Wonder Woman Biography
"In the year 1200 B.C., a group of Olympian goddesses led by Artemis traveled to the Caverns
of Souls, home of the spirits of thousands of women who had died before their time and who
had been intercepted by Gaea, the Earth goddess. The goddesses used their power to reincarnate
the souls as the Amazons, a race of adult women who could teach humanity the wisdom of the
gods. The first woman originally taken by Gaea was given the name Hippolyte and was made
queen of the Amazons.
The Amazons eventually settled on the hidden island of Themyscira, an island that lay atop
the underworld of Tartarus: as punishment for having failed to properly minister the teachings
of the gods, the Amazons were separated from civilization and charged with the responsibility
of protecting the world from the evils of Tartarus. So long as the Amazons were successful,
they would be immortal.
The soul of Hippolyte’s unborn daughter still inhabited the Cavern of Souls. Recognizing the
need for a special Amazon to someday battle the mad war god, Ares, the five goddesses who were
the Amazons’ patrons, along with Hermes, endowed the unborn soul with special gifts and powers
and placed it in a clay body formed by Hippolyte, thus incarnating the child.
The infant, named Diana (after an American Pilot, Diana Trevor, who had sacrificed her life to
save the Amazons from the denizens of Tartarus), grew to adulthood. It was then that the gods
decreed that the Amazons must, through a tournament of skill, choose from among themselves a
champion to help combat Ares’s atrocities in “Man’s World.”
Though Hippolyte banned her daughter from participating, Diana, urged on by Athena, concelaed
her identity and entered the contest. When she won, Hippolyte reluctantly agreed to let Diana
accept the mantle of Amazon champion. Diana was clothed in a costume modeled after the
American flag carried by her namesake and was given a Lasso of Truth forged from Gaea’s
girdle. Diana then went to Boston, Massachusetts, where she met Julia Kapatelis, a professor
of classical Greek history, who taught her how to speak English and who served as her guide to
contemporary civilization.
With Hermes’s aid, Diana thwarted Ares’s mad schemes. Impressed by her victory Zeus, ruler
of the Olympian gods, nevertheless demanded that Diana undergo a series of trials to prove her
mettle. One of Zeus’s challenges took her to the underworld Tartarus, where she met the
spirit of Diana Trevor. Trevor helped Wonder Woman realize that she is forever linked to
“Man’s World” not only because not only because of the special bond she shares with the pilot,
but also because of Wonder Woman’s friendship with her son, Steve Trevor.
Diana and Hippole together conquered the hordes of Tartarus; in return, the gods released the
Amazons from their exile from the outside world. Unsure of how to interact with Man’s World
after so many years, the Amazons chose Diana to be their ambassador.
Wonder Woman is a kind and gentle soul who preaches – and demonstrates – the power of peace.
Her methods are not those of a traditional “crimefighter”; her mission is to teach Olympian
virtues, not to patrol against crimes and theft. Nevertheless, Wonder Woman often finds
herself in the position of defending innocents from harm: in such instances, she never
attacks without provocation and fights cautiously and only as a last resort. Wonder Woman
is unusually trusting. The only thing that truly angers her is having her trust betrayed,
particularly by other women.
Powers and Weapons
Wonder Woman possesses superhuman strength and the ability to fly, is swift enough to deflect
bullets with her silver bracelets, and has been trained in all ancient Greek methods of
hand-to-hand combat. Wonder Woman also wields the Lasso of Truth, forged from the girdle
of Gaea, which forces anyone held by it to tell the absolute truth.
Who's Who in the DC Universe, #4.
Written by Mark Waid DC Comics., Published monthly by DC Comics Inc 666 Fifth Avenue, New York
NY 10103. 1990.
Inc. Times Mirror.
