25 things you didn’t know about Wonder Woman

17. She speaks all the languages

Specifically, this type of power is called “omnilingualism”. It hails from the 1940’s-era Golden Age of comics, where you, as a comics writer, could make up any strength or ability and claim that it was a superpower. Some of them, as it turns out, are incredibly useful, even if they seem initially unimportant.

Take Wonder Woman’s ability to speak the language of any person she encounters. What with all the space travel, time jumping, alternate dimensions, and plain old planetwide jaunts, you’re bound to encounter plenty of languages. Imagine trying to help a victim or fight a villain who doesn’t know what you’re saying, and vice versa. It’s awkward at best, and may even become a complete disaster.

While some writers have chosen to sidestep the issue and make everyone speak English, it’s not a perfect solution. Picky comics readers may be more satisfied with a straightforward explanation for how everyone in a vast comics universe manages to communicate with each other.

So, how exactly did Diana gain the power of omnilingualism? It all comes back to her origins, and depends on what comic you’re reading. In some versions of the Wonder Woman story, the goddess Athena gifts the young Diana with general wisdom and intelligence. The ability to speak any language is, in this case, only one part of Wonder Woman’s vast intellectual toolkit.

In other tales, Diana is instead an incredibly dedicated student. She somehow finds the time to study all the languages available to her, in between her physical training and world saving. Makes me want to take a nap.