"I don't know if it's just me or the jet lag, but it feels like the whole world is looking over my shoulder right now."
— Yara Flor
Wonder Girl is an ongoing DC superhero comic book series that debuted in 2021 as a part of the Infinite Frontier relaunch initiative. Written and drawn by Joëlle Jones with colors done by Jordie Bellaire, the story showcases the origins of Yara Flor, a character previously featured in Future State as the woman who succeeded Diana of Themyscira as the new Wonder Woman.
Born in Brazil but raised in the United States, Yara Flor always felt that something important was missing from her life, culminating in the decision to return to her homeland for answers. Little does she know, Yara's return to Brazil has been prophesied, and with that prophecy comes the undivided attention of numerous gods from pantheons beyond. With danger now lurking around every corner, is this young heroine ready to take the first steps towards greatness?
Despite there being a released synopsis for an eighth issue, the series was officially announced by DC to have been canceled with issue #7 serving as its impromptu finale. Fortunately, Yara's story is set to continue in 2022's Trial of the Amazons crossover event.
Tropes in Wonder Girl (Infinite Frontier):
- Action Girl: Yara was put on the fast track to becoming this trope by Hera, who ordered the various Gods of Mount Olympus to train her in everything from Philosophy to the Art of War so she could become her perfect champion.
- Adaptational Context Change: In DC Future State Yara Flor's "costume" is a uniform everyone in her tribe wears to identify themselves to outsiders. In this comic, set in the "DC Rebirth" continuity, it is instead a ceremonial garb Eros weaved to make Yara "acceptable" before Hera. Hera and Eros neglect to take the clothes back when Yara rejects the offer, but The Esquecida tribe have a completely different uniform. Trial of the Amazons shows that The Esquecida are adopting some elements of Flor's "fashion" and dress like Flor when introducing themselves to the other amazon tribes, but no one copies her outfit completely.
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Yara Flor is a brown-skinned Brazilian immigrant who succeeds both the Caucasian Cassie Sandsmark and Donna Troy as the third Wonder Girl.
- Battle Bolas: Gifted to her by the mermaid from Brazilian Folklore Iara, Yara wields the Golden Boleadoras which serves as her equivalent to the Lassos used by Donna, Cassie, and Diana.
- Bittersweet Ending: Yara discovers that Eros is the Greek God who murdered her mother and has manipulated her since the day he met her. But with Cassie and Donna's help, she succeeds in defeating him and his forces, regaining her free will in the process, and reunites with the Amazons of the Amazon. Hera on the other hand, still remains unscathed by the turn of events and continues to plot her revenge against Yara.
- But Not Too Foreign: While Yara was indeed born in Brazil to an Amazon of the Amazon, she was forced to flee the country after an attack on her tribe and was raised most of her life in Boise, Idaho. Also, while the tribe itself is indigenous, her mother Aella was originally an Amazon from the Mediterranean region before journeying to the South America. While Yara's father was technically a local, he was also a Physical God whose exact nature has yet to be revealed beyond being tied to a river.
- Conflict Killer: The fight between Hera's Forces and The Esquecida with the Wonder Girls backing the latter is disrupted when Zeus takes notice and directs his wrath at everyone, starting with crushing fellow god Eros and sending him to Tartarus. Luckily for the rest of the combatants Cassie Sandsmark had been waiting for him, made a beeline for Zeus, and convinced him to let Yara leave with the Esquecida.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Yara's mother Aella was decapitated right in front of her by Gods of Olympus during a siege that slaughtered most of her tribe. While Yara was able to escape with her life thanks to Renata saving her in the nick of time, she has virtually no recollection of her childhood prior to immigrating to the United States due to her suppressing the trauma.
- Disappeared Dad: It's implied Olympus had something to do with the "tragedy" that drove Flor's parents apart, but we aren't told for sure. We're not even told anything about who he was beyond being a god Aella and The Olympians had never heard of before. Given that Aella left the Amazons before the Amazons split into the Themyscira and Bana-Mighdall tribes it seems she and this god had quite a long relationship before he bailed on his pregnant lover.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Queen Gaboymila shares her name with the previous name of the Esquecida tribe. It is unclear if the tribe had been named for her, or if she had been named after the tribe.
- Evil Versus Evil: Hera is The Big Bad, as it was her who ordered the executions of Aella and her child to being with. The knowledge that Hera is looking for Yara again, this time considering turning the powerful demigoddess into an immortal Living Weapon, is what sends everyone else into a panic over what may happen if they don't get to Yara Flor before her. However, it's revealed that among the various parties out to stop Hera, that Cuca is just as bad as, and even more petty than Hera is.
- The Generic Guy: João, a Hunk bus driver who becomes one of Yara's love interests, doesn't really get much development beyond being a Nice Guy and is largely written out of the plot during the final act of the Olympus conflict. He starts to return to focus in the annual issue, but the comic is abruptly canceled before the announced eighth issue can be released to start the next arc.
- Glamour Failure: Yara Flor, João and Eros instantly see through Cuca's disguise when she tries to charm Yara. Putting extra effort into her glamour allows her to fool Yara and João the next time she tries but every other Esquecida can still see through it and freak out at the sight of Yara allowing Cuca to operate in public among civilians.
- I Have Many Names: After the Amazons split in half Aella declined to join Themyscira or the Bana-Mighdall, becoming more interested in legends about other warrior women tribes such as the Coniupuiaras, Iamaricumã and Gaboymilas...which turned out to be different names for the same group. They accepted Aella into their ranks but this act of kindness lead to them being massacred by executioners sent by jealous gods to kill Aella, causing these warriors to go into hiding and become known as the name "Esquecidas", which suited them just fine.
- The Jailbait Wait: Played for Horror, and this is a particularly horrifying example. It's revealed that Eros knew Yara ever since she was a child because he was the one who murdered her mother and led the siege that slaughtered her tribe. All so that he could have her all to himself as the perfect wife once Yara was finally of age. Eros even dressed as Ares while killing her mother so she wouldn't recognize him until he had put her under his charm.
- Love Makes You Stupid: Yara and Eros are enemies, but Eros keeps doing things to "help" her because while he was sent to take care of her by Hera he ran into unexpected resistance from opposing parties and accidentally cut his hand on his own arrow, causing him to fall in love with Yara. At first it seems like this happens during his and Zephyrus's battle with Cuca and her forces over the adult Yara, but it turns out this was actually when the Gaboymilas fought back against him and the rest the of Hera's executioners, meaning he's been under a love charm for Yara since she was a child. Eros both indirectly and directly convinces Hera to consider not killing Yara Flor and shoots Yara with another arrow to charm her towards him, causing Yara to also be a lot less aggressive and pragmatic than she otherwise would once she fully realizes what's going on. Once the love charm is broken Eros retains feelings for Yara, although he never wants to see her again; Yara instantly loses all sympathy for Eros.
- Loyal Animal Companion: After many trials and tribulations, Yara succeeded in taming an abrasive Pegasus she named Jerry into becoming her steed.
- MacGuffin Super-Person: Due to being The Chosen One of some grand prophecy, Greek gods commanded by Hera, three Amazonian tribes and at least three mythical figures from Brazilian folklore, including Cuca and Caipora, are fighting against each other to secure Yara's allegiance before another side can get their hooks into her. Hera's seems to win, but the conflict get resolved without them ever using Yara for anything.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: The Olympians hate the fact that Aella had left The Amazons, back when the Amazons were still in the their good graces, to start a relationship with a god they had never heard of on another continent. Bearing that god's child was more than Hera in particular could stand, as she sent Eros to execute Aella and her child. Hera forgives Eros for being too soft to kill a child when she learns Yara Flor is quite strong and could be molded into a powerful Living Weapon, but makes a point of letting Yara know her potential is the only reason she tolerates Yara's ancestry and also makes the point to Eros to not let Zeus know she's considering turning another pantheon's spawn into her personal champion.
- Mayfly–December Romance: Yara is in love with Eros due to being hit with one of his arrows and develops further feelings for him during her time on Olympus. Eros however hopes to convince Yara to become Hera's immortal champion so they can avert this trope.
- Ms. Fanservice: Yara is a gorgeous young woman who has a penchant for wearing outfits that greatly emphasize her hips, legs, and shapely derriere. Even Eros, the Greek God of Love, ends up genuinely falling for her during his mission to seduce her into staying on Mount Olympus as Hera's Champion. As noted above, Eros' attraction takes a darker twist once it's shown that he has known Yara longer than he let on.
- Mythology Gag: "Amazons Of The Amazon" isn't a new concept, as on the "Silver Age" Earth One an Amazon named Atalanta(II) started a tribe there after becoming disillusioned with Hyppolyta on Paradise Island. Atalanta(II) is instead the founder of the Bana-Mighdall Tribe in Mediterranean/North African region with subsequent cosmic retcons, but Atalanta is still the first of the old world Amazons to discover Aella's "third tribe" in South America.
- Poor Communication Kills: Themyscira, the Bana-Mighdall and the Escquecidas all have roughly the same goal regarding Yara Flor, but all assume the worst of each other and don't talk. Furthermore, the two assassins Hyppolyta sent Cassie Sandsmark to assist assume Sandsmark's an amazon from an unidentified tribe and attempt to throw her out of Brazil for "embarrassing our kind" alongside Artemis, who was attacking Sandsmark under the mistaken assumption Sandsmark was following her. When Artemis and Cassie do find Yara, Cassie insists the two at least listen to her before throwing down. While the first Esquecida Cassie encounters continues to trend of instigating unnecessary hostilities it's finally averted with the tribe as a whole, who welcome Donna Troy with open arms when she stumbles upon them trying to find out why Cassie hasn't been keeping in touch.
- Sadly Mythtaken
- The series uses the version of Iara in which she would have been an Indigenous warrior who became a mermaid after she was thrown in a river when she had to kill her brothers in self-defense, who were envious from her hunting skills; however, there is no evidence this version has ever actually been in Brazilian Folklore. On a minor note, Iara is a river mermaid from the folklore of the Northern region of Brazil, but Yara meets her in the Iguazu Falls, which are in the limits of the Paraná, in the Southern region.
- Might cross into Artistic License – History, assuming there is any accuracy in the tales, but Iamaricumã were most likely women warriors from a tribe, rather than an entire tribe of women. They were said to have attacked Spanish explorers along side women from another legendary tribe referred to as Icamiabas, meaning there were at least two such groups considered to exist. They were claimed to have been trying to keep Spaniards from finding "El Dorado" but an attack was most likely triggered by greedy Spaniards unwittingly committing blasphemy, since precious metals like gold and platinum tended to have religions significance rather than monetary value in Mesoamerica. The Icamiabas were also known as the Comapuíras, Cunhapuiaras, Coniupuiaras, Icamiabas and Cunhãs-teco-imas depending on which explorer one asked, however. However inaccurate, there are also accounts insisting the "Coniupuiaras habitat" consisted of nothing but women, and they are why The Amazon Rain Forest and River are so named...basically things were really simplified to keep that story from overtaking the entire issue.
- The accounts of the Spaniards said these amazons were giant white women to whom the Indians paid tribute in exchange for protection from the conquistadors, while the Franciscan accounts insisted these amazons looked a lot like tall bearded men. Pretty much everyone agreed they burnt off their right breasts. This comic opted to base The Esquecida off of the Ticuna, and not have them mutilate themselves..
- "Gaboymilla" was said to be queen of a "golden heaven" were men were not accepted except for during the times where more children were needed, but "Gaboymilla's" city was said to be hidden in Chile, not Brazil.
- The Green Gators depiction of Cuca doesn't originate in Brazilian folklore but in Brazilian media that took several liberties with it. This is more understandable, however, as Cuca is a common folklore figure throughout the Portuguese diaspora, not unlike The Boogeyman to English speakers, and crocodile Cuca is distinctly Brazilian.
- Semi-Divine: Yara is the child of an Amazon and an unknown Brazilian River God, granting her supernatural speed and strength seemingly equal to that of her predecessors. However, she lacks the ability of flight, leaving Yara reliant on Jerry in order to take to the skies.
- Super Weapon, Average Joe: Relatively speaking, as to actual average Joes like João, Cuca has the toughness, strength and senses of a terrifying predator on top of the depravity of a human. To a demigoddess like Yara Flor, however, the strength and toughness of a crocodile are laughable, especially when said crocodile is on dry ground. What Yara does worry about is Cuca having a spell book on loan from underworld goddess Tice. Even immortal Greek God Eros fears what Cuca can do with the book! But once Yara is able to get within arm's reach of Cuca, Cuca's no problem beyond what to do with Cuca next.
