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Comic Book / The Legend of Wonder Woman (2016)

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The Legend Of Wonder Woman Vol 2 is a nine issue DC Comics miniseries starring an alternate version of Wonder Woman taking most of its cues from how her original creator depicted her, with some heavy alterations to Paradise Island, that was published in 2016.


This comic series contains the next tropes:

  • Adaptational Backstory Change:
    • The Amazons are very different, living on the same island as the gods and other remnants of the old magic associated with Greek Mythology and being mostly mortal, with only a select few of their number being granted immortality by the gods.
    • The invisible plane is now an experimental aircraft created by the allies rather than one made by the Amazons.
    • The Golden Girdle of Gaia is now the Girdle of Zeus, allowing him to strip it of its power when Diana refuses to become his champion to lead a genocide and act as an enforcer for his intended brutal tyranny over the earth.
  • All-Loving Hero: Diana, who refuses to kill even in the midst of battle and hopes for the survival and well being of her enemies.
  • And the Adventure Continues: At the story's close Etta has rejoined Diana who is set to spend more of her time acting as Wonder Woman and the two look out across the sea with the promise of more adventures in their futures.
  • Artifact of Doom: The Heart of Baetylus is a broken off chunk of the "Titan" that once tried to destroy all life on earth, that wants to remerge with its main body so that it can reanimate and restart working on that goal and warps the minds of those who hold it besides Hippolyta who was chosen to guard it.
  • Artistic License – History:
    • While the exact date is unknown it looks to be the summer of 1949 when the Army recruitment officer is entirely baffled by Diana's request to join the Army, and after much head scratching remembers that women can be secretaries. In the real world the WAAC (Women's Army Auxiliary Corps) came into being on May 15, 1949 and a recruitment center shouldn't have been left so uncertain of what to do with a woman looking to help the war effort by joining up even before that, for instance the United States Army Nurse Corps was at the time an all female unit that had been part of the army since 1901.
    • The Holiday Girls seem to be a perfectly accepted and universally loved group despite consisting of three white women, one black woman and one brown woman in a period when the United States was highly segregated and hate crimes against African Americans were common. As a matter of fact, while Lawrence is obviously serving with an all black unit (the Tuskegee Airmen), segregation and racial inequality and violence is treated as non-existent despite the time period and setting.
  • Band of Relatives: Holiday Girls are a five member band that includes the twin sisters Milly and Tilly Heyday.
  • Beta Outfit: Wonder Woman's first outfit consists of her underwear—a thin tank top and shorts—beneath her golden magical items and the outerwear of a US Army field uniform including the helmet, which she only wore once before allowing Etta to design her a Wonder Woman suit.
  • Big Damn Hero: Wonder Woman herself comes flying in to rescue a group of infantry who were surrounded by zombies and knew they had no hope of surviving.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Most of the French is left untranslated.
  • Casual Interplanetary Travel: After the deception that convinced him to become Ares' champion is revealed, the Duke of Deception casually flies to Mars to confront Ares—only to find that Ares' martian base is long abandoned. The mixing of the gods with the planets of their names is a nod to Wonder Woman's creator, who treated Ares' spiritual realm as somehow contiguous with the physical planet. Basically, in those stories outer space was a realm partially beyond ordinary human laws of nature, somewhat like Horizon Space in Mage: The Ascension.
  • The Chains of Commanding: Diana's desire to avoid them causes a schism between her and her mother, who wants Diana to become her successor as queen.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The B-17 Steve shows to Diana comes back in a big way later on.
  • Chekhov's Skill:
    • Etta's interest in fashion and ability to make her own clothes quickly leads to her later designing and sewing Wonder Woman's look.
    • Diana's ability to learn things remarkably quickly means she's able to quickly learn how to fly a plane.
    • Lita's ability to get into anywhere and her curiosity means that she knows where to find a spare unguarded aircraft when one is needed.
  • City in a Bottle: Themyscira is a walled city which the inhabitants are warned not to stray from on an island that's been placed behind a magical barrier separating it from the dimension of the physical world.
  • Continuity Cameo:
    • Perry White shows up as a low level journalist trying to be a good journalist at a paper that mostly prints things like yeti sightings and false alien abductions.
    • Alfred Pennyworth shows up as a young boy trying to make connections in show business.
  • Cool Plane: The B-17 that's been painted with Wonder Woman Nose Art and undergone stealth experimentation that allows it to turn invisible at the push of a button.
  • Costume-Test Montage: After Diana gives Etta carte blanche to design Wonder Woman's look she is seen wearing a number of outfits created by her fashion savvy friend before they land on the final look.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: During their first real fight the Duke of Deception is only stopped from killing Diana through the intervention of the gods. She was unable to harm him and left near death by the encounter.
  • Death of the Old Gods: The Olympians' "game" has been restarted due to their fear of dying out due to lack of worshipers as their powers and reach fade away. Gaia does die by fading away after using the last of her powers to imbue Diana with superpowers of her own and is an even older god than the Olympians.
  • Doomed Hometown: Despite the way the adults brush her off the danger Diana feels encroaching on Themyscira is not imagined.
  • Driving Question: For the first arc Diana's need to find out what the darkness is she feels encroaching on Themyscira drives her actions and leads to her unveiling a sinister plot and leaving Themyscira.
  • Egomaniac Hunter: This version of Priscilla Rich is a hunter who loves killing and has her home covered in furs and taxidermy from her hunts. She's also fond of killing humans and gleefully allied herself with the Nazis.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: Just to really drive home that story is currently in Paris while Wonder Woman is there the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe make an appearance.
  • Eldritch Abomination: The Titan which once nearly destroyed the Olympians and greatly weakened them to defeat is painted as one, and is eventually revealed to be a twisted combination of souls from a dead world and one of the Manhunters.
  • Elseworld: A reimagining of Diana's WWII roots, if the mythologically inspired elements had been very different and the Amazons had for the most part been mortals.
  • Evil vs. Evil: The contest of the gods turns out to be this, with Ares who at first seemed to be the most cruel and horrible of the Olympians turning out to have what seems to be a far less sinister plot in motion than Zeus who was at first set up as the Big Good.
  • Feminist Fantasy: Not as much as her original origin and tales, but even with Themyscira being more of a city in a bottle ruled over by Zeus who insists on the teaching of propaganda that paints him in a favorable light and the Amazons duty bound to worship the Greek pantheon instead of being a paradise and refuge the elements are still very much there with Wonder Woman being a beacon of light, hope and equality for the world.
  • The Final Temptation:
  • Foreshadowing:
    • Steve Trevor seems to remember a lot more of his life than he should while on Themyscira due to the amnesiac field around the place. After leaving Themyscira he should have no memory of his time there but he is revealed to have retained hazy memories of Diana rescuing him, and eventually regains those memories in full.
    • Despite Diana's very strict no killing rule she has no problem whatsoever with the fact that being lassoed with her lasso of truth causes the Nazi Zombies to give up the ghost. When the source of those ghosts is revealed to be the Titan, a robotic thing animated by the congealed and twisted souls of a dying planet she has no problem destroying and "killing" the thing.
  • The Ghost: The Candy family has a huge impact on the story as their actions spur Etta into action and eventually give her a convenient excuse to escape to an active war zone, but they're never seen, only her little brother Mint is ever named, and none of them are ever even in the same state as our characters during the comic.
  • Heart of the Matter: The Heart of Baetylus is a chunk of the power source of the "Titan" which once tried to destroy all life on earth. It is a twisted powerful evil thing which wants to rejoin with the Titan it was chipped from.
  • He Knows Too Much: Alcippe is taken out by Antiope when Antiope realizes Alcippe knows too much of her plan.
  • Historical Fiction: The tale, at least from when Diana leaves Themyscira, is set starting in 1942 which places this as a fictional story set in an alternate version of our own world's history. When Wondy was first created her interactions with WWII made her modern as she debuted in December 1941, the month and year of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • Heroic BSoD: Defied. After Diana is defeated easily by the Duke of Deception and has her powers stripped from her by the gods after she refuses to become their champion she realizes she can no longer be Wonder Woman, and simply continues helping as Diana Prince volunteer nurse and tries to live a happy life as a mortal even if she has some regrets about not being able to help as much as she could with her powers.
  • Home Sweet Home: Diana yearns for home, so much that she tries to ignore and refuse the realities of the world she finds herself in when she gets pushed beyond the barrier by forces outside her control.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: The Olympians try to paint it this way, and claim all the humans outside of Themyscira are awful murderous monsters. In the end it seems their biggest issue with humans is that they don't worship them and use their conflicts to paint them as worse than they are even though the Olympians are more cruel and self centered on a wider more inclusive scale.
  • Human Sacrifice:
    • Steve Trevor was drawn in to Themyscira by magic to be an innocent killed on the island as part of Ares' plan to unmake the magical boundaries.
    • Zeus' plan involves regularly scheduled human sacrifices to strengthen him.
  • Iconic Item: Diana's lasso and her mother's Heart of Baetylus. When Diana sees the Heart of Baetylus depicted on a supposed Axis ally in a newspaper she is terrified of what this means for her mother, expecting that she's been killed.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Alcippe tries this with the guards who accompany Antiope, asking them where their honor is and reminding them that she trained them. Unfortunately it seems to have no affect and Antiope drags out her soul when she realizes Alcippe knows about their plan and is a good enough fighter to take them out single handedly.
  • Innocently Insensitive: Troia says something about only immortals being allowed to rule by Zeus' command when Diana's status as princess is brought up in class and is reprimanded by the other students for saying something unkind, though Diana doesn't mind.
  • Instant Fan Club: Superheroes are only just appearing in the world but Etta mentions that her little brother Mint is already a member of a JSA fanclub.
  • Jerkass Gods: The Olympians of course, who treat mortals as little more than pawns, want nothing more than to strip them of their autonomy, and consider mortals to be horrific for atrocities on a much smaller scale than their own despite needing mortals and their worship and stories to exist.
  • Just Plane Wrong:
    • The framed nose glazing in B-17s is not just a simple round bezel as depicted on the B-17 Steve teaches Diana to fly.
    • The plane Steve crashes into Themyscira does not appear to be based on any real aircraft.
  • Kill All Humans: Zeus' plan to "wipe the slate clean", though in reality he wants to actually leave a handful alive and enslave and subjugate them and their descendants to force them to worship him to increase his power.
  • The Legend of X
  • Made of Explodium: Airplanes and tanks regularly go up in giant fireball explosions after taking little damage in this series.
  • Makeover Montage: Etta begs Diana to let her do her makeup, but Diana doesn't tell her to go ahead and have at it until she requests that Etta find a look for Wonder Woman. Etta tries out a number of looks before truly feeling inspired and coming up with the one they go with.
  • Meaningful Echo: Diana later reiterates Steve's speech about the freedom of the skies back to him, which makes him feel like they've met before despite his erased memory.
  • Mineral MacGuffin: The Heart of Baetylus
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Diana's lasso of truth causes the Duke of Deception to realize he'd been deceived into allying himself with Ares and killing hundreds of innocents and soldiers for the Axis powers after being lied to about his little brother's supposed death. He manages to overcome the manipulations of the Heart of Baetylus and leaves to confront Ares.
  • Mythology Gag: The suggestion that Diana Prince become a military secretary is a nod to the Golden Age where she acted as Steve's secretary in the USAAF.
  • Nazi Zombies: The Duke of Deception makes a deal with the Nazis and starts slaughtering small bands of allied troops using reanimated Nazi soldiers. Wonder Woman makes her debut rescuing allied soldiers from him and defeating him and saving lives is her main goal outside of finding a way to return home and rescue her mentor and mother.
  • Newsreel: The newsreel that plays before A Midsummer Night's Dream is what forces Diana to face the reality of the wider world she's in and ask about the war Etta has tried to tell her about, and been furious with her for discrediting and not caring about.
  • Nicknaming the Enemy: The US troops refer to the Nazi troops as Jerrys.
  • No More for Me: The fighter pilot that is flying alongside the B-17 when Tilly pushes the invisibility button looks wide eyed at what appear to be a bunch of young women standing in midair and flying alongside him where there used to be a bomber and promptly tossed his flask over his shoulder.
  • Nose Art: The B-17 that ends up used in experiments that turn it invisible at the push of a button has nose art of Wonder Woman with her bullet repelling bracers crossed on it.
  • No-Sell: Wonder Woman and the Duke of Deception each get one for the other:
    • The Duke of Deception is entirely unharmed by Diana's attacks on him at Athens, with them passing harmlessly through him.
    • Wonder Woman is immune to the Duke's illusions, though he finds a way around it after their first encounter this work around only works from a significant distance, as in well over 50 miles.
  • Oh, Crap!:
  • Opening Monologue: The opening text segues into a history lesson in Themyscira.
  • Our Titans Are Different: The single "Titan" from the backstory is supposedly nearly destroyed the world and almost killed the gods, forcing them to retreat to Themyscira and is later revealed to be a Manhunter.
  • Piggybacking on Hitler: The Duke of Deception and Ares.
  • Power at a Price: To become immortal is to lose the ability to have children. To become a champion of an Olympian comes with great powers, and a loss of personal autonomy.
  • Power Glows: When drawing on their power the god's champions glow, at higher levels their eyes look to be made of light and they're so bright they're difficult for those around them to look at. The magical items Hippolyta gifts to Diana also glow with power.
  • The Power of Creation: Gaia has the power to create life when mixing her powers with the strong emotions of others, and may or may not have had far greater powers of creation long ago given that the history taught to the Amazons and endorsed by the gods is shown to be full of lies and propaganda.
  • Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: While Zeus does strip the items of their power there is one item over which he has no power. Diana doesn't realize this due to her defeat and the cruel words tossed at her by the gods ensuring she doesn't try to use it after he does so.
  • Runaway FiancĂ©: After Diana refuses to give Etta her backstory Etta comes up with a fanciful one where Diana is a runaway fiancé.
  • Sadly Mythtaken:
    • Penthesiliea of myth died defending Troy not Themyscira, and only went to Troy after killing one of her sisters (usually Hippolyta or Antiope) in a hunting accident or accidentally in battle against Theseus so all of her sisters surviving her is also not true to the myths.
    • In universe Diana is repulsed by the way A Midsummer Night's Dream depicts her mother's betrothal to Theseus.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Diana choses to enter the completion, with a little prompting from her Spirit Advisor, despite being forbidden from doing so when she realizes no one else competing has Steve's best interests at heart.
  • Shipper on Deck: Once Etta realizes Steve has a crush on Diana she starts shipping them hard and does everything she can to get Diana to notice and reciprocate Steve's feelings, especially since she has an inkling long before Di does that Diana likes him too.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Plastic Man has a comic book in this continuity which is seen for sale in a store window.
    • Apparently the Justice Society of America were founded in this continuity not long before Wonder Woman's debut, though they're only mentioned by Etta and not seen.
  • Super Prototype: The invisible plane was a prototype, which unfortunately ends up destroyed on its first outing.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: Diana understands that soldiers kill but she herself does not and will not even in the middle of a battle. She does not however consider constructs animated by twisted unnatural spirits to be alive in the first place so zombies are fair game, not that they need to be since the touch of her lasso is enough to make them give up and abandon their master after having the truth forced upon them.
  • Training Montage: A montage of Diana training with Alcippe also shows the young princess aging to adulthood.
  • War Is Hell: War is depicted as horrific, tragic and appalling.
  • What a Piece of Junk: Tilly thinks the experimental modified B-17 looks "junky" and isn't exactly wrong. It works better than fine though.
  • Who Dares?: Zeus is absolutely furious anyone would dare deny him.
  • World-Wrecking Wave: Zeus' plan to kill off almost all of humanity and reshape the remnants of the earth as loyal and subjugated to him is depicted as a wave crossing over the globe of the earth, and would be as such if he got his way.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Diana and Alcippe cannot return home again as Themyscira is hidden and their rebuttal and refusal of gods seals their inability to return as the gods go out of their way to bar them from it afterwards.

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