Aphrodite All-Star Comics #8 (December 1941) Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty who is named after the goddess of the same name. In the 1940s, Aphrodite was Wonder Woman's patron goddess. Later, Athena joined her as Diana's main patron. Post-Crisis, Aphrodite was joined by Athena, Artemis, Hestia, Demeter, and Hermes as Wonder Woman's patrons, though she most often abstained from interacting with the amazons. Post-Crisis, Aphrodite's role was severely minimized, appearing as a faceless, beautiful naked woman. Post-Rebirth, Aphrodite appeared as an ally to Wonder Woman in the form of a dove. It is unknown if Aphrodite continues to serve as patron of the amazons.
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman was rebooted in 1987, by writer Greg Potter, who previously created the Jemm, Son of Saturn series for DC, was hired to rework the character. He spent several months working with editor Janice Race[28] on new concepts, before being joined by writer/artist George Pérez.[29] Inspired by John Byrne and Frank Miller's work on refashioning Superman and Batman, Pérez came in as the plotter and penciler of Wonder Woman.[30] Potter dropped out of writing the series after issue #2,[31][32] and Pérez became the sole plotter. Initially, Len Wein replaced Potter but Pérez took on the scripting as of issue #18. Mindy Newell would return to the title as scripter with issue #36 (November 1989).[33] Pérez produced 62 issues of the rebooted title. His relaunch of the character was a critical and sales success.[34]
Trudging on, Hades expects their presence and tries sending spirits in order to stall and attack Diana and Hermes. Successfully defeating them, they wonder through a forest and find a cabin resembling Zola's farm house. Zola pops out and happily hugs Wonder Woman. Hades at that moment makes his grand entrance and frees them. Though, just before they escape, Hades beckons Wonder Woman to look behind, and shoots her with Eros pistols. She urges Hermes and Zola to leave while she is left at the mercy of Hades who wants her to be his bride. Here, she is preparing to wed Hades when she gives Diana her lasso, saying that if he truly loves him, she will confess it due to the properties of the lasso. She says yes, but will not go on with the wedding as it is more or less forced and not real love. She escapes his clutches and shoots him as a means of payback for shooting her.
After the fight with Steppenwolf, Batman meets with Gordon before Arthur shows up and say that Steppenwolf took the Mother Box from Atlantis, then Victor reveals that he is possession of the final Mother Box, which he hid from his father. The team returns to the Batcave which Barry runs around the cave and sits in the Batmobile, before Bruce call for a meeting with the team. Bruce states they should use the Mother Box to bring Superman back to life believing that they need Superman to restore hope in humanity. Diana and Arthur are hesitant about the idea, but Bruce forms a secret contingency plan. The team put Clark's body in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, using Allen's Speed Force energy to activate the Box, causing the resurrection of Superman.
Many of the Olympian Gods have made appearances on the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series. Olympian Gods who have appeared include Hades (voiced by John Rhys-Davies in the first appearance, Bob Joles in the second appearance),[43] Ares (voiced by Michael York),[44] Hephaestus (voiced by Edward Asner),[45] and Hermes (voiced by Jason Bateman).[46]
For millennia, the goddess Athena waited patiently for the chance to prove herself worthy of the crown of Olympus. As Earth society developed, the goddess of knowledge grew in power and cunning, and ultimately challenged her father Zeus for the throne. To win this challenge, Athena sent for her champion, Wonder Woman, to face that of Zeus — Briareos of the Hecatoncheires. Though she was still blind, Diana was aided by the winged Pegasus but seemingly fell to Briareos. Unknown to Zeus, this was a trick played by Athena and Diana to prove to the latter that Zeus had no compassion and was not a worthy ruler. Athena agreed to forfeit if Zeus would spare Diana's life, but he denied her, proving his unworthiness. This prompted the other goddesses to deliver the head of Medusa unto Diana, which she used to turn Briareos to stone. Athena took the throne at last, but Zeus immediately began plotting a coup with his brothers in Tartarus.[30]
Superhuman Stamina: Wonder Woman's advanced musculature is considerably more efficient than that of a human and most of the other Amazons. As a result, her muscles virtually do not produce fatigue toxins during physical activity compared to humans and most other members of her race. Her virtually inexhaustible endurance allows her to exercise her maximum capacity for an indefinite period of time without tiring at all, as she never needs to slow down or catch her breath during her fierce battles with Ares, Doomsday, Steppenwolf and the resurrected Superman, despite being pressured considerably by all of them.
Princess Diana of Themyscira is an Amazonian warrior princess and one of the world's first superheroes, known as Wonder Woman. She is the daughter of Queen Hippolyta and Zeus, king of the Olympians. Born on Themyscira, Diana was raised in paradise, hearing tales of her the Amazons' great task of defeating the God of War, Ares, and bringing peace to the world, ushering in a new era of peace to the world. Upon coming of age, Diana began pursuing the life of a warrior, despite her mother's rejections. Determined to serve, she ultimately enticed her aunt Antiope to train her in secret, but was soon discovered by her mother, Queen Hippolyta. Begrudgingly, the queen accepted Diana as a warrior, and ordered Antiope to train her better than any other Amazon.
Wonder Woman is an Amazon warrior princess and one of the most powerful superheroes in the DC Universe. The daughter of Hippolyta, she was given power by the Gods to fight against evil in all its forms. Although she was raised entirely by women on the island of Themyscira, she was sent as an ambassador to the Man's World, spreading their idealistic message of strength and love. Wonder Woman fights crime and acts as a positive role model for women everywhere. Her equipment includes the Lasso of Truth, magic gauntlets, and an invisible jet. In the secret identity she has adopted to become closer to humanity, she is Diana Prince, a government agent for the Department of Metahuman Affairs. Wonder Woman is also a founding member of the Justice League of America. She has also been a member of the Star Sapphire Corps, the Sinestro Corps, and the Justice League Dark.
Invisible Plane: Wonder Woman possesses an airplane capable of rendering itself completely invisible to the human eye. Like her bracelets, Diana's invisible plane is forged with Eighth Metal, making it almost indestructible.[115] The Invisible Plane was originally the aircraft Steve Trevor crashed onto Themyscira; it was repaired by the Amazons and upgraded with their technology.[116][117]
By the end of the war, Diana began to lose faith in both humanity and herself after Ares opened her eyes to humanity's potential for evil. While she still believed in the power of love and compassion to change humanity for the better, Diana was left sobered and emotionally broken over certain events from the war, such as the use of Dr. Poison's gas to massacre the entire village of Veld, and Steve Trevor's self-sacrificing death. After witnessing a "century of horrors", Diana largely stepped away from heroics until she witnessed the seemingly unstoppable Doomsday wreck havoc; ultimately joining in to battle him alongside Batman and Superman. After witnessing Superman's own sacrifice to stop the monster, however, Diana turned once again towards heroics; demonstrating not only her underlying belief in her own core values, but also in the positive effect true heroes can have on the world.
The story then centers on Apollo trying to take over as King of Olympus due to his father Zeus' absence and Wonder Woman's efforts to protect Zola from him, as it is prophesied that one of Zeus' children will be his downfall which Apollo considers to be Zola's child.[73][74] Wonder Woman receives the power of flight by one of Hermes' feathers piercing her thigh and Zola's baby is stolen by Hermes at the end and given to Demeter. The issue's last page shows a dark and mysterious man rising from the snow, taking a helmet and disappearing.[74] Issues 7–12 are collected in a hardcover titled Wonder Woman Vol. 2: Guts, scheduled for release in January 2013.[75]
A new pantheon of gods has been born! But who are they? Where did they come from? What do they want? All questions for Wonder Woman, because she played more of a role in their arrival than you’d think! Will it fall to Diana to end their existence as well? Meanwhile, Wonder Woman’s brother Jason learns his true purpose. It’s all here in this extra-sized anniversary issue!
In 1944, Gaines and Marston signed an agreement for Wonder Woman to become a newspaper strip, syndicated by King Features. Busy with the newspaper strip, Marston hired an 18-year-old student, Joye Hummel, to help him write comic-book scripts. Joye Hummel, now Joye Kelly, turned 90 this April; in June, she donated her collection of never-before-seen scripts and comic books to the Smithsonian Libraries. Hiring her helped with Marston’s editorial problem, too. Her stories were more innocent than his. She’d type them and bring them to Sheldon Mayer, Marston’s editor at DC, she told me, and “He always OK’d mine faster because I didn’t make mine as sexy.” To celebrate syndication, Gaines had his artists draw a panel in which Superman and Batman, rising out of the front page of a daily newspaper, call out to Wonder Woman, who’s leaping onto the page, “Welcome, Wonder Woman!”
^ Callahan, Timothy (November 28, 2011). "When Words Collide: The New 52 First Quarter Review". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 16, 2012. Retrieved September 16, 2012. What is worth reading? "Wonder Woman," definitely. It's the best of the new 52. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang are telling a clean, poetic story with a strong mythological pull and a fierce warrior of a Wonder Woman.
The most recent version of the character’s origin (since the new 52) has not yet been told in totality, but certain things are known. It has been revealed how the Amazons replenish their numbers (they do so by kidnapping sailors and using them for procreation before killing them) as well as the fact of Wonder Woman’s divine lineage. Despite the fact that Zeus is her father it does not necessarily remove other facts about her origin from canon (for instance the blessings of the gods) though it remains to be seen how or if this will be incorporated into the ongoing stories. In the Zero month of the new 52 in which DC was planning to tell the origins of the character from the new 52, the story for Diana focused on the fact that she had been trained by Ares when she was a teenager though she eventually rebelled against him. It is as of yet unclear how this factors into her new origin. When Diana first came to Man’s World she encountered a group attacking the Pentagon. Because of this she befriended Barbara Minerva who was working there on ancient antiquities and Barbara helped her acclimatize to Man’s World.
The Invisible Plane was a creation of Diana's during her younger years on Paradise Island. She created it to be an improvement on her mother's planes which would be shot down in Man's World. The result of her innovation was an invisible plane that could fly at terrific speeds silently and not be detected by hostile forces. Initially, it was portrayed as being transparent.[citation needed]
The Invisible Plane was a creation of Diana's during her younger years on Paradise Island. She created it to be an improvement on her mother's planes which would be shot down in Man's World. The result of her innovation was an invisible plane that could fly at terrific speeds silently and not be detected by hostile forces. Initially, it was portrayed as being transparent.[citation needed]
Granted by Hermes (God of Messengers), her top speed has never been well documented, but she has entered the speed force under her own power, implying she can accelerate to at least light speed. The Flash has said that Wonder Woman can easily keep up with him and she has been seen keeping up with Flash going faster than hypersonic speed. She has been shown to be on par with some of the fastest characters in the DC Universe such as Jesse Quick. She can disarm human opponents of their weapons instantly and she can immobilize her opponents in the blink of an eye, as she showed when she speedblitzed White Martian and Genocide into space in no time and was able to take down Amazo before he could finish a word. She is such a well trained athlete that in combat, her reflexes even surprise the likes of Superman.
Artemis of Bana-Mighdall briefly served as Wonder Woman during Hippolyta's trials for a new Wonder Woman. Orana, a character similar to Artemis, defeated Diana in a new contest and became Wonder Woman in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity. Orana was killed during her first mission. Others who have donned the Wonder Woman persona include Nubia, Cassandra Sandsmark, and Donna Troy.
Although she initially forbids Diana to be trained as a warrior, Hippolyta reluctantly agrees to let General Antiope, Hippolyta's sister and Diana's aunt, train her, only more rigorously than any other warrior. In 1918, Diana, now a young woman, rescues US pilot Captain Steve Trevor when his plane crashes off the Themysciran coast. The island is soon invaded by German soldiers that had been pursuing Trevor. The Amazons kill the crew, but Antiope sacrifices herself to save Diana. Steve is interrogated with the Lasso of Hestia and reveals that a great war is consuming the outside world and that he is an Allied spy. He has stolen a notebook of the chief chemist Dr. Isabel Maru, who is attempting to engineer a deadlier form of mustard gas under the orders of General Erich Ludendorff from a weapon facility in the Ottoman Empire. Believing Ares to be responsible for the war, Diana arms herself with the "Godkiller" sword, the lasso, and armor before leaving Themyscira with Steve to locate and stop Ares for good.
The JLA's first trip to the universe is where Owlman is found hacking computer systems to get the info he needs. There, the JLA fights recruits the Crime Syndicate of America has recruited. Their second trip was when Batman followed Superwoman, and defeats her. After taking out Superwoman, he calls the JLA, and alongside the JLA travels to the moon, to get to the Crime Syndicate's headquarters. From there on, every JLA'er fights against their counterparts, and Wonder Woman manages to even win against her counterpart, Superwoman.
Price 16.99 USD; 22.99 CAD Pages 172 On-sale date 2019-04-17 Indicia / Colophon PublisherDC Comics BrandDC [circle and serifs]ISBN 978-1-4012-8901-0 Barcode9781401289010 51699EditingChris Conroy (editor - original series); Dave Wielgosz (assistant editor - original series); Jeb Woodard (group editor - collected editions); Robin Wildman (editor - collected edition) ColorColor DimensionsStandard Modern Age US Paper StockCard stock covers, glossy interiors BindingTrade paperback Publishing FormatCollected edition
Duing the Perez run on the character, there were not as many story arcs either, but they did become more defined. Her entrance into Man’s World was to stop a global nuclear war created by Ares. She also had introduced a modern version of the Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Psycho and Silver Swan. One of the defining story arcs at this time was the Challenge of the Gods, where she discovers the truth about her own past as she journeys into the underworld. In this time as well she was a part of numerous company-wide crossovers including Millennium, Invasion and one focused on herself, the War of the Gods. The latter was Perez’s swansong on the character and with Messner Loebs taking over afterwards the direction of the character changed again somewhat. Under his direction, Diana became involved in battle factions of organized crime in Boston, and faced off against Ares Buchanan and the White Magician. This resulted in Wonder Woman being marooned in space, and returning to uncover the plot. During the events of Zero Hour a slightly different version of her origin is told, and Artemis wins the right to be Wonder Woman in another contest. This ends eventually with Diana battling the White Magician after Artemis has been killed. The John Byrne run equally was without as many defined story arcs except specifically with how her death affected others. This was also incorporated into the company wide Genesis event. Once she returned she faced a new villain known as Devastation who she battled occasionally, and she also took responsibility for Cassandra Sandsmark (who would later become Wonder Girl.) As a prominent character within the DC universe she took part in company-wide crossovers like Our Worlds at War and the Joker’s Last Laugh. When Rucka took over, some of the character's most memorable story arcs occurred, and most famously among them Stoned and the Superman story arc Sacrifice which ended in Wonder Woman #219 with her killing Maxwell Lord.
Morgan appears and reveals himself as Ares. He tells Diana that although he has subtly given humans ideas and inspirations, using Ludendorff and Maru as pawns in the process, it is ultimately their decision to resort to violence as they are inherently corrupt. When Diana attempts to kill Ares with the "Godkiller" sword, he destroys it, then reveals to Diana that she herself is the "Godkiller", as the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. He fails to persuade Diana to help him destroy mankind in order to restore paradise on Earth. While the two battle, Steve's team destroys Maru's laboratory. Steve hijacks and pilots the bomber carrying the poison to a safe altitude and detonates it, sacrificing himself. Ares attempts to direct Diana's rage and grief at Steve's death by convincing her to kill Maru, but the memories of her experiences with Steve cause her to realize that humans have good within them. She spares Maru and redirects Ares's lightning into him, killing him for good. Later, the team celebrates the end of the war. In the present day, Diana sends an email to Bruce Wayne thanking him for the photographic plate of her and Steve and continues to fight and give on the world's behalf, understanding that only love can truly save the world.
Star Sapphire Ring (Formerly): Diana first wielded the Violet Lantern Ring when she served with the Star Sapphire Corps during the Blackest Night. She was later recruited as temporary leader of the Star Sapphires during a crisis on Zamaron and wore the ring once more. After the conflict, Diana retired from the Corps to continue her mission on Earth.[102]
With a new decade arriving, DC president Jenette Kahn ordered a revamp in Wonder Woman's appearance. Artist Milton Glaser, who also designed the "bullet" logo adopted by DC in 1977, created a stylized "WW" emblem that evoked and replaced the eagle in her bodice and debuted in 1982.[39] The emblem in turn was incorporated by studio letterer Todd Klein onto the monthly title's logo, which lasted for a year and a half before being replaced by a version from Glaser's studio.[40] With sales of the title continuing to decline in 1985 (despite an unpublished revamp that was solicited), the series was canceled and ended in issue #329 (February 1986) written by Gerry Conway, depicting Steve Trevor's marriage to Wonder Woman.
Steppenwolf then grabs Silas Stone, which Cyborg shots Steppenwolf and saves his father, and Wonder Woman helps out by attacking the Parademons and taking Steppenwolf to a different part of the factory. While Batman fights the Parademons, Barry goes and save one of the employees. Steppenwolf tells the Parademons that he will deal with Diana alone; meanwhile, Batman is being attacked by one of the Parademons as he tells Alfred that he needs the Knightcrawler, which he sent the machine to Bruce.
Outside the room, Diana confronted Trevor for not standing up to the council. Trevor then told her that they were going anyway, without the council's approval. Diana, distrustful of him for lying, did not believe him; he resorted to using the Lasso of Hestia on himself, revealing in the process that he believed it was a terrible idea and that they were going to die.
After Diana's clash with Silver Swan, she goes to Greece, where Julia is staying. Here she meets Julia's friend, renowned Epigraphist Stavros Christadoulodou. Here, a conspiracy is shown to be in play with a mysterious woman behind it, dwelling in an undisclosed location, speaking to her servant Mikos about Diana's presence and how it could be a threat. A rebel group is revealed to be in existence, secretly fighting the witch's forces, headed by a man named Gregory, who had lost his son's to the witch's monsters. The witch uses her servants disguised as animals to kill her enemies in the rebel group. The rebel faction also has Katina and Spiros as it's members, actively tracking other followers of the witch and trying to keep Diana safe from harm. She goes on boat to an island called Cephalonia when she is distracted by another small island in the vicinity. She senses a strange presence in the island and is somehow attacked by it's mysterious resident psychically, as a warning, causing her to faint on the spot. In the hospital, Diana is surrounded by her friends and some wonder if it's the Magia, a curse that some believe is pure superstition. The Magia is said to come from the mysterious island, where a witch is said to exist. Diana is introduced to Theophilius Ventouras, one of the wealthiest people in the area by Julia, who is actually another pawn of the witch, and he deceives Diana and her friends into thinking the woman is actually a rich loner and there is no truth in the myths about the Magia and the Witch. Stavros meets with Gregory and is given a scroll that the faction had obtained from the island, which may contain secrets about the witch.
The Invisible Plane appeared in the very first comic stories, including All-Star Comics #8, where it is shown as being able to fly at over 2,000 mph (3,200 km/h) and to send out rainbow rays that penetrate the mist around Paradise Island, as well as landing stealthily and having a built-in radio. Wonder Woman is seen storing the plane at an abandoned farm near Washington, D.C., in the barn; she goes there as Lt. Prince and changes clothes in some of the earliest tales. Though never explicitly stated, the Plane is presumably stored there when not in use for the rest of the Pre-Crisis era. In a story published shortly after, it flies at 40 miles (64 km) a second.[citation needed]
Marston introduced the idea to Gaines. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman. Marston also drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship.[22] Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8 (cover date Dec/Jan 1941/1942, released in October 1941),[23] scripted by Marston.
of the Gods" under Themyscira and beyond Doom's Doorway. Diana not only succeeds in the challenge, but also rescues Heracles, who had been there for the past three thousand years suffering eternal punishment with the help of Hippolyta, who had followed her daughter. Diana also meets the spirit of Diana Trevor, Steve Trevor's mother (after whom she has been named) who had
Following the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths series, George Pérez, Len Wein, and Greg Potter rewrote the character's origin story, depicting Wonder Woman as an emissary and ambassador from Themyscira to Patriarch's World, charged with the mission of bringing peace to the outside world. Pérez incorporated a variety of deities and concepts from Greek mythology in Wonder Woman's stories and origin. His rendition of the character acted as the foundation for the modern Wonder Woman stories, as he expanded upon the widely accepted origin of Diana being birthed out of clay. The relaunch was a critical and commercial success.[41]
Wonder Woman appears as one of the lead characters in the Justice League title written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Jim Lee that was launched in 2011 as part of The New 52.[152] In August 2012, she and Superman shared a kiss in Justice League Vol 2 #12, which has since developed into a romantic relationship.[153][154][155] DC launched a Superman/Wonder Woman series that debuted in late 2013, which focuses both the threats they face together, and on their romance as a "Power Couple".[156][157]
In London, a small group of reactionary terrorists took over the Old Bailey courthouse, taking several hostages including a school field trip. Diana storms the building, using the Lasso of Hestia to compel one of the terrorists to tell her their plans. He reveals that their leader has a bomb powerful enough to destroy several city blocks while the world media watches. Diana takes out the terrorists and neutralizes the bomb. The terrorist leader then tries to kill the hostages with a gun, but Diana protects the hostages by deflecting bullets with her bracelets.[8]
Voiced by Keri Russell. A movie based on the storyline written by George Perez, Gods and Mortals. This movie shows Wonder Woman's origins and how she decided to operate outside of Themyscira. Long time ago, there was a war between Ares and Hippolyta, and Hippolyta had the advantage, and was about to kill Ares, but then Hera told her not to kill Ares, but the deed, done by Ares, would not go unnoticed. From there on the Amazons got their own Island, by a request from Hippolyta, where they kept Ares a prisoner. Years further, Hippolyta wished for a child, and she made a child out of clay praying for the gods to make it a child. The next morning she wakes up and sees that a little child is in front of her. She was named Diana.
GenresuperheroCharactersWonder Woman [Diana of Themyscira; also as a Star Sapphire]; Star Sapphire [Miri]; Star Sapphire [Miss Bloss]; Star Sapphire [Dela Pharon] (flashback, death); other unidentified Star Sapphires; Karnell (Dark God of Love); unidentified zombies (flashback); The Cheetah [Barbara Ann Minerva] (in Wonder Woman's memories); Steve Trevor (in Wonder Woman's memories); unidentified Girl Scouts (in Wonder Woman's memories); unidentified criminals (in Wonder Woman's memories); King Best (Dark God, flashback)SynopsisThe Star Sapphires bring Wonder Woman to Zamaron to face Karnell, the Dark God of Love from the Dark Multiverse, who plans to kill Wonder Woman and the Star Sapphires while her siblings attack Earth.Reprints
The inspiration to give Diana bracelets came from the pair of bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, creator William Moulton Marston's research assistant and lover.[5] "Wonder Woman and her sister Amazons have to wear heavy bracelets to remind them of what happens to a girl when she lets a man conquer her," quoted Marston in a 1942 interview. "The Amazons once surrendered to the charm of some handsom Greeks and what a mess they got themselves into. The Greeks put them in chains of the Hitler type, beat them, and made them work like horses in the fields. Aphrodite, goddess of love, finally freed these unhappy girls. But she laid down the rule ("Aphrodite's Law") that they must never surrender to a man for any reason. I know of no better advice to give modern day women than this rule that Aphrodite gave the Amazon girls."[206]
Wonder Woman was soon faced with a new threat. Some years ago, Diana saved a young girl, Vanessa Kapatelis, from death at the hands of Major Disaster. She continued to visit Vanessa for many years as she recovered from her injuries, and encouraged her to undergo experimental treatment involving nanites, which allowed Vanessa to walk again. Eventually, Wonder Woman's superheroics forced her to cease her visits. During Diana's absence, Vanessa's mother Julia died, and Vanessa was left alone and felt that Diana had abandoned her. She began to resent Wonder Woman and declared herself her enemy, using the nanites in her blood to create a metallic, winged suit of armor and adopting the name Silver Swan.[94] Silver Swan murdered a family of people that Diana had recently saved, causing Wonder Woman to fight her alongside Jason. Diana managed to drown Silver Swan until she lost consciousness, causing her to revert to her human form. She left Vanessa to recover in the care of A.R.G.U.S.[95]
Following Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman was rebooted in 1987, by writer Greg Potter, who previously created the Jemm, Son of Saturn series for DC, was hired to rework the character. He spent several months working with editor Janice Race[28] on new concepts, before being joined by writer/artist George Pérez.[29] Inspired by John Byrne and Frank Miller's work on refashioning Superman and Batman, Pérez came in as the plotter and penciler of Wonder Woman.[30] Potter dropped out of writing the series after issue #2,[31][32] and Pérez became the sole plotter. Initially, Len Wein replaced Potter but Pérez took on the scripting as of issue #18. Mindy Newell would return to the title as scripter with issue #36 (November 1989).[33] Pérez produced 62 issues of the rebooted title. His relaunch of the character was a critical and sales success.[34]
It introduces us to the character of Diana in a new and important way, tying her origin to a larger overall story and presenting her as a character that both shares our weaknesses and possesses strengths we can't have. This book is a nearly perfect DC Comics story. You'll find the only thing that's disappointing about it is that it got canceled too soon.
Wonder Woman also met the Lamia of myth, who laid with Zeus and bore his children. Hera changed her into a snake-like creature and killed her children. She now lurks in the American sewers, acting as a benevolent caregiver to troubled children. She attempted to commit suicide using Diana's lasso (which she had her young friend Sneaker steal), but Diana stopped her and Lamia disappeared along with Sneaker, with whom she had developed a mother-daughter relationship.[41]
The second storyline focuses on Wonder Woman's quest to rescue Zola from Hades, who had abducted her and taken her to Hell at the end of the sixth issue of the series.[69][70][71][72] The male Amazons are introduced and their origin story is revealed- the Amazons used to infrequently invade the ships coming near the island and force themselves on the sailors, and then kill them. After nine months, the birth of the female children are highly celebrated and inducted into the proper ranks of the Amazons while the male children are rejected. In order to save the children from being killed by the Amazons, Hephaestus trades them with the Amazons in exchange for weapons.[69]
Duing the Perez run on the character, there were not as many story arcs either, but they did become more defined. Her entrance into Man’s World was to stop a global nuclear war created by Ares. She also had introduced a modern version of the Cheetah, Circe, Doctor Psycho and Silver Swan. One of the defining story arcs at this time was the Challenge of the Gods, where she discovers the truth about her own past as she journeys into the underworld. In this time as well she was a part of numerous company-wide crossovers including Millennium, Invasion and one focused on herself, the War of the Gods. The latter was Perez’s swansong on the character and with Messner Loebs taking over afterwards the direction of the character changed again somewhat. Under his direction, Diana became involved in battle factions of organized crime in Boston, and faced off against Ares Buchanan and the White Magician. This resulted in Wonder Woman being marooned in space, and returning to uncover the plot. During the events of Zero Hour a slightly different version of her origin is told, and Artemis wins the right to be Wonder Woman in another contest. This ends eventually with Diana battling the White Magician after Artemis has been killed. The John Byrne run equally was without as many defined story arcs except specifically with how her death affected others. This was also incorporated into the company wide Genesis event. Once she returned she faced a new villain known as Devastation who she battled occasionally, and she also took responsibility for Cassandra Sandsmark (who would later become Wonder Girl.) As a prominent character within the DC universe she took part in company-wide crossovers like Our Worlds at War and the Joker’s Last Laugh. When Rucka took over, some of the character's most memorable story arcs occurred, and most famously among them Stoned and the Superman story arc Sacrifice which ended in Wonder Woman #219 with her killing Maxwell Lord.
Ares appears as a major antagonist in the live action Wonder Woman film. In Queen Hippolyta's story about Ares which she reads to Diana, Ares was condemned by the other Olympian Gods for his warmongering which led to him killing the Gods where the images show him killing Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hades, Hestia, and Poseidon until Zeus drove him off of Mount Olympus with his thunderbolts. In his dying breath, Zeus created Themyscira for the Amazons and left them the "Godkiller" required to kill Ares should he rise again. This happens during World War I where Wonder Woman managed to slay Ares.
