Wonder Woman 1984 Golden Eagle Armor & Comic Comparison Explained

The Golden Eagle Armor of Asteria is a powerful Amazonian artifact in Wonder Woman 1984, but what’s the origin in the original Wonder Woman comics?

Warning: SPOILERS ahead Wonder Woman 1984.

The Golden Eagle Armor worn by Diana as she battles the fate of the world in her hands is one of the visual highlights of Wonder Woman 1984. Yet the history behind this legendary costume in the comics is very different from the story Diana tells Steve Trevor when she shows him the ancient Amazon artifact.

Despite growing up in a warrior culture, Wonder Woman rarely wears heavy armor when in battle. This is largely because the culture of the Amazons in DC Comics encourages violence only as a last resort, and putting on armor can be interpreted as looking for a fight. The way of fighting in the Amazon also depends on freedom of movement and the use of an enemy’s force against them – two things that are typically harder to do when someone is wearing heavier armor.

Related: Why Wonder Woman Loses Her Powers in 1984

As such, the Golden Eagle Armor has come to serve as a visual clue to readers of it Wonder Woman strips. The armor tells without words that Diana is on her way to a battle that will really test her abilities, and that she feels a need for extra protection. Knowing how powerful Wonder Woman is thanks to her Amazonian nature and divine heritage, any fight where she feels the need for heavy armor must be a major problem – which is certainly the case when she pits against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah. Wonder Woman 1984‘s climax.

Golden Eagle Armor Explained

The Golden Eagle Armor will be revealed towards the end of Wonder Woman 1984second hour, as Diana and Steve Trevor return to her apartment to plot their next move after learning about the power behind the Dreamstone and how Maxwell Lord somehow used it to empower himself to fulfill other people’s wishes. While Diana watched a series of screens set up in a room of her apartment to monitor Washington DC, Steve saw a large beam in the corner of the room and asked Diana what it was. She explained that it was an ancient artifact of her people; armor ever worn by their greatest warrior, Asteria.

Legend has it that the Amazon Queen Hippolyta freed her people from slavery at the same time that Ares had started killing the other Olympians, forcing Zeus to use his last strength to banish Ares to Man’s World and create Themyscira Island as a refuge . for the Amazons. Because of this, the Amazons still had to make their way through the armies of Man to reach Themyscira. An Amazon warrior, Asteria, volunteered to stay behind and fight Man’s armies on his own, time for the rest of her sisters to escape to the paradise Zeus had made for them. To help her do this, the other Amazons gave up their own armor so that the Amazon smiths could forge the metal into a special armor – one strong enough for one warrior to wear and “take it all over the world.“

Incredible as this legend was, it was presented as a factual account by a vision Diana shared with Steve through the Lasso of Truth. Diana also revealed that she searched Man’s World for a sign from Asteria after Steve’s death. The only trace of Asteria that Diana found was the Golden Eagle Armor, with no indication of what had happened to the legendary warrior after her heroic Last Stand.

Related: Wonder Woman 1984 Ending Explained (in detail)

Wonder Woman 1984’s Asteria: Where Is She?

Asteria’s fate was revealed in the post-credit scene of Wonder Woman 1984, where a dark-haired woman caught a falling pole, with one hand, without interrupting her stride as she walked through a busy market. Stopped by an unbelieving mother, whose pram was nearly crushed by the pole, the woman revealed that her name was Asteria and that she had been “do this for a long time.Given that Asteria was played by Lynda Carter, who was the first live-action Wonder Woman on television, this was a cute Easter egg for the fans. Still, it was also an indication that Asteria is still alive and has not been inactive during the thousands of years since the Amazons went into hiding, although there is no indication of where she is now in the modern DCEU and what role she should play in Wonder Woman 3.

Wonder Woman’s Golden Eagle armor in DC Comics

Originally designed by artist Alex Ross, the Golden Eagle Armor first appeared in the 1996 miniseries Kingdom come. Set in the not-too-distant future of DC Comics’ post-crisis timeline, the events of Kingdom come later shifted to take place on Earth-22, following the reshaping of the DC Comics multiverse during 2005 Endless Crisis event. Wonder Woman donned the Golden Eagle Armor Kingdom Come # 3 before going out to end a riot that broke out at the supervillain prison known as The Gulag, which could potentially have ended in a battle that would have destroyed Earth.

The Golden Eagle Armor was used to explain a vision of that battle experienced by Pastor Norman McKay, who had inherited the Sandman’s foreknowledge and become an unwitting host of the Specter. One of McKay’s visions showed a golden eagle fighting a black bat in mid-air; an image that made little sense in the context of McKay’s other prophetic nightmares. However, the meaning became clear when the battle began and Wonder Woman, dressed in the Golden Eagle Armor, dueled with Batman, who had donned a mechanized suit that allowed him to fly and trade blows with an Amazon.

The Golden Eagle Armor was formally introduced into the modern DC Comics timeline in Wonder Woman # 144 in May 1999. The action of this issue saw Wonder Woman fight a new villain named Devastation, who was created by Zeus’ father Cronus as a dark mirror of Diana. Facing a warrior who was her equal in every way, except she had no sense of mercy, Diana had to don the Golden Eagle Armor so that she had some kind of defensive advantage against the more aggressive Devastation. Later stories revealed that the Golden Eagle armor was forged by Pallas, an Amazonian blacksmith, and presented to Diana as a gift. While the Golden Eagle armor was intended to be ceremonial in nature and worn only for special occasions, Amazonian craftsmen are nothing but practical, and Pallas made the armor both functional and aesthetic. This is very different from the history of the Golden Eagle Armor presented in Wonder Woman 1984.

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About the author

Matt Morrison
(1387 articles published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics before the word “blogging” was coined. He began writing for the legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing before receiving his own column, The Mount. He has since written for more than a dozen websites, including 411 Mania, Comics Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He has both an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book trivia, he has lectured on the history of American comic books, Japanese manga, and cosplay at more than a dozen conventions and served as an in-house expert for a course on graphic novels for librarians at the University of North -Texas. In addition to his work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the editor in chief of Kabooooom.com, the resident reviewer of Explore The Multiverse, and writes reviews for No Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime reviews site for educators and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog – My Geeky Geeky Ways – which features his comprehensive episode guide for The Arrowverse television series, as well as his Let’s Play comedy videos. The little free time he has is spent on acting, role-playing, movie riffs and sarcasm. You can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

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