Wonder Woman

A man with two wives co-created Wonder Woman, the third longest-running superhero in comic books. But rather than being at odds with the feminist ideals of Wonder Woman, their strength served as inspiration for the heroine. In reality, Betty, Charles Moulton's first wife, insisted on having her gender changed. Professionally, she was superior to him as well—at least in willpower. She might have lived to be 100 because of this. Betty (Elizabeth Marston) obtained three higher degrees at a time when few women obtained such degrees. She supported herself by selling cookbooks because her father refused to pay her tuition, informing her that she could stay at home with her mother "as long as I have money to keep you in aprons."

Betty and Moulton's second "wife," Dotsie (Olive Byrne, whose bracelets served as the model for Wonder Woman's), carried on their marriage even after Moulton passed away in 1947, raising their four children together. While Dotsie was the stay-at-home mother, Betty worked to pay for their college education.

There isn't much evidence to back up the claim that Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth was inspired by the threesome's claimed love of bondage. There is no proof that Betty and Dotsie were lovers, however. Though, speculating is entertaining. One of Wonder Woman's worst flaws was that a man had tied her Bracelets of Submission together.

Publisher: DC Comics
First appearance: All Star Comics #8 (December/January 1941/1942)[a]
Created by: William Moulton Marston, H. G. Peter