The Amazons of Themyscira or Paradise Island are a race of powerful warrior women, led by Queen Hippolyta, and defended by their champion Wonder Woman.
The Amazons were a powerful race of women who lived in ancient Greece. Around the year 1200 B.C.. The gods of Olympus are an extra-dimensional race of beings who were worshiped in Ancient Greece. They no longer seek worshipers today, but they are still worshiped by the Amazons and Atlanteans. The Olympians played a role in the creation of the Amazons, a small group of female Olympian gods desired to create a nation of warrior women that would help to spread their ideals of peace, tolerance, and equality to the world, they have been guided and protected by the goddesses ever since. Zeus, in his arrogance, decreed that mankind would never forget the gods, and that it did not matter if there were champions or not. Ares, being the god of war, did not desire anyone promoting peace. The other male gods did not seem interested, and Hera did not wish to go against her husband. Therefore, it fell to the other five primary Greek goddesses, Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena and Artemis convened on the island of Rhodes near a lake. Through their magics, the goddesses gathered thousands of strong, adult females from around the world to the island of Rhodes.
The first such woman to come to the lake was named Hippolyta, the second woman to come to the lake was called Antiope, the goddesses made themselves known to the Amazons, appointing Hippolyta and Antiope to be the two queens of them. The Amazons were to serve the Olympian gods in proselytical manner, spreading their principles and devotion to a largely barbarian world. They were given a city-state in Greece (the land adjacent to the lake of their gathering), and they called it Amazonia. They decreed that the Amazons were to spread the message of Gaea: a message of peace, tolerance, and equality. As a symbol of their devotion, Hippolyta and Antiope were each given a Golden Girdle. Hippolyta and Antiope lead the Amazons for years, creating a great city called Themyscira. It's clear the Amazons didn't age and the goddesses did something to them from the start. Twenty years go by, as Antiope has a daughter, Pythia. Their efforts to spread peace and equality were frustrated, however, as few men trusted them (especially after Ares kept stirring up trouble). As the years went by, more and more they remained isolated in their city. Their numbers increased by freeing women from slavery.
Three thousand years ago, Ares the god of war a chief opponent of the Amazons, manipulated his half-brother Heracles to gather forces and attack Amazonia, where Heracles seduced and ravaged the Amazon Queen Hippolyta. His forces succeeded in ransacking Themyscira and enslaving the Amazons. Through strength and savage cunning, the Amazons freed themselves, slaughtering most of their captors. More and more Amazons were freed, and a running battle began all over the city. Hippolyta watched as many of her sisters succumbed to blood-lust, enjoying the bloody slaughter of the men. They fought until all the men lie dead. Afterwards, Antiope was still enraged--she insisted that they march on Athens itself, killing all in their path until they reached Athens where they could take back the Girdle from Heracles' dead hand.
But Hippolyta said no--she said that such a path of bloody revenge was not the Amazon way, and that to go down that way would lead only to destruction. Antiope could not be strayed--feeling betrayed by not only her sister but by her gods, she cast her Girdle at Hippolyta's feet, declaring that henceforth she asked nothing of Olympus. Half the Amazons left with her--the other half stayed with Hippolyta. It was the last time the sisters would ever see each other. The head of Hercules' Nemean Lion Skin was kept as a trophy of the Amazons, being used annually during the games at the Festival of Artemis as an eternal reminder of the cruelty of men.
Their home destroyed and prospects for success in their worldly mission dashed, Antiope led her portion of the Amazons away from her sister and the influence of the gods, to travel the world in search of a new purpose. They eventually settled in Egypt, becoming known as the Amazons of Bana Migdhall.
In the midst of the ruins, the goddesses now appeared again. They were displeased with the Amazons, declaring that they had failed in their sacred mission--now the very name "Amazon" would be associated with death and destruction, not peace and equality. The Amazons must have a penance. They were each given a pair of steel "bracelets" to wear at all times, forever a reminder of their capture and humiliation. Then their bodies and souls were purified, and they began their journey. Poseidon himself parted the sea, and the Amazons walked along the bottom until they came to an island that the gods had removed from the circles of the world--Paradise Island. There they built the new city-state of Themyscira, and where they were tasked with guarding Doom's Doorway as punishment for their failures as teachers. As long as they remained on the island, they would be immortal--though they could be killed, and some were over the many long years and the many battles they had to fight against the evil that would try to escape. Here they began new lives, erecting buildings and monuments, and perfecting their skills as artisans and warriors. For over 3,000 years, here they remained, with Hippolyta their queen all that time.
For centuries the Amazons lived in what they felt a perfect state of harmony with their surroundings. Occasionally, the Nereides would bring to the shores of Themyscira young infants who would have drowned otherwise in accidents. Called "sending forth," these infants would wash up on the shores of Paradise Island, be tutored spiritually in Amazonian ideals, and then sent back mystically to the place of their disappearance.
For three thousand years, the Amazons of Themyscira stayed isolated from humanity, until about 40 years ago, when Diana Trevor, an American airplane pilot, crash-landed off-shore. Diana Trevor became friends with the inhabitants of Themyscira and taught them of the changes in the world beyond their protected shores. Shortly thereafter the demons locked beneath the island almost escaped, but through the bravery and ultimate sacrifice of Trevor, the threat was averted. She was given an Amazon's burial and hailed as one of the greatest of all Amazon warriors.
Queen Hippolyta, one of the Amazons of the paradise island of Themyscira, who was chosen to fight alongside the allied forces of the outside world in World War II as her people's ambassador, whom the people would call Queen of the Amazons. She became a member of the Justice Society. By the 1950's,Hippolyta became concern of the American government's conservative policy, especially in its policy against freelance vigilantism. She and others like Starman registered their loyalty to the American Federal Government during the height of the Cold War. However, she did not follow their controlling rules.
Some time before Wonder Woman's birth, Queen Hippolyta knights four Amazons as her personal guards: Myrto, Charis, Philomela, and Alkyone. One night, they all agree to guard their queen with their lives, but later on, they learn that Hippolyta had pleaded to the Gods for a child. Alkyone, the bald amazon, believes having a child would destroy them, and when they hear that one of their Amazon sisters has made a convincing baby doll, pretending it was real, she orders her dead. Alkyone pleads with Hippolyta not to bring a child to their home, calling it evil. But Hippolyta leaves, saying that this event will be their salvation. Alkyone crushes the small baby doll and leads the other three to the city.
The gods of Olympus were greatly disturbed by Trevor's entrance through the mystical barriers that guarded Themyscira, and recognized it as a sign of their weakening powers. When Hippolyta soon followed her mounting desire to ask the gods to grant her a child, they easily agreed, and took it as an opportunity to create a super-warrior who would champion their causes as the Amazons had originally been intended to.
At the same time, Hippolyta makes a baby girl out of clay. In the late 20th Century, Hippolyta was instructed to mold some clay from the shores of Paradise Island into the form of a baby girl. Six members of the Greek Pantheon then bonded the soul to the clay, giving it life. Each of the six also granted Diana a gift: Demeter, great strength; Athena, wisdom and courage; Artemis, a hunter's heart and a communion with animals; Aphrodite, beauty and a loving heart; Hestia, sisterhood with fire; Hermes, speed and the power of flight. When it comes to life, she shows the baby to the rest of the Amazons, claiming she is their daughter, and names her Diana. Elsewhere, the four women watch from a distance, waiting.
Nightfall; the Circle head to where Hippolyta sleeps with her baby. Wounding Philippus the Captain of the Guard, they enter Hippolyta's chambers but the three women, except for Alkyone, start to admire the baby. When an eagle screams outside, Hippolyta is woken up and fights her traitor sisters as baby Diana watches. The fight is short as the other Amazons, with the wounded Philippus, surround the Circle.
Diana grew up surrounded by a legion of sisters and mothers. When she was a young woman, the gods decreed that the Amazons must send an emissary into Man's World. Queen Hippolyta ordered a contest to be held, but forbade Diana from participating. Diana disobeyed and did so anyway in disguise, easily winning the contest and being named the Amazons' champion. Indeed, her character was in many ways that of a babe in the woods, innocent and without guile. Diana spoke only Themyscirian, a combination of classical Greek and Turkish. She had to learn English when she arrived in America, rather than knowing the language intuitively. Nonetheless, Diana was trained as a warrior and had no compunction against using deadly force when called for. She often dealt with war, injustice, inequality, death, and conflicts involving the Olympian Gods.
Dr. Barbara Minerva is a British archaeologist who had garnered a reputation of going to any lengths to secure an artifact. Born as the heiress of a vast fortune in the ancient family site in Nottinghamshire, her life would change dramatically following an expedition she led into a dense African jungle. She was searching for the legendary lost city of the Urzkartagan tribe. Deep within the jungle, her team was betrayed by their guides and ambushed by the Urzkartagans. Only she and one other, Dr. Tom Leavens, escaped by diving in a river. The two of them found the lost city while it was in the midst of a ritual. One of the other members of their team was sacrificed by the high priest, Chuma. The ritual had been intended to restore to health the ailing woman who was regarded as an avatar for their cheetah god. Before the ritual could be completed, outsiders attacked the village, slaughtering everyone but Chuma, who was saved by Minerva. The two were buried within the cave that was the temple to the god Urzkartaga by a grenade blast.
Chuma explained that the ritual would have turned the old woman into a cheetah god. The ritual, which could only be performed on the full moon and required a blood sacrifice, would have restored the woman's youth as well. She had been centuries old at the time of her death. Minerva demanded the ritual be done to her so she could have her chance at power and immortality. When Chuma explained there must be a sacrifice, Minerva murdered Dr. Leavens, who had returned just long enough to free them from the cave-in and forfeit his life. After she killed him and drank his blood, the ritual began. Even as Chuma worked tirelessly, the invaders who had destroyed the temple were returning. With the ritual complete, Minerva was transformed into Cheetah and slaughtered all the invaders. After the slaughter, she reverted to human form and took Chuma with her back to England.
Unfortunately, there was an unforeseen side effect to the transformation. The sacrifice had called for a virgin and Minerva did not qualify. Hence, rather than grant her youth and vitality, after the transformation she became weak and frail. Only on nights when the moon was out would she became Cheetah, and was strong again.
Before embarking on her mission, Diana was given the Lasso of Truth, forged by Hephaestus himself. She was also given the Sandals of Hermes, which allowed her to instantly traverse great distances in seconds. Diana's mission was one of peace, but part of it initially involved defeating a mad plot by Ares to destroy the world. She ventured into the world by starting at Boston. There she met a Harvard professor, Dr. Julia Kapatelis, and her daughter, Vanessa Kapatelis, as well as the Air Force Officers Steve Trevor and Etta Candy. Diana stayed with Julia and Vanessa and over the course of a month or two, she learned to speak English. She was attacked at their home by Decay, one of Ares' minions, and after a battle that spilled out into the streets of Boston she first came to the public's eye and was given the name Wonder Woman. Upon discovering Ares' plan (one that involved causing a nuclear holocaust), Diana managed to foil it, first battling his sons Phobos and Deimos before finally convincing him the error of his ways using her Lasso. After defeating the God of War, Diana returned home for healing at the hands of Poseidon himself.
By the modern day, some of the Olympians helped Diana, daughter of Amazon Queen Hippolyta, for her role in "Man's World" in which she became known as Wonder Woman. However, the god of war Ares saw the Amazons as a threat for their purpose of bringing peace to humankind contrary to his obsession with conflicts and has since plotted to destroying them.
After returning to Boston, Wonder Woman agreed to hire Myndi Mayer to be her publicist, with the aim of getting her image out to the world at large. She spent the next several months touring the world, conducting interviews and learning a lot about modern culture. She also initially met most of the Justice League around this time, and after meeting Superman, she was instantly enamored with him.
Wonder Woman gathered the attention of Barbara Mivera, the Cheetah, who secretly desired to steal the Lasso of Truth from Diana. She lied to Wonder Woman about having found the lost Girdle of Antiope to get close to her, but after touching the Lasso her truth was made clear. Diana was frustrated and enraged over her naive trust of Minerva. That same night, Barbara decided to take the Lasso by force and attacked Wonder Woman as the Cheetah. Diana managed to fight her off, and decided it was time to return home to Paradise Island again.
Baron Blitzkrieg was an especially vicious German army officer who was blinded when a prisoner threw acid into his face. German scientists experimented on Blitzkrieg, giving injections of experimental drugs, designed to siphon off the mind's vast energies. This allowed him full control, for brief periods, of his body's resources. At any given instant he could have superhuman strength, or be incredibly swift, or have the ability to fly. The Baron also stared S.C.Y.T.H.E. as a anti-government terrorist organization in a European country called Kaznia.
Veronica Cale was a pharmaceutical tycoon, master manipulator and bio-engineer with a triple PHD from Harvard. Considering herself the real woman wonder, she grew jealous of Wonder Woman, who, she felt, never had to work for her gifts. She disliked everything about the princess. She set out to tarnish her reputation, and was not too concerned about money to do so. With the publication of Reflections, a study of Amazon philosophy, Cale started her campaign from the shadows. Using companies and straw-men, she used selected quotations from the book to spin the media against her.
Doctor Psycho first appears as a pawn of the Duke of Deception. The God of War, enraged that women were gaining power in Earth society and potentially threatening his ability to engulf the world in war, ordered Deception to discredit women. Deception called upon Doctor Psycho, a conman psychic who was using his telepathy to steal identities of customers in Manhattan. The purpose of this guise is to hide from S.C.Y.T.H.E., who are hunting those with telepathic abilities. He was once a psychologist who was often mocked and ridiculed by his peers for his studies in psionics and the power of the mind, even giving him the moniker "Dr. Psycho", causing him to swear vengeance on all who mocked him. He later developed vast psychic powers that allowed him to enter and sometimes shape people's dreams, control minds, and project illusions.
