On the final day of New York Comic Con 2017, Annapurna Films released a new trailer for Professor Marston & The Wonder Women, which tells the real-life story of the iconic character’s creator and the women who inspired him.
In his professional life, Dr. William Moulton Marston taught psychology at Harvard. He invented an early version of the lie detector, wrote self-help books, and created Wonder Woman under the pen name of Charles Moulton. He also lived in a permanent ménage à trois with his wife, Elizabeth Holloway, and former student Olive Byrne. The relationship produced four children—two from each woman.
In a 2014 discussion of the Wonder Woman creator’s unusual backstory, The Atlantic described him as “equal parts genius, charlatan, and kinkster.” The story promises some unique insights into a transitional period in feminism, and in U.S. history more broadly.
The new trailer has some pretty humorous and intriguing moments, like the scene where Olive and Elizabeth pick apart Charles’ shabbily drawn first attempts for the comic. (They seem particularly dumbstruck by the concept of the invisible plane.) Check out the NYCC trailer for Professor Marston & The Wonder Women below.
Annapurna describes the film as follows:
“In a superhero origin tale unlike any other, the film is the incredible true story of what inspired Harvard psychologist Dr. William Moulton Marston to create the iconic Wonder Woman character in the 1940's. While Marston's feminist superhero was criticized by censors for her 'sexual perversity', he was keeping a secret that could have destroyed him. Marston's muses for the Wonder Woman character were his wife Elizabeth Marston and their lover Olive Byrne, two empowered women who defied convention: working with Marston on human behavior research -- while building a hidden life with him that rivaled the greatest of superhero disguises.”
Professor Marston & The Wonder Women stars Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote. The drama comes to theaters on Friday, Oct. 13. Are you curious to check out the movie on the big screen or when it hits streaming platforms? Let us know in the comments below.
