Wonder Woman: How Film and TV Adaptations Moved the Comics Market

Wonder Woman is one of DC's three pillars, alongside Superman and Batman. Created by William Moulton Marston (writer) and Harry G. Peter (artist), she first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), before headlining Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942) and her own solo title, Wonder Woman vol.1 #1 (1942), which ran all the way to #329 in 1986. Since her creation, Diana of Themyscira has spanned every era of the medium — Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Modern Age — adapting to each one.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: eBay medians from our estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) and sale records documented by Heritage Auctions, CGC, and GoCollect. An important warning: the eBay tool returns only 5 listings for "Wonder Woman #1" — too thin for a reliable median — and that signal is dominated almost entirely by cheap copies of George Perez's 1987 relaunch (vol.2), not the 1942 Golden Age original. These two issues could not be more different in value and must never be conflated.

Key issues and current values (June 2026)

All-grades eBay medians reflect the majority of low-grade copies in circulation. For Golden Age grails, documented auction results are the authoritative reference.

Record sources: Heritage Auctions, CGC News, GoCollect, Overstreet 2023. eBay medians: mycomicscollection.com estimator, June 2026.

1975: The Lynda Carter TV series — a first cultural catalyst

Broadcast on ABC from 1975 to 1979 (later CBS), the series starring Lynda Carter cemented Wonder Woman in the popular imagination for a generation. Strong ratings prompted ABC to order additional episodes after the pilot TV movie aired on November 7, 1975. On the comics side, the effect was primarily cultural: the show helped maintain the character's visibility during a difficult period for the title's sales. Some elements of the adaptation — including the signature spinning transformation, which was Carter's own idea — fed back into the comics themselves. The speculative comic book market as we know it did not yet exist in the late 1970s; no documented price record changes are available for the 1975–1979 period.

2017: Patty Jenkins' film — the real market shock

Released in June 2017, Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot grossed $824 million worldwide against a $149 million budget, earning a 93% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For the comics market, the effect was both documented and significant. GoCollect recorded a jump of 40 to 60 % across all grades on Wonder Woman key issues that year. The most striking example: a copy of All Star Comics #8 in CGC 9.0 sold for approximately $411,000 in 2017 — unprecedented for that issue at the time — before the same title reached $1.62 million for a CGC 9.4 at Heritage Auctions in June 2022, a record for any comic primarily sought for its connection to a female superhero. Demand also extended to Sensation Comics #1, whose CGC 9.6 copy brought $399,100 at Heritage in 2017.

For more accessible Wonder Woman vol.1 issues, our eBay estimator shows stable medians around €9 (WW #7: 96 listings; WW #98: 63 listings; WW #204: 28 listings), reflecting the low-grade copies that dominate the mass market. The anniversary issue #200 comes in at a median of €22 across 22 listings — slightly more sought-after. These modest levels confirm that 2017's film-driven speculation mostly benefited Golden Age grails, not common run issues.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020): a sequel hurt by the pandemic

Wonder Woman 1984, released on December 25, 2020 simultaneously in theatres and on HBO Max, grossed approximately $170 million worldwide against a $200 million budget. The Covid-19 pandemic and the simultaneous streaming release severely limited its theatrical impact. No comparable surge in Wonder Woman comic values was documented around the release of WW1984 — the film's weak box-office performance and the speculative market saturation of the era both help explain the absence of any measurable effect.

Wonder Woman vol.2 #1 (1987, Perez): do not confuse it with the 1942 grail

George Perez's 1987 relaunch — Wonder Woman vol.2 #1, February 1987 — is the Modern Age key for the character. It introduced the post-Crisis versions of Themyscira and Hippolyta, and features script by Greg Potter and George Perez with Perez on pencils. Its accessibility is total: Overstreet 2023 values it at around $50 in NM- 9.2, and the CGC Census records more than 999 copies graded 9.8. Our eBay estimator returns only 5 listings for "Wonder Woman #1" — too thin for a median — and that signal is overwhelmingly made up of these cheap vol.2 copies, not the 1942 original. The latter, in high grade, is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and circulates only at specialist auction houses.