Hippolyta

Origin

Hippolyta is the mythical figure of ancient Greek and Roman myth. A fierce and fearsome Amazonian warrior, her fighting abilities are of legendary nature. She is the daughter of the Ares, the Olympian god of war and Amazon Queen Otrera, a daughter of Zeus. Hippolyta created the Amazons and Princess Artume is her daughter. Hippolyta and her sisters Antiope, Penthesiliea, Melanippe and Hiera would become infamous for their ruthless campaigns and attacks in battle. They were not one to shy away from bloodshed or carnage, killing innocent men when required and abducting female children to join their ranks. Originally Hippolyta’s sister Lysippe inherited the crown and position of their mother, the Queen of Amazons however Lysippe would fall in combat. Thus Hippolyta would reign as the Queen of the Amazons in ancient Greece. Around these times, some three thousand years ago, the demi god Hercules would be tasked with Twelve labors one which would include stealing Hippolyta’s Golden Girdle. During this task Hippolyta and the lion of Olympus would romance a short but passionate relationship. It would end with manipulations on Hera’s part, Hera inciting the Amazons into anger towards Hercules chasing the god of strength from their shores, believing he was there to murder Hippolyta. Some time later Hippolyta would also lead the Amazons into the battle of Troy following Ares lead.

Creation

Hippolyta is a Greek mythological figure

Marvel’s version of Hippolyta was adapted by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, first appearing in Thor #127 in April 1966.

Marvel

Marvels Hippolyta has not had the same level of significance or prestige as her DC counterpart, appearing as a supporting character in a few stories, usually centering around either the mighty Thor or Hercules. In more recent times, the character is experiencing a revival of sorts appearing in the title Fearless Defenders. Writer Cullen Bunn discussing her inclusion in the title “Hippolyta made the most sense and brought the most to the group. the fact that no one expected her means she was perfect for this kind of team! All you’ll need to know to follow the character from the beginning will be revealed. Hippolyta has been around for a long time (in mythology and at Marvel) and this version of the character… especially this version… is pretty different from any other interpretation.” on the characters revitalization. Also expressing “I’ve approached it as a new approach to this character, ” Bunn said. “We’ve played with the power set and we’re playing with her in a different way. That is Hippolyta.” with the character also experiencing a new visual dynamic “Pyle spoke briefly on the design for Hippolyta, which she worked on with Phil Jimenez. “He wanted to use a lot of the Greek imagery,” she said. “We wanted to update her look a little bit… Phil has a background in fashion, so he wanted to bring a bit of that modern aesthetic to her look.”

Major Story Arcs

Ancient Times

In flashback, it is revealed that Hippolyta received Hercules with Jason and the Argonauts at Themiscyra when Hercules was seeking Hippolyta’s enchanted girdle as part of his 9th labor. Hera tricked the Amazons into thinking that the men were there to kill Hippolyta and in the ensuing chaos many Amazons ended up killed or abducted. Hippolyta’s sister Antiope disguises herself as Hippolyta and is abducted, later giving birth to Hippolytus.

Modern Era

In the modern era, Pluto persuaded Hippolyta to pose as a movie actress while he masqueraded as a director and together they tricked Hercules into signing a ‘movie’ contract that in reality imprisoned him in Hades. Hippolyta really loved Hercules and revealed her identity to him. Thor came to the rescue and wrecked Hades, forcing Pluto to release him. Hippolyta later reappears as the leader of a street gang called the Bacchae, choosing female runaways to join with her. She breaks into the Fantastic Four’s building and abducts Caledonia to Hades, but the FF rescue their friend.

Love and War

Ares is occupying himself in a New York diner, overhearing a conservation of mortals talking about his popular brother Hercules. The annoyance of their awe of Hercules grating him he decides to leave. Hippolyta would appear quite suddenly and offer to join her fathers meal. Ares would act with impatient with his daughter alluding to her past romance with Hercules. Artume, Hippolyta’s daughter would in the mean time form a dangerous new aggressive band of Amazon warriors to make war on their enemies. Hippolyta would eventually be killed by her daughter, Artume when the Amazons captured an Atlantean base after the fall of Olympus. When Hercules arrived at the base he saw her head stuck on a spiked spear, and later found her gambling for a return to life in the Underworld realm of Erebus.

Fearless Defenders

After Valkyrie tasked with finding a new host of Valkyrior fails to assemble the Shield Maidens, specifically Earth heroes, it foretells the reappearance of the Doom Maidens. Valkyrie would justify her lack of activity and selection of woman suitable for the tasks of a Valkyrie, but the All Mothers, Gaea, Idunn and Freyja would chastise her explaining to her, Misty Knight and Dr Annabelle Riggs of the Doom Maidens and how they could manifest with the void created by the lack of Valkyrior. Hela would appear before the All Mothers and Valykrie, as the actions of the Doom Maidens would invariably affect her as well. Hippolyta would her as well, Hela’s own chosen Warrior Woman, Hippolyta.

As revealed by Hela, Hippolyta was resurrected by the Death God’s of every pantheon and even blessed with Supernatural powers beyond anything she had attained before (Hela had to pull favors for this). This was done so that the Amazon queen could combat an evil force she and her Amazons battled millennia ago, the Doom Maidens. Believing even the Disir would have trouble with the Doom Maidens, Hela insisted that Hippolyta take on this threat as her strength & foreign status to Asgard made her a superior selection to Valkyrie. In the end, the All-mothers pulled a “Why not both!” and thus the ‘Fearless Defenders‘ were created.

Itching for battle, Hippolyta immediately tags along with the others in search of the Doom Maidens who are in Washington (on the way nearly getting into a match with Valkyrie due to Hippolyta’s critical and abrasive personality). Upon finding them, the Amazon immediately dives into battle, physically dominating 2 at once and remarking how they are no where near as tough as she remembers. When Valkyrie sees this and asks for help, Hippolyta mocks her ally only to be subdued by the empath of the Doom Maidens. After being freed from the spell Hippolyta rejoined the battle, although as the Doom Maidens fully awakened to their overwhelming power even Hippolyta (who still managed to knock down the Insanity & Carrion maidens) might soon be overwhelmed so they made a temporary retreat….against Hippolyta’s wishes.

While the group planned how to tackle the Doom Maidens, calling the Avengers was brought up and in typical Misandrist form Hippolyta denied the group on the basis of them being men. While ridiculous, her advice was given some respect in the end because while Hippolyta, Valkyrie, and Moonstar went to go stall the Doom Maidens, Misty Knight called reinforcements from an all female team of heavy hitters. Upon being transported to an ancient Asgardian arena where they have a final stand against the Doom Maidens and their Dragons. After getting angered, Hippolyta KO’s one of their Dragons and fight the Doom Maidens to a standstill until reinforcements come to even the odds and give the girls a true chance at victory! Things seem to go well (Hippolyta get a hilarious introduction to She-hulk mid-battle) until it is revealed as to why Hela didn’t want Valkyrie to fight against the Doom Maidens…. she was one. As the most powerful of the Doom Maidens (considered strong by Odin and weapons able to make him bleed), Rage Maiden Valkyrie easily defeated her Doom Maiden sisters and well as all the heroes, Hippolyta and She Hulk were the last 2 to fall. It is only after Valkyrie (aka the Rage Maiden) killed a friend did she awake from her rage and thus ended the Doom Maiden emergency, althoughy Hippolyta still decided to stay with the group.

After the Doom Maiden takeover was avoided, the women of the Fearless Defenders decided to meet up with their Male counterparts/partners when they were ambushed by a group of supervillains (led by the same woman who helped to revive the Doom maidens). Picking their fighting partners, Hippolyta took on and thoroughly bested Quicksand before defeating the group as whole and thwarting the villains’s Mystic/Science based plan. Hercules attempted to reignite the flame with Hippolyta, an opportunity she passed on. The group would soon bump heads again with another group of Supervillians led by the same mysterious woman, this time Hippolyta would be pitted against Titania as the groups clashed. The ‘Fearless Defenders’ were victorious and drove the rival group away, allowing the city relief on dealing with their Inhuman situation (Post Attilan detonation).

Upon spending time with the group, Hippolyta realized there was a secondary purpose the Gods/Goddesses had for bringing back the daughter of Ares, and that was to rebuild the Amazons to former glory. The Hell-lords have no Interest in the well-being of the Amazons, but rather so that much like her father Hippolyta could raise a skilled nation capable of killing & conquering therefore adding to the souls of the Hell-lords Gathering the remnants of her people, she re-established Amazonia not for the will of the Gods but for the love of her people. Seeing this, Echidna the Child of the Eldergods came to New Amazonia with huge beast to convince the Amazons to be her Children and so the Fearless Defenders led by Hippolyta fought and defeated the enormous force waged against them. The battle was ended with Hippolyta skewering Echidna with one of her monster’s huge teeth, though a seed of doubt was left in the Amazon’s head as to what they were really being rebuilt for, whether it was to serve as cannonfodder to Hippolyta or to deny their heritage for bloodshed. Soon this would all come to head as Hippolyta along with the ‘Fearless Defenders’ confronted the Mysterious lady (now confirmed to be the daughter of Doom and Morrigan Le Fay) and her team for one last time, with Hippolyta pitted with Titania as her opponent again. In the end the ‘Fearless Defenders’ stop the plot and go on with their individual lives, always ready for when the situation requires their united force.

Powers and Abilities

Hippolyta possesses superhuman levels of strength, stamina, durability, and combatant skills than any other Olympian goddess (with the possible exception of Athena). Physically, Hippolyta is stronger than the average Olympian god or goddess, as she is capable of lifting 50 tons (the Gauntlers of Ares, further amplified her physical strength in combat, enabling her to lift nearly 100 tons). Ares trained Hippolyta and she proved to be an effective leader and strategist in her own right as well. Hippolyta is mentioned as one of the previous bearers of the Amulet Pazuzu. She formerly owned the Gauntlets of Ares, which multiplies the strength of the wearer. She also owned the Girdle Of Hippolyta, also called The Golden Belt of Hippolyta, which has purportedly also has mystical powers.

Upon being resurrected by the Death gods, Hippolyta had all of her previous powers enhanced as well as being gifted with new abilities for her encounter with the Doom Maidens. Her feats are as follows:

Strength– While already previously powerful, this stat was raised significantly. Such feats include

• Tosses alien (Wardog of Thanos) 100+ feet instantly
• Tosses massive stone at least 50+ feet to KO a dragon 《KO’d here》
• Matches and dominates Titania. Does so again
• Makes 《light》 《work》 of Quicksand
• Holds the mouth of a giant shark open. Defeats it off-panel (more on this feat in the durability section)

Speed– Hippolyta has significant speed due to her flying ability, the Amazon queen’s feats are

• Routinely blitzing the Doom Maidens 《1》 《2》
• Flies from underground to a least 200ft in the air in seconds
• Blitzes a Wardog

Durability– Hippolyta is supremely durable, able to

• Tank a fire blast from the Doom Maiden’s dragon.
• Be one of the few heroes to take a direct attack from Doom Maiden Valkyrie (Rage amp, Odin admitted she was powerful), survived getting knee’d in the face.
• Hippolyta’s armor consistently 《1》 《2》blocks blades that clashed evenly with the Dragonfang (Clashing Blades: 1A, 1B, 2)
• While holding open the Mega Shark’s mouth, her feet crush its teeth to get proper leverage. This is significant, considering Echidna was later impaled by a tooth from the beast.

Fighting ability- As queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta’s fighting abilities were so renown Hela chose to raise her from the dead in combating the Doom Maidens. Hippolyta was able to hold her own against 2 at a time, and Valkyrie asked for help from Hippolyta with her own sisters mid-fight, a testament to Hippolyta’s countless years of fighting skill.

Physical Characteristics

• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 200 lbs
• Eyes: Blue
• Hair: Blonde

Other Media

Games

Marvel: War of Heroes

Hippolyta appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:

• [Warbird of Ares] Hippolyta