At the New York Comic Con presentation for the animated Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, screenwriter Mairghread Scott commented on the iconic hero's sexuality, saying, "I've always thought of Wonder Woman as bisexual because in the comics I came up with, she was bisexual." Indeed, Scott isn't the first person to write Diana of Themyscira as bisexual. Gal Gadot, who starred as Wonder Woman in the live-action films, spoke to the contextual logic of Diana's bisexuality, while comics writer Greg Rucka famously placed the hero's bisexuality front and center.
In many respects, Wonder Woman may be the first bisexual superhero. Her bisexuality has been either implicit or explicit over the decades, and only now, in recent times, has this been given both a name and direct manifestation in art.
Let's work backward. Greg Rucka, in 2016, wrote the DC Rebirth relaunch of Wonder Woman, which placed Diana's bisexuality front and center in the comic. When asked leading up to the book's relaunch about Diana's sexuality, Rucka explained the decision to put her sexuality at the forefront.
"It’s supposed to be paradise. You’re supposed to be able to live happily. You’re supposed to be able -- in a context where one can live happily, and part of what an individual needs for that happiness is to have a partner -- to have a fulfilling, romantic and sexual relationship. And the only options are women...But an Amazon doesn’t look at another Amazon and say, 'You’re gay.' They don’t. The concept doesn’t exist."
This is further reinforced in the text when Diana is presented courting the Amazon Kasia on Themyscira, further confirming that, yes, Wonder Woman is attracted to genders like and unlike her own.
In response to this, Gal Gadot, when discussing the then-upcoming film Wonder Woman, discussed the possibility of a queer Diana.
"It’s not something we’ve explored [in the film]. It never came to the table, but when you talk theoretically about all the women on Themyscira and how many years she was there, then what he said makes sense. In this movie she does not experience any bisexual relationships. But it’s not about that. She’s a woman who loves people for who they are. She can be bisexual. She loves people for their hearts."
However, even Rucka in his interview acknowledges that he didn't create the concept of bisexuality in Themyscira.
"This is inherently the problem with Diana: we’ve had a long history of people -- for a variety of reasons, including sometimes pure titillation, which I think is the worst reason -- say, 'Ooo. Look. It’s the Amazons. They’re gay!'"
Indeed, the topic of marriage on Themyscira has been discussed previously in the comics. Wonder Woman has acknowledged that marriage exists on Themyscira, despite there being only women. No one ever batted an eye at this. While not directly proving Wonder Woman is bisexual, it has indicated that feelings towards women on Themyscira is normal.
In the New 52, Hippolyta, Diana's mother, dates Derinoe, an Amazon. She also, in the New 52 canon, conceives Diana after mating with Zeus himself. This interest in both men and women -- with her forming different romantic and sexual relationships over the years, establishes her firmly as bisexual. This bisexuality is reinforced when, in Rebirth, she is in a same-sex relationship with General Philippus.
Still, all this ignores that Wonder Woman's love interest is Steve Trevor. Many used this as proof that Diana couldn't be a lesbian, but a woman being attracted to a man doesn't negate their bisexuality. It just means they aren't only attracted to the same sex.
Even dating back to the 80s, Wonder Woman has been written as accepting and loving towards the LGBTQA community. In the Post-Crisis Wonder Woman Annual #1, we see the brother of Diana's publicist, Myndi Mayer, come out to talk about how Mayer accepted him for being gay, despite the rest of his family mistreating him. This shows that Wonder Woman is associated with love and acceptance.
But this is tertiary queerness. Why is it that Wonder Woman was so intrinsically linked to bisexuality? To answer that, we need to return to the character's beginnings.
For decades, Wonder Woman has been an icon of feminism. However, many readers read into the queer subtext of Themyscira, again, for the reasons mentioned above. During the paranoia surrounding comics in the 50s, many "experts" in child psychology feared exposure to comics would turn children into homosexuals, citing both the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson and the relationships between the Amazons as proof of homo-erotic subtext.
These readers would feel even more validated with this queer reading of Wonder Woman after coming to understand the life of her creator, Professor William Moulton Marston.
Marston, more famous for his invention of the lie-detector test, created Wonder Woman as an embodiment of love and feminine power. He believed society mocked and belittled women. By creating Diana of Themyscira, he believed he could turn the elements that men mocked about women and turn them into a strength. To turn Diana into a loving being who showed love and affection to everyone.
To love those like and unlike yourself romantically is a form of bisexuality.
Moulton incorporated sexuality throughout the early issues of Wonder Woman -- most notably his interest in domination and bondage, as seen with Diana's metal bracelets and lasso. However, Marston himself was in a polyamorous relationship with two women, his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston and their partner Olive Byrneboth, of whom he drew from when creating Diana. Even after Professor Marston passed, Elizabeth and Olive remained together.
This is the part of the story many people forget. It is uncertain if William Marston was bisexual. Polyamorous, yes, and in love with women, certainly, but his sexuality remains a topic of debate. What is not up for debate, however, is that Elizabeth loved both her husband and their partner, while Olive, again, remained in a relationship with her two partners. This offers pretty substantial evidence that the two inspirations behind Wonder Woman were bisexual.
And, in many ways, this ties in with the core of Wonder Woman's character. She is the Spirit of Truth, a person who loves unconditionally, who tries to understand all around her. These tenants of the character are as true today as they were in 1941. If there is any character who can hold the title of the first bisexual superhero, it is Diana of Themyscira.
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