Paradise Island
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Themyscira is a island nation in the DC Comics universe, and place of origin to its princess, Diana (better known as Wonder Woman). It was primarily known as Paradise Island until revisions to the Wonder Woman character took place in the 1980s.
Contents |
Location
Originally a city state founded by Amazons three thousand years ago, Themyscira's inhabitants were first shown in Wonder Woman (volume two) number 1. Here it is said that "the skies above fair Greece yawn wide pouring thousands of souls from Gaea's womb", thus placing the nation's original location somewhere in Greece. Later in issue 17, Diana first visits Greece (after living her entire life on Paradise Island) with her mentor, Julia Kapatelis, and at the end of a tour of her ancestry in that country, she reaches the island of Lesbos where she contemplates in solitude the fates of her Amazon sisters who once flourished at that site.
This ancient former city state of Themyscira was destroyed and later abandoned after the arrival of the demi-god Heracles. When the Amazons lose favor with their gods they are given immortality and sent to a far away island. Beginning in a parted Aegean Sea, it takes three months before the Amazons arrive at the hidden Paradise Island, later retitling it Themyscira after their fallen home. While on the island they are assigned to guard a doorway to Tartarus which lies beneath the island for the rest of their lives.
Wonder Woman
In recent times, Hippolyta’s daughter Diana, also known as Wonder Woman, has become an ambassador to the outside world. With Diana’s help, the Amazons have opened the shores of Themyscira to dignitaries of “Patriarch’s World”. The creatures beneath Doom’s Doorway were defeated, and for a time the Amazons destroyed their battle armor as testament to a new period of peace. The Amazons opened up their shores to dignitaries from Patriarch’s world, female and male, but that exchange was almost destroyed by Eris, Goddess of Discord. The Amazons even conducted their own tour of the United States, where they were framed for the murders of several people by Antiope’s descendants, the mercenary assassins of Bana-Mighdall, and Circe. It was during the War of the Gods that the Amazons recrafted their armory, vowing to once again become warriors. Circe would transplant many of these mercenary women of Bana-Migdhall, called the Lost Tribe, to Themyscira, where, after warring with the Amazons already there, joined forces to stop Circe herself. The two sects of Amazons forged an uneasy truce, living at opposite ends of the island.
Later still, Darkseid’s forces ravaged Themyscira during a search to locate the Greek gods, killing nearly half of the Amazons there in the process. As they began rebuilding, the Amazons found themselves reverting to stone. This was as a result of the gods’ departure from the mortal plane, and the Amazons’ connection to their creator beings so diminished as to revert their bodies to their primordial state. With the gods returned to Olympus, the Amazons were once again transformed into their flesh and blood state. Yet more Amazons were killed in a confrontation with the demonic entity known as Neron.
With Diana and Hippolyta adventuring in Patriarch’s World as Wonder Woman for longer and longer periods of time, the Banas and the Themyscirans were manipulated into a bloody civil war at the hands of Magala, who had been possessed by the spirit of Antiope’s murderer, Ariadne. Using the pre-existing disdain of the tribes against each other, Magala used allies among both Amazon cities to spark the vengeful conflict. The island was left in ruins, and the war was only stopped when Hippolyta abolished the royal family, renounced her throne.
Left at odds but on even political ground, the Bana Amazons and the Themyscirans joined forces against the alien forces of Imperiex. Themyscira, mystically moved into outer space, was destroyed by the marauder, and hundreds of Amazons from both tribes died. When Wonder Woman led each tribe of Amazons into an ecumenical prayer, funneling power into the new god Darkseid, the warrior women helped destroy Imperiex and its ally Brainiac 13.
New Themyscira
After the island had been destroyed by Imperiex during the Our Worlds at War storyline, Themyscira was rebuilt and relocated once again, this time to the Bermuda Triangle. Designed by the likes of Julia Kapatelis, the Martian Manhunter, Steve Trevor, Canadian architect Jean Claude Tibet, and Amazon master designer Kaleeza Fashed, the new Themyscira was built with the help of alien technology. Adding to the re-creation of the islands, Themyscira was restored by the combined might of the Greek and Egyptian goddesses the Amazons worship. Transformed into a mighty series of floating islands dedicated to the free exchange of information and ideas, the new Themyscira was governed by members of both tribes of Amazons. After some time Themyscira was nearly destroyed in a jealous fit of rage by the goddess Hera. Because of her actions the islands ceased to float in mid-air under their own power and instead resumed being a cluster of traditional islands once more.
Recently, Themyscira was under attack by OMAC forces, as described in DC Comics's Infinite Crisis. Due to this attack, as well as the many various other attacks the island has suffered through since Diana became Wonder Woman, it was decided that the Olympian and Bana-Mighdallian goddesses would transport the island and its inhabitants (sans Diana) to an undisclosed location to live in peace.
Television
- hemyscira was first shown on the television movie Wonder Woman starring actress Cathy Lee Crosby. The scene was very brief and was not named.
- Titled "Paradise Island", Themyscira was shown a second time in the Lynda Carter television series Wonder Woman throughout several episodes.
- It has also been shown on the Super Friends. Most notably the Challenge of the Super Friends episode "Secret Origins of the Superfriends," in which the Legion of Doom discover the origins of Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, and travel back in time to stop them from becoming superheroes. The name "Paradise Island" was used in this show as well.
- Themyscira appears in several episodes of the Warner Brothers animated television series Justice League and in Justice League Unlimited as the homeland of Wonder Woman. In the first episode, Diana rides a horse with her mother along the shores of the island and watches aliens raining down upon Earth from afar. Later, after joining the League as Wonder Woman, The Flash offers her an Ice Mocha, which later in the series is implied to become her favourite drink. After tasting it, she replies, "Mmmm. They don't have these in Themyscira!" Themyscira was shown three more times on the series, once when the Justice League battled the sorcerer Felix Faust on its shores, again when a rogue Amazon named Aresia left the island to become a villain in Man's World, and also when the Annihilator was stolen and Wonder Woman and Shayera had to travel to the underworld through the gate on Themyscira.
