Wonder Girl's origin in the comics has been changed over the years to distance her from Wonder Woman and the Amazons, but initially at least, Donna Troy was magically enhanced to possess similar powers to those of the Amazon Princess herself. In her early incarnations, Donna Troy wore a similar costume to her adopted sisters, later modifying it to a red unitard festooned with stars that evoked Wonder Woman's outfit without mimicking it.
Although stories from the early 1960's about Wonder Woman in her teen years might technically qualify as the first appearance of Wonder Girl, the Donna Troy version of Wonder Girl is the most recognized and only appeared for the first time in 1965 in the pages of The Brave and the Bold #60. In this story, she fought along side the sidekicks of Batman, Aquaman and the Flash in a precursor to the team that would eventually be known as the Teen Titans.
Three Animated Adventures
In 1966, CBS aired The New Adventures of Superman. Part of the show was dedicated to six minute short adventures featuring different heroes from the DC Comics. The Teen Titans were featured in three segments, each of which included Wonder Girl. When the show was retooled into The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, the same three Titans adventures were reused, as they were when Aquaman had his own solo half hour show.
Live Action
During the first season of Wonder Woman, starring Linda Carter, a version of Wonder Girl made two guest appearances. Portrayed by Debra Winger, Wonder Girl was Diana's little sister Drusilla and wore a nearly identical outfit. She even changed from her civilian garb into her crime fighting togs by spinning around like her big sister, if somewhat less gracefully.
Winger was supposed to be involved in a spin-off Wonder Girl series, but she left the project before the show got off the ground. A second actress was under consideration to take up the role, but when Wonder Woman moved from ABC to CBS, the spin-off idea was scrapped entirely.
In 1993, Debra Winger was a guest on The Late Show with David Letterman. Letterman ribbed her about the role of Wonder Girl, but Winger got the last laugh when she whipped off her civilian clothes to reveal a Wonder Girl costume underneath and ran out of the studio, sending the audience into a frenzy of cheering and applause.
The Aborted Animated Series
With the popularity of the Super Friends series, a series revolving around the younger sidekicks of the Super Friends was considered. The Teen Titans was created in 1983 and would have shared a universe with the Super Friends, had ABC decided to pick the show up, which they did not. Since the regular team leader in the comics was Robin, who was part of the Super Friends series, Wonder Girl was to have served as the team's leader.
The character designs for the show did make it to air once though. In 1984, Nabisco sponsored an anti drug commercial which featured the Teen Titans, including Wonder Girl.
Surprisingly, the Wonder Girl character never appeared in the Teen Titans animated show that ran from 2003 to 2006, although a similar looking character did appear in the background of two episodes but never spoke.
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