The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

Every Wonder Woman Adaptation Ranked from Worst to Best


The Wonder Woman movie is coming to us soon and it really has been a long time coming. Compared to Batman, Superman and even much lesser known male heroes, Wonder Woman hasn’t appeared in very many adaptations. She’s only had one show focused solely on her and sadly hasn't even gotten an animated series to call her own. However, she’s appeared in several ensemble series as a major character and even with such scant media appearances, she’s made a huge impact on pop culture.

So let’s take a look at all the tv show and movie adaptations of Wonder Woman so far and rank them from worst to best. To keep things simple, we’re going to limit these to shows and movies where Wonder Woman has played a starring role at least briefly (as in she’d had episodes or extended sequences where she could qualify as a “main” character), so bits like her cameos in Young Justice or The Lego Movie don’t count. Video games have also been kept out of the mix because things would just get too lengthy and confusing.

What did these adaptations do wrong and what did they do right? We’ll discuss this as we go through the list and hope that the upcoming movie learns the right lessons and ends up high on the list! 

  1. Wonder Woman in Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?

    Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince? was the first attempt to adapt Wonder Woman to other media and sadly (and somewhat ominously) it was kind of the worst thing ever. This unaired 1967 television pilot was an attempt to do a more comical take on Wonder Woman in the vein of the Adam West Batman show. The final product was utterly banal and had very little in common with the hard-hitting superheroine.

    The short focused on “Diana Prince” (known to fans as Wonder Woman’s civilian identity) who was a mousy “plane jane” played by Ellie Wood Walker. Most of pilot is Diana being berated by her mother for not having a boyfriend, which is a total joy to watch, as you can imagine.

    Then when her mother leaves the room, Diana admires her reflection in the mirror and tranforms into a completely different person (played by Linda Harrison) who posed all sexily while “You Beautiful Doll” plays. This is supposed to be Wonder Woman. After strutting around a bit, she flies out of the window.

    This version of Wonder Woman has nothing to do with being empowering or fighting crime and is reduced to being a “sexy” alter ego. All this pilot episode cares to let you know about her is she’s hot and can fly. That really misses the point of Wonder Woman. Thankfully, they ditched this and went with the more true-to-the-source-material Lynda Carter show.

  2. Wonder Woman in the unaired Wonder Woman 2011 TV Pilot

    Like Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?, this is a pilot for a TV show that never made it to air, but it’s still notable enough to included. Wonder Woman is played by Adrianne Palicki in this version. She at least looks like Wonder Woman, has her powers and is more than just a sexy fever dream...but other than that, everythingis awful and wrong.

    Wonder Woman in this pilot is a thoroughly unpleasant person, not at all like the compassionate hero she’s supposed to be. She tortures a guy for information despite having, you know, A LASSO THAT PAINLESSLY GETS PEOPLE TO TELL THE TRUTH. She’s constantly angry and she is unnecessarily brutal while manhandling ordinary people. In her civilian identity of Diana Prince, all she does is watch sappy movies and mope and moan over her ex-boyfriend, Steve Trevor. So empowering! There really isn’t a single likeable or compelling thing about this Wonder Woman, so it’s not surprising the show didn’t get picked up.

  3. Wonder Woman in the Wonder Woman 1974 TV Film

    The second attempt at a live-action Wonder Woman was almost as bad as the first, though at least she wasn’t just eye candy in this version. The 1974 made-for-TV movie had Wonder Woman played by Cathy Lee Crosby. She’s pretty much not at all recognizable as the hero from the comics. She doesn't have her trademark costume, she was blonde, she had no powers and she uses a utility belt. What’s more, the movie was painfully boring, including such thrilling sequences as “Wonder Woman chases a donkey”. Again, it’s a good thing they ditched this and went with the Lynda Carter show instead.

  4. Wonder Woman in The Brady Kids

    Believe it or not, Wonder Woman’s first appearance on television is on a cartoon based on The Brady Bunch. This version of the Amazing Amazon was voiced by Jane Webb and appeared in a 1972 epiode of TheBrady Kids cartoon called “It’s All Greek to Me”.

    The appearance wasn’t really anything notable. She showed off her braininess in her “Diana Prince” identity, then saved the day as Wonder Woman and taught the Brady Kids that both a healthy mind and body are important for any hero. It’s a generic little appearance, but there’s nothing offensive about it either. 

  5. Wonder Woman in Super Friends

    Super Friends is an iconic superhero cartoon whose various incarnations ran from 1973-1986. Wonder Woman was big feature in all of them and she was voiced by Shannon Farmon, Connie Caulfield and B.J. Ward.  This version of Wonder Woman was many people’s introduction to the character and alongside the Lynda Carter show, it’s largely responsible for making Wonder Woman a big part of mainstream pop culture.

    The show does a good job showing off Wonder Woman’s heroic nature, but like pretty much all the characters on the show, “heroic” is really the extent of her personality. The characters in Superfriends are all fairly interchangeable aside from their powers. 

  6. Wonder Woman in Justice League Action

    Wonder Woman is one of the main characters in the Justice League Action cartoon, where she’s voiced by Rachel Kimsey. The show started in 2016 and is still going. Justice League Action’s Wonder Woman is confident, snarky and fun- but there’s also not a lot to her, something which can be said for most of the characters on the show.

    Justice League Action lives up to its name- the main defining trait of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman on the show is that they really like punching things. There’s not much else. The only things I can really say about this Wonder Woman are that she's presented as being a little more bloodthirsty than I’m comfortable with and she’s occasionally shown as someone who has a hard time being compassionate towards bad guys, which is pretty annoying considering “compassion” and “reforming bad guys” has been a big part of Wonder Woman’s character from her creation. The show also focuses a lot on having her flirt with Superman, while I’d rather see a wider range of relationships developed for the character.

  7. Wonder Woman in DC Superhero Girls

    Wonder Woman is a main character in the web series DC Superhero Girls, which started in 2015 and is still going. She’s voiced by Grey Delisle. This version of Wonder Woman is a high school student who attends the superhero academy. She’s shown to be very confident and also a little competitive. She’s presented as a natural-born leader who takes being a superhero very seriously and is very good at it. The show is clearly aimed at very young children, so it can be hard to get into, but the show’s take on Wonder Woman is both accurate and likable, even if it’s not super complex.

  8. Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

    Gal Gadot’s appearance in the 2016 Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice movie as Wonder Woman was considered the highlight of it by many. Her fight scenes were awesome and she just came off as cool and badass all around.

    However, her screen time was painfully short, so we just don’t know that much about her yet. The fact that she apparently gave up on humanity in the past kind of raises a red flag- if they want to sell me on a Wonder Woman who gives up, they’re going to have to do a really good job. But maybe they will!

    All in all, her introduction was compelling, but mostly remains to be seen how good the DC Extended Universe version of Wonder Woman will be. Fingers crossed for the Wonder Woman movie!

  9. Wonder Woman in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited

    A lot of fans are familiar with Wonder Woman from the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited cartoons that ran from 2001-2006. This version of Wonder Woman was voiced by Susan Eisenberg. They got the “badass” part of Wonder Woman down for this version- she was a real warrior woman who kicked tons of ass. She also wasn’t a flat character, as some episodes focused on her struggles and flaws.

    However, I can’t fully get behind this version of Wonder Woman. While in many of the episodes she was great, in other episodes the show had a tendency to reduce the complexities of the character and make her more an “angry feminist” stereotype.  She was often set up as the “straw feminist” who was essentially there to be proven wrong.

    There was an episode where all the men vanished and she scoffed that they weren’t really that essential, but then she “learned her lesson” when she found out a man-hating Amazon was responsible for all the chaos. Another episode showed her being overly brutal with criminals and also scoffing at women for wearing make-up and other impractical things (which is rich coming from a woman fighting in high heels). This sort of presentation of the character goes against the very reason Wonder Woman was created. She's supposed to be a champion of equality, not a man-hater who needs to be taught a lesson and she’s supposed to be someone who empowers other women, not tears them down.

  10. Wonder Woman in Batman: The Brave and the Bold

    Wonder Woman made a few starring appearances in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon from 2008-2011, where she was voiced by Vicki Lewis. This version of Wonder Woman is a total homage to the one in old-school comics and it captures that version of the character beautifully. She kicks butt, quips, saves her boyfriend Steve Trevor constantly and is overall just a joy to watch. She’s lively and heroic without being flat and boring. It's too bad she didn't get much in the way of appearances or focus or she would be a lot higher on the list. 

  11. Wonder Woman in the 2008 Wonder Woman animated movie

    Wonder Woman was given a stand-alone animated direct-to-DVD movie where she was voiced by Keri Russell. This was a good version of Diana as far as her personality and battle prowess go. She was presented as being fun, awesome, justice-loving, inspiring, and force to be reckoned with. She had a great sense of humor, she inspired little girls and didn't let anyone mess with her. Her backstory and origin were also explored in a satisfying way.

    But while Diana herself was great, the story didn’t do her justice. While she wasn’t made quite the straw-feminist stereotype she sometimes was in the Justice League cartoon, there was still a bit of an “Diana needs to learn men are not so bad” storyline, which was incredibly boring and just seemed to be there because the male writer felt somehow diminished and defensive writing this female character who... *gasp*.... doesn’t need men to survive! The fact that Steve Trevor was presented as Diana’s near equal in combat, despite being a normal dude with zero superpowers who Diana rescued all the time in the original version, sort of reinforces this feeling.

    Also like Justice League, there were scenes that felt the need to tear other women down to build Diana up, like where Etta Candy (Diana’s best friend and stalwart ally in the classic comics) appears just to be a snooty rival who dislikes Diana and acts weak so Diana can show her up. Again, way to miss the point.

  12. Wonder Woman in the 1975 Wonder Woman TV Show/The New Adventures of Wonder Woman

    This may be the most well-known adaptation of Wonder Woman and it’s certainly the one that had the most impact on pop culture. Lynda Carter starred as Wonder Woman starred in a TV show that lasted from 1975 to 1979. Seasons 2 and 3 were called The New Adventures of Wonder Woman.

    This version of Wonder Woman still impacts and influences the character to this day. The show may be campy and dated in many ways, but Lynda Carter cast a dashing heroic figure. Her Wonder Woman reflected the one in the comics at the time pretty well, but also did its own thing. WW was all about truth and justice and her adventures were fun to watch. So regardless of how dated it is, the show deserves a high spot on the list for being so iconic and influential. 

  13. Wonder Woman in Justice League: The New Frontier

    Wonder Woman appeared in the 2008 animated direct-to-DVD movie adaptation of Darwyn Cooke’s Justice League: The New Frontier, where she was voiced by Lucy Lawless. This is definitely one of my favorite versions of Wonder Woman.She’s tall, she’s strong, she’s badass and she’s not afraid to break the rules and rock the boat when it comes to helping other women and getting justice.

    She conflicts with Superman on how he does things and is totally willing to call him out. When she sees a group of women captured and abused by war lords, she sets them free and stands aside while they take vengeance on their captors. Superman doesn’t approve, but she maintains that the women should be free to strike back at those who murdered their families and abused them. She points out to Superman that the country he stands with is allowing innocent people to be hurt and refuses to stand with the US government anymore because of it.

    Showing Wonder Woman with a nuanced political viewpoint that differs from Superman and Batman’s really makes her character distinctive and gives her complexity. The narrative doesn’t say who’s right or wrong, but it presents her point of view as an equal and valid one. New Frontier Wonder Woman is strong in her convictions and sticks to her own beliefs and principles, but she also has some nice shades of gray in her morality that make her compelling.  I wish we could have seen more of her- the fact that her appearances are so short is the only reason she’s not number one on the list. 

  14. Wonder Woman in the DC Animated Universe Movies

    Wonder Woman has appeared in several direct-to-DVD animated movies involving the Justice League, ranging from 2009 to the present. These include Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths and Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox (where she’s voiced by Vanessa Marshall), Superman/Batman: Apocalypse and Justice League: Doom (where she’s voiced by Susan Eisenberg), JLA Adventures: Trapped in Time (where she’s voiced by Grey Delisle), Justice League: War (where she’s voiced by Michelle Monaghan) and Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, Justice League vs Teen Titans and Justice League Dark (where she’s voiced by Rosario Dawson).

    These films all appear to take place in roughly the same universe, so it’s easiest to group them together. I’ve put this number one on the list because Wonder Woman’s appearances in these movies are probably the closest things you’ll find to her modern comics incarnation and they do a good job showing the wide range of her character. She’s shown to be an amazing warrior and incredible leader. She has some of the best fight scenes in the movies and can coordinate her teammates effectively. But we also see her softer side and the compassion that drives her with scenes of her bonding with a little girl over ice cream and so on. There are even some scenes where she deals with prejudice and advocates for social change (like when she deals with an angry crowd who call her misogynist insults) and the stories don’t present her as an in-the-wrong angry feminist stereotype during these moments. It’s not perfect, but many of these movies seem to have a solid grasp of her character.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Fandoms and Lists page.