Students at the University of Iowa will be dusting off their old Wonder Woman capes as they prepare to immerse themselves in the history-laden meaning of one of the world’s most iconic superheroes.

The honor’s class, Wonder Woman Unleashed: A Hero of Our Times, was introduced for the 2016 spring semester and will allow students to learn about the similarities that exist between Wonder Woman and ancient Greek and Roman mythology while also introducing other strong female characters who have lived throughout the world’s history.

One thing the class’s creator and professor Anna Barker finds particularly interesting and is part of her inspiration for the class is the link between the time in which Wonder Woman was created and what she stands for.

The world met this powerful woman with a Lasso of Truth in 1941, which also happened to be a time when women went from being housewives to active members of the workforce during World War II. Some would argue this empowering similarity is what resulted in the longevity of the character and women across multiple generations’ ability to identify with her.

This common thread is just one of the reasons Barker took it upon herself to educate students about this kind of historical female empowerment. The course is broken into three parts, the first of which focuses on ancient powerful women. The second segment requires students to read about Amazons, who were ancient powerful female warriors. In the third part, they turn their attention to Wonder Woman herself and learn about her influential history.

While this is an unconventional way to unpack the depths of the history of women, it’s a creative way to introduce uncharted territory to college students. The history books students read are full of stories about the way men changed the world with a smattering of female influence. Many arguments have been made that this structure of learning about our past is far too one sided because of how little we really learn about the way women impacted things. Students read page after page about all of the men who were mythological gods, the men who worked to build America, the men who fought the wars and the men who imprisoned slaves. Women weren’t completely omitted from any of these time periods, but they were not as generally represented as men.

Learning what happened in history through the perspective of women is incredibly important. Intertwining the educational aspects with a piece of famous pop culture is a way to expose an entirely different group of people to history.

This class is still in its infancy, so its success has not yet been seen, but the opportunity it offers could benefit both U of I and ISU students. No class that offers the same kind of unique spin as this new course exists at Iowa State, but if it’s successful in Iowa City, perhaps it could be considered here in the future.