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We see this played out in Wonder Woman’s media depictions. Starting with:

For many, Lynda Carter is Wonder Woman. In the book Wonder Woman Unbound: The Curious History of the World’s Most Famous Heroine, Tim Hanley explains how Carter was able to appeal to a wide audience of women and girls:

Carter played her dual role with the same contrast as the Marston years. Her Wonder Woman was vibrant and bright, a brave and confident heroine, while her Diana Prince was a meek and dowdy wallflower. Carter captured both sides well, especially in a scene where she explained her life in America to her sister, Drusilla. As Wonder Woman, she nobly declared, “If the Nazis win, the whole world would be subjected to slavery. I feel that by staying here, I can help in some small way towards preventing this catastrophe.” She then pulled the classic spin change, and in her Diana garb she giggled and said that working for the military “allows me to stay close to Steve…Major Trevor. I work for him.” Carter’s Wonder Woman focused on being a hero and her Diana was a doe-eyed gal in love with Steve.

Racism and bondage from the Golden Age comics were ignored and that made the show lack nuance. Hanley points out that the show erased any potential problems, making an ideal version of the character. Wonder Woman became the ultimate good and lacked any complexities of Marston’s tenure. However, that’s what made Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman a popular female role model. Also, helping other women was a huge part of the television show: whenever women were treated poorly by men, Wonder Woman would speak up on their behalf.

But it was made abundantly clear that there was only one Wonder Woman. Hanley sums up the television show nicely:

The TV show didn’t demonstrate the superiority of women but instead focused on the uniqueness of Wonder Woman herself. While liberal feminists looked to Wonder Woman as an inspiration for the traits they wanted to develop in themselves, the program made Wonder Woman an unattainable ideal, a role model that no woman could ever hope to match.

But the next time we see Wonder Woman as anything would only be in the animated DC Universe. She appeared in Super Friends, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, Young Justice, and a variety of other series for children. She also appeared in her own animated movie Wonder Woman (2009) which was released direct-to-video with a PG-13 rating in the United States. The story took its inspiration from the post “Crisis on Infinite Earths” storyline to unite the universes and start the DC Universe over from scratch. Keri Russell voiced Wonder Woman, Nathan Fillion was Steve Trevor, her love interest; and Rosario Dawson was Artemis, a fierce Amazon who frequently sparred and trained with Diana. The film received mostly positive reviews even with the brutality of the action scenes. Jordan Hoffman of UGO.com gave it a positive review, pointing out the fantastic dialogue and the mature use of feminist themes in relation to perceived chauvinism. Some pointed out that the beheading of human adversaries might have been unnecessary, but overall it lived up to its name.

Another noteworthy appearance is her role in Justice League: War (2014) voiced by Michelle Monaghan. Given a modern day costume considered less revealing than her original attire and a new attraction to Superman, her presence is considered one of the highlights of the movie. In the movie, she is introduced as the representative of the Amazons to the President of the United States. In one scene where she confronts protesters of her presence on American soil, she uses her famous lasso to help someone confront the truth about themselves:

Although these are all noteworthy accomplishments, the truth can still be a little disappointing. For example, we've noted the first theatrical film appearance of Wonder Woman came from The LEGO Movie in 2014. Though critically acclaimed, Wonder Woman voiced by Colbie Smulders has a small part which it isn’t live-action (for the most part). Her live-action debut would have to wait until Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 where she was portrayed by Gal Gadot.

But before we get to that, we need to talk about the failed 2011 television pilot:

Wonder Woman is a character known for her compassion and sense of justice. This portrayal was a subpar representation of the character that was so poorly received that it was not picked up by any network. While the changes to the outfit were minimal (wearing pants instead of shorts), one of the biggest criticisms was its use of the "Lasso of Truth". The Lasso was never used to magically compel anyone under dark pretenses. Such moments in comics have shown the Lasso fade away in Wonder Woman's hand, much like Thor being unable to lift his hammer Mjolnir because he was deemed unworthy. The scene above shows her using it to hurt someone and later, it is used to break someone’s arm. It’s only an just another weapon to hurt and destroy instead of helping to resolve a conflict quickly and (rarely) peacefully. This questionable enterprise was a far reach from the Wonder Woman of the 1970s. It was an unnecessarily gritty and dark rendition when Wonder Woman's origin should be about sisterhood and compassion.

The plot of the pilot was described as “a reinvention of the iconic DC Comic in which Wonder Woman – aka Diana Themyscira – is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A., but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman, trying to balance all the elements of her extraordinary life.” There are no references to her Amazonian heritage or to her mystical roots.

There was hope to be had in Gal Gadot's portrayal in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Though the plot is convoluted, Wonder Woman drives it forward, helping out Batman and even Superman later in the film. The actress portraying her, Gal Gadot has said “You know Wonder Woman; she’s amazing. I love everything that she represents and everything that she stands for. She’s all about love and compassion and truth and justice and equality, and she’s a whole lot of woman. For me, it was important that people can relate to her.”

Gal Gadot did a good job as Wonder Woman with the material she was given. She understands what Wonder Woman represents and tries to deliver on that. And later this year, in June, we FINALLY get a stand-alone live-action Wonder Woman movie.

In Time Magazine’s “Wonder Woman Breaks Through”, Eliana Dockterman shows us a brief history and ends with the following:

“That’s the age-old move to demean a powerful woman and put her back in her proper position: reduce her to her appearance.” That’s the paradox of Wonder Woman: It’s not only run-of-the-mill Internet trolls and zealous comic-book fans who take issue with her (or the actor who plays her). Some of Wonder Woman’s most ardent critics are the very people who desperately want to see more popular feminist icons but can’t ignore the ways in which the character falls short as an ambassador for women…When Warner Bros. premiered the first Wonder Woman trailer last July at Comic-Con, much of what flashed onscreen followed familiar beats: A bad guy arises with a terrible new weapon. The fate of humanity is threatened. A new hero suits up for battle. But then, something unexpected: Steve turns to Wonder Woman and says “I can’t let you do this.” She pauses and then calmly replies, “What I do is not up to you.” The rest of the trailer was completely drowned out by the sound of thousands of fans whooping for joy.

Whether it lives up to the Comic-Con reaction still remains to be seen, but if it does fail, DC Comic book movies will use the critical or box-office failure as the sole reason to delay further female-led franchises for a while. But even if a male-driven film fails, we will continue to see Batman after Superman after Batman after Batman after Batman reboot.

Wonder Woman had a fantastic opening and currently holds a 92% of the site Rotten Tomatoes with 91% of audiences liking it.

However, leading up to the film's release, there was not a lot of advertising for it. This is important to note as Suicide Squad and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice both had many commercials, billboards, and other advertisements. Shana O'Neil in SyfyWire points it out:

There was more advertising for Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that there has been for her standalone film. If you look at most film advertising, you'll notice that things ramp up about two months out from the release date. Think of any recent blockbuster film and you'll likely remember seeing trailer after trailer in the five to six weeks leading up to the film release. I don't know about you, but I definitely recall being ready to snap at the sheer volume of advertising I've seen for Wonder Bros./DC blockbuster films more than once over the last five years. Forbes' Erik Kain talked about the BvS trailer deluge five weeks out from the movie's release date. Suicide Squad had numerous trailers and ads (by their own official count, there are 30). Man of Steel shows another 19 videos.

Since the film debuted, it has shattered box office expectations and is on pace to be the top grossing live-action film by a female director and has generated more than $621 million worldwide with $1.28 billion in ticket sales, according to BBC News.

But it is not without problems. The country of Lebanon banned Wonder Woman because Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman herself) is an Israeli citizen and Lebanon has been in an official state of war for decades. According to Indiewire author Jim Quilty, "Lebanese law boycotts Israeli products, and bars Lebanese citizens from traveling to Israel or having contacts with its citizens." And though other Arab states are at war with Israel, it is so far the only one to ban the film.

The ban shows the workings of the state censor. Lebanon has political parties that have been sometimes more robust than the state itself and this has made the operation of the state censor unlike its counterparts elsewhere. The way it works is when they vet films, stage plays, or even print media, the rulings of the censor usually "hinge on preventing artists from offending the sensibilities of the polity's various interest groups" says Quilty in his article. What does this mean in practice? The censorship committee has been particularly sensitive to depictions of certain topics: religion, sexuality, and Israel.

Quilty continues:

The Wonder Woman ban happened because the censor heard from another interest group - the Lebanese chapter of the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of Israel. Speaking to AP on behalf of the CBSI, academic and activist Rania Masri said the boycott campaign is an expression of resistance to efforts to normalize relations with a state that is at war with Lebanon and occupies Palestinian land... A former Miss Israel who transitioned to modeling before acting, Gadot served her mandatory two-year military service. The media picked up on the actor's Facebook posts praising the Israeli military's 2014 operation in Gaza and sendin prayers to the soldiers "who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas."

While it's likely that her enthusiasm for the Gaza operation made some impression on the state of Lebanon, the film's Lebanon distributor told Reuters "They are not harming anyone by banning [Wonder Woman]... except the distributor. They are making the movie theatres lose, the employees, the Lebanese economy... What did they get out of this?"

There was a sizable number of movie tickets sold in advance of the ban as escapism is a hot commodity and the blockbuster is a reliable stock-in-trade in the country. Despite the ban, it has not stopped the film from dominating the box office. It's a good feminist movie, but in the United States, there are still issues of women not getting credit where credit is due.

Many noticed that a lot of the female creators/influences were absent from the thank yous in the credits from Gail Simone to Karen Berger (an editor), to even Elizabeth Marston and Olive Byrne (two women who helped influence William Moulton Marston's concept of Wonder Woman). Sam Riedel of Bitch Media explains:

The erasure of women and their labor extends beyond this particular circumstance, of course, but women in comics have deeper and additional problems—like getting work in the first place. DC and Marvel Comics, collectively referred to in the industry as the “Big Two,” put out 180 new comic books in March 2017, with a total of 1621 creators credited across those books, according to numbers collected by analyst Tim Hanley for Bleeding Cool. Of those creators, 279 were women, making up just 17.2 percent of both companies.

As for the comics, Riedel paints a realistic picture:

That’s distressing, because comics are a cultural barometer and predictor like no other. So what does it say that comics, especially superhero comics, exclude cis and trans women? Perhaps more than any other entertainment medium, comic book publishing reifies gendered divides that prioritize men’s empowerment. Everyone else is left with token representation, damaging our ability to see ourselves in the media we consume. For all these reasons and more, Wonder Woman is seen as a gust of fresh air, but the question remains: How long will women in comics have to hold their breath?

Wonder Woman is adored and adds a fresh take to the DCEU, something a lot of fans, both male and female alike have been waiting for. She stands as a testament to how receptive people can be to female-led stories and how women can be taken seriously in the Hollywood industry.