Rejoice, Wonder Woman fans and, we assume, the many future Wonder Woman fans who are going to want to get in on this news. Yesterday, in an interview with Comicosity, Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka took a detailed look at iconic Amazon's sexuality in the DC Rebirth relaunch, and his discussion is inspiring. Though there have been many interpretations of Wonder Woman/Diana Prince's origin story, the warrior princess is usually always known to have grown up on the island of Themyscira, with her first known love interest being soldier Steve Trevor.
However, with Themyscira - aka Paradise Island - being populated only with women, there's been some speculation about what might have been going on before Steve came along (and you know, all the actual lesbian erotica involved doesn't hurt). While that's always gone unconfirmed, in Rucka and artist Nicola Scott's Wonder Woman #2, we finally get a pretty solid look at Wonder Woman's relationships with other women - and yes, they are canonically romantic.
When asked if Wonder Woman identifies as queer, which was defined in this circumstance as, "involving, although not necessarily exclusively, romantic and/or sexual interest toward persons of the same gender," Rucka had an immediate answer. It's lengthy, but it's definitely worth a read.
"Yes. I think it’s more complicated though. 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!” And when you start to think about giving the concept of Themyscira its due, the answer is, “How can they not all be in same sex relationships?” Right? It makes no logical sense otherwise.
"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. Now, are we saying Diana has been in love and had relationships with other women? As Nicola and I approach it, the answer is obviously yes."
Rucka also addressed the inclusion of the Steve Trevor relationship and how, in this update, it impacts her narrative as a whole for the better.
"It needs to be yes for a number of reasons. But perhaps foremost among them is, if no, then she leaves paradise only because of a potential romantic relationship with Steve [Trevor]. And that diminishes her character. It would hurt the character and take away her heroism. When we talk about agency of characters in 2016, Diana deciding to leave her home forever — which is what she believes she’s doing — if she does that because she’s fallen for a guy, I believe that diminishes her heroism. She doesn’t leave because of Steve. She leaves because she wants to see the world and somebody must go and do this thing. And she has resolved it must be her to make this sacrifice."
So, there you have it. Wonder Woman is officially a queer character, at least in this current DC Rebirth series, and we're so happy to see this thoughtful, positive explanation from the writer at the helm. We're also thrilled to apply his logic to all DC Cinematic Universe material in which Wonder Woman will be heavily featured as part of the Justice League and then in her own stand-alone film. You can check out the trailer for that here:
Who knew it was possible to love Wonder Woman more? More queer superheroes in the future, please!
