Wonder Woman: Earth One is a 2016 graphic novel from DC written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Yanick Paquette. The fourth title in DC's Earth One line after Superman: Earth One, Batman: Earth One, and Teen Titans: Earth One, it aims to tell the story of Princess Diana of the Amazons for a new generation.
Volume One shows Princess Diana being put on trial by her mother due to leaving Paradise Island and having her first experiences in "Man's World" after rescuing Steve Trevor, who crashed on the island.
Volume Two shows how people has reacted to Diana and how she starts to see the corruption and selfishness of Man's World while the US Government makes plans in case Diana and the Amazons become a threat to the United States.
In Volume Three, it is revealed that the Greek Gods are less forgotten than most of humanity believed, as the USA declares war on the Amazons.
Wonder Woman: Earth One provides examples of:
- Adaptational Sexuality: The series is very clear about the frequency of woman-woman love among the Amazons. Beth Candy is also strongly implied to be bisexual.
- Adaptation Distillation: The story very much draws on Wonder Woman's beginning story, with more than a few twists.
- Adaptation Name Change: Etta Candy becomes Elizabeth Candy.
- Alpha Bitch: Mala, the former champion of the Amazons. At least, that's what Elizabeth considers her when they meet.
- Amazonian Beauty: Diana, Hippolyta, and pretty much all the Amazons are tall, strong and very easy on the eyes. Lampshaded a few times.
- And Show It to You: How Paula kills Hippolyta.
- Artificial Human: Diana grew up believing this of herself until Hippolyta reveals that she is the daughter of Hercules, instead of a clay figure given life.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Beth Candy. In-Universe, she loves herself the way she is, but the Amazons don't.
- Big Eater: It's implied Beth Candy ate most of the food for a "Feed the Hunger" mixer.
- Brainwashing for the Greater Good: The Amazons detest violence. However they are not above using artifacts to alter the morality and ideals of their enemies to render them not threats anymore. Though considering the ones who have been shown to have this used on them were Nazis, it's played for the best. This is taken to the logical extreme in Volume 3 when Wonder Woman decides to take those brainwashing tactics to Man's World with the help of domestic female supporters and manages to make the male population mostly docile after a millennia of indoctrination.
- Broken Record: The souls of the underworld end up repeating short "clips" over and over again due to the afterlife not having enough "band-width" as Hades puts it. When Diana finds her mother and Hercules in Elysium they are frozen in a single spot repeating the same phrase over and over again.
- Closet Key: Considering she's a Nazi, Paula finding herself in love with Diana was probably a big eye-opener.
- Composite Character: Nubia takes the place of Phillipus from the mainstream comics.
- Crapsack World: Hippolyta tries to paint Man's World as this, and is warranted by the constant news of turmoil she receives on her magical sphere. This is also Diana's first impression of the world outside Paradise Island, though her response is mostly due to the fact that she hails from an island with far more advanced medical technology than the hospital she visited.
- Courtroom Episode: The entire story of Volume 1 is framed around a trial held for Diana for entering Man's World.
- Does Not Like Men: The Amazons were captured and enslaved by Hercules to be... used by his army. After Hippolyta killed him, they defeated Hercules' army and created Paradise Island, where men are forbidden.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Wonder Woman's invisible jet sure looks...vaginal.
- Double Standard: As far as the Spartan sect of Amazons are concerned, even "good" men still deserve to die or at least be castrated since they are "violent and wicked by nature" even if they resist their urges. Yet they see Paula Von Gunther's assassination of their queen as her being corrupted by Man's World and send her to be reformed. After Diana bests their leader Artemis, the Spartans agree not to kill the men, but still think castration should be on the table.
- Downer Ending: Volume 2 ends with Queen Hippolyta assassinated, Diana's rising reputation in Man's World ruined and with most of the population now hating or fearing the Amazons thanks to Maxwell Lord's machinations, forcing Diana to become the new Eternal Queen of the Amazons and preparing for an upcoming war against Man's World. Also, Steve and Beth will be in trouble with the government due to their friendship with Diana.
- Volume 3 ends this way depending on your stance on events. Wonder Woman defeats and kills Ares and saves Themyscira while forcing Man's World to undergo "loving submission" with aid from domestic female supporters abroad. After 1,000 years, the entire world is under Amazon rule, with males being shown as domesticated and females in everlasting power as a virtual Lady Land, whereas male dissidents are captured and sent away for "re-education". Wonder Woman is still seen as active and creates a daughter who will carry on her legacy.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Mala takes Diana's "defection" to Man's world the hardest.
- Exact Words: No man is allowed to "touch the soil" of Paradise Island. So when Steve is brought to testify at Diana's trial, he's brought in on a mobile podium. How non-seriously this is taken is lampshaded when a couple of pages later he's standing on the ground arguing with Hippolyta and Diana, with nobody making any comment or non-verbal reaction.
- Face–Heel Turn: Due to her Amazonian brainwashing and her Nazi indoctrination conflicting her (including a device meant to take of control of her), Paula ends up killing Hippolyta by ripping her heart out, eventually taking it to Diana to taunt her.
- Female Misogynist: Most of the Amazons act this way towards the women in Man's World. Especially Mala towards the Holliday Girls.
- Females Are More Innocent: The amazons believe that all the worlds problems (namely violence and war) will be solved by putting women in charge. As far as they are concerned men are naturally monsters and any woman who acts as bad is only the result of male influence.
- Fun with Acronyms: Maxwell Lord's humanoid drones for the US military, the Armed Response Environment Suit.
- Gendercide: Hippolyta planned to raise Diana into a living weapon that she could use to "wage war on men". But she grew to love Diana and abandoned this plan.
- Gorgeous Gorgon: Averted with Medusa.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Maxwell Lord. Who is actually Ares, who manipulates Diana and the US government to launch a strike against Themyscira..
- Green Rocks: Amazon technology is powered by orgone.note
- The Hecate Sisters: The three Fates of Greek myth — Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos — who are summoned to witness the trial. Clotho is the Maiden (a youthful teenager), Lachesis the Mother (a mature, curvy woman) and Atropos the Crone (an ancient-looking old woman who uses a stick and seems blind in one eye).
- Heel–Face Brainwashing: During World War II, Nazi agent Paula Von Gunther attempted to take control of Thermiscyra with a small army but she was defeated and her men were sent to Venus to be purged of their violent tendencies and become docile pets for the Venusians. However, seeing potential in her, Hippolyta brainwashed her against her will and adopted her as part of the Amazons.
- Heel–Face Turn: In the utopia of the 31st century, both Paula and Dr. Zeiko are members of the world "Council of Presidents".
- He-Man Woman Hater: Hercules and his men are portrayed as testosterone-ridden brutes and misogynistic bullies.
- Heroic BSoD: Diana does not take her first exposure to death very well.
- Hotter and Sexier: In line with the efforts to modernize some of William Marston's fetish-tinged ideas for Wonder Woman, the book makes the Amazons a bit more...sexual than regular depictions care to do.
- Horse of a Different Color: The Amazons ride horse-sized kangaroos.
- How We Got Here:
- Following a prologue in which Hercules brutalises Hippolyta and she and her Amazon sisters break free from him and his cronies, the issue begins with Diana returning to Paradise Island, being placed under arrest and submitting to trial by truth. The rest of the issue involves her and others discussing what happened in the run-up to that point.
- Book Three starts with an Amazon recounting their "hystery", explaining how the Amazons overthrew Man's World and began a thousand years of peace and prosperity. This framing device is absolutely what actually happened, and the rest of the book is simply explaining how it was achieved.
- Hypocrite: The majority of Amazons claim to detest violence and are centered around peace and wisdom, but their kindness and mercy only applies to women or "sisters". More than a few of them want nothing more than to wage gendercide against the "sons of Hercules" and slaughter any man they come across. Diana points out the hypocrisy of this, as well as the fact that it plays right into Ares' hands.
- Lady Land: The reason Paradise Island was created to begin with.
- The parallel Earth known as Aphrodite run by Hippolyta's sister Desira is this trope. Aprodite is an Earth where history diverged when the Amazons decided to be proactive and took control of Greece and later Europe and the rest of the world after thousands of years. Men on Aphrodite are a domesticated and pampered underclass akin to pets and sex slaves kept for labor, company, and pleasure while being short-lived compared to their female masters. Rowdy males or male enemies from the mainstream Earth are sent to Aphrodite for reform, by being brainwashed and pacified until they are released for acceptable behavior.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: In her contemptuous rage, Diana mistakes actual female soldiers in the US military for extremely effeminate men.
- Lighter and Softer: While the story has elements that are played seriously, and isn't for kids, the book isn't Darker and Edgier like Superman: Earth One or as cynical as Batman: Earth One. This is best reflected in the art, which is much more colorful than that of those books, and the comedic moments provided by Elizabeth Candy.
- A Lighter Shade of Gray: The Amazons are presented as having methods and ideology superior to that of Man's World. They see reeducation and loving submission as being preferable to war, and their leadership, regardless of how benevolent, is still a dictatorship based on Might Makes Right and Asskicking Leads to Leadership. Many of these aspects are called out as imperfect or problematic by the story, but it's ultimately suggested that their way is still "better" than Man's World's.
- Love at First Sight: Paula is at first enamored with Hippolyta but becomes obsessed with Diana upon seeing her.
- Makeover Montage: To alleviate their boredom, Beta Lamda glamours up Diana while being held for questioning.
- Most Common Superpower: Diana's a very well endowed woman and can lift a tank without breaking a sweat.
- Mythology Gag:
- A couple at least, most of them from the Golden Age version of Wonder Woman:
- The Greek pantheon is extremely limited with only Aphrodite, Athena, Ares, Hades, Persephone and Hercules being seen or mentioned.
- Steve Trevor refers to Diana as his angel.
- William Moulton Marston's ideas for Wonder Woman, most prominently the use of bondage as a sign of nurture and trust for the Amazons, are heavily featured and discussed. Notably, Diana spends much of the first issue voluntarily bound in chains.
- Beth Candy as the head of a sorority (Holliday Girls).
- Max Lord's "team", who only appear in a few panels, are Mr. Earl, Dr. Duke, and General Conquest. It is strongly implied that they are the Earth-One versions of the Earl of Greed, Duke of Deception and Count of Conquest, Mars's minions in Golden Age Wonder Woman comics.
- One of the Amazons from New Athena's sister city New Sparta looks like Donna Troy, and wearing her all-red bodysuit-style costume. She's also called Troia, Donna's most well-known codename after Wonder Girl.
- Maxwell Lord dies with Blood from Every Orifice from the blowback when Diana destroys his Humongous Mecha.
- A couple at least, most of them from the Golden Age version of Wonder Woman:
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Beth Candy is modeled after Rebel Wilson.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: After Diana goes to "Man's World", the US military begins to want to know about Paradise Island, and even force Steve to try and get more information on it under penalty of treason. After Diana is allowed to travel back with Steve and Beth, it is implied that there will be contact between the modern world and the Amazons.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- Hercules was an absolute monster to Hippolyta and had zero respect for women or their consent.
- Doctor Psycho is all about the manipulation of women, seeing them as "easier to train than cats and dogs."
- Race Lift:
- Steve Trevor is African-American. This actually ends up affecting his character. When he's questioned during Diana's trial, Steve says that his ancestors being slaves is why he lied to his higher ups in the military.
- Artemis has a darker skin tone in this story than she does in main canon.
- Related in the Adaptation: Hippolyta admits that she lied about Diana being made from clay. Her father is actually Hercules. Hippolyta deliberately had his child for the sake of irony in a revenge plot she didn't implement.
- Revisiting the Roots: The series is strongly based on the original William Moulton Marston comic from the 1940s, including both the magical elements that seem silly to many today, and the peculiar peace-through-BDSM ideology.
- Straw Feminist: Diana believes that women should rule the world instead of men, believing that they are morally superior and that men should submit to them because of it. The rest of the amazons take this to another level by desiring the complete extermination of all men.
- Straw Misogynist:
- Most figures of authority or power in Man's World are presented as stereotypical misogynists who see the mere existence of the Amazons as a threat to the world order. Volume 3 has Ares/Maxwell Lord even give a Rousing Speech to promote war with all women and send women's rights back to the dark ages.
- The other Amazons show a dislike to the women in Man's World, especially towards Beth Candy due to her "grotesque" body shape.
- Ares entire motivation is that he wants to crush womens rights, make them slaves to men, and destroy the amazons (including his own daughter and granddaughter) since they stand in his way.
- Sex Slave:
- Hercules was trying to turn Hippolyta into this, and intended for the Amazons to be this to his followers. This almost happening to them is what shaped their view on men.
- The Venusians on Aphrodite keep men in a subordinate, submissive role. Many of them are used as sexual playthings by their Venusian mistresses.
- Taken for Granite: Steve is turned into stone by Medusa, on order by the Amazons sent after Diana. He gets better.
- Tempting Fate:Holliday Girl: What happened to all the food for the Feed the Hungry mixer, Beth?
Beth Candy: Guess the hungry got hungry, ya buncha harpies! May the Lord strike me down for--
[Lightning suddenly struck at the wheel of the bus they're on. They almost crashed until Diana saved them.]
Holliday Girl: Don't you dare bring the Lord into this again, Beth Candy. - Ultimate Universe: This series is specifically an updated adaptation of the original Wonder Woman (1942) by Marston and Peters. In particular, the far-future subplot in volume 3 is full of specific references to Wonder Woman #7, which is also set in a utopian matriarchal 31st century where Amazon ideals rule the world.
- Utopia Justifies the Means: At the end, Diana and the amazons basically decide to take over the world, giving full support to women but only men who "behave" under the belief that their society is morally superior by virtue of being women instead of men. A thousand years later, aside from a small group of male revolutionaries, it appears to be for the best. Though its implied much of the population has undergone centuries of Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul and Gilded Cage treatments to get to that point.
- Wretched Hive: Hippolyta tries to paint the entire world as this to Diana to make her not want to leave Paradise Island.
