Wiz: Some even take it upon themselves to protect other lands they've never known.
Boomstick: Like She-Ra, the Princess of Power in Etheria.
Wiz: And Wonder Woman, the warrior princess of the Amazons.
In this, the halfway mark of season seven, princesses of American fantasy fiction, with decades of adventures, experience, and magical weapons backing them up, prepare for battle. Power of unimaginable proportion and the most outlandish of feats collide, as will the heroic figures behind them. She-Ra and Wonder Woman, two of the most iconic heroines, will draw their blades, and only one will live to sheath hers; an undoubted tragedy, but such is the way of a death battle.
First to be covered is She-Ra, the bridge between the warring planets of Eternia and Etheria. Adam and Adora, the twins of the Eternian royal family were born the day the Horde, an intergalactic army stationed in Etheria, launched an assault on Eternia's Castle Greyskull. Hordak, the Horde's commander, was able to infiltrate the castle and successfully stole Adora away from her parents. Brainwashing the kidnapped princess, Hordak placed upon Adora a high-ranking position as an enforcer within the Horde's ranks. Years went by, and the war between the two planets carried on alongside them. Prince Adam, now bearing the alternate identity of the fearless hero He-Man, would first meet Adora while on a quest to find the rightful bearer of the sacred Sword of Protection. The encounter was only brief, as when Adora laid hands upon the blade, its magical nature released her from the grip of Hordak's brainwashing. The Sword of Protection also bestowed upon Adora the alter ego of She-Ra, the Princess of Power; with this guise, she joined her brother and his allies in their battles against the Horde she once served.
Adora is eager to jump into the thick of action, helped in no small part by her She-Ra persona. She-Ra has little in the way of equipment, merely the Sword of Protection, but with its versatility, it is the only weapon she really needs. Simply by using the sword itself, its presence gifts Adora with mastery in swordsmanship, valued when used with a blade sharp enough to cut through lightning and generate magical energy projectiles. This weapon is also able to take on a number of alternate shapes; lassos, boomerangs, shields, nets, parachutes, all but a few of the myriad forms the Sword of Protection can assume. On a defensive front, She-Ra's sword grants its user immunity against mind control and easily deflects the energy attacks of her enemies. Her personal steed Spirit, when drawing upon the Sword of Protection's power, transforms into the alicorn Swift Wind, so that he may achieve flight. While this longsword has no shortage of fantastic abilities and gifts Adora's allies with such, it also amplifies the power of Adora herself. As She-Ra, the Eternian possesses a number of seemingly uncanny powers, ranging from heightened strength to accelerated healing to forming gale force winds with her breathing.
In her battles against Etheria and the Horde, the Princess of Power has proven herself a mighty warrior. With her strength and the Sword of Protection, she can carve a lake from out the surrounding landmass in seconds and swim so fast that she can create whirlpools. More impressive than these feats, however, is how she can seal a canyon by pulling the walls together. Adora has the speed and reflexes necessary to steer Swift Wind, who, by keeping pace with star system-traversing rock people, can fly at a velocity roughly 450 times than lightspeed. Similarly, the much faster alicorn Crystal Sun Dancer could escort She-Ra and He-Man to another galaxy; in this same travel, She-Ra struck a moon with a dropkick bearing force equivalent to 44 yottatons of energy. To put the case for She-Ra in its simplest form, the powers and might bestowed upon her by the Sword of Protection give her every right to be called a hero and a protector of Eternia, one just a revered as her brother.
- Adora: For the honor of Greyskull... (hoists aloft the Sword of Protection as energy escapes it; she then assumes her She-Ra identity, cloaked in a brilliant aura) I am She-Ra!
After She-Ra's analysis comes that of Wonder Woman, a character whose history on the show runs deep. Diana, princess of the all-female Amazons, was born to the mythical island of Themyscira, the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. For millennia, the Amazons lived on Themyscira to hone their martial prowess without contact from the outside world; the fateful encounter that would change the course of their history would be a military fighter jet crashing upon Themyscira's shores. The Amazons took this intrusion to mean the time had come to open their borders and reconnect with man's world. The Amazons held a challenge to decide who to elect as an ambassador; whomever amongst them could parry modern bullets showed the skill and deft to fulfill this role. Of all the contenders, it was Diana who earned the honor of being the Amazon's delegate to humanity. She ventured out into the world and soon found herself standing as equals with the numerous heroes operating across the planet. Taking the alias of Wonder Woman, Diana continued to fight alongside these numerous paragons of justice as her duty to the Amazons and the gods' will.
Growing up in a martial society like the Amazons gives Diana a wellspring of practice and wisdom to better hone her craft; even fellow martial artist Batman concedes that her prowess in unarmed combat is easily the most developed in the world. Having been born during the days of the Roman Empire, Diana has several millennia of experience to give her an edge in combat. Her being a product of the Olympian deities heightens several aspects of her physiology and gives her additional blessings such as accelerated healing and flight. She puts this training and divine lineage to good use through numerous armaments. Although skilled with several instruments of melee combat, her most reliable weapon would be a double-edged straight sword forged by the blacksmith god Hephaestus; so sharp is its blade that it can sever atoms. Accompanying this sword is the Lasso of Truth; like its title suggests, it forces truthful statements out of those bound within it. Similarly, the Bracelets of Submission are another part of Diana's arsenal. Being made of the highly durable eighth metal means the bracelets can deflect physical and energy-based projectiles; Diana can also summon her blade through them. Most pressing of the bracelets' applications, however, would be their usage as suppressors of Diana's full godly power. When the bracelets are removed, the full extent of this power is Diana's to command.
During her tenure in man's world, the Amazon princess has earned her reputation in mankind's eyes. Diana helped found the Justice League, a team comprised of the greatest superheroes in the world, and her place in their ranks is similarly justified. Her agility is such that she can parry the incoming fragments of the Shattered God flying towards her from across the universe and trade blows with speed-centric villain Zoom while blinded; putting the latter into context, the force of Zoom's punches, thrown at nearly the speed of light, possess two billion megatons of force. Surviving blows like these and point-blank nuclear explosions show the sheer magnitude of her durability to be similar to her speed. Similarly, alongside Superman and Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman has pulled celestial bodies out of orbit and has proven triumphant in combat against every member of the Justice League at one point or another. As sweeping as the scope of Diana's accomplishments may be, it can be easy to forget she can still be injured by weapons with piercing capabilities. This flaw, though, is a seemingly minute one, judging by how Diana bravely puts herself in harm's way and emerges seemingly unscathed even in the face of this peril. Indeed, Wonder Woman is a champion of justice beloved the world over, an inspiration and a blessing for her continued acts of heroism.
- Wonder Woman: I am Diana, princess of the Amazons. I won't be denied!
With that said, the two combatants of the episode are ready to face one another. One advertisement for Raycon earbuds later, and now, it's time for a death battle!
Somewhere in the sun-baked island of Themyscira stands an ancient arena, and within it are two figures. Tightening the hold the Bracelets of Submission have on her forearms, Diana Prince invokes the gods who gave her life; she draws the sword of Hephaestus in preparation. Standing opposite the Amazon is She-Ra, princess of Eternia. Pointing the Sword of Protection towards the heavens, Adora is bathed in a golden glow as she calls upon the magic of Castle Greyskull. Diana watches unamused and takes a stance before dashing towards the Eternian princess with blinding speed.
FIGHT!
Adora is quick to react to Diana's offensive, dashing in and parrying with her own blade. Sparks flash from the ensuing collisions between the warriors' swords as each princess matches her foe's every swing with one just as precise. An overhead slash knocks Adora off balance, but she recovers in time to block the sword of Hephaestus anew. As the combatants lock blades, they trade words with the other; Diana, having her fill of She-Ra's taunting soon enough, kicks the Princess of Power away and primes the Lasso of Truth. With a sweep of her wrist, Wonder Woman snares the lasso around a towering column, hoping to bring it down upon her opponent. Adora merely watches as the pillar collapses and props her free hand against it to halt its descent. Taking the stance of a javelin thrower, the Princess of Power hurls the column at the Amazon, but with nimble footwork does Diana land on the monolith and scale its entire length. A final leap into the air gives the Olympian a vantage point from which to strike, but Adora morphs the Sword of Protection into a buckler to dampen the blow. A twirling spin knocks Wonder Woman away, giving She-Ra time to draw a heavy breath. Cones of air surge towards her opened lips before blasting the vulnerable Diana with a super breath-empowered exhale.
The gale force wind launches the Themysciran out the arena, tumbling wildly across the adjacent forest; as quickly as Diana can reorient herself does she drive the sword of Hephaestus into the ground to halt her momentum. The autumn air is soon disturbed by the whistle of a whirring buzzsaw gliding through the air. Wonder Woman watches this object topple a distant tree as it heads to her position. A sideways leap later, and the silver boomerang flies past, just narrowly grazing her hair. Adora follows afterward to catch the Sword of Protection and close in on the Amazon princess. Diana gives her foe no quarter, hacking into a neighboring tree and kicking it towards Adora just as she did with the monolith. The arboreal pillar is cut aside before the former Etherian general sends a stream of concentrated energy towards the Amazon. Diana has only the briefest of moments to brace herself with a forearm, her bracelet absorbing every of incoming magic. Slowly, the Amazon trudges forward in the face of this onslaught. With pinpoint precision does she then fling her sword at the Princess of Power; the weapon finds its mark and Adora is blasted deeper into the wood.
As her fall is broken by an invisible jet, She-Ra comes to to find Wonder Woman flying above her. Adora uses the jet as leverage to upright herself and throw the plane at her foe; a second overhead slash cuts the jet in two, exploding safely away from its former owner. The Themysciran looks at the jet's remains in regret before She-Ra's growling recaptures her attention. A second exchange of blades ensues, with Wonder Woman acrobatically maneuvering around the Eternian princess. Despite her leaping about, Adora keeps a solid lead on the Amazon, forcing her onto the defensive. An leaping swing of her own is enough to bring Diana to her knees, which are soon encased in ice courtesy of Adora's magic. The sheer force of the ice spell causes Diana to stagger in surprise. This misfortune continues as She-Ra disarms Wonder Woman of the sword. Rearing back in preparation for the killing blow, She-Ra brings the Sword of Protection down upon her trapped foe; only the Bracelets of Submission, crossed together in front of the Amazon, saves her. She-Ra continues to hack away at the bracelets, and the repeated strain from each swing eventually shatters them.
Diana stares at her bared arms while Adora hoists her sword above her once more. With a moment's concentration, the Amazon draws upon the full might of her godly heritage. She outstretches an arm as the sword of Hephaestus, runes now adorning the fuller, rematerializes in her opened hand. The blade catches its Eternian counterpart before, in motions too quick to perceive, the Sword of Protection is cleaved cleanly in twain. Adora stares at the remains of her weapon and only too late notices Wonder Woman vaulting into the air. The force of her ascent knocks Adora against a tree, and looking upwards, she spots the Amazon preparing to divebomb towards her. The Princess of Power can only brace for impact, heralded by the gleam of light lingering in the air for a faint second. The severed cranium of She-Ra, and all the trees surrounding her, are catapulted into the air before plummeting back to earth with a grotesque thud. Staring for a moment at the headless cadaver of Adora, Diana departs from the forest, leaving said cadaver to merely slide to the ground.
K.O.!
In the aftermath of the fight, the key components to its result are laid out. She-Ra, by kicking a moon out of orbit, was leagues above Wonder Woman in physical strength, on the grounds that Diana's similar-scale feats required assistance. Likewise, the transforming capabilities of the Sword of Protection gave her an edge in versatility. However, not only are most of the Sword's known transformations more for utility, but being the only weapon in She-Ra's lineup means she could not attack and defend at the same time. While both have been training in combat all their lives, Diana has several millennia to work with, giving her more experience. The real clincher in the fight, though, is in comparing the speed of both combatants. She-Ra using Swift Wind and Crystal Sun Dancer to travel the cosmos suggests they can reach speeds she herself cannot; the latter was notably used in escorting She-Ra and He-Man to a neighboring galaxy. Assuming the trip took an hour at best, this puts almost 22 billion times the speed of light. To compare to this feat is Wonder Woman blocking the fragments of the Shattered God. The exact size of the DC universe is unknown, but it definitely reaches a minimum of a hundred trillion light years across. Blocking the Shattered God's fragments as Wonder Woman did would surpass the speed of light 52 quintillion times over. As She-Ra is far slower than Crystal Sun Dancer, the smallest gap in speed between her and Wonder Woman would be by a magnitude of billions. This in essence would give Diana enough of an opening to strike with the sword of Hephaestus and its atom-slicing capabilities Adora would have no answer for. She-Ra, while not without her strengths, would put up a good fight against Wonder Woman, but in the end, the much wider gap in their speed and overall quality of their weapons would ensure that would be all she could give Diana.
- Boomstick: It's no Wonder She-ran out of time. (Wiz cringes in notable disgust)
Wiz: The winner is Wonder Woman!
She-Ra vs. Wonder Woman contains examples of:
- Continuity Nod:
- After the appearance of the alicorns Swift Wind and Crystal Sun Dancer, Boomstick has a small freakout wondering if the fight's turning into another pony episode.
- Like when He-Man himself starred on the show, the hosts are at a loss for words describing his sister's physics-defying feats.
- Shout-Out: After Wonder Woman is claimed to be the best melee fighter in the world, Boomstick immediately assumes her to be the best Melee fighter in the world, wavedashing and everything.
- Sword Fight: Inevitable, really.
- Wrecked Weapon: Three of them. First, Wonder Woman's invisible jet gets sliced in half by Diana herself, after She-Ra throws it at her. Then She-Ra hammers at Diana's Bracelets of Submission until they break. Finally, Diana cuts the Sword of Protection in half with her atom-splitting sword, rendering She-Ra vulnerable to a beheading.
