I am Wonder Woman
Who is Wonder Woman? is the beginning storyline of Wonder Woman (2006) following its relaunch in Infinite Crisis and is written by Allan Heinberg, with art by Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson.
She's been Diana Prince, Donna Troy—even the villainous Circe has claimed the name. Any answer to that question must be as complicated as the woman herself, and with Circe augmenting the powers of all of Wonder Woman's deadliest rogues, there will be intense battles and ultimate challenges for whoever takes on the mantle.
The storyline spans issues #1-4 and Annual #1.
Tropes
- Butt-Monkey: After years of misfortune Donna seems all set to headline the book as the new Wonder Woman, and then she gets Mind Raped and captured in the first issue.
- Clark Kenting: Lampshaded. When Bruce hands Diana a "new" identity she can use she smirks at the inclusion of glasses and says they must have been Clark's idea. B doesn't refute this and grins himself at the accusation. In the story itself it's implied to be less effective than Clark's disguise as Sarge Steel seems to see right through it even though he doesn't call her out.
- Continuity Nod: When Nemesis mentions that he likes to work alone, Diana brings up his multiple missions with Batman and his time on the Suicide Squad and the Shadow Fighters.
- Decoy Protagonist. The opening soliloquy sounds rather a lot like it's being imparted to the readers by Diana, making its closing line a surprise;"I was born of magic, a child of the Amazons, the champion of the gods. Blessed with their gifts, I was chosen to impart their will to a world that does not believe in them, to fight for peace in a world at war, to be willing to die for my mission but never to kill. My mission is an impossible one but I'm not about to let that stop me. My name is Donna Troy, and I'm the new Wonder Woman."
- Then Donna ends up captured and Diana is the main character anyway, despite no longer acting as Wonder Woman.
- Distressed Dude: Steve Trevor ( actually Nemisis in disguise) is being held captive by Cheetah and Giganta.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Donna and Diana being identical is brought up by some villains, who can't figure out how people tell them apart. In practice the art goes out of it's way to allow the reader to tell the sisters apart. Donna's background is infamously inconsistent and this book leaves it vague so as to not contradict the next writer who gets some harebrained retcon for her past into their head so it's unclear if they even share any genes as Donna's original and most popular origin has her as an adopted orphan rescued by Diana long ago.
- Lady Legionnaire Wear: Donna's WW outfit is more armored than her sister's, and includes black pteruges
- Legacy Character: Donna is the new Wonder Woman.
- Power Parasite: Circe steals Diana, Donna, and Cassie's power with magic ritual and runs about as a rather brutal Wonder Woman for a while after Diana leaves the title to Donna.
- Race Lift: Osira technically isn't a human, or even native to the galaxy, or the spacial dimensions Earth resides in, but she looked like a brown haired Diana in the pre Crisis continuity. Post Crisis she also has browner skin, browner eyes and an entirely different face from Diana.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Attempts to reconcile Diana with her actions during 52 and her murder of Maxwell Lord, and Cassie's dramatic characterization shift since joining the Teen Titans means that there's no way their first meeting after Diana essentially abandoned Cassie is going to go any other way. For bonus points Cassie flips out at Tim as well since he had spoken to Diana during her absence and never told Cassie about it.
- Rogues Gallery Showcase: Probably one of the most remembered things about this run is how many Wonder Woman villains Heinberg squeezed in here; Circe, Cheetah, Giganta, Silver Swan, Queen Clea, Osira, Gundra, Hercules, Minister Blizzard, Dr. Pyscho, The Mask to just name a few.
- Transformation Horror: Hercules's unwilling transformation into one of Circe's bestiamorphs is framed as painful and terrifying for him as he begs for help while twisting in pain before suddenly being twisted into one of her animalistic slaves.
- What the Hell, Hero?: After Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman decided to retire for a while and takes off for parts unknown without explaining to Donna and Cassandra why. In issue #2, Cassie vents her anger on her:Cassandra: Diana...? Is it really you?
Diana: It's really me, Cass. You okay?
Cassandra: Am I okay? Let's see... The gods abandoned us. Paradise Island disappeared. My boyfriend was murdered... and the person I looked up to more than anyone else in the world... left without saying a word.
Diana: I was trying to protect you.
Cassandra: You deserted me. Me AND Donna. And now, for all we know, she could be dead.