| QUEEN HIPPOLYTA | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter; Revamped by George Pérez |
Queen Hippolyta
PERSONAL DATA
Aliases: Wonder Woman III
Occupation: Queen of Themyscira (former); hero
Citizenship: Themysciran
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Antiope, Astarte (sisters); Diana (daughter)
Base of Operation: Themyscira
Group Affiliation(s): JSA I (former); JSA II (founding member); All-Star Squadron; JLA
Gender: Female
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 138 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
First Appearance: Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #1 (February 1987)
First Appearance (historical): All-Star Comics #8/3 (December 1941-January 1942): "Introducing Wonder Woman"
Creators: William Moulton Marston and Harry G. Peter; Revamped by George Pérez
| Hippolyta would die a thousand deaths to protect her daughter and her home. - Philippus Quote taken from Wonder Woman: Our Worlds at War #1 |
OVERVIEW
Queen of the mythical Amazons, Hippolyta was the ruler of the hidden island of Themyscira and the mother of Diana, who was chosen, much against her mother's wishes, to represent the Amazons on 'Man's World' as Wonder Woman. With her daughter acting as a liaison, Hippolyta presided over the first official contact between Themyscira and the rest of earth and began to reunite the two tribes of Amazons. However, when her daughter was killed and elevated to godhood by the pantheon of Olympus, Hippolyta was forced to take her place as a hero, joining the JLA in her place and battling a variety of villains. Pursuing a case with the original Flash, she traveled back in time to the 1940s and worked alongside the Justice Society for several years. Back in the present, she continued to work alongside her former colleagues from time to time, but now that her daughter had been returned to her, she felt obliged to devote herself to her duties as ruler of Themyscira. However, the lure of adventuring proved too strong, and she often went off heroing , neglecting her people, a situation which led to a civil war and her eventual decision to abolish the Amazonian monarchy. Shortly after this, Hippolyta was slain in battle with Imperiex, saving the city of Athens. She was later resurrected by Circe, who manipulated her into declaring war on 'Man's World'.
HISTORY
Born from the souls of women who died before their time, the Amazons, created by the goddesses of Olympus, were charged by their creators with teaching mankind the ways of love, equality and peaceful coexistence. The first woman thus created was named Hippolyta, who was to rule the Amazons along with her sister Antiope. However, Ares, the god of war, exerted his influence on the men of the world, causing them to fear and hate the entire race of Amazons. The tribe then retreated to the city of Themyscira and had little contact with the rest of the human race. This situation saddened Hippolyta, who wanted to be able to teach mankind as had been intended, but when this came about, in the persons of Heracles and Theseus, the latter falling in love with Antiope, the Amazons were betrayed. Captured, beaten and raped by Heracles, Hippolyta was able to fight back against her captors but soon lost the thirst for vengeance, unlike Antiope, leading to a parting of ways. Hippolyta and the Amazons with her were sent to an island where they would guard the world from terrible evils for many centuries.
Making the best of the situation, the island became a beautiful, fertile and happy place under Hippolyta's rule, though again totally separate from the rest of the world. Centuries later, a mysterious event occurred on the island: a woman from the outside world crashed onto the shore from a flying machine and was critical in the Amazons' defeat of the ancient evil beneath their island. This woman, Diana Trevor died in the battle, but her sacrifice served as a great example of courage and heroism to the Amazons and to Hippolyta in particular.
Soon, Hippolyta began to long for a child, and since she had been carrying a child when she died in her first life, the goddesses granted her this wish. Forming a child from the clay of the island's shores, she saw the breath of the gods enter in and so Diana (named after the American woman Diana Trevor) was born. Diana was Queen Hippolyta's pride and joy; she was also gifted by the goddesses with tremendous powers and abilities. Unknown to Hippolyta, Diana was also lonely, having no-one of her own age on the island and approached Magala, the island's sorceress, who created a duplicate self for Diana, called Donna. This self, a secret from all, was stolen away soon after by Dark Angel, a woman who hated Hippolyta for reasons unknown.
Some years later, the gods decreed that one of the Amazons should leave the island to be their ambassador in man's world. A contest was held, from which Hippolyta banned her daughter from entering, but enter she did, in disguise, and won. Much to Hippolyta's grief, she set out into man's world, where she became known as Wonder Woman. Alongside the heroic activities into which her abilities drew her, Diana worked to open the hearts and minds of man's world, eventually succeeding in arranging the first official visit of outsiders to the island for many centuries. Presided over by Hippolyta, this should have been a glorious event, were it not for the evil influence of Eris, who managed to cause no small degree of chaos. Things would have gone more smoothly after this, but Circe then did her own bit to ruin relations between the Amazons and mankind for some time to come. Discord also began to enter in to the island when the descendants of Antiope's Amazons were rediscovered, yet kept apart from Hippolyta's tribe on the least fertile half of the island.
Hippolyta would soon have to pay the price for her mismanagement of the Amazons in this. Having been warned of Wonder Woman's coming death, she arranged for Artemis, of the other tribe, to take Diana's place as the hero, and be killed. Yet she could not completely evade fate, as the devil Neron soon followed up by killing Diana. She was transfigured to become the Olympian goddess of truth, while Hippolyta was forced to don the mantle of Wonder Woman and fight in her place, leaving the island of Themyscira behind her. Alongside the original Flash, she traveled back in time to the early 1940s, where she joined the Justice Society of America for several years, becoming the first Wonder Woman known to the public despite being the third woman to bear the name. Here she encountered Dark Angel, fueling the woman's hatred of her which would lead to the kidnap of Diana's other self (who Dark Angel of course believe to be Diana), as well as such menaces as the original Cheetah and Queen Clea. She also met the young hero Fury, who looked up to Hippolyta and in time began to think of her as her mother, though this was certainly not the case; another woman whom she inspired was Diana Trevor.
After some eight years, Hippolyta returned to the 'present' and witnessed the return of her daughter, removed from Olympus for not remaining sufficiently objective about human affairs. She also learned of the existence of her daughter's duplicate self, now known as the hero Troia, and welcomed her into the Amazon family. Despite having Diana back as Wonder Woman, Hippolyta could not resist the lure of the super-hero world, battling alongside the survivors of the original Justice Society in the new JSA and to an extent neglecting her duties as the Amazon queen. This led to growing dissension between the two tribes of Amazons, which, fueled by the evil Ariadne, led to a full-blown civil war. Forced to re-examine her role, Hippolyta abandoned her status as queen to allow the Amazons to work things out for themselves and settled herself in man's world permanently. Within a matter of a few weeks, the dread Imperiex came to Earth and Diana was gravely injured when the Justice League took a stand against his probes. Hippolyta immediately rushed to her daughter's aid, bringing the Amazons' knowledge of healing herbs with her in a desperate attempt to save her daughter's life. This attempt was successful and Hippolyta moved out to do what she could as Wonder Woman. Facing one of Imperiex's probes above Athens, she fought with all her might and finally ended its threat, though at the cost of her own life.
Her daughter, Diana, was devastated by the loss of her mother, particularly since they had argued several times in her last months about whether or not Hippolyta should be acting as Wonder Woman at all. But thanks to the gods, the two women were able to meet briefly once more before Hippolyta was returned to the afterlife in the company of Hades.
Years later, Hippolyta was resurrected by Circe, who manipulated her into declaring war on 'Man's World'.
POWERS AND WEAPONS
Far stronger than the average human, Hippolyta was, like all the Amazons, very talented in the arts of combat. Her weapon of choice was the broadsword but she was also adept with the bow and arrow and other traditional weapons. She was also, despite her faults in the last years of her life, a skilled diplomat and leader, guiding the Amazons safely through many centuries.
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of Queen Hippolyta in chronological order click here
PROFILE REFERENCES
Wonder Woman Secret Files #1 (March 1998)
JSA Secret Files #1 (August 1999)
Wonder Woman Secret Files #3 (May 2002)