Gal Gadot and Lynda Carter meet as Wonder Woman named UN ambassador

Wonder Woman is 75 years old – and marking the occasion, two generations of the character have met at last, at no less a venue than the United Nations.

Gal Gadot, the first actress to play the character in live action on the big screen, appeared alongside Lynda Carter, who famously played the role in the much-loved 1970s TV series, at a UN ceremony in honour of the DC superheroine’s 75th anniversary.

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The ceremony at UN headquarters in New York saw Wonder Woman named honorary UN ambassador for the empowerment of women and girls.

However, not everyone agreed with this appointment, many feeling it was inappropriate for such a title to be bestowed upon a comic book character, and a heavily sexualised one at that.

Reportedly around fifty staff members at the UN showed their disapproval by turning their backs to the stage during the ceremony, whilst an online petition against the appointment has had over a thousand signatures.

It is worth emphasising that Wonder Woman’s creator, the psychologist William Moulton Marston, was himself a passionate feminist, and wrote the comic primarily to promote a message of female empowerment to 1940s America.

Speaking alongside ‘Wonder Woman’ director Patty Jenkins in a Facebook Live interview shortly after the ceremony, Gadot argued that the character is “so relevant to nowadays… her message is so universal.”

‘Wonder Woman’ opens in UK cinemas on 2 June 2017.

Picture Credit: Warner Bros, ABC