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Hippolyta (DC Comics)

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For the Marvel Comics character, see Hippolyta (Marvel Comics). For Hippolyta Trevor, see Fury (DC Comics).
Hippolyta
Queen Hippolyta depicted in her royal purple robes.
Art by Phil Jimenez.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAll Star Comics #8 (December, 1941)
As Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman vol. 2 #128 (December, 1997)
Created byWilliam Moulton Marston
Harry G. Peter
In-story information
Alter egoHippolyta
Team affiliationsThemyscira
Justice Society of America
All-Star Squadron
Justice League
Notable aliasesShim'Tar, Wonder Woman
AbilitiesEnhanced strength, enhanced speed, enhanced durability, ageless eternal life, and highly developed fighting skills.

Queen Hippolyta is a fictional character and DC Comics superhero, based on Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology. She is also the mother of Wonder Woman and Donna Troy. Danish actress Connie Nielsen will portray the character in the 2017 live action film.[1]

Fictional character biography

Golden and Silver Age versions

The character Hippolyta (then spelled "Hippolyte" although the spelling changed to "Hippolyta" during the 1960s) first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (1941), the same comic book that introduced her daughter, Wonder Woman. This original version of the character possessed black hair. According to this story, Hippolyte and the Amazons once resided in "Amazonia" in the days of ancient Greece, until they were beguiled and bested by the demi-god Hercules, who had been inspired by the God of War Ares, now named Mars, to go after her. She was able to beat him thanks to the magic girdle, but he seduced her, and tricked her into removing the girdle, allowing him to steal it. This caused them to lose their super strength and favor of their patron goddess, Aphrodite. Eventually she and the other Amazons were forgiven, but had to wear bracelets to remind them of the folly of submitting to men. To regain their status, the Amazons were decreed to leave the mortal world and relocate to Paradise Island. There they established their own society, free from the evils of man's world. So long as they remained there and Hippolyte retained possession of her magic girdle, the Amazons would be immortal. Much of this history was adapted, varied, and expanded upon in the modern version of the Wonder Woman comics.

For the most part, Hippolyte remained on Paradise Island during the Golden Age era, rarely interacting with the modern world to which her daughter had journeyed. Her role was that of the Amazon Queen and mentor to Wonder Woman. She was devoted to the Olympian goddesses, particularly the Amazons' patron Aphrodite, and was adamant that man never be allowed to set foot on Paradise Island. Although she remained mainly on the island, in one memorable story from Sensation Comics #26 (reprinted in Wonder Woman: The Complete History), Hippolyte travels to Man's World and briefly assumes the role of Wonder Woman.[2] In the first appearance of Villany inc she is kidnapped to lure Wonder Woman into a trap.

In the 1960s when DC Comics introduced the concept of the Multiverse, this Hippolyte was established as existing on the world known as Earth-2. This incarnation of Hippolyte was phased out around issue #97 of the original Wonder Woman comic when the focus shifted from Earth-2 to the more modern versions of the characters on Earth-1.

The Silver Age Hippolyte continued thereafter and had blonde hair. Her history was largely identical to the Golden Age version, though a few significant Silver Age stories diverge from the original. For example, it was established that Hippolyta had crafted a second daughter from clay, a dark-skinned Amazon named Nubia who was to be Wonder Woman's twin sister before she was spirited away by the god Mars. She was also the adoptive mother of Donna Troy, who had been rescued from a fire and brought to Paradise Island. As before, Hippolyta's role in the Silver Age era was primarily that of Paradise Island's queen and mentor to Wonder Woman. She was frequently shown interacting with her daughter as well as supporting characters of the era such as Wonder Girl and Wonder Tot. According to the DC Comics 1976 calendar, Hippolyta was born on January 8.

Hippolyta was also instrumental in several of the continuity shake-ups for the Earth-One Wonder Woman. Enraged that her daughter, recovering from amnesia, had submitted to trials by the Justice League to prove her worth to rejoin, she created her own test which involved resurrecting Steve Trevor to lead an assault on Paradise Island. The goddess Aphrodite granted Diana's wish to allow the resurrected Trevor to continue living (although he was later revealed to be Eros animating Trevor's body). After Trevor had again been killed and a grief-stricken Diana returned home, Hippolyta erased Diana's memories of him; when a Trevor from a parallel universe burst through the barriers between worlds and crashed off Paradise Island, Hippolyta asked Aphrodite to alter the memories of the entire world to allow the new Trevor to embark upon a life on Earth-One.

The Hippolytas of both universes used a Magic Sphere, which could peer into the past and future.

In 1985, the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries revised DC Comics history and combined the multiple Earths into one world. The modern version of Hippolyta would combine elements of her earlier incarnations and take on greater importance in the series.

Modern Age version

Origin

Hippolyta's origins underwent a revision after writer George Pérez' revamp of Wonder Woman in 1987. In current continuity, Hippolyta and the rest of the Themyscirian Amazons were first created by a select few of the Olympian gods, which included Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Demeter and Aphrodite. They took the souls of women slain throughout time by the hands of men and sent them to the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Hippolyta was slain 3,200 years ago while carrying a child. The souls then began to form bodies with the clay on the sea bed. Once they reached the surface the clay bodies became living flesh and blood Amazons. The first one to break surface was Hippolyta and thus she was titled as Queen of the new race; in this version Hippolyta stood 5'9", weighed approximately 130 lbs, had curly black hair and more or less looked like the spitting image of her future daughter. The second Amazon to break surface was her sister Antiope and she ruled as a second to Hippolyta in all affairs. Each of the goddesses that created the Amazons blessed them with personalized gifts: hunting skills (Artemis'), wisdom (Athena's), warm homes (Hestia's), plentiful harvests (Demeter's), and beauty inside and out (Aphrodite's). As a symbol of their leadership titles, the gods gave Hippolyta and Antiope each a Golden Girdle of Gaea which enhanced their strength and abilities significantly. The Amazons eventually founded the city of Themyscira in Anatolia and became known as fierce warriors of peace in Turkey, Greece and Rome.

Rape

Heracles subduing Hippolyta. Art by George Pérez.

The jealous and vengeful god Ares soon after tried to discredit their name by having his half-brother demi-god Heracles invade the Amazons and demean their standing by stealing their Golden Girdles of Gaea. When Heracles first approached the Amazons seeking battle, Hippolyta met him outside the city gates and tried to reason with him for peaceful negotiations. When this did not work, Heracles attacked the Amazon Queen using his strength to his advantage. Hippolyta easily turned the tables on him by using her wisdom and battle skills to subdue him. Still wishing peace, Hippolyta invited Heracles and his men into their city to celebrate a potential friendship with a feast. Hiding his anger, Heracles accepted the invitation.

Once in their stronghold, Heracles and his men drugged the wine the Amazons were drinking and took them prisoner. After the theft of Hippolyta's Golden Girdle and abuse and rape of the Amazons, Hippolyta cried out to Athena to help them escape their bonds. Athena said that she would only aid them on the condition that the Amazons not seek retribution against Heracles and his men as that would be beneath the ideals the Amazons were created to stand for. Hippolyta hastily agreed and the Amazon's bonds were broken and the effects of the drugs they had been given wore off. Once out of their drugged state, the Amazons were filled with hate and revenge. Breaking Hippolyta's oath to Athena, the Amazons began slaughtering their captors but were upset to find that Heracles and his general Theseus had returned to their homelands.

After the slaughter Athena reprimanded the Amazons for disobeying her orders. She demanded the Amazons serve penance for their actions. Though Hippolyta agreed to the goddess' wishes, her sister Antiope scoffed at Athena for being angered at them for killing their rapist captors. Antiope then denounced all ties to the Olympian gods and said goodbye to her sister Hippolyta, giving Hippolyta her Golden Girdle of Gaea to replace the one stolen by Heracles. She left for Greece, along with half of the Amazon Nation who supported Antiope in her new quest to battle Heracles and Theseus out of vengeance and to replace Antiope's girdle with Hippolyta's. Antiope's tribe later became the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall.

Godly penance

Hippolyta and her remaining faithful Amazons then went to the sea shore where the Olympian Gods told them their punishment for going against their ideals. They were to be given immortality so that they would forever safeguard a doorway to the underworld called Doom's Doorway. Not only must they prevent anyone from entering, but they must also vanquish any evils that try to escape. The doorway was on a far-off isolated island and it would take some time to get there. To guide their way, the god Poseidon cleared a pathway for them across the seas. Once they arrived at the island the Amazons created a new city and named their new home Themyscira, after their previous fallen city. Hippolyta then held a contest of trials to determine which Amazon was the most skilled among her people. The victor, Nu'Bia, was then sent into Doom's Doorway to better safeguard the entryway from within the Underworld while the remaining Amazons protected the entrance in the mortal world. The Amazons continued to live on the island guarding Doom's Doorway, and paying homage to their gods, for three-thousand years.

Diana's birth

Hippolyta creating Diana. Art by Adam Hughes.

It was into this period of living on the island for millennia that Hippolyta began to ache for a child of her own. She prayed to her gods her secret wish and they responded. She was told to go to the sea shore and form the figure of a baby with the island's clay, which she did. The original goddesses again united to create a new Amazon for Queen Hippolyta. It was revealed that in her previous life Hippolyta was a pregnant cavewoman who was killed by her mate, thus her longing was for the child she had been denied. The goddesses used the soul of this unborn child to fall into the clay body of the infant and, just as with the previous Amazons, the clay was changed into flesh and blood. Hippolyta named the child Diana, after a stranger who was washed ashore on the island and helped the Amazons defeat a creature escaping Doom's Doorway with her life. This Diana was later to be revealed as the love interest to both Steve Trevor. When she reached adulthood, Princess Diana became the superheroine Wonder Woman. To aid her in her mission, the Olympian gods transformed the Golden Girdle of Gaea that Antiope gave to Hippolyta into the Lasso of Truth.

The Amazon Queen raised Diana on the island as the princess of the Amazon Nation. Her love of Diana at times though proved to take precedence over the welfare of her people. For example, when the god Zeus intended to rape Diana (after she had become Wonder Woman) as a "reward" for thwarting Ares's plot, an enraged Hippolyta was willing to put the entire island in peril by confronting the god outright in order to protect Diana. Later still when Diana was told that she was to enter Doom's Doorway alone in order to answer a challenge by her gods, Hippolyta again placed the island in peril by disobeying the gods and entering Doom's Doorway to save her daughter. Though her motherly love was proven in these instances and more, it also showed that she was beginning to lose interest in the rule of her people.

Return of Heracles

During Diana's Challenge of the Gods storyline,[3][4][5] she discovered that Heracles was transformed into a colossal stone pilar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia.[4] In this stone state he was tormented and scarred by various mythological creatures, feeling the pain inflicted by them but not being able to do anything about it. This was the punishment given to him by his Olympian family for his past transgressions. Gaining his original form back,[5] he begged the Amazons for forgiveness. Though some of the Amazons still harbored hatred for their past rapes and humiliation, most of them were moved by Heracles' newfound humility, and Queen Hippolyta asked her people to search their hearts for the strength to forgive, which they eventually did. Doing so herself, Hippolyta not only forgave Heracles, but shared a brief romance with him before he left the mortal realm to return to his father in Olympus.[6]

Return to the outside world

After Diana's completion of her challenge, the Amazons were released from their punishment by the Olympian gods. They were free to live out their lives any way and where they saw fit while retaining their immortality as a blessing from the gods for their faithful devotion.[6] To celebrate, Hippolyta declared that Themyscira would finally create exchange with outside countries. Unfortunately their interaction with the United Nations was met with mixed impressions. Some saw the Amazons as lowly savages, unworthy of U.N. entry. Others still saw Hippolyta and her people as beacons of hope. Diana became Themyscira's ambassador, relaying all of Hippolyta's wishes to the U.N.[7][8]

Alas, as Wonder Woman Diana made a powerful enemy in the witch Circe.[9] One attack made by Circe to Diana was the brainwashing of Queen Hippolyta in becoming the Shim'Tar, or chief warrior, of the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall.[10][11] In this persona Hippolyta mindlessly attacked her own daughter at the whim of Circe. This tarnished the outside world's view of the newly discovered nation somewhat. The magic used on Hippolyta eventually wore off but Hippolyta never forgave Circe for the mental rape given, nor the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall for aiding Circe in her plot to kill her daughter.[12]

Due to this event Circe considered all Amazons to be her enemy and made a new plan for revenge. In time she teleported the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall to Themyscira on the pretense that they were to take the island as their own. While the two tribes fought, Circe teleported the island to a dimension of demons. There the two tribes of Amazons were forced to put aside their rivalry temporarily in order to stave off the demons who sought to destroy the entire Amazon race. The Amazons were eventually successful but they remained in the demon dimension until Diana discovered what had happened and forced Circe to return the island back to its rightful dimension.[13] After this was done they found out that although their time in the demon dimension lasted several years, the time passed in their normal dimension was only a few months.[14]

In this time the Themyscirian and Bana-Mighdallian Amazons made an uneasy truce. The Themyscirians would live in the city while the Bana-Mighdallians would form their own settlement on the opposite side of the island. In Hippolyta's mind she still served as Queen over all Amazons on the island, but the Bana-Mighdallian Amazons did not see it as such and tensions between the two tribes remained.[15]

File:Ww99.jpg
Cover to Wonder Woman (vol. 2)#99 (July 1995). Art by Brian Bolland.

Motherly deception

Because the demon dimension they were in was magic based, Hippolyta began to receive dreams and visions of the future. In one such dream she foresaw Wonder Woman's death. Fearful for her daughter's welfare, she put into motion a plan to remove Diana from her role as Wonder Woman and replace the title of Themyscira's Champion to another Amazon. Thus a new Contest for the title was made though she kept her true reasons for calling the new Contest to herself alone. Initially Hippolyta thought the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall were not worthy to enter the Contest but once Diana, angered at her mother's treatment of the new Amazons, called a vote on the whole to see if her people also agreed that they should be allowed to participate. The answer was yes. Suddenly inspired, Hippolyta noticed that the Bana-Mighdallian's most likely warrior to win was the Amazon Artemis. Hippolyta then in secret went to the Themyscirian Amazon mystic Magala. She had Magala transfer half of Diana's gods-given powers over to Artemis in order for Artemis' victory to be better equipped.[16] Hippolyta also provided many additional obstacles for Diana to encounter during her Contest trials in order for her to become sidetracked from the goal of winning. Due to her actions, Artemis became the Contest's winner and the new champion Wonder Woman. Later when Diana began to receive visions of the past she confronted her mother on why she really called for a new Contest. When Hippolyta told her she and Diana's relationship became scarred as Diana never truly forgave her mother for knowingly sending another Amazon to her death.[17]

Wonder Woman

Hippolyta as Wonder Woman. Art by John Byrne and Patricia Mulvihill. Wonder Woman (vol.2) #130 (February 1998).

After Artemis was killed in battle the title of Wonder Woman was returned to Diana. This sent Hippolyta into a deep depression as she realized she was the cause of an innocent's death. Hippolyta gave command to the Amazon General Philippus and went into self-imposed banishment.[18]

Hippolyta boarded a small boat and let it cast adrift. She eventually landed in Louisiana where she met a psychic named Angela.[19][20][21] After becoming friends with Angela and her family, Angela informed Hippolyta that her daughter was in serious danger.[22] Rushing to her aid, Hippolyta arrived too late to save Diana from the demon Neron, as Diana was still suffering from the spell that had reduced her strength.[16] Thus, Hippolyta's vision of her daughter dying as Wonder Woman came true.[23]

Diana, after her death, was granted divinity as the Goddess of Truth by her gods for such faithful devotion.[24] During her brief time as a god of Olympus, Diana was replaced in the role of Wonder Woman by her mother.[25] As opposed to Diana receiving the title in honor, Hippolyta's role as Wonder Woman was meant to be a punishment for her betrayal in Artemis' death as well as for unintentionally killing her own daughter.[26] However, Hippolyta eventually grew to enjoy the freedom and adventure the title came with. Whereas Diana used the Lasso of Truth as her primary weapon, Hippolyta favored a broad sword.

John Byrne, the writer that introduced the concept of Hippolyta as the first Wonder Woman, has explained his intentions in a post in his message board:

I thought George's one "mistake" in rebooting Wonder Woman was making her only 25 years old when she left Paradise Island. I preferred the idea of a Diana who was thousands of years old (as, if I recall correctly, she was in the TV series). From that angle, I would have liked to have seen Diana having been Wonder Woman in WW2, and be returning to our world in the reboot.

Not having that option, I took the next best course, and had Hippolyta fill that role.[27]

Wildcat and Hippolyta share an intimate moment. Art by Phil Jimenez.

As Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta immediately got involved in a time travel mission back to the 1940s with Jay Garrick.[28] After this mission, she elected to join the Justice Society of America and remained in that era for eight years, where her teammates nicknamed her "Polly". During that time she had a relationship with Ted Grant.[29] Hippolyta also made visits into the past to see her godchild Lyta, daughter of Hippolyta's protege Helena, the Golden Age Fury.[volume & issue needed] These visits happened yearly from young Lyta's perspective and also accounted for Hippolyta's participation in the JSA/JLA team ups. When she returned from the past, Hippolyta took Diana's place in the JLA as well.[30][31]

Eventually Diana gave up her godhood and returned to her role as Wonder Woman.[32] Still clinging to her newfound sense of freedom, Hippolyta did not wish to relinquish her title as Wonder Woman (even though she admitted her daughter looked "better in a bathing suit" than she did), leaving two different Wonder Women acting in the same role at the same time. Diana was often unhappy with Hippolyta's continued role as Wonder Woman as she felt Hippolyta was ignoring her true duties as ruler of Themyscira, thus further inciting the antagonism between mother and daughter.[33]

Around this time Hippolyta discovered that the hero Donna Troy was actually a mirror image of her daughter Diana, brought to life through Themyscirian sorceries. Though Hippolyta had met Donna on previous adventures, when the two women met again after learning this fact, Hippolyta accepted Donna as a second daughter and held a coronation on the island, proclaiming Donna to be the second Amazon princess and an heir to the Themyscirian throne.[34]

On one visit to the island, Diana discovered that the two tribes of Amazons were on the verge of a civil war due to unresolved issues and mysterious acts of sabotage made on the Bana-Mighdallian's construction of their city. When both Diana and Donna confronted Hippolyta about her inaction of rule at such a dangerous time, Hippolyta became very upset with her two daughters and told them that she intended to continue her role as Wonder Woman in the outside world and that Diana and Donna were to rule the island in her absence. Unfortunately the civil war took place after all and many Amazons on both sides were killed. Returning to the island, Hippolyta and Diana agreed to denounce their royal titles in order for both Amazon tribes to have an opportunity for peace, having both tribes gain equal footing in united rule.[12][15]

Death

Hippolyta continued to establish a distinguished career as Wonder Woman. The Queen enjoyed her role in the Justice Society and became accustomed to life in the United States. Mother and daughter fought on several occasions over Hippolyta's past expected roles — hero or queen — and their differences were unresolved when the queen sacrificed herself to save the Earth from Imperiex during the Imperiex War featured in Our Worlds at War.[35] Ironically Hippolyta died at the birthplace of the Amazons, near the Aegean Sea in Greece. However she was allowed to see her daughter one last time and say goodbye. She, the spirit of her sister Antiope, and Steve Trevor's mother Diana Rockwell Trevor became ghostly guardians of the island watching over both tribes as their distant and former queens.[36]

One Year Later

As part of the Amazons Attack storyline, the witch Circe revived Hippolyta and showed her that the U.S. government illegally kidnapped her daughter Diana.[37] She was being tortured until she gave over the plans on how the U.S. government could create their own Purple Ray to be used as a weapon.[38] Angered over this, Hippolyta resumed leadership of the Amazons and had them attack the city of Washington, D.C. in the hopes of rescuing Diana and serving their own form of justice against the world for their actions. They are shown using winged steeds, and other mythical creatures. During battle Hippolyta discovered that Circe had secretly planned to detonate a nuclear weapon on Themyscira and gained her revenge on the traitor by impaling the sorceress with a battle spear through the chest. Wonder Woman has an opportunity to kill her mother but does not take it, instead giving the knife to Hippolyta, who will not kill her daughter. Despite the fact that Circe is supposedly dead, Hippolyta seems fully intent on continuing her assault on the United States, even issuing an attack on other locations, including Kansas. Her more chaotic and malicious actions start to concern her Amazon generals. It is later learned that Circe used a portion of her own soul to revive Hippolyta from death. Because of this Hippolyta's persona was tainted by the witch's evil and thus Hippolyta is now a more blood-thirsty being than before.[39]

At the conclusion of the war all of the Amazons are given false identities and scattered throughout the world.[40][41] Hippolyta is spared but is banished to live alone on Themyscira, by what appears to be Athena but is later revealed to be the villainous Granny Goodness, who along with the other New Gods of Apokolips have imprisoned the Greek deities. In Countdown to Final Crisis, Hippolyta lives in hiding from Granny Goodness and her new brand of Amazons, human recruits being trained as a new generation of her Female Furies. With the help of island castaways Holly Robinson (briefly known as Catwoman), Harley Quinn and a powerless Mary Marvel, Hippolyta is able to drive Granny out of Thermiscyra and back to Apokolips. After the Greek Gods are freed by Mary, Granny is murdered by the mysterious Godkiller, leaving Hippolyta once more as the Queen of Themyscira.

The Circle

During her isolation Hippolyta travels to the four corners of Themyscira, speaking to an Amazon prisoner at each point, asking them if they repent, to which each prisoner replies, "Never". However, the fourth and last prisoner, whom Hippolyta identifies as Alkyone, presents her with a wooden tiara with the words "Our Queen" across it similar to the one she and Diana both wore as Wonder Woman. Alkyone tells Hippolyta since she denied her the use of any blades, she gnawed in the inscription with her teeth. She goes on to accuse Hippolyta of betrayal for birthing "The Dragon", which clearly is a reference to Diana. Alkyone begs her to kill Diana and let them be a tribe again, but Hippolyta adamantly refuses. Alkyone then tells Hippolyta to tell Diana the truth, but again Hippolyta refuses and breaks the wooden tiara in half. As she leaves, Alkyone vows to save Hippolyta and make them a tribe again by killing Diana.[42]

Alkyone's past reveals her to have been a member of Hippolyta's Royal Guard along with three other Amazons—Myrto, Charis and Philomela, charged with her personal protection.[43] They were viewed as too brutal-minded and overzealous by General Philippus, captain of the General Amazon Guard, a viewpoint that was later proven when Alkyone learned that Hippolyta desired a child. This came to a head when Alkyone learned from the Amazon sorceress, Magala that another Amazon named Gennes had supposedly given birth to a daughter. But it turned out the baby was nothing more than a clay doll carved in the image of a child. Concluding Gennes had gone mad, Alkyone ordered that no such dolls were ever to be crafted on Themyscira again. After that, she ordered Gennes to be killed. In the present day, the army of Captain Nazi lands on Themyscira, intending to claim it for themselves. Alerted to their arrival, Hippolyta cuts her hair and readies herself for battle and vows to redeem herself for all the mistakes she has made since her resurrection. Elsewhere on the island, Alkyone offers her help and the rest of the former Royal Guard to the soldiers in hunting down Hippolyta in exchange for their release.

Wonder Woman – The Movie

In Wonder Woman issues 24 and 25, there is a movie being made about Diana. In the beginning of issue 24, Diana brings Thomas Andrew Tresser home to meet her mother, Queen Hippolyta. Hippolyta takes Tresser and leaves Diana alone on the beach. This is her opportunity to get to know the man in whom her daughter has become interested. The getting to know him phase includes taking Tom to the Royal Menagerie to hand feed Griffins of Myth. While there Hippolyta asks rather directly if he and Diana have made love yet. Flustered he is able to honestly answer that they haven't. She asks Tom, "Will you protect her, keep her from harm, if you are able?" He replies, "Yes. That I can promise. Although it usually goes the other way 'round, to be blunt." Before he leaves she gives him a spear she has made, grants him the title Sir Thomas of Cleveland, and makes him a guardsman of Themyscira. As Diana and Tom prepare to leave she requests one thing of her new guardsman, babies. As many as he and Diana can create as quickly as they can create them. As they leave the island Alkyone is seen watching them from shore as they float away on a giant shell.[44]

Past Imperfect

Hippolyta's look in The New 52 continuity. Panel from Wonder Woman Vol 4 Issue 2. Art by Cliff Chiang.

Following the events of Wonder Woman #600, the timeline is altered by the Greek Gods and Hippolyta's history is radically changed once again. Here, Themyscira is invaded by a heavily armed paramilitary group while Diana is still a child, and the majority of the Amazons are wiped out in the ensuing battle. Hippolyta is able to save Diana by entrusting her to several of her servants, who smuggle the child to the United States in the midst of the attack, but Hippolyta herself is ultimately captured by the enemy soldiers. After being bound and presented to the leader of the invaders, Hippolyta commits suicide by throwing herself into a massive fire being used to incinerate the dead Amazons, choosing to die rather than submit to her captors.[45] After Wonder Woman's exile in the altered continuity is reversed, Hippolyta is briefly restored to her Modern Age origins,[46] greeting her daughter back and approving the changes she had done to her attitude and appearance during her ordeal.

The New 52 Relaunch

Following a new reset of the DCU continuity, Hippolyta receives another major change. Now looking like the Silver Age Hippolyta, youthful and blonde, she retains her edgy, warrior woman attitude. Furthermore, this incarnation of Hippolyta didn't fashion Diana from clay: instead, she bore her daughter from a relationship with Zeus, concocting a lie to protect Diana from Hera's rage.[47]

After the truth about Diana's birth is revealed, Hera, the queen of the Greek gods, appears on Paradise Island to punish Hippolyta (not for having an affair with her husband, but for having been too weak to resist Zeus' seduction). Hippolyta had predicted this, and asks Hera to take her life in exchange of letting Diana live. However, Hera changes her mind at the last second, and instead of killing Hippolyta, turns her into stone and the rest of the Amazons, minus Diana, into snakes, thus destroying Wonder Woman's home and her only family.[48]

Powers and abilities

Hippolyta has 3,000 years of combat experience, providing her expertise in both hand-to-hand combat as well as with hand-held weapons. As a Themyscirian Amazon she is ageless and immortal, allowing her to live indefinitely without physically aging beyond her youthful prime, but is still vulnerable to death upon sufficient injuries and such.[35][49] She also possesses enhanced strength and intelligence. As shown by fellow members of her tribe, she has the capability to break apart steel and concrete with her bare hands,[12][50] jump over 12 feet from a standing position,[51] has a high durability factor,[52] enhanced healing,[53] and the ability to absorb and process a vast amount of knowledge in a short period of time.[54]

Hippolyta, also in addition to all the Themyscirian Amazons, possesses the ability to relieve her body of physical injury and toxins by becoming one with the Earth's soil and then reforming her body whole again.[53] The first time Diana does this she prays to her god Gaea saying: "Gaea, I pray to you. Grant me your strength. You are the Earth who suckled me, who nurtured and bred me. Through you all life is renewed. The circle which never ends. I pray you, mother Gaea, take me into your bosom. Please, let me be worthy." During writer John Byrne's time on the comic it was stated that this is a very sacred ritual to the Themyscirians, only to be used in the most dire of circumstances.[55]

As an Amazon, Hippolyta had access to a number of magical artifacts. These artifacts included the Gauntlet of Atlas, which greatly increased her overall strength and durability, as well as the Sandals of Hermes, which increased her speed and allowed her to fly. During her time as Wonder Woman, Hippolyta wielded the Lasso of Truth, though she seemed to prefer a broadsword and shield in combat. Her broadsword was created by Hephaestus and was sharp enough to slice the electrons off of an atom.

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Hippolyta encourages Aquaman of Atlantis to marry her daughter, Wonder Woman, after she had been poisoned by a Kraken. On the wedding day, however, Hippolyta was murdered by Artemis in disguise as an Atlantean, who in an act of betrayal, was working with Ocean Master. Diana was actually the target, but Hippolyta took the arrow. This leads to war between the Amazons and Atlanteans.[56]

Injustice: Gods Among Us

In the prequel comic to the video game, Hippolyta first appears in Year Two to take her comatose daughter Diana back to Themyscira with the hope that she will be healed. In Year Three, when Diana does not awake even after physically healing, she makes a deal with Hera to awaken Diana if she agrees to an eventual favor. Hera calls upon the favor in Year Four when she orders Hippolyta to lead the Amazons on an attack on Superman and his Regime. Hippolyta is reluctant since Diana is a part of the Regime, and when she refuses she is imprisoned by Hera and Zeus. Eventually she is sent to Tartarus with Harley Quinn and Billy Batson (Shazam), though Harley breaks them out with the use of a Kryptonian super pill and her own bizarre behavior. They are confronted by Ares, though they get away because of a Mother Box. They are then confronted by Darkseid, who imprisons them and reveals that he is aligned with Ares. Superman appears and frees them, leaving them open to flee with the Mother Box to the Himalayas, where they are met by Wonder Woman and Batman.

In other media

Television

File:TVQueenHippolyte.jpg
Actress Cloris Leachman as Queen Hippolyta on the Wonder Woman series.
  • In the 1975 Wonder Woman television series starring Lynda Carter, three different actresses portrayed Queen Hippolyta: Cloris Leachman in The New Original Wonder Woman TV series pilot (1975); Carolyn Jones in the episodes "The Feminum Mystique" parts 1 & 2 and "Wonder Woman in Hollywood"; and Beatrice Straight in the episodes "The Return of Wonder Woman" and "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis". All were Academy Award nominees. The character was never referred to as Queen Hippolyta by name. Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl refer to her as "Mother" and the Amazons either refer to her as "Your Majesty" or "The Queen".
  • In 1978, an animated Queen Hippolyta was shown on Challenge of the Super Friends in the episodes "Secret Origins of the Superfriends" and "Superfriends: Rest in Peace". Queen Hippolyta also appears in the 1980 Super Friends episode "Return of Atlantis." In her first two appearances, Hippolyta was a brunette however in her last appearance, she was blonde and wore a blue toga. In that series, Wonder Woman addresses Hippolyta by name rather than "Mother".
  • A brunette Queen Hippolyta in the 1988 Superman cartoon episode "Superman and Wonder Woman versus the Sorceress of Time" voiced by Pat Carroll. She is attacked by the Sorceress of Time, and herself and the other Amazons are shrunk down to midget size and imprisoned, whereupon she implores Wonder Woman to seek the aid of Superman in battling the Sorceress to reverse this.
  • In 2001, Hippolyta was depicted in the animated series Justice League voiced by actress Susan Sullivan. Hippolyta appeared in the episodes "Secret Origins", "Paradise Lost", "Fury", and "Hereafter" and, when the series continued in Justice League Unlimited, in "The Balance". Putting her religion and devotion to the Olympian Gods above all, she exiles her daughter Diana from Paradise Island rather than risk incurring divine wrath, when Diana brings out-worlders (the Justice League) to Themyscira in "Paradise Lost". In this series it is explained that the Wonder Woman uniform was actually made by the god Hephaestus for Queen Hippolyta to use (but he cheekily comments that the uniform looks better on Diana). Hippolyta is seen comforting Diana following Superman's supposed death in the episode "Hereafter" and in "The Balance" she lifts the exile she put on her daughter as well as informing her of her full power. Also explored was her one time intimate relationship with the Greek god Hades. While Diana believes that Hippolyta molded her from clay and breathed mystic life into her, Hades says that they molded her together, suggesting that Hades is really Diana's father.
  • In 2004 a brief allusion to Hippolyta was made in The WB television series Smallville. In the season three episode "Asylum", a newspaper includes the headline stating: "Themyscirian Queen Addresses the Vatican".
  • In 2011, Hippolyta appeared in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Triumverate of Terror!", voiced by Tippi Hedren.[57] In the episode, she is shown holding another contest amongst the Amazons, with Diana and herself presiding over the tournament. The Joker infiltrates the tournament disguised as an Amazon, and emerges as the victor after using his Smilex to poison all of the other women in the arena. As the Joker approaches the throne to claim his prize, he removes his disguise and knocks both Diana and Hippolyta unconscious before fleeing the island with Diana as his captive. What happened to Hippolyta after this is not stated.

Film

  • Actress Charlene Holt portrayed Queen Hippolyte in the 1974 TV-movie Wonder Woman starring Cathy Lee Crosby.
  • In a proposed Wonder Woman film, stated by writer/director Joss Whedon to be an origin story, a depiction of Hippolyta was expected. However, Whedon is no longer attached to the project, and—as of 2008—the movie has been put on hold.
  • Hippolyta appears in the direct-to-DVD animated movie Wonder Woman. She is voiced by Academy Award-nominated actress Virginia Madsen.[58] Like Cloris Leachman's portrayal in the 1975 TV film, after she learns that Diana had undergone the challenge and won it against her prohibition, she accepts the result without argument. Similarly to her previous animated incarnation, this version of Hippolyta also became romantically involved with a Greek god - Ares, the god of war - whom she imprisoned after she was betrayed by him. She is the mother of Ares' son, Thrax, whom she conceived with her former lover.
  • Hippolyta is set to appear in the 2017 movie Wonder Woman, portrayed by Connie Nielsen.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kit, Borys (January 15, 2016). "Warner Bros. Casts Wonder Woman's Mother (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 19, 2016.
  2. ^ "Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics – The CD Indexes". Dcindexes.com. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  3. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #10-11 (November–December 1987)
  4. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #12 (January 1988)
  5. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #13 (February 1988)
  6. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #14 (March 1988)
  7. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #37-40 (December 1989 - March 1990))
  8. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #50 (January 1991)
  9. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #17-19 (June–August 1988)
  10. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #60 (November 1991)
  11. ^ War of the Gods #3 (November 1991)
  12. ^ a b c Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #169 (June 2001)
  13. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #89 (August 1994)
  14. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #90 (september 1994)
  15. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #168 (May 2001)
  16. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #124 (August 1997)
  17. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #90, 0, 91-99 (September 1994 - July 1995)
  18. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #104 (December 1995)
  19. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #112 (August 1996)
  20. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #114-115 (October–November 1996)
  21. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #118-119 (February–March 1997)
  22. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123 (July 1997)
  23. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #125-126 (September–October 1997)
  24. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #127 (November 1997)
  25. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #128 (December 1997)
  26. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #129 (January 1998)
  27. ^ "Wonder Woman revisited". Byrne Robotics. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  28. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #130-133 (February–May 1998)
  29. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #185 (November 2002)
  30. ^ JLA #18-23 (May–October 1998)
  31. ^ JLA #30 (June 1999)
  32. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #136 (August 1998)
  33. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #171 (August 2001)
  34. ^ Wonder Woman Secret Files and Origins #3 (May 2002)
  35. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #172 (September 2001)
  36. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #188 (March 2003)
  37. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #8 (June 2007)
  38. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #7 (June 2007)
  39. ^ Amazons Attack! #1-6 (June–October 2007)
  40. ^ Amazons Attack! #6 (October 2007)
  41. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #12 (October 2007)
  42. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #14 (January 2008)
  43. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #15 (February 2008)
  44. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 3) #24-25 (November–December 2008)
  45. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #601 (September 2010)
  46. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #614 (October 2011)
  47. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #3 (January 2012)
  48. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #4 (February 2012)
  49. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #1 (February 1987)
  50. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #59 (October 1991)
  51. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #57 (August 1991)
  52. ^ Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1 (October 2001)
  53. ^ a b Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #30 (May 1989)
  54. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #3 (April 1987)
  55. ^ Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #120 (April 1997)
  56. ^ Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 (June 2011)
  57. ^ "CC2010: Batman- The Brave and the Bold Interview with Andrea Romano". Comicsonline.com. 2010-07-31. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  58. ^ "Comics Continuum cast list". Comicscontinuum.com. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
  • Beatty, Scott (2009). Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Guide To The Amazon Princess. Dorling Kindersley Publishing. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-7894-9616-X.
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