Diana Prince

The fictional career of Diana Prince evolved over the years, from the original Army nurse to becoming a military intelligence officer (promoted to higher ranks), then later a civilian employee, businesswoman, Astronaut, or staff member at the United Nations, etc. In the TV series Wonder Woman she was a WAVES yeoman in the 1940s. Although originally possessing the powers of Wonder Woman at all times, Diana Prince later lost the powers when in her secret identity, and during the 1960s, Wonder Woman lost her powers and functioned only as a non-powered Diana Prince in other adventures.

The real Diana Prince returned in September 1942, seeking out Wonder Woman. She asked for her identity back so that she could find work to help out her Inventor husband Daniel White and their infant child. Wonder Woman agreed, and even impersonated her, so her husband would not know she was getting a job, but soon after, Nazi spies kidnapped Diana and planned to ransom her for one of her husband's inventions, an Anti-Aircraft Disintegrator Shell. Wonder Woman discovered the mastermind behind it was Dr Cue, a developer of diseases and gases. Wonder Woman was tied up and placed in an oven, but escaped after pretending to be knocked out by gas. Diana Prince was taken to where the shells were being tested and fell from the plane bound hand and foot while Cue used a parachute as the shell had disintegrated the plane. Wonder Woman rescued Diana and unmasked Cue, revealing him as Colonel Togo Ku, Chief of Japanese spies in America. Wonder Woman rescued Dan White and apprehended the spies. When the invention proved successful, Diana Prince relinquished her legal name and began referring to herself by her married name Diana White, and Wonder Woman resumed using the Diana Prince identity.

The change coincided with the switch from longtime Editor Robert Kanigher (who had taken over writing for the character following the death of creator william Moulton Marston in 1947), to new Editor Dennis O'Neil in Wonder Woman #178 (dated October 1968). According to the new writer/artist Mike Sekowsky, the reason for the change was: "[T]he sales on the old WW were so bad that the book was going to be dropped. The new Wonder Woman was given a chance -- (a last chance for the book) and it worked!" Diana Prince gave herself a "mod" makeover in order to go undercover when Trevor was accused of being a double-agent. The following issue, the Amazons claimed they needed to leave this world for another dimension in order to "renew their magic", and Diana renounced her powers and Wonder Woman identity in order to remain with Steve. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor was kidnapped by the evil Doctor Cyber, international terrorist. During this adventure, Diana Prince met and befriended blind martial arts expert I Ching, who trained her in Asian martial arts, which Diana as a trained Amazon quickly mastered. When one of Cyber's henchwomen killed Trevor (in issue 180), Diana transitioned into working with Ching to bring down Cyber. Other adventures included sword-and-sorcery missions, supernatural villains, fighting militia sects, and helping people in trouble.

First written in the earliest Wonder Woman comics, Diana Prince's role was multifaceted. Unlike the Superman secret identity of Clark Kent, who was originally little more than a front for Superman's activities, and who adopted a passive "mild-mannered" persona to conceal his underlying strength, Prince's identity functioned both to position Wonder Woman so that she could learn of situations requiring her intervention and to allow the character to embody feminist and other ideals espoused by Charles Moulton. For Example, Diana Prince was originally a nurse and then an officer in military intelligence, starting in the typical woman's role of secretary but gradually earning more autonomy, including the authority to interrogate espionage suspects, eventually becoming an intelligence officer in her own right and, over the years, rising from Lieutenant to Major. Although Diana Prince was frequently told not to accompany Trevor at pivotal moments of adventures because it was "no place for a woman", Diana was actually the most competent person to tackle a crisis, whether by exercising her knowledge as Diana Prince or her power as Wonder Woman, riding with an all-girl cavalry of Etta Candy and the Beeta Lambda sorority. During the 1960s, Wonder Woman lost her powers and functioned exclusively as a non-powered Diana Prince who nonetheless experienced high adventure as a Modesty Blaise-type character.

The non-powered Diana Prince era ended as abruptly as it had started when Kanigher returned as Editor in Wonder Woman #204 (dated February 1973). A sniper terrorized New York City. He shot and killed a motorist, whose car crashed into a restaurant in which Diana and Ching were enjoying lunch. Ching was killed, and an enraged Diana set off to stop the sniper. Along the way, she suffered a head injury, and the dazed Diana started operating on subconscious urges that compelled her to steal a military aircraft and head for the Bermuda Triangle, where she crashed. When she woke up, she was suffering from amnesia, and she found herself on Paradise Island, where the Amazons restored as many of her memories as possible, although her time as a non-powered adventurer could not be restored completely. The restoration of the superpowered Wonder Woman was inspired, at least in part, by complaints from feminist advocate Gloria Steinem about the de-powering of the character.

The Lynda Carter TV series had a significant impact on the comic book. During the first season, DC Comics decided to set the comic book in World War II to match the series, using the parallel worlds conceit to explain that the Wonder Woman of Earth-One accidentally travelled both back in time and to a parallel world, where she encountered her multiversal counterpart. When the Earth-One Wonder Woman returned to the present day, the comic book remained behind in World War II to follow the adventures of that Wonder Woman. This experiment lasted a year, until the May 1978 issue returned to the present day. Once the comic returned to the present day, the comic art by José Delbo continued to reflect aspects of the TV series, notably the fashion-forward Diana Prince with a long ponytail, but mostly without the Clark Kent-esque glasses which became a feature of the TV series starting in the middle of the second season. From that point on, Diana would wear her glasses if she is either in her office or driving a car. Other aspects of the TV series, most notably the "Wonder spin" transformation and the convention that Diana Prince is powerless until she transforms into Wonder Woman, became incorporated in the 2005 restart of the comic book.

in 2005, during the Infinite Crisis storyline, Diana as Wonder Woman was forced to kill an unarmed civilian for the first time ever when deranged businessman/spymaster Maxwell Lord murdered Ted Kord (Blue Beetle II) and seized mental control of Superman, forcing him to brutally attack Batman. Under the influence of her lasso, Lord told her that the only way to stop him was to kill him; seeing no other alternative, she snapped his neck. The Brother Eye sentient computer satellite transmitted live video of Diana killing Lord to screens all over the world, destroying her reputation and even turning Superman and Batman against her. In the wake of the global hostility this act caused toward her, the Amazon went into a year's exile. This exile ended the viability of her initially intended mission of being an ambassador and Teacher of Amazon principles. Once she returned to public life, Diana realized that her life as a full-time Celebrity superhero and ambassador had kept her removed from humanity. Because of this she again donned the persona of Diana Prince and became an agent at the Department of Metahuman Affairs, where she was ordered to help capture Wonder Woman. During a later battle with Circe, the witch placed a spell on Diana leaving Wonder Woman powerless when in the role of Diana Prince.

In 2011, David E. Kelley wrote a Wonder Woman pilot for NBC that was never picked up to be on the air. The story takes place in modern-day Los Angeles, and the character, played by Adrianne Palicki, would have three identities: Wonder Woman (a superhero who fights crime), Diana Themyscira (Wonder Woman's public persona outside of costume, who is a successful businesswoman and owner of Themyscira Industries) and Diana Prince (an ordinary shy woman, the other assistant of Diana Themyscira). The Diana Prince identity would have been used to allow Diana some escape from her more recognized role as Diana Themyscira and Wonder Woman.

The first effort at a pilot presentation for a television series was based on a comedic conceit that the homely Diana Prince saw herself as a gorgeous Amazon whenever she becomes Wonder Woman—although no one else sees such a change in her looks.

This character is portrayed by Gal Gadot in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It marks the first theatrical appearance of Diana as well as the first live action theatrical appearance of her Amazonian superhero counterpart, with a new image. She later received her own film in 2017, which depicts the Diana Prince identity as a curator of antiquities at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The name is referenced in the film as Steve Trevor forms it to cut off Diana from fully saying "Diana, Princess of Themyscira" in an effort to form a secret identity for her.