus. Yet Wonder Woman herself is notably absent.
While these publications are groundbreaking and inspiring, they also set back LGBTQIA+ visibility by erasing the queer identity of DC’s oldest and most recognisable LGBTQIA+ icon: Wonder Woman. She’s stripped of her bisexuality and shoved to the back of the closet.
Seemingly not content with de-gaying Wonder Woman, DC consistently finds other things for her to do during Pride Month – like dying, becoming a straight mother and reminiscing about her deceased boyfriend. This adds insult to injury, while conveniently “justifying” her absence from the DC Pride anthologies.
To make matters worse, DC have been stridently promoting Wonder Woman’s “biological” daughter, Trinity – a new character introduced in Wonder Woman #800.
In true heteronormative fashion, Trinity has both a mother and a father, in an apparent bid to remove any doubt that Wonder Woman could be anything other than straight. This feels like full-on queer erasure.
To me, it’s clearly hypocritical that a company responsible for closeting the world’s most emblematic queer comic icon is praised and celebrated for its portrayal of LGBTQIA+ characters.
Just this March, DC accepted its 12th award from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for “Outstanding Comic Book”.
But why is GLAAD giving awards to a publisher who is actively closeting and straightwashing the world’s most famous superheroine?
Wonder Woman is so popular that she’s never been out of print. She is one of the best-known global symbols of female independence and empowerment. Her coming out would take queer visibility to new heights – and help undermine homophobia on a global scale.
After eight decades of being forced to be straight, Wonder Woman finally deserves a female partner – and prominent representation in DC’s Pride celebrations. DC should allow her to live her bisexual truth: it’s 2025, for Pride’s sake!
As a champion of love, Wonder Woman opposes homophobia. Now it’s time for us to band together and #LiberateWonderWoman.
