In Creature Commandos, we learned that in the DCU, the Amazons of Themyscira are something the world at large is aware of. However, they are still more of an urban legend. Some people believe the stories, like Circe’s “Sons of Themyscira,” while others think it’s all a myth. This indicates that Wonder Woman has yet to appear on the public stage. A proper DCU Wonder Woman introduction could be years away still, but we have some ideas on how James Gunn could introduce the Amazons into the DCU before Wonder Woman arrives. Perhaps first in the announced Paradise Lost series. Here are our ideas on how Wonder Woman and the DCU Amazons should be introduced, and which warrior women could appear before Diana Prince officially debuts herself.
Introduce DCU Wonder Woman in the Modern Day
Wonder Woman first appeared in All-Star Comics #8 in 1941 before debuting in her own feature in Sensation Comics. From the beginning, she was a bastion of freedom, fighting fascist forces in World War II. In the comics, later iterations moved her entry into the so-called “Man’s World” to the modern day. But the ‘70s Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter put her origins squarely back in the ‘40s. Later, the 2017 film took her back further, to World War I. Because of this, we think Diana’s origin story this time should take place in the modern day. When Diana leaves Themyscira, we want it in the 2020s, not another period piece. After so many iterations of Wonder Woman portraying her mostly in the past, maybe it’s time for a change-up. Let’s see how Diana would react to our world as it is now, not as it was then.
The DCU Amazons Should Lean Into Sci-Fi
In William Moulton Marston’s original concept for the Amazons, they were warriors of ancient Greek descent, but not frozen in time technologically. Sequestered from the outside world, they engineered technology far in advance of the rest of humanity. This is how they developed their purple healing rays, mental radios, and Diana’s invisible plane. Marston mixed together a bit of mythological fantasy with a healthy dose of pulpy science fiction for his Amazon women. And the Amazons of Paradise Island remained this way for the better part of four decades.
When writer/artist George Perez reinvented Wonder Woman for the modern age in 1986, he envisioned his Amazons as forever stuck in a Bronze Age level of technology. This version informed how the Amazons were portrayed in media from then on, from the animated Justice League to the 2017 Wonder Woman film by Patty Jenkins. And although those both rock, we think it’s time to see a different, more sci-fi version of the Amazons. We want Diana to experience culture shock when she arrives in our world, not because of how futuristic it seems but because of how backward it is in comparison to her homeland, with invisible tech and flying hover chariots. Writer Grant Morrison reintroduced high-tech Amazons in his Wonder Woman: Earth One series, and we’d love a similar version in the DCU.
Include Wonder Girl in the Teen Titans Even Before Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is usually presented as the first Amazon to set foot in the outside world. However, that’s not always been the case. She’s the most high-profile Amazon to be sure. But it would be interesting if the DCU approach had other Amazonians living in secret among us, long before Diana ever arrived. One of these could be her adopted sister Donna Troy, Wonder Girl of the Teen Titans. With a Teen Titans movie in development, it would be interesting if the DCU had a Wonder Girl before a Wonder Woman. Donna is as crucial to the Titans as Robin or Raven. DC Studios should include her, whether Wonder Woman has appeared yet or not.
The comics have precedent for this, too. In the post-Crisis on Infinite Earths DC continuity, Wonder Woman appeared on the scene years after Wonder Girl did. They didn’t discover their familial connections till much later. The idea that some Amazons were secretly among us before Wonder Woman made Themyscira fact and not fiction to the average person is a fun notion to play with. And, fun fact, Wonder Girl actually appeared in outside comics media before Wonder Woman in real life too. Her first screen appearance was in the 1967 Teen Titans cartoon. Wonder Woman wouldn’t throw her lasso on TV till an episode of The Brady Kids (of all things) in 1972.
The Amazon Nubia Should Be Front and Center
Another Amazon that the DCU could introduce to set the table for Diana is Nubia. This character was created way back in 1973, as the first Black Amazon. In Wonder Woman #204, Nubia challenges Diana to the title of Wonder Woman. It’s only then that Queen Hippolyta reveals that she’s Diana’s fraternal twin sister, shaped from clay and given life by the Gods the same night as Diana. But the war god Ares kidnapped her and raised her, and she returned as an adult adversary. She eventually went to the side of good, but then the character totally disappeared from DC continuity, despite getting a doll in the 1970s Wonder Woman toy line.
Since Nubia has historical importance as DC Comics’ first Black female superhero, DC revived her in modern time. This time, with a revised origin story. In the new version, Nubia was originally Zahavah, a warrior princess of an African tribe. After she died, like all the other Amazons, she was reborn on Themyscira, emerging from the Well of Souls. Now called Nubia in this new life, she was born around the same time as Princess Diana, so they were raised almost as sisters, just not literally.
Nubia became the guard of Doom’s Doorway, the portal underneath Themyscira to the underworld. That is where the Olympian gods imprisoned a variety of monsters, and keeping them at bay was the Amazon’s charge. One such monster escaped, leading Nubia to leave Themyscira in secret to pursue it in our world, long before Diana left. This could explain how Nubia lives among regular humans before Wonder Woman makes her official debut. Given that Nubia ultimately becomes Queen of the Amazons, it would make sense for DC Studios to introduce her even before Wonder Woman appears.
Queen Hippolyta, Diana’s Mother, Should be the Wonder Woman of World War II
Yes, I just made a case for Princess Diana first appearing in our world in the present. But there is something almost cathartic about seeing Wonder Woman punching Nazis in the face. So how do we get both? In the ‘90s comics, DC figured out a solution. After Wonder Woman died at the hands of the demonic Neron, she ascended to become the Olympian Goddess of Truth. But the world still needed a Wonder Woman, so her mother, Queen Hippolyta, became the new Wonder Woman in her place. She then traveled back in time, becoming the Wonder Woman of World War II, serving alongside the Justice Society of America.
We actually think that’s all too convoluted for the new DCU, with Diana dying and then time travel. But it would be fascinating if Hippolyta was actually Wonder Woman years before Diana was born, fighting Nazis in Europe. Maybe that’s where all the legends and whispers about Themyscira originally came from. Surely, Hippolyta would have told someone, perhaps her JSA comrades, where she was really from. While some fans might balk at Diana being a legacy hero, we think it could inspire lots of cool stories for both mother and daughter. And it would certainly mark this as a very different take from the old DCEU.