Sculpted by clay by Queen Hippolyta, and brought to life by Zeus; Diana was the first child born on Paradise Island in the three thousand year history. The immortal Amazons lived there, as it was also known as Themyscira. The Amazons were created around 1200 B.C. when the Greek goddesses drew forth the souls of all women who had been murdered by mean, and/or crazy men and placed them on the island. One soul was held back from creation, the one that would be born as Diana. That soul originally belonged to the unborn daughter of the first woman ever murdered by a man (whom Hippolyta was the reincarnation of). In the late 20th Century, Hippolyta was instructed to mold some clay from the shores of Paradise Island into the form of a baby girl. Six members of the Greek Pantheon then bonded the soul to the clay, giving it life.
Each of the six also granted Diana a gift: Demeter, great strength; Athena, wisdom and courage; Artemis, a hunter's heart and a communion with animals; Aphrodite, beauty and a loving heart; Hestia, sisterhood with fire; Hermes, speed and the power of flight. Diana grew up surrounded by strong, and powerful sisters and mothers. When she was a young woman, the gods announced and then, demanded that the Amazons must send an emissary into Man's World. Queen Hippolyta ordered a contest to be held, but forbade Diana from participating. Diana disobeyed and did so anyway in disguise, easily winning the contest and being named the Amazons' champion. She was given a uniform fashioned from the standard of someone who had visited the island a few decades earlier.
Diana did not keep her identity a secret, and she was not at first a "super-heroine". Indeed, her character was in many ways that of a babe in the woods, innocent and without guile. Diana spoke only Themyscirian, a combination of classical Greek and Turkish. She had to learn English when she arrived in America, rather than knowing the language intuitively. Nonetheless, Diana was trained as a warrior by her Auntie, Antiope and had no compunction against using deadly force when called for. She often dealt with war, injustice, inequality, death, and conflicts involving the Olympian Gods.
Before embarking on her mission, Diana was given the Lasso of Truth, that was originally forged by Hephaestus himself. She was also given the Sandals of Hermes, which allowed her to instantly travel far and great distances in seconds. Diana's first mission was to restore peace on the planet, but part of it initially involved defeating Ares the God of War, because he had a mad idea to destroy the world. She ventured into the world by starting at Boston. There she met a Harvard professor, Dr. Julia Kapatelis, and her daughter, Vanessa Kapatelis, as well as the Air Force Officers Steve Trevor and Etta Candy. Diana stayed with Julia and Vanessa and over the course of a month or two, she learned to speak English.
She was attacked at their home by Decay, one of Ares' minions, and after a battle that spilled out on the streets, she was finally noticed and was then given the name Wonder Woman. Upon discovering Ares' plan (one that involved causing a nuclear holocaust), Diana managed to stop it, first battling his sons Phobos and Deimos before finally convincing him the evil within his ways by using her Lasso, as it cast's Illusion and Hyponosis sometimes. After defeating the God of War, Diana returned home for healing and was healed by the hands of Poseidon himself.
Following changes to the timestream, Wonder Woman's origin was changed AGAIN. While she had been taught since birth that she was a creation of clay, come to life by the power of her mother's need for a child, it was not so. In reality, her mother had long ago had a tryst with Zeus, and their affair led to Diana's conception. The truth of her divinity was kept secret in order to protect Diana from the wrath of Hera, whose jealousy was notorious. When she discovered the truth, Wonder Woman cast off all other names, and chose never to return to Paradise Island.
Diana tries to reconcile with her mother later on, but unfortunately, Hera has turned the entire Amazon population to stone. Wonder Woman also comes to the help of Zola, a girl who is pregnant by Zeus' child. Hermes tells Wonder Woman that she must protect Zola from Hera. In order to do so, Wonder Woman asks the help of Lennox, an illegitimate child of Zeus and Diana's older brother. The four realize that Zeus has disappeared, leaving a power vacuum that other gods seek to fill. Poseidon and Hades attack Wonder Woman's group in London.
Wonder Woman and Lennox try to negotiate with the two gods. Using a distraction, Wonder Woman takes Hades's staff and teleports to Mount Olympus, where she swears retribution on Hera for what she did to her people. By the time Wonder Woman returns to London, however, Hades kidnaps Zola. Wonder Woman, Hermes and Lennox go to Italy to find Eros, so that he can take them to the realm of Hephaestus. Wonder Woman hopes Hephaestus will give them what they need in order to face Hades. The group travels to Mount Etna, where they are greeted by Hephaestus' labourers. Eros and Hephaestus explain that the labourers are in fact the discarded male children of the Amazons. Whenever Amazon children are born, the females are accepted while the males are thrown to sea. Hephaestus rescued them and raised them with love and care. One of the men is Diana's brother and Hippolyta and Zeus' son, Jason.
While in London, Wonder Woman was summoned to help a young lady called Zola from the minions of the goddess Hera and after Diana defeated the enemies, she was informed by Hermes that Zola was pregnant with Zeus’s child, which caused Hera’s wrath. Diana then took took Zola and the injured Hermes to the island of Themyscira, home of the Amazons, where Hera’s wrath reached them in the form of her daughter Strife. Wonder Woman used the Lasso of Truth to stop Strife from hurting the Amazons, but it caused her to reveal the fact that Diana and her were sisters. The next day, Diana learned from her mother that she was in fact Zeus’ daughter and, hurt by her existence being a lie, she decided to renounce the name Diana, and swore never to return to the island again.
Unfortunately, not long after Diana left, Hera came for her vengeance, and though she could not bring herself to kill Hippolyta, she could not forgive her either. Feeling regret at giving up the only real family she had, Wonder Woman returned to Themyscira to find the Amazons absent, and her mother turned to stone. Shortly after, Wonder Woman encountered Lennox, a man who claimed to be another of Zeus' bastard children. After learning that Zeus has gone missing, they confronted the Gods of Olympus, Poseidon and Hades, in order to prevent them from taking over Zeus’ throne. To prevent a war between gods, Diana proposed that the two brothers share Heaven with one ruling during the day, and the other at night. Hera angrily interceded, which was what Diana had planned, and using Hermes' staff she transported herself to Mount Olympus to face Hera alone. She warned that she would make Hera regret what she had done to her mother before returning to Earth. Unfortunately, by the time she had returned, Hades had kidnapped Zola with the warning that Diana would need to make good on her bargain or Zola and her child would die.
Preparing to get Zola back from Hades, Wonder Woman and her male companions sought out Eros in Italy. She hoped that he could lead them to Hephaestus, who might have been able to arm them appropriately for battle with the ruler of Hell. He lead them to Mount Etna, where the blacksmith agreed to arm them. As retribution for his aid, though, Hades sent a monster to kill them all, which had to be dispatched by Diana. Afterwards, Hephaestus armed Diana with new weapons, insisting that she take Eros' guns of love with her to Hell.
Upon arriving, Diana and Hermes found themselves under attack by Hades' minions. Though they fought them off, they were surprised to find that time for Zola had passed much more quickly than for them. Her pregnancy was nearly at the end of its term. When they attempted to leave with her, Hades appeared, warning that one of them must stay behind – and if Diana was unprepared to make Hera his wife as promised – she would do. However, upon Eros' pistols, he instead agreed to let them all go in exchange for them. When Diana's back was turned, he fired them at her, and she fell under love's spell to him.
Despite their displeasure at Diana's capture, Hephaestus was able to bring Lennox and Eros to Hades with him as guests to the wedding, without the aid of Hermes' staff. As the wedding drew nearer, Hades grew annoyed that few of his relatives had agreed to come. Diana's friends were the only attendees, aside from Strife, who merely wanted to cause her namesake emotion. Before the wedding ceremony took place, Hades insisted that Diana should prove her love by wearing his ring. The ring was a noose fashioned with the Lasso of Truth, and if Diana did not truly love him, he would kill her. It turns out, that she DID indeed, love him. She then still refused to marry Hades, even though she loved him. He sent all forces of Hell to kill her, but her friends struck back, and killed them all. Thinking they killed Hades, they celebrated. But in truth, Hades was healing and plotting a way to kill them all and marry his beloved ex-fiance. (I gotta stop here, or else my fingers will fall off.)