Wonder Woman Stand

Once upon a time, long before Superman ever came to Earth, before Metropolis had even been built, a tyrant from a distant, fiery planet tried to conquer our world for the very first time.

His name was Darkseid, and he came searching for something called a Mother Box, a glowing device of enormous power. He brought Parademons with him, and he brought his own terrible strength, and he expected the ancient world to bow before him just as so many other worlds already had.

But the Amazons of Themyscira did not bow.

Led by their queen, the Amazons stood together on the shores of their island home, and they were not alone. Atlantean warriors rose from the sea to join them. The Green Lantern Corps arrived from the stars above. Brave humans from across the ancient world stood shoulder to shoulder with warriors who could fly and warriors who could breathe underwater. Together, all of them fought against Darkseid, and together, they drove him all the way back to Apokolips.

It was not an easy victory. The battle left deep scars on Themyscira's shores. But when it was over, the Amazons buried what remained of that terrible day deep in the earth, and they made a solemn promise to one another: they would guard that secret, and protect their home, forever.

Many, many years passed. Generations of Amazons were born and grew old on that same island, and among them was a young girl named Diana.

Diana loved to listen to the old stories the elder Amazons told around the fire — stories of courage, of sacrifice, and most of all, the story of the day Darkseid came and did not conquer them. She listened so closely that she remembered every single word, and she carried that story with her as she trained to become one of the finest warriors Themyscira had ever known.

Diana grew up to become Wonder Woman.

So when Darkseid's Parademons finally returned to Earth many years later, bursting through a swirling Boom Tube near the coastline, Diana was not afraid. She had been waiting her whole life for this moment, without even realizing it.

She swung her golden Lasso of Truth through the air, catching Parademons mid-flight. She raised her shining silver bracelets and blocked blast after blast, the metal ringing out like bells with every hit. Her sword moved so quickly that the Parademons could barely track where she would strike next.

And then the ground itself seemed to tremble, and Darkseid stepped through the portal himself — towering, stone-grey, his eyes glowing with terrible red light.

"The Amazons resisted me once," Darkseid said, his voice low and rumbling like far-off thunder. "You will not resist me twice."

Diana did not step back. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, exactly the way her mother had taught her, strong and unmovable as an ancient oak tree standing through a storm.

Darkseid raised his hand and fired his Omega Beams — two bolts of crimson light streaking straight toward her. Diana crossed her bracelets in front of her chest, and the beams struck the ancient silver and scattered away in a shower of brilliant sparks.

For just a moment, Darkseid looked genuinely surprised. Almost nothing in the entire universe could turn aside an Omega Beam.

Diana did not waste that moment. She rushed forward, pushing Darkseid backward, step by step by step, until the tyrant of Apokolips found himself with nowhere left to go.

With a low growl like distant thunder rolling over a mountain, Darkseid raised his hand once more, and a Boom Tube tore open behind him, swirling and bright. He stepped through it, retreating once again to his fiery world.

Diana watched the portal close, thinking of every brave Amazon who had stood on that very same shore, thousands of years before she was ever born.

That night, she sent word across the sea and sky to Superman and the rest of the Justice League. Darkseid was testing them, she told them, probing carefully for any weakness he might find.

They would need to be ready. Together.

Diana looked out over the calm ocean waves toward the shores of Themyscira, where her Amazon sisters still trained every single day on the very ground where that ancient battle had once taken place. The oath sworn so many centuries before was still true now, and would remain true for as long as an Amazon stood watch.

No tyrant, however grey, however powerful, would ever conquer their home.

Wonder Woman sheathed her sword, breathed in the salty night air, and smiled quietly to herself. Let Darkseid come back as many times as he liked.

She would always, always be ready to stand her ground — and now, she was not standing alone.