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Wonder Woman (Earth-Two)

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Wonder Woman
The original iteration of Wonder Woman, defeating the Axis powers' forces during World War II, on a variant cover of Wonder Woman #750 (January 2020).
Art by Adam Hughes.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceThe Flash #137 (June 1963) (retroactively stated to have originally appeared in All Star Comics #8, December 1941)
Created byGardner Fox (writer)
Carmine Infantino (artist)
(based upon the original character by William Moulton Marston and Elizabeth Holloway Marston)
In-story information
Alter egoDiana Prince Trevor
SpeciesAmazon
Team affiliationsJustice Society of America
All-Star Squadron
United States Army
Notable aliasesPrincess Diana
AbilitiesSuperhuman speed, strength, agility and accuracy, ability to glide on wind currents

Wonder Woman of Earth-Two is a fictional DC Comics superheroine from the original stories by Wonder Woman writer and creator William Moulton Marston and his wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston. This version of Wonder Woman was retconned as being the original Wonder Woman who first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). This was after DC Comics established a multiverse in their published stories to explain how heroes could have been active before (and during) World War II and retain their youth and (subsequent) origins during the 1960s.

The Earth-Two Wonder Woman was first featured as a character separate from Wonder Woman (known as Earth-One Wonder Woman) in the second Jay Garrick and Barry Allen comic.[1] Earth-Two Wonder Woman had appeared several months earlier in one comic-book panel.[2] Like most of the older Earth-Two incarnations of the DC characters, this version of Wonder Woman was semi-retired when she reappeared in later stories (with gray hair and wrinkles in later Justice League stories).[3] She appeared in many later Earth-Two features, including the multigenerational Infinity, Inc. series featuring her daughter Fury.

She (and her version of Earth-One) were eliminated in a company-wide storyline, Crisis on Infinite Earths. After this series she ascended to her world's Mount Olympus with her husband, General Steve Trevor, reaching godhood. Although Diana Trevor was eliminated due to the storyline's outcome, her daughter was not. Fury (Lyta Trevor) was later revealed as the child of Helena Kosmatos, the New Earth World War II Fury. The Earth-Two Diana Trevor reappeared in mainstream DC Earth in Infinite Crisis[4] as an apparition, fading away after speaking to her new counterpart Wonder Woman.

Another storyline, 52, was created; in its aftermath, alternate versions of the pre-crisis Earth-Two characters were introduced. Although distinct from their pre-crisis Earth-Two versions, similarities persisted. Post-crisis Earth-Two Wonder Woman was mentioned by her daughter Fury, but appears only in a picture taken before the death of Bruce Wayne and the disappearance of their Superman.[5] Post-crisis Earth-2 Wonder Woman retired from her Earth's Justice Society team, and the comic suggests she is the current Queen of the Amazons; this did not happen to Earth-Two Diana Trevor before she ascended Mount Olympus to become a goddess with her husband.

A parallel character was scheduled to appear in the 2012 series Earth-2. The post-flashpoint Earth-2 Wonder Woman was the sole surviving Amazon of her source Earth, but the fate of the other Amazons of post-flashpoint Earth-2 is unknown.

Fictional character biography

Princess Diana of Paradise Island—the Wonder Woman of Earth-Two—was a member of the All-Star Squadron and secretary (and later a member) for the Justice Society of America. As Diana Prince, she worked in the U.S. War Department as an assistant to intelligence officer Steve Trevor. Decades later she and Trevor married and had a daughter, Lyta (also known as Fury). Although Diana was retconned out of existence in Crisis on Infinite Earths and All-Star Squadron #60, she was later restored to the present.[4]

Early history

Diana, Princess of the Amazons of Earth-Two, was born on the mystical Paradise Island several hundred years before[citation needed] becoming known as Wonder Woman. Isolated from the cruelty and corruption of men, the Amazons lived and worked in peace and obeyed the will of Aphrodite and Athena. Longing for a child of her own, Hippolyta (Queen of the Amazons) begged the gods to grant her request and turn her clay statue into a real girl. In sympathy, Aphrodite relented and animated the statue; the girl leaped off the pedestal into her mother's arms. Hyppolyta named her for the moon goddess, Diana (who became her godmother).

Hippolyta raised her daughter as an Amazon, with the privileges of royalty. Diana aged slowly, stopping aging when reaching adulthood (as did all Amazons). She surpassed most of her Amazon sisters in skills and intelligence, running faster than a deer at age five and easily uprooting a tree at three.

Diana was a contented Amazon until Captain Steve Trevor crash-landed on Paradise Island. Although she had never seen a man before, Diana was attracted to him (despite his injuries). Violating the island rule against taking in outsiders, Diana brought the unconscious Trevor back to the Amazons in an attempt to save his life. In response to her pleas, Hippolyta used the healing Purple Ray on Trevor and saved his life.

Discovering that the outside world was at war, Diana wanted to help stop it. Hippolyta refused, saying that they should not involve themselves in the ways of outsiders. However, the goddesses Aphrodite and Athena appeared to Hippolyta; they said it was time for an Amazon to travel to "Man's World" and fight the Nazis. Ares felt that he ruled the world; Aphrodite wanted to help America win, claiming it was the last citadel of democracy. A tournament was held to determine the Amazon champion; although forbidden by Hippolyta to participate, Princess Diana concealed her identity with a mask. After winning all the contests Diana revealed her identity to her mother, who feared she would never see her daughter again.

However, Hippolyta allowed her daughter to dress as Wonder Woman and travel to the outside world. Diana returned Steve Trevor to the United States, adopting the identity of a U.S. Army nurse (Diana Prince) so she could stay with Trevor as he recovered; she helped him against a Japanese agent.[6]

Diana began to appear publicly as Wonder Woman. As Earth-Two Diana Prince, she joined the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant and became Col. Darnell's secretary.[7] In actual Golden Age comics, the character joins the U.S. Army and in one occasion returned to nursing.[8] The real Diana Prince later returned and tried to assume Diana's role, since her inventor husband was having financial trouble selling his weapon to the army. Wonder Woman saved Diana when she is kidnapped by a Japanese agent trying to steal the weapon; when it is successful Diana Prince began using her married name, leaving Wonder Woman in her identity.

Diana continued fighting crime with the Justice Society of America (on Earth-Two) as their first female member, although she was relegated to secretarial work for the Justice Society (despite her super powers).[9] She was shown taking dictation and typing the team's minutes as Wonder Woman. Diana rejoined the team when it reformed and expanded (as the All-Star Squadron).[10] She continued fighting crime after the war and resisted being recalled to Paradise Island, preferring to surrender her immortality rather than her independence.[11]

Marriage

During the 1950s Diana continued fighting crime; she admitted no secret identity, admitting she was an Amazon (unlike many other masked heroes, who were forced to reveal their identity by the federal government's committee on un-American activities). However, she continued to use the alias Diana Prince.[11]

During this period, Diana explored her romantic interest in her longtime crime-fighting partner, Steve Trevor. Diana revealed herself as Wonder Woman to him; although initially taken aback, Trevor married her. Diana later retired from active duty in the Navy and became a housewife, raising their daughter Hippolyta "Lyta" Trevor (named after Diana's mother).[12]

Later adventures

Diana rejoined the (reformed) Justice Society of America during the 1960s; she was one of the JSA members placed in suspended animation by JSA villain Vandal Savage, and was freed by Barry Allen.[1] However, she preferred to spend her time at home raising her daughter. During this time, Earth-Two Diana met her younger Earth-One counterpart.[13][14] She was later summoned by the god Mercury (with other heroes of Earth-2, Earth-1 and Earth-S) when beast-man Kull of Atlantis wanted to destroy humanity on all three earths after capturing the elders (who empowered the Marvel Family). She helped stop Queen Clea, one of his henchmen, from taking over the Earth-Two Atlantis in a story involving the Squadron of Justice. The Wonder Women became good friends.[12]

Diana was one of the Justice Society members ambushed by her earth's Superman (under the control of the Ultra Humanite) and drowned in Koehaha, the river of evil. She, Superman, Hawkman, Green Lantern, Robin and the Atom committed a number of crimes as they sought to act on their deepest desires, and fought their children/proteges (the newly formed Infinity Inc) in the process. Diana fought her daughter to a standstill and nearly killed Hawkman's son the Silver Scarab as she sought to rob a museum. Her goal was to obtain a rare herb said to confer eternal life and give it to her husband so that she wouldn't have to face decades alone when Steve inevitably died before she did. She accidentally injured Steve in the battle and took him to Paradise Island for healing. Eventually, Diana and her teammates were freed from the water's influence and she went back to her retirement with a recovering Steve.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

Diana continued in her role as elder stateswoman in the superhero community until the Crisis on Infinite Earths came to Earth-Two and erased its existence. She fought well, and was protected from erasure at the end of the crisis by ascending to Mount Olympus with her husband. Both were forgotten by the history of the new Primary Earth, except for their daughter[15] (who was reformatted into the new universe as the daughter of Helena Kosmatos: Fury of World War II).

Infinite Crisis

The Earth-Two Wonder Woman's returns in Infinite Crisis #5. Art by Phil Jimenez.

When the new, post-crisis Wonder Woman broke up a riot in Boston, she was interrupted by a woman she thought was her mother (Queen Hippolyta); Hippolyta was the golden-age Wonder Woman via time travel in her continuity. The intruder identified herself as Earth-Two Wonder Woman Diana Prince, who left Mount Olympus in order to guide Diana. She advised her post-Crisis counterpart to be "the one thing you haven't been for a very long time...human".[4] She urged Diana to intervene in a fight between Superman and his counterpart, Kal-L. Having left Mount Olympus, with her gods' blessings gone, Diana Prince faded away.

The New 52

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, the Earth 2 Wonder Woman is the last of the Amazons, and is violent and bitter as a result. She is killed by Steppenwolf in the battle for Earth with Apokolips, when she tries to buy time for Bruce Wayne.[16] This Princess Diana is revealed to have had a daughter. The daughter as an adult has taken the name of Fury, reflecting the storyline of the original pre-Crisis Earth-Two Wonder Woman and her daughter.

Powers

Earth-Two Wonder Woman had superhuman speed, strength, agility and accuracy. Her speed and agility were as great as the god Mercury, but less than the pre-crisis Earth-Two Flash (as in her battle with Garrick, when she was possessed by the Stream of Ruthlessness).[17] She could leap 40 feet (12 m), an Amazon record. She was originally immortal; however, to stay in a "man's world" after her mission she surrendered her immortality and began to age as a normal human.[4][12][18] She could glide on wind currents but rarely used this gliding ability, preferring to depend on her invisible plane to travel long distances at great speed.

Imbued with the strength of Hercules, the Earth-Two Wonder Woman was strong enough to rip steel-door off their hinges with little to no effort, easily uproot might Oak trees, and lift elephants and massive rocks as if they were cardboard boxes. Her strength is comparable with the Earth-Two Superman.[19] She had more resistance than a human; an electrical current which would have killed a normal human only knocked her out.[20] Diana demonstrated knowledge of every terrestrial language and advanced scientific knowledge. She hypnotized Etta Candy's brother Mint, although her magic lasso (unlike the modern version) gave her mind control over others. Her Amazon training gave her hand-to-hand combat skills, useful for wrestling and binding opponents. Wonder Woman could telepathically communicate with the Holiday Girls with a mental radio (which could also be used by Etta Candy), and her knowledge of psychology could heal minds. She had magnetic hearing due to her earrings, which were given to her by the Venusian fairy Queen Desira for stopping the Meteor Men from attacking her planet.

In other media

Television

  • In 1976, an hour-long Wonder Woman television series premiered on ABC (after the success of its 1975 pilot film, The New Original Wonder Woman). Lynda Carter was cast in the title role, with Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor. Using the World War II era as its setting during Season 1, the series featured elements of the Earth-Two version of Wonder Woman, including Trevor's plane crash on Paradise Island, Princess Diana's tournament victory and departure for Man's World (via the invisible plane) and the Amazon's secret identity in the War Department as Diana Prince (details of the character's origin involving her birth were omitted). Most of the villains were Nazis and Nazi sympathizers, including Baroness Paula von Gunther (portrayed by Christine Belford).

Despite strong ratings ABC delayed commissioning a second season, causing the show's production company (Warner Bros.) to offer Wonder Woman to CBS, one of ABC's primary rival networks. CBS agreed to pick up the series, if the setting was updated to the 1970s. Its title was changed to The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, and the series continued until its cancellation in 1979.

Film

References

  1. ^ a b Flash (vol. 1) #137 (1963)
  2. ^ Flash (vol. 1) #129 (1962)
  3. ^ Justice League (vol. 1) #195
  4. ^ a b c d Infinite Crisis #5 (April 2006)
  5. ^ Justice Society (vol. 3) Annual #1
  6. ^ Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942)
  7. ^ Sensation Comics #3 (March. 1942)
  8. ^ All-Star Comics #11 (June–July, 1942)
  9. ^ All Star Comics #12 (1942)
  10. ^ All-Star Squadron (vol. 1) #1
  11. ^ a b America vs. The Justice Society #1-4
  12. ^ a b c Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #300
  13. ^ Justice League (vol. 1) #100-101
  14. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #228
  15. ^ Infinity, Inc. #27
  16. ^ "DC Universe: The Source » Blog Archive » EARTH 2 CHARACTER DESIGNS – WONDER WOMAN". dcu.blog.dccomics.com. Archived from the original on 2012-03-02.
  17. ^ Infinity, Inc. #5
  18. ^ Infinity, Inc. series
  19. ^ All-New Collectors' Edition Vol 1 C-54
  20. ^ Sensation Comics #80 (August 1948)
  21. ^ Jeffrey Scott (writer); Ray Patterson & Carl Urbano (directors) (October 28, 1978). "Secret Origins Of The Super Friends". Challenge of the Super Friends. Season 1. Episode 8. ABC.
  22. ^ Stana Katic and Matt Bomer Headline DC’s Animated Justice Society Film
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