Hippolyta (DC Comics)

Queen Hippolyta is a fictional DC Comics superhero, based on the Amazon queen Hippolyta from Greek mythology. Introduced in 1941 during the Golden Age of Comic Books, she is the queen of the Amazons of Themyscira, the mother of Wonder Woman, and in some continuities, the adopted mother of Donna Troy.

For Hippolyta Trevor, see Fury (DC Comics).
Hippolyta
Wonder Woman (vol. 5) #2 (September 2016).
Art by Nicola Scott.
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 (writer)
Harry G. Peter (artist)
In-story information
Team affiliations
Notable aliasesShim'Tar, Wonder Woman
Abilities
  • Superhuman Strength, speed,reflexes, durability, stamina, agility
  • heightened wisdom
  • Self-sustenance
  • Enhanced senses
  • Immortality
  • Expert hand-to-hand combatant

Cloris Leachman, Carolyn Jones and Beatrice Straight portrayed the character in the 1970s Wonder Woman series. Hippolyta made her cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe in the 2017 film Wonder Woman, played by Connie Nielsen. She later appeared in the 2017 film Justice League. Nielsen will return to portray Hippolyta in flashbacks in the upcoming film Wonder Woman 1984.

Publication history

Golden Age

The character Hippolyta (initially spelled "Hippolyte") first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) in the same story that introduced her daughter, Princess Diana, known as Wonder Woman. Created by writer William Moulton Marston and artist Harry G. Peter, this original version of the character is a brunette like Diana.[1]

Golden Age Hippolyta as depicted in her first appearance, from All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). Art by Harry G. Peter.

In the 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 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 the Amazons to lose their super strength and the 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.[2]

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 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.[3] In the first appearance of Villany inc she is kidnapped to lure Wonder Woman into a trap.

In the late 1950s, DC Comics introduced the concept of the Multiverse, and the Golden Age Hippolyte was established as existing on the world known as Earth-Two. The last appearance of this incarnation of Hippolyte was in Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #97 in April 1958, after which the focus shifted from Earth-Two to the more modern versions of the characters on Earth-One.

Silver and Bronze Ages
The Silver and Bronze Age Hippolyta was depicted as blonde. From Wonder Woman (vol.1) #105 (April 1959).

As of Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #98 (May 1958), the Amazon Queen's name was spelled "Hippolyta", and she was depicted with blonde hair and a triple pointed tiara. The backstory of this Silver Age Hippolyta was largely identical to the Golden Age version, with some exceptions. For example, it was established in a 1973 storyline that Hippolyta had crafted a second daughter from clay, a dark-skinned Amazon named Nubia who was to be Wonder Woman's sister before she was spirited away by the god Mars.[4] Hippolyta 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.

In 1985, the Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries revised DC Comics continuity 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
Hippolyta as she appears from the 1987 reboot until 2011's The New 52. Art by Phil Jimenez (2002).

Origin

Hippolyta's origins underwent a revision after writer George Pérez' revamp of Wonder Woman in 1987. In that continuity, Hippolyta and the rest of the Themyscirian Amazons were created by a select group of the Olympian gods, which included Artemis, Athena, Hestia, Demeter and Aphrodite. These goddesses reincarnated the souls of women gathered by the earth-goddess Gaea (women who had been slain by man's ignorance and fear). They sent these souls (Hippolyta's original incarnation was a pregnant cavewoman slain circa 32,000 BCE) to the bottom of the Aegean Sea. The souls then began to merge with the clay on the sea bed. The first reincarnated Amazon to break the 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. The second Amazon to break the surface was her sister Antiope and she ruled at Hippolyta's side. Each of the goddesses then blessed the Amazon nation with gifts: hunting skills (Artemis), wisdom (Athena), warm homes (Hestia), plentiful harvests (Demeter), and beauty inside and out (Aphrodite). As a symbol of their responsibilities, the goddesses gave Hippolyta and Antiope each a Golden Girdle of Gaea. The Amazons eventually founded the city of Themyscira in Anatolia and became known as fierce warriors of peace in Turkey, Greece and Rome.

Heracles

The jealous and vengeful god Ares tried to drive a wedge between Amazons and other civilizations by influencing his half-brother, the demi-god Heracles to challenge the Amazons. When Heracles first approached the Amazons seeking battle, Hippolyta met him outside the city gates and tried to employ peaceful negotiations. When this did not work, Heracles attacked the Amazon Queen. 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. Heracles seemingly accepted the invitation.

Once in their city, Heracles and his men drugged the Amazons' wine 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 of the Amazons. Hippolyta agreed and her bonds were broken. Hippolyta freed the other Amazons. The Amazons, however, were filled with hate and the desire for revenge. Breaking Hippolyta's oath to Athena, the Amazons began slaughtering their captors, (Heracles and his general Theseus had left).

After they had killed all the men keeping them prisoners, Antiope renounced 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 to pursue vengeance, intending to kill Heracles and Theseus. Antiope's tribe later became the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall.

Godly penance

Hippolyta and the remaining faithful Amazons then went to the sea shore where Athena told them their punishment for betraying their ideals. They were to be given immortality so that they could forever safeguard a doorway to a place of unspeakable evil. The doorway was on a far-off isolated island and it took months to get there. To guide their way, the god Poseidon cleared a pathway for them across the seas. Once they arrived, the Amazons created a new city and named their new home Themyscira, after their previous fallen city. The Amazons continued to live on the island guarding this "Doom's Doorway" (later shown to also lead to other places such as parts of Hades) and paying homage to their gods for three-thousand years.

Diana's birth

Hippolyta began to ache for something unknown. She was told by the oracle Menalippe that the yearning she felt was for her unborn daughter. She was instructed to go to the beach and form a figure of an infant out of the island's clay. The original five goddesses, plus Hermes, united to incarnate and bless this final soul. They imbued it with many gifts and merged it with the clay form and, just as with the previous Amazons, the clay was changed into flesh and blood. Hippolyta named the child Diana, after a "great and holy warrior," a stranger who had washed ashore on the island and died helping the Amazons defeat Cottus, a creature escaping Doom's Doorway. This Diana was later revealed to be the mother of Steve Trevor, who as a pilot had crashed near the island in the 1940s.

Return of Heracles

During Diana's Challenge of the Gods storyline,[5][6][7] she discovered that Heracles was transformed into a colossal stone pillar within Doom's Doorway, and was supporting Themyscira's weight for several millennia.[6] In this 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 (much like Prometheus).[7] This was the punishment given to him for his past transgressions. Thanks to Diana, Hippolyta, and the Lasso of Truth, he was restored to his original form and begged the Amazons for forgiveness. Though some of the Amazons still harbored anger for their past 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 almost immediately did. Doing so herself, Hippolyta not only forgave Heracles, but shared a brief kiss with him before he left the mortal realm to return to his father in Olympus.[8]

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 they saw fit while retaining their immortality.[8] To celebrate, Hippolyta declared that Themyscira would finally create cultural exchange with the outside world. Diana became Themyscira's ambassador to the U.N.[9][10]

In spreading the Amazon ideals of love and peace, Diana made a powerful enemy, the sorceress Circe.[11] One of Circe's attacks on Diana involved the brainwashing of Hippolyta, transforming her into the second Shim'Tar, or chief warrior, of the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall.[12][13] In this persona, Hippolyta attacked Diana, and was defeated by a ricochet from Diana's bracelets.

Circe considered all Amazons to be her enemy and later made a new plan for revenge. She teleported the Amazons of Bana-Mighdall to Themyscira on the pretense that they were to take the island. While the two groups fought, Circe teleported the island to a dimension of demons. There the two groups of Amazons were forced to put aside their rivalry in order to stave off the demons' attacks. The Amazons remained in the demon dimension until Diana discovered what had happened and forced Circe to return the island back to its rightful dimension.[14] They found upon their return that although their time in the demon dimension lasted several years, the time passed in our dimension was only a few months.[15]

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.[16]

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 when 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.[17] 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.[18]

Wonder Woman

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.[19]

Hippolyta boarded a small boat and let it cast adrift. She eventually landed in Louisiana where she met a psychic named Angela.[20][21][22] After becoming friends with Angela and her family, Angela informed Hippolyta that her daughter was in serious danger.[23] 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.[17] Thus, Hippolyta's vision of her daughter dying as Wonder Woman came true.[24]

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

Diana, after her death, was granted divinity as the Goddess of Truth by her gods for such faithful devotion.[25] During her brief time as a god of Olympus, Diana was replaced in the role of Wonder Woman by her mother.[26] 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.[27] 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 and wore a short blue skirt instead of briefs.

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.[28]

As Wonder Woman, Queen Hippolyta immediately got involved in a time travel mission back to the 1940s with Jay Garrick.[29] 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.[30] Hippolyta also made visits into the past to see her godchild Lyta, daughter of Hippolyta's protege Helena, the Golden Age Fury. 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.[31][32]

Eventually Diana gave up her godhood and returned to her role as Wonder Woman.[33] 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.[34]

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.[35]

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.[36][16]

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.[37] 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.[38]

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.[39] 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.[40] 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.[41]

At the conclusion of the war all of the Amazons are given false identities and scattered throughout the world.[42][43] 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.[44]

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.[45] 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.[46]

Past Imperfect

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.[47] After Wonder Woman's exile in the altered continuity is reversed, Hippolyta is briefly restored to her Modern Age origins,[48] greeting her daughter back and approving the changes she had done to her attitude and appearance during her ordeal.

The New 52
New 52 version of Hippolyta, from Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #2 (December 2011). Art by Cliff Chiang.

In September 2011, The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, 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.[49]

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.[50]

DC Rebirth

During the 2016 relaunch DC Rebirth, Hippolyta once again goes through a major change. In the "Year One" storyline Hippolyta is presented like the Golden Age version with black hair and has a peaceful demeanor. When Steve Trevor lands on the island and is the only survivor of the soldiers, she seeks to have him sent home safely by hosting a competition to determine which Amazon is worthy. She quickly realizes her daughter will be the one to win, something that saddens her since leaving the island forsakes an Amazon's right to return. However, she is nevertheless proud when Diana does indeed win, and they bid each other goodbye.

In the story arc "The Lies" Wonder Woman and Steve seemingly return to Themyscira to find Hippolyta (the New 52 one) and the Amazons safe and sound, despite Wonder Woman remembering her apparent demise. Hippolyta does not understand what she means and only seems suspicious of Steve, telling Diana not to let him wander around alone. However, Diana and Steve begin to notice the inconsistencies: the Amazons are not familiar, they speak English instead of their ancient language, and their architecture has changed. Diana realizes this is because what she thought to be true was a lie: she never returned to Themyscira when she left years before, so the New 52 Hippolyta was an illusion.

In the present day, Hippolyta and the Amazons take notice of a strange tree growing on the island that serves as a bad omen of events to come. Any attempts to cut down the tree are futile, and Hippolyta worries Diana is in danger. She and her fellow Amazons go to the tree and combat Deimos and Phobos, Ares' sons in wolf-like forms before they are defeated on the other side by Diana. Hippolyta is briefly reunited with her daughter but unable to reach her, stating how proud she is of who Diana has become.

In the Watchmen sequel "Doomsday Clock," Hippolyta was told of her oracle's vision that Wonder Woman will be further injured in her fight with Black Adam during his attack on the United Nations. It was mentioned in a news report that the Amazons showed up during the battle and forcefully took Wonder Woman back to Themyscira.[51]

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.[37][52] 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,[36][53] jump over 25 feet from a standing position,[54] has a high durability factor,[55] enhanced healing,[56] and the ability to absorb and process a vast amount of knowledge in a short period of time.[57]

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.[56] 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.[58]

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.[59]

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. She later joins her daughter in combating the Greek Gods, though the threat of a nuclear bomb stops the fighting. Once Diana takes care of it the New God Highfather intervenes and convinces Zeus and the other gods to leave Earth alone; they agree with the promise of severing all ties, including with the Amazons. In the beginning of Year Five Hippolyta comforts a guilt-ridden Diana and reveals her knowledge of how Diana has romantic feelings for Superman. She encourages her to stand by his side.

In the sequel comic Injustice 2, the Regime has been overthrown and Diana imprisoned on Themyscira for her actions. Now aware of the full extent of the Regime's tyrannical behavior, Hippolyta tries to convince her daughter her ways are wrong, but Diana rebuffs Hippolyta as being a coward for never trying to better man's world herself. When Kara Zor-El washes ashore the island with the intent of rescuing Diana, Hippolyta is betrayed by a few Amazons who believe in Diana's view and aid in the rescue.

In other media

Television

Live action
Cloris Leachman as Queen Hippolyta on the Wonder Woman series.
  • In 1974, the pilot for Wonder Woman was broadcast, with Charlene Holt cast as Hippolyta.
  • 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 film (1975); Carolyn Jones in the episodes "The Feminum Mystique" parts 1 and 2 and "Wonder Woman in Hollywood"; and Beatrice Straight in the episodes "The Return of Wonder Woman" and "The Bermuda Triangle Crisis". 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".
  • An allusion to Hippolyta is made in The WB television series Smallville. In the 2004 season three episode "Asylum", a newspaper includes the headline stating: "Themyscirian Queen Addresses the Vatican". Hippolyta is featured in the Smallville Season 11 digital comic based on the TV series.

Animation
  • In 1978, an animated Queen Hippolyta was shown on Challenge of the Super Friends in the episodes "Secret Origins of the Super Friends" and "Super Friends: Rest in Peace". Queen Hippolyta also appears in the 1980 Super Friends episode "Return of Atlantis". Hippolyta is a brunette in her first two appearances, but is blonde in the third. 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.
  • Hippolyta appears in the DC Animated Universe:
    • In 2001, Hippolyta was depicted in the animated series Justice League, voiced by actress Susan Sullivan.[60] Hippolyta appeared in the episodes "Secret Origins", "Paradise Lost", "Fury", and "Hereafter". 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. Putting her religion and devotion to the Olympian Gods above all, she reluctantly 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). In the episode "Fury", Hawkgirl visits Themyscira to get information about Aresia from Hippolyta. A flashback revealed that Aresia's ship was attacked by pirates where she was the only survivor. While riding a horse on the beach, Hippolyta found Aresia's body and the dying captain where Hippolyta buried him in secret. In the present, Aresia captures Hippolyta as her plans to wipe out men goes into its next stage. When Aresia perishes in the plane crash, Hippolyta mourned Aresia's death. Hippolyta is seen comforting Diana following Superman's supposed death in the episode "Hereafter".
    • Hippolyta appears in the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Balance", voiced again by Susan Sullivan.[60] Upon seeing the message that Hermes gave Wonder Woman, Hippolyta 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.
  • In 2011, Hippolyta appeared in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Triumvirate of Terror!", voiced by Tippi Hedren.[60][61] 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.
  • Hippolyta appears in the series Justice League Action episode "Luthor in Paradise", voiced by Julianne Grossman.[60] It is mentioned that her staff is a key to the Forbidden Realm where the Oculus of the Argo is held that can grant anyone the powers of Zeus, and that artifact was entrusted to Hippolyta by Hera. She is present when Lex Luthor and Circe invade Themyscira in order to obtain a staff that would take them to the Forbidden Realm, where they defeat Hippolyta. After Lex Luthor and Circe are apprehended, Hippolyta has Circe imprisoned in Tartarus. Upon thanking Batman and Superman for helping her daughter and stopping the villains, Hippolyta advises Batman and Superman to get off Themyscira before her soldiers filet them.
  • Hippolyta appears on the 2019 animated series DC Super Hero Girls voiced by Cree Summer.
  • Hippolyta appears in the Harley Quinn episode "Bachelorette," voiced by Rachel Dratch. She is possessed by Eris in order to sign a contract to sell Themyscira to LexCorp, but Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy thwart the scheme.

Film

Animation
  • Actress Charlene Holt portrayed Queen Hippolyta in the 1974 TV movie Wonder Woman starring Cathy Lee Crosby.
  • Hippolyta appears in the direct-to-DVD animated movie Wonder Woman. She is voiced by Virginia Madsen.[60] 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.
  • Hippolyta appeared in the 2016 direct-to-DVD animated film DC Super Hero Girls: Hero of the Year voiced by Julianne Grossman.[60] Grossman reprised her role on the web series, Intergalactic Games, Legends of Atlantis, and the Lego shorts.
  • Hippolyta appears in the 2019 animated film Wonder Woman: Bloodlines, voiced by Cree Summer. This version is far more hardline than other versions, as she refused to allow Steve Trevor to return home and even disowned Diana when she chose to leave Paradise Island with him. By the end of the film, they do reconcile.[62]

DC Extended Universe
Main article: DC Extended Universe
See also: Wonder Woman (2017 film), Justice League (film), and Wonder Woman 1984

Connie Nielsen portrays Hippolyta in several films set in the DC Extended Universe.[63]

  • She makes her debut in the 2017 Wonder Woman film. Diana is jointly raised by Queen Hippolyta, her sister General Antiope, and Lieutenant Menalippe; while Hippolyta wants to shield young Diana from the outside world, Antiope wants to train her as a warrior.[63] Hippolyta reluctantly allows Diana to leave to help Steve Trevor and destroy Ares, but keeps the truth of Diana's parentage from her.
  • She later appears in the present-day in Justice League.[64] After Steppenwolf steals the Mother Box from Themyscira, Hippolyta warns Diana about what happened.
  • Hippolyta is set to return in Wonder Woman 1984.[65]
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See also

References
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  2. Jimenez, Phil; Wells, John (2010). The Essential Wonder Woman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 193–195. ISBN 978-0345501073.
  3. "Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics – The CD Indexes". Dcindexes.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2011-01-16.
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  5. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #10-11 (November–December 1987)
  6. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #12 (January 1988)
  7. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #13 (February 1988)
  8. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #14 (March 1988)
  9. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #37-40 (December 1989 - March 1990))
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  13. War of the Gods #3 (November 1991)
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  17. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #124 (August 1997)
  18. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #90, 0, 91-99 (September 1994 - July 1995)
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  20. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #112 (August 1996)
  21. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #114-115 (October–November 1996)
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  23. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #123 (July 1997)
  24. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #125-126 (September–October 1997)
  25. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #127 (November 1997)
  26. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #128 (December 1997)
  27. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #129 (January 1998)
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  32. JLA #30 (June 1999)
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  47. Wonder Woman (vol. 1) #601 (September 2010)
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  49. Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #3 (January 2012)
  50. Wonder Woman (vol. 4) #4 (February 2012)
  51. Doomsday Clock #11. DC Comics.
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  53. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #59 (October 1991)
  54. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #57 (August 1991)
  55. Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1 (October 2001)
  56. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #30 (May 1989)
  57. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #3 (April 1987)
  58. Wonder Woman (vol. 2) #120 (April 1997)
  59. Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 (June 2011)
  60. "Voices of Hippolyta". BehindtheVoiceActors.com. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  61. "CC2010: Batman: The Brave and the Bold Interview with Andrea Romano". Comicsonline.com. July 31, 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2010. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  62. "Wonder Woman Bloodlines Gets Synopsis, Art, Voice Cast". comicbookresources. July 29, 2019. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  63. Sperling, Nicole (March 24, 2016). "Wonder Woman: Gal Gadot, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen first look". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
  64. McNary, Dave (December 23, 2016). "Justice League Cast to Include Jesse Eisenberg, Connie Nielsen". Variety. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  65. "The Good Fight with Robin Wright". Net-A-Porter. August 31, 2018. Retrieved September 1, 2018.
← The character Pinky the Whiz Kid was debuted by Otto Binder and Jack Binder. See Pinky the Whiz Kid for more info and the previous timeline. Timeline of DC Comics (1940s)
December 1941 (See also: Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman's bracelets, Themyscira (DC Comics), Amazons (DC Comics) and Steve Trevor)		 The character Penguin was debuted by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. See Penguin (character) for more info and next timeline. →
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