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| “Wonder Woman” (2011) – Wonder Woman (Adrianne Palicki) |
Read on to find out which actress wore the best Wonder Woman costume. Next year a brand new Wonder Woman movie is being released and it features yet another new costume. Since her first appearance in 1941 Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, has appeared in dozens of live-action movies and TV shows.
Some costumes have been great. Some have been awful. Read on to find out the best and worst live-action Wonder Woman costumes of all time.
13. Ellie Wood Walker in “Wonder Woman” (1967)
Actor: Ellie Wood Walker
Costume Designer:
In 1967, a pilot was partially filmed for a Wonder Woman show. The episode was called “Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?”. The show was supposed to capture the campy feel of the popular “Batman” show starring Adam West.
Diana was played by Ellie Wood Walker (“Easy Rider”) and has powers from the Greek gods. But she suffers from delusion. When she looks in the mirror she thinks that she’s a beautiful woman in her Wonder Woman costume played by Linda Harrison (Planet of the Apes) in the mirror.
It has an ill-fitting skirt, top and pathetic tiara. It’s from an unproduced pilot so it probably doesn’t represent what the final costume would look like but it’s a poorly designed and intentionally goofy disaster.
12. Jim Parsons in “The Big Bang Theory” (2010)
Actor: Jim Parsons
Costume Designer: Mary T. Quigley
It’s not just women dressing as Wonder Woman. In the season three episode “The Wheaton Recurrence”, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) loses a bowling game to Wil Wheaton and his team. His punishment? He has to dress up as Wonder Woman and show up at the comic book store.
Besides the fact that it’s a dude the costume itself is terrible. Baggy and ill-fitting. It’s probably intentional though.
11. Cathy Lee Crosby in “Wonder Woman” (1974)
Actress: Cathy Lee Crosby
Costume Designer: Jerry Herrin
This made-for-tv movie cast Wonder Woman as an international troubleshooter. The designer Kerry Herron had also worked on “The Bionic Woman”, the “Dr. Strange” TV-movie, and “Blade Runner”. The costume ditches the tiara and bikini. Instead, it features a star-spangled pants suit with knee-high boots. In the age of feminism, it was a conscious move away from the costume some considered misogynistic.
But the year before the first issue of “Ms” magazine featured the superhero on its cover with the caption Wonder Woman for president. It cemented her place as a feminist icon. The movie was less received and got dismal ratings.
10. Kaley Cuoco in “The Big Bang Theory” (2010)
Actor: Kaley Cuoco
Costume Designer: Mary T. Quigley
This time Penny wears the iconic uniform. In the season four episode “The Justice League Recombination” the group is headed to the local comic book shop to compete in the New Year’s Eve costume contest. Penny has to fill in as Wonder Woman to complete the group when Amy and Bernadette drop out. At first she
It’s clearly supposed to be a fan made costume and is very simple. It has all the basic requirements of a costume but is pretty boring.
9. Erica Durance in “Smallville” (2010)
Actress: Erica Durance
Costume Designer: Melanie Williams
Erica Durance played young Lois Lane in the prequel television series “Smallville”. In episode “Warrior”, Lois goes to the Metropolis WonderCon wearing a costume clearly inspired by the Amazonian warrior. Durance wears a Grecian outfit with bracelets, lasso, and tiara. Although Wonder Woman wasn’t established as a hero in that world so they kind of fudged it.
It’s a strong look and Durance really makes it work. But it’s a little too busy and doesn’t have the iconic eagle on the chest.
8. Erica Durance in “Harry’s Law” (2012)
Actress: Erica Durance
Costume Designer: Lisa Eisler
Durance got to wear the costume again in a short-lived comedy legal show. Durance guest-starred in the episode “Gorilla My Dreams” as Annie Billson. She’s a vigilante who likes to dress up in a Wonder Woman costume to fight domestic abuse.
It’s pretty faithful in terms of colors and style. It has the eagle on the chest and the tiara. The most notable change is she’s wearing pants instead of a skirt or bikini bottom. This matches the style of the 1990s when her costume went through a drastic redesign thanks to Jim Lee And Adam Hughes. Since Billson isn’t supposed to be a seamstress it intentionally looks like an off-the-shelf Wonder Woman costume. But it’s a good one.
7. Adrianne Palicki in “Wonder Woman” (2011)
Actress: Adrianne Palicki
Costume Designer: Donna Casey-Aira
In the early part of this decade, WB produced a pilot for a planned Wonder Woman TV series. Adrianne Palicki plays Wonder Woman as a savvy businesswoman without a secret identity. It reflects a more modern take on the character and her costume matches that style.
It’s functional and relatively modest although it does feature an…ample bustier to be kind. But at least she’s wearing pants. There are two versions used for the pilot: one with blue boots and another with red. Both are well-done but not too faithful to the classic image.
6. Adrianne Palicki in “Wonder Woman” (2011)
Actress: Adrianne Palicki
Costume Designer: Donna Casey-Aira
Later in the pilot episode, Palicki wears a more comic book accurate version of the costume. She has a similar top but her pants have been replaced by the typical style costume. It shows her accepting her role more as a superhero.
5. Gal Gadot in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016)
Actress: Gal Gadot
Costume Designer: Michael Wilkinson
Gal Gadot plays the warrior amazon in “Batman v Superman”. At first, she’s just Diana Prince but she soon literally drops into the fight. One of the biggest change to the costume is a sword and shield which had made an appearance in the comics.
The costume has a strong resemblance to Nicola Scott’s DC Rebirth costume which included armor and historically accurate styling. It’a good design and helps the character shake off the criticism of sexism in her costume design.
4. Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman” (2017)
Actress: Gal Gadot
Costume Design: Lindy Hemming
Wonder Woman’s costume in her solo movie matches the style of the Batman v Superman design but has brighter colors. While Hemming took inspiration from Wilkinson’s costume design she made it her own. She studied Ancient Greece and Roman designs and “places where there had been societies run by women: queens and warriors.”
It a powerful and fierce costume design.
3. Lynda Carter in “The New Adventures of Wonder Woman” (1977)
Actress: Lynda Carter
Costume Designer: Donfeld, Lennie Barin
In 1974 24-year old Linda Carter was cast as Diana Prince aka Wonder Woman.
When ABC dropped the ball on renewing the show it was picked up by CBS and rebranded. Besides the new name, the show was moved from the 1940s to modern day 1975. Carter returned as Wonder Woman in a slightly different costume. The new Wonder Woman costume is based on the design from season one but features a slightly different look. There are fewer white stars on the pants, which are also cut higher to accentuate her legs. Instead of a golden eagle pattern on the bustier, it’s replaced with golden streaks that resemble eagle wings. Her bracelets are now gold instead of grey.
This design is more faithful to the comics but it’s the previous season costume design that’s used by cosplayers more often.
2. Gal Gadot in “Wonder Woman 1984” (2019)
Actress: Gal Gadot
Costume Design: Lindy Hemming
For the second Wonder Woman movie, the costume gets another upgrade. It’s bold, brash and powerful. Plus the brighter colors inspire hope. Since the movie is set in the 1980s it fits.
1. Lynda Carter in “Wonder Woman” (1975)
Actress: Lynda Carter
Costume Designer: Donfeld
ABC marketed “Wonder Woman” as a female version of Adam West’s “Batman” thanks to some of the same creators as that campy 60s TV show. That campiness worked in it’s favor since there was no attempt to make her more “realistic”. They embraced the comic books instead of denying them.
The costume was designed by Donfeld. She sports an incredibly accurate costume from the comics. It has all the accents and lines of the traditional costume while still looking modern. Plus the outfit flatters the ample curves of the Hispanic actress.
Even today it’s still the most faithful and inspiring Wonder Woman costume ever created for film or television.
Which is your favorite Wonder Woman costume and why?
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