A recent retcon to the origin of Wonder Woman is only the latest in a series of strikes against DC‘s Amazons. The publisher has a sad history of portraying the women warriors as less heroic than they should be. Unfortunately, Wonder Woman #35 by Stephanie Williams and Clayton Henry continues this trend.
The plot of Wonder Woman #35 centers around a story that Steve Trevor tells his and Diana’s daughter, Trinity, about how they met. The story starts with an Amazon device known as the Magic Sphere, which allowed them fleeting glimpses of the world outside Themyscira. A young Diana became fascinated by the Magic Sphere, much to the concern of her mother, Queen Hippolyta. To counter this, the Amazon queen told her daughter of an unrevealed part of her past.
During World War II, Hippolyta saw images of the evils inflicted by the Nazis in the Magic Sphere. She traveled to Man’s World, helping found the Justice Society of America. She stayed there for several years, leaving after the McCarthy Hearings led to multiple superheroes retiring rather than unmask publicly. This cemented her belief that Man’s World was best avoided and reinforced the Amazon’s policy of isolationism.
This lines up perfectly with the new history presented in the current JSA monthly comic. It also offers a neater explanation for how there was a Wonder Woman in World War II than the retcon introduced by John Byrne in the 1990s. However, while the Magic Sphere solves one continuity problem, it creates a larger issue.
DC’s canon change creates an ugly problem for the Amazons
Steve Trevor’s story continues to when he crashed on Themyscira. Apparently, men becoming stranded there was common enough that they had traditions based around it. Thus a tournament was held to name an emissary to Man’s World to represent Themyscira. This was a change from their policy of sending a champion only to keep war from reaching their shores. This revelation raises a question that, coupled with the Magic Sphere, calls into question the Amazons’ purpose.
William Moulton Marston created DC’s Amazons as a Utopian society far superior to that of Man’s World. However, they set themselves apart after being enslaved by Hercules. After that, Themyscira was mystically obscured from Man’s World and they were likewise ignorant of events outside their borders. This was what made Steve Trevor’s appearance and his tale of a world-spanning war so notable as to end the Amazon’s policy of isolation.
However, the retcon undercuts any vision of the Amazons as noble or heroic. The Magic Sphere eliminates any excuse the Amazons had regarding not knowing how bad Man’s World was becoming. Their tradition of only getting involved when a Man came to Themyscira (and then only to defend their borders) is even worse. One also wonders why they sent only a single champion rather than a legion of Amazons.
With this retcon, DC has turned a society of legendary warriors into a paper tiger. Before, it made sense that Amazons did not get involved in global affairs because of ignorance. The new history, however, eliminates any excuse the Amazons have not to get involved in protecting Earth beyond fear of Man’s World. That is a bad look for a society meant to exemplify that women can do anything a Man can do.
