Her Hips Don't Lie

Superhero costumes are a subject not often passed around the dining room table when the subject of comic books come up, but everyone has their own opinion about them. Some people hate Superman's red underwear and some people like the tradition of them, some people like when Batman's all black and almost-black and some people like their Batman with more color than that. One of the most interesting progressions of superhero costumes has been DC Comic's Wonder Woman. Part of their main Trinity, representative for mythical characters, and founding mother of female superheroes. A cultural icon indeed, but you'd be amazed by how many people focus on the wrong part of her.

Wonder Undies

In 1942 Wonder Woman's costume included skin-tight shorts that covered her behind thoroughly to avoid the wrath of The Comics Code of Authority, but in 1970 the shorts were modified into the underwear she's become identified for today. Most incarnations of Wonder Woman wear this underwear and public opinion has varied. Some people find the underwear to leave too much of her legs exposed which would be dangerous for an up-close fighter like Diana, the argument also comes from the costume looking more like a swimsuit than battle armor. Characters like Batman and Superman get full costumes so haters of the undies find it sexist that Wonder Woman's most common costume is more revealing. The other side of the debate says the underwear and small costume is more of a distraction for male opponents and that less armor helps keep Diana agile, preventing the danger of being harmed. My opinion? Wonder Woman comes from a Greek mythology background so it's kind of unsurprising that her costume focuses on beauty instead of functionality. Whether she is an Amazon given life by the Gods or a Demigod she's obviously durable enough to wear clothes like these. Maybe I don't find it offensive because for as attractive as she's made to be Wonder Woman has never been oversexualized the same way characters like Harley Quinn and Power Girl have. In that instance I find her powerful and attractive, but not necessarily slutty and hot. It's the difference between your high school crush and the woman you call your wife, your best friend, and the mother of your children. Just in underwear.

Wonder Skirt

When she first appeared in 1941, Wonder Woman's costume had a skirt that went about half-way down her thighs and sported white stars. Because it was the first bottom-half the skirt evolved into the underwear we're familiar with. The dress skirt was part of the Greek Myth aesthetic of the costume as many Greek figures were shown wearing robes and other freely-moving clothing. The skirt only appeared back in the Golden Age and a few times in out-of-continuity stories like in Earth 2, "Superman: Red Son", and "Batman vs Superman: Yeah, I Told You It Would Suck". Though it is the least talked about-despite it having the same issues in combat the underwear had-it has returned as Wonder Woman's current look for DC Rebirth because of it's appearance on actress Gal Galdot in that flaming piece of crap I mentioned earlier. She's cool though. Maybe lift some weights. Again, there isn't much opinion on this one. My opinion is that it's probably the best bottom to use because it meets a compromise to people. Those who find Wonder Woman's butt to be offensive don't see it in the skirt and people who like Wonder Woman's legs still get a look at them. It's like getting your underwear, and eating them too. Wait. Oh, geez. Don't-I didn't-oh, forget it! Next!

Wonder Pants

In 2011, writer J. Michael Straczynski (the guy who made Spider-Man make a deal with the Devil and ruined Gwen Stacy's reputation) answered the prayers of Wonder Woman complainers by giving Wonder Woman pants! Ignore the leather jacket. She has pants! Jokes aside the pants have been an on-and-off thing for Wonder Woman, they're about the second most-used bottom and have an interesting history in art. You see in 2011 DC had their big New 52 reboot where over fifty characters got costume redesigns. Most were done by art legend Jim Lee. In all promotional covers Wonder Woman's New 52 costume had pants and no jacket, an excellent version for those who liked the pants. And I'm not just saying the pants were on Wonder Woman's first issue cover. They were on Justice League too. Basically every cover and image released with Wonder Woman in it had her in pants. This lead people to believe "alright, finally they're taking this seriously. They're finally giving some respect to Wonder Woman". When DC Comics announced a free preview for The New 52 online it included a collage of other New 52 covers. The Wonder Woman cover had her back in the underwear, as did every image shown of her in this preview book. And when the actual books came out (Wonder Woman and Justice League) the covers and internal art was edited to have her in the underwear. Given all the praise they got for the pants and the fact that they changed their minds at the last second there is no way this was a change made out of fear or fan demand. I hate to think this, but I think DC leading with the pants was a marketing trick. Everyone likes the pants so we'll make it seem like she's in them for good. They buy our books because they like the pants, but then we go back to the underwear because they're easier to draw, easier to remember, and easier to sell to teenaged boys. The company gets money and gets to continue their traditional ways while pants-fans get duped. Sigh. I could do an entire post about this incident alone, but for your benefit I'll continue this portion without that in mind. So people like the pants because they're a more respectful look to a female character, it also provides mobility and defense. There is really nothing wrong with the pants, I like them just fine. All they do is make me think of the underwear, but they still tie into the costume just fine. It's funny how the most "just fine" of these bottoms is the one people get so fired up about. I guess it's a matter of function versus homage. The future versus the way it's always been. And while the pants never really got justice, we can all take pride in those who called DC out on their trickery and hope the company listens more to their fans. And with the way DC Rebirth is going so far I can say with confidence DC at least has one ear off the ground.
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Which bottoms do you prefer? Why do you prefer them? Please comment here or on Facebook!