Wonder Woman

***Wonder Woman*** is one of the DCRU Phase 1 titles, being the first installment of the first Wonder Woman Trilogy.

## Synopsis

Princess Diana of Themyscira must prove herself as a worthy warrior in the millennial Contest of Amazons. However, to do so, she will need to face the dangers of the human world alongside her companions, Mala and Artemis. Together, they meet unexpected allies, and unravel mysteries about the history of the Amazons along the way.

## Plot

Thousands of years ago, in the Themyscirian Palace, an 11-year-old Diana asks her mother, Queen Hippolyta, why she is the only child Amazon on the island of Themyscira. Hippolyta explains to her that Diana was not born like the other Amazons because they are created by Hera born as adults and immortal, just like the mother of her great-grandmother, Otrera, was. Diana was made of clay by the hands of Hippolyta, who prayed so hard to Zeus to give her a daughter that he granted life to the clay child. Diana then asks her about a recurring dream she's been having, where she's grown up, destroying an unknown world and surrounded by fire. Hippolyta is startled, but asks her to ignore it.

Now in 1988, Diana is an adult, participating in the seventh Contest of Amazons. A competition between three amazon warriors from each Amazon Kingdom (Themyscira, Bana-Mighdall and Akahim), which happens once every millennia. The contest serves to elect the greatest amazon warrior alive, who will be worthy of receiving the Armor of Hera, the Tiara of Hathor, the Lasso of Ceuci and the Bracelets of Otrera. Diana needs to beat Mala and Artemis, who have also being chosen by their respective Kingdoms. One day before the Contest, we see the three Amazons chatting during lunch, as it is the custom that the three warriors spend a month together before the Competition begins. Artemis recalls beating Diana in the last competition, telling Mala about their fight. This is the first year Mala has been chosen, but she had already visited Themyscira in the last tournament, which was when she befriended Diana. Artemis and Diana explain that every time, the Contest has different challenges, always being four challenges.

In the first challenge, the three must face a Manticore together in the Amazonian Arena, Mala is injured in the process, but remains strong, and the three manage to defeat the beast, with Artemis getting the killing blow, earning the first point. In the second challenge, the Amazons must go to the Forbidden Forest to capture a Hippalectryon chick that has been released there. They enter the forest, and after a while, they find the animal running towards them, as Mala holds it in her arms. However, it was actually running away from a gigantic Hydra. The three Amazons run away with the chick. Artemis cuts off one of the Hydra's heads with her axe as she runs, but it grows back in a few seconds. Mala throws the Hippalectryon for Diana to hold, and uses her Blowgun to shoot ten darts at the Hydra. The creature grows drowsy and falls to the ground. Artemis asks what was in those darts, and Mala explains that it's an extremely potent poison, but that it's not deadly to creatures as powerful as Hydras, only making them drowsy. Diana returns the baby to the judges, who give the point to her. On the third challenge, the Amazons will fight each other in the arena with spears only. In the middle of the fight, Artemis is gaining the upper hand on Mala, but Diana intervenes, protecting Mala and pushing Artemis away. The two fight, and Hippolyta's daughter manages to win the duel. However, she refuses to fight Mala. The elected judges (themyscirian generals Antiope and Philippus) along with the three Kingdoms' Queens; Hippolyta, Merneith and Teçá, give the third point to Diana.

Now, in the third and final test, the warriors have to go to the world of men. They are not allowed to fly there with their Pegasi, as they cannot be recognized by the humans as Amazons. Diana, Mala and Artemis are sent on a boat to the African nation of Bwunda. Along the way, Diana and Mala get closer, and Mala jokes that Diana shouldn't be in this contest because the red of her armor makes her look beautiful, and the Gold of the Sacred Armor wouldn't look the same. Arriving in Bwunda, they need to find the contact of the Amazons who would guide them to the final challenge. The contact is Titano, a Metagorilla who was living in a small hut in the middle of the jungle. The three go to his hut, and he explains that the challenge is to recover an ancient artifact given to the Amazons by the New Gods, the Chaos Crystal. Titano tells them that the artifact is in the Temple of Mafdet, an Old Goddess who stole the Crystal from the Amazons but ended up trapped inside it trying to harness its power. The three Amazons have twelve days to fulfill the challenge, and must infiltrate a group of human scientists in a S.T.A.R. Labs Facility, who are studying the temple. Titano gives them the three military uniforms to disguise themselves, and explains that he can't accompany them, in order to avoid revealing the existence of Gorilla City to the humans.

Diana, Mala and Artemis, now with the military uniforms, infiltrate the S.T.A.R. Labs research facility. The Amazons however, get told off by a military officer named Ulysses Trevor who saw them returning from the jungle and mistook them for lost rookies. The three then try to enter the Temple, but are stopped by scientist Silas Stone and archaeologist Barbara Minerva, who were in charge of the facility. A few days pass, Artemis chooses to sleep alone as Diana and Mala sleep together in the facility's tents. While in there, the two kiss for the first time. During this time, the Amazons become friends with Ulysses, Silas and Barbara. One day, Diana saves Silas from an accident in the lab, revealing her identity as an Amazon and earning the nickname "Wonder Woman". Barbara witnesses this and is impressed, even a little jealous of Diana's powers. One night, the group is chatting around a campfire, and Mala asks about the scar on Ulysses' face. He explains that two years ago, he almost died in an accident; but was saved by young a pilot, saying that he was the man with the most willpower Ulysses has ever known. She asks where this friend is, and Ulysses answers that he disappeared a few months ago.

Later that night, Barbara can't sleep as she keeps hearing whispers coming from inside the Temple. She gets up in the middle of the night and enters the Temple alone, where she is guided by the voice until she reaches Chaos Crystal. The voice tells her that if she touches the Crystal, she could be as strong as Diana. She is reluctant at first, but eventually gives in and lifts the Crystal in the air, feeling its energy through her body. Without knowing what she was doing, Barbara released the Goddess Mafdet. The goddess then rewarded Barbara by transforming her into her avatar, the Cheetah. Mafdet is now free, but with her physical body still weak. However, she can control Barbara's mind, and uses her to go after Diana in the lab.

Cheetah arrives at the lab and roars, waking everyone up. The military ready themselves, but Diana asks them not to shoot, as she recognizes it was Barbara being controlled. Mafdet, through Barbara's body, talks to Diana. The goddess tells her that the Amazons lied to Diana; that they were not all created by Hera, and neither was she made from clay. Mafdet explains that Hera created the first Amazons, and starts to tell their story. We then see the first Amazons lead by Otrera, thousands of years ago, attracting human sailors to their kingdoms to have children with them. After that, they kill the sailors and keep only their daughters. The male children were abandoned at sea. Back to Mafdet, she explains that the baby boys were left for dead and saved by Hephaestus. She proceeds to tell Diana that the princess is indeed the biological daughter of Hippolyta, but her father wasn't a human man. He is actually the God Ares, which makes her destined to become the future Goddess of War. This leads the Amazon to realize that her dreams are premonitions of the future. Mafdet continues to provoke the princess' anger, while Mala and Artemis try to calm her down. The goddess then changes the strategy to something more personal, killing Mala. Artemis and a now enraged Diana confront Cheetah. However, after a long fight, Artemis reminds Diana that it is only their friend Barbara being controlled.

Diana leaves Cheetah unconscious on the floor and runs to the temple, looking for the goddess Mafdet through the endless corridors as Artemis goes after her. After a long time of flying, breaking walls and shouting Mafdet's name, the Amazon princess finally finds the goddess. Mafdet is standing next to Chaos Crystal, still weak. She asks Diana for mercy, but the Amazon replies her that she had no mercy for Mala. Artemis does not oppose Diana's choice to kill the Goddess. Diana picks up the Crystal, and walks back to the lab. There, she and Artemis find Barbara, who had just woken up. Barbara looks at her reflection in the water and flees into the forest, thinking she's a monster. The Amazons, however, cannot go after her, for eleven days have passed and they must take Crystal back to Themyscira.

Before returning, Diana and Artemis hold a small funeral for Mala with Silas and Ulysses, and Diana tells them that there is an ancient temple on Crete that can be used to ask for her help, but they can only use it in an emergency. Now, returning to Themyscira at dawn, the Amazons bring Crystal, being received in a ceremony, as Diana receives the fourth point, winning the Contest. However, Diana has an argument with her mother in the middle of the celebration, telling her that she knows the truth about the Amazons' origin and her real father. After an argument, the two eventually settle, and Hippolyta apologizes, saying she only wanted to protect Diana from her father. Hippolyta also explains that after her mother Penthesilea passed away, Hippolyta and the other two Amazon Queens, Merneith and Teçá, joined to make a deal with the Gods of Death Anhangá, Anubis and Hades, so that every human woman killed in battle would be reborn as an Amazon. This way, they would not have to kill any more men. Nevertheless, the princess accepts only the Lasso, the Tiara and the Bracelets, refusing to wear the Sacred Armor in order to continue with her red and blue one, in honour of Mala. At night, Artemis meets up with Diana again, and the two hug each other. Artemis says she regrets not being a good sister to Mala, but Diana consoles her, saying that Mala would not like to see her crying.

## Post-Credits

### 1st Scene

**Solis**: "*Your Highness; would you mind telling me if your daughter Diana is single?*"
**Hippolyta**: "*Have you ever fought a Kraken, Lightray?*"
**Solis**: "*No...?*"
**Hippolyta**: "*It would be a shame if you found yourself tied up to one in that case, wouldn't it?*"
— Hippolyta and Solis on Themyscira

Hippolyta is visited by the New Gods Orion and Solis, who are there to take back the Chaos Crystal, as she had asked them to take it to New Genesis again. Orion jokingly asks Hippolyta if her daughter is single, but he ends up being threatened by the Queen.

### 2nd Scene

**Duke**: "*Sir, your daughter has killed Goddess Mafdet.*"
**Ares**: "*Good, good... her anger will soon take over her mind.*"
— Ares and the Duke of Deception on Olympus

We see Ares in his Chamber on Mount Olympus. He receives one of his servants, the Duke of Deception, who notifies him that Diana has killed Mafdet. Ares smiles, saying that this is the beginning of the Amazon's journey.

## Appearances

Anhangá
(mentioned)AntiopeAnubis
(mentioned)Ares
(post-credits)Artemis of Bana-MighdallBarbara MinervaCeuci
(mentioned)Diana of ThemysciraDuke of DeceptionDuke of Deception
(post-credits)Hades
(mentioned)Hal Jordan
(indirectly mentioned)Hathor
(mentioned)Hephaestus
(mentioned)Hera
(mentioned)HippolytaMafdetMalaMarpesia
(indirectly mentioned)MerneithOrion
(post-credits)Otrera
(flashback)Penthesilea
(mentioned)PhilippusSilas StoneSolis
(post-credits)TeçáTitanoUlysses TrevorZeus
(mentioned)

## Trivia

* The character of Mafdet was created for the film based on the Egyptian mythology entity of the same name, replacing the character of the Plant God Urzkartaga from the comics. The change was made in order to better explain Barbara's feline form, since Mafdet is a Cheetah Goddess.
* The first version of the second post-credits scene had a cameo appearance by Lex Luthor, who would meet Cheetah in the jungle in 2016, and invite her to join the Legion of Doom.