What’s True About The Kinky Love Story Behind Professor Marston & The Wonder Women

Earlier this year, Wonder Woman got her very own feature film — at last. It only took her 76 years. Diana, played by Gal Gadot in the film, is the dream heroine: She’s fearless, principled, and believes, to an endearingly naive degree, in the power of love. If she inspired you, then you were fulfilling the intention of her creator, Professor William Moulton Marston.

Marston lived an incredibly interesting life — the kind which, one day, would make for a great biopic. Marston was a lawyer, scientist, and professor. He invented the lie detector. And, from 1925 until his death in 1947, Marston lived in a happily polyamorous union with his wife, the lawyer Elizabeth Holloway, and a woman named Olive Byrne.

Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, out October 13, tells the story of how Marston’s relationship with Holloway and Byrne led to the creation of the comic book character we know and love today. In the film, Marston is played by Luke Evans, Holloway by Rebecca Hall, and Byrne by Bella Heathcoate. Here’s the truth behind the movie.