The Golden Eagle Armor from Asteria is a powerful Amazonian artifact in Wonder Woman 1984, but what are its origins in the original Wonder Woman comics?
Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Wonder Woman 1984.
The Golden Eagle Armor worn by Diana as she flies into battle with the fate of the world in her hands is one of the visual highlights of Wonder Woman 1984. However, the story behind this legendary costume in the comics is quite different from the story Diana told Steve Trevor when she showed him the ancient Amazonian artifact.
Despite being raised in a warrior culture, Wonder Woman rarely wears heavy armor when going for a fight. This is mainly because Amazon culture at DC Comics encourages violence only as a last resort, and wearing armor can be interpreted as a quest for a fight. The Amazons’ fighting mode also depends on freedom of movement and harnessing the enemy’s strength against them – two things that are usually more difficult to do when wearing heavier armor.
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As such, Golden Eagle Armor started to serve as a visual cue for readers of Wonder Woman comics. The armor wordlessly reports that Diana is entering a battle that will really test her abilities, and that she feels the need for extra protection. Knowing how powerful Wonder Woman is thanks to her nature as an Amazon and her divine heritage, any fight in which she feels the need for heavy armor must be a big deal – which is certainly the case when she will face Maxwell Lord and Cheetah inside Wonder Woman 1984climax.
Golden eagle armor explained
The Golden Eagle Armor is revealed towards the end of Wonder Woman 1984The second hour of Diana and Steve Trevor return to her apartment to plan their next move after learning about the power behind Dreamstone and how Maxwell Lord somehow used it to give himself the power to fulfill other people’s wishes. While Diana was examining a series of screens he had installed in a room in his apartment to monitor Washington DC, Steve spotted a large package in the corner of the room and asked Diana what it was. She explained that it was an ancient artifact from her people; armor that was once worn by its greatest warrior, Asteria.
According to legend, Amazon queen Hipólita freed her people from slavery at the same time that Ares began killing the other Olympians, encouraging Zeus to use what was left of his strength to banish Ares to the World of Man and create the island of Themyscira as a haven for the amazons. This still left the Amazons having to fight their way through the armies of Man to reach Themyscira. An Amazon warrior, Asteria, offered to stay behind and fight the armies of Man alone, buying time for the rest of her sisters to escape to the paradise that Zeus had made for them. To help her do this, the other Amazons gave up their own armor so that Amazon blacksmiths could forge the metal in special armor – strong enough that a warrior could use it and “face the whole world.“
Incredible as this legend may be, it was presented as a factual account through a vision that Diana shared with Steve through the Bond of Truth. Diana also revealed that she had searched the man’s world for any sign of Asteria after Steve’s death. The only trace of Asteria that Diana found was the Golden Eagle Armor, with no indication of what happened to the legendary warrior after her heroic final resistance.
1984 Wonder Woman Asteria: Where Is She?
Asteria’s fate was revealed in the post-credits scene of Wonder Woman 1984, where a dark-haired woman clung to a falling pole with one hand, without slowing down as she walked through a crowded market. Stopped by an incredulous mother, whose baby carriage was almost crushed by the post, the woman revealed that her name was Asteria and that she had been “doing this for a long time.“Since Asteria was played by Lynda Carter, who was the first Wonder Woman to live on television, this was a cute Easter egg for fans. However, it was also an indicator that Asteria is still alive and has not been inactive during o thousands of years since the Amazons went into hiding, although there is no indication of where it is now in the modern DCEU and what role it may have to play in Wonder Woman 3.
Wonder Woman’s Golden Eagle Armor at DC Comics
Originally designed by artist Alex Ross, the Golden Eagle Armor first appeared in the 1996 miniseries Future kingdom. Set in the not too distant future of DC Comics’ post-crisis timeline, Future kingdom were later modified to have occurred on Earth-22, after the renovation of the DC Comics multiverse during 2005 Infinite crisis event. Wonder Woman wore the Golden Eagle Armor in Kingdom Come # 3 before leaving to end a riot that broke out in the supervillain prison known as The Gulag, which potentially could have ended in a battle that would have destroyed Earth.
The Golden Eagle Armor was used to explain the vision of that battle experienced by Pastor Norman McKay, who inherited Sandman’s precognition and became an involuntary host of the Specter. One of McKay’s visions showed a golden eagle fighting in the air with a black bat; an image that made little sense in the context of McKay’s other prophetic nightmares. The meaning was clear, however, when the battle started and Wonder Woman, dressed in the Golden Eagle’s Armor, found herself dueling with Batman, who wore a mechanized suit that allowed him to fly and exchange blows with an Amazon.
The Golden Eagle Armor was formally introduced to the modern DC Comics timeline in Wonder Woman # 144 in May 1999. The action in this issue saw Wonder Woman waging a battle with a new villain named Devastation, who was created by Zeus’s father, Cronus, as Diana’s dark mirror. Facing a warrior who was his equal in all respects, except for having no sense of mercy, demanded that Diana wear the Golden Eagle Armor to have some kind of more aggressive defensive advantage against Devastation. Later stories revealed that the Golden Eagle Armor was forged by Pallas, an Amazonian blacksmith, and presented to Diana. Although the Golden Eagle Armor was made to be ceremonial in nature and used only for special occasions, Amazonian artisans are practical and Pallas made the armor to be both functional and aesthetically pleasing. This is quite different from the Golden Eagle Armor story presented in Wonder Woman 1984.
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