Wonder Woman 50 Years 1976-2026 A Little Box of Wonder Tin Diorama

Diana Prince would slip out of the office, spin once in a flash of light and step back into the room as Wonder Woman. Countless children tried the same spin in their own living rooms in the seventies, arms out, waiting for the costume to appear. This tin is built around that moment, the woman in glasses on one side of the scene and the hero on the other.

On the lid, a cream panel framed in red, blue and white stars reads A Little Box of Wonder, 1976–2026, 50 Years of Wonder Woman. A strip of comic-book portraits runs across it, from a crowned queen to a young officer, with a jet streaking past, and underneath sit a line from the show's theme song and a blank To and From for your own message. The tin itself is red with a blue band, white stars and the gold WW emblem.

The lid of A Little Box of Wonder, with the cast lined up in front of it.

Fifty years ago she arrived in prime time

Wonder Woman is older than television's version of her. William Moulton Marston created the character, and she first appeared in All Star Comics #8 at the end of 1941, in the middle of the war. When ABC aired a television pilot on 7 November 1975 and launched the weekly series in 1976, it sent her straight back to that decade, with Nazi spies, Army bases and a Washington full of secrets.

Lynda Carter played Diana Prince and Wonder Woman, Lyle Waggoner played Steve Trevor, and a young Debra Winger appeared as Wonder Girl in 1976. The show moved to CBS for 1977 to 1979 and jumped to the present day, but for many viewers the wartime season is still the one they picture first.

Lifting Wonder Woman out of the scene, small enough to balance between finger and thumb.

Everyone in the tin has a part in the story

The scene is small, but every figure earns its place. Look closely and each one has a clear job in the story:

• Hippolyta, queen of Paradise Island, in a white gown and gold crown, standing near the Greek columns of home.
• Diana Prince in her navy uniform and glasses, the yeoman who works for Steve Trevor and keeps the biggest secret in the office.
• Wonder Woman herself, hands on hips, in the star-spangled costume and gold tiara.
• Wonder Girl, Diana's younger sister Drusilla, in her own red-and-blue costume.
• Steve Trevor in his officer's uniform, the pilot whose crash landing on Paradise Island first brought Diana into the wider world.
• The invisible jet, rendered see-through, so you can spot it and, in the spirit of the show, almost not.

Behind them, the backdrop splits in two. Marble columns and greenery rise on the left, while a brick-walled office with a wall clock fills the right, the two worlds Diana kept moving between.

A tin made for passing on

Hinged tins have always been for keeping things, from lunch money to buttons to letters, and this one opens with the same small click of discovery. Write a name on the lid and it becomes a gift for the mother who watched in 1976, the daughter meeting Diana for the first time, or the friend who still does the spin at parties.

It stands comfortably on a desk or a bookshelf, lid up so the scene catches the light. If the person you are buying for keeps a shelf of classic television, it sits happily beside our Star Trek 60th anniversary figure set.

Opened wide, with Paradise Island on one side and the wartime office on the other.

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.