PRINCE

Real Name: Princess Diana of Themyscira

Identity/Class: Extra-dimensional (Earth-Amalgam) Amazon

Occupation: (currently) adventurer / crime-fighter

Affiliations: (currently) the Amazons, Wonder Woman (Ororo), Queen Hippolyta; The Punisher (Trevor Castle); Kanto (Ryan Castiglione); Big Titania; Bronze Tiger (formerly) Scott Free

Enemies: (currently) Circe; Giganta; Panthera; Pelt Man (Billy Minerva); Professor Psycho; Thanoseid; Granny Harkness; Female Furies (Bernadeth, Lashina, Mad Harriet, Stompa)

Known Relatives: Hippolyta (mother); Wonder Woman (adopted sister); The Punisher (husband); Kanto (son)

Aliases: the Amazing Amazon; Diana Prince

Base of Operations: (currently) New York City; (formerly) Themyscira (Paradise Island)

First Appearance: Bullets and Bracelets #1 (April, 1996); Astounding Comics #1 (in Amalgam continuity)

Powers/Abilities: As an Amazonian champion, Diana Prince possesses superhuman agility, strength, endurance and reaction time.  Although she is vulnerable to bullets, her adamantium bracelets enable her to shield her body from gunfire.  She has also learned many combat skills from her time spent with the Punisher (Trevor Castle).

History:

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (fb)) - Princess Diana came of age on the mystic island known as Themyscira (also known as Paradise Island), where she was raised by her mother, Queen Hippolyta, and the other Amazons.  When Diana was still a baby, another baby from Man's World washed ashore on Themyscira.  Naming the child "Ororo," Queen Hippolyta adopted the baby girl and raised her as a daughter.
 

(Amazon#1 (fb)) - At age 12, Diana and Ororo got into a fist fight after Diana told Ororo that she was an outsider who was not a real Amazon and not really Queen Hippolyta's daughter.  The fight was eventually broken-up by Queen Hippolyta, who was forced to tell Ororo the story of how she washed ashore on Themyscira and was adopted by the Amazons.

 

(Astounding Comics #1) - The first on-panel appearance of Prince.  The Amazons of Themyscira held a contest to choose who would be their "ambassador" to Man's World.  Rather than compete in the contest, Princess Diana decided to go her own way and investigate Man's World without the restrictions of Queen Hippolyta's rules.  Defying her mother's wishes, Princess Diana bid Ororo good-bye and left her native isle of Themyscira for the mortal Man's World.  The position of Themyscira's ambassador to Man's World, and the title of "Wonder Woman" that came with it, was eventually bestowed upon Diana's step-sister Ororo.

 

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (fb)) - Princess Diana eventually found herself in the African nation of Wakanda where she received a pair of indestructible adamantium bracelets in return for her service to Bronze Tiger, the Wakandan king.
 

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (fb)) - Princess Diana later relocated to New York City, where she made her mark on Man's World as Diana Prince, Freelance.
 

(Castle#18) - In a New York back alley, Prince came across the vigilante known as the Punisher (Trevor Castle) dying of his wounds.  Prince saved the Punisher and "became his angel."  The fateful meeting also had a profound impact on Prince's life.  She soon abandoned the stars and "WW" logo that adorned her costume and replaced them with Punisher-inspired skulls.
 

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (bts)) - Prince and Castle began a romantic relationship.  Though first dates often become first fights, the initial pairing of the super-powered Amazon Prince and her bullet-blasting suitor Castle turned deadly when the duo battled the grisly horror of the Pelt Man (Billy Minerva).  Castle and Prince ultimately prevailed over the Pelt Man.
 

(Secret Crisis of the Infinity Hour#1) - Summoning the heroes of Earth, Dr. Strangefate (Charles Xavier) informed them that the evil Thanoseid had acquired the five Infinity Links, which would combine to form a time halting vortex known as the Infinity Loop.  Already, the damage had begun as red rains fell, skies darkened, and reality itself began to disintegrate.  The Amalgam Universe would be destroyed in one hour's time.

Prince and Castle were transported to Thanoseid's planet Apokolips by one of Dr. Strangefate's mystical spells and found themselves deep within the catacombs of the alien world.  Their mission was to establish contact with the rebel underground led by Scott Free and his band of New Asgardians.  Prince and Castle completed their objective and Scott Free joined the assault against Thanoseid.
 

(Secret Crisis of the Infinity Hour#7) - The heroes of Earth eventually thwarted Thanoseid's mad scheme.  Both Prince and Castle were present when American Girl (Carol Barnes), the former sidekick of Super-Soldier (Clark Kent), heroically sacrificed her life to further the heroes' cause.


 

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (fb)) - Despite their seemingly irreconcilable differences (Prince abhorred Castle's lethal tactics), Prince and Castle fell in love and the two eventually got married on Themyscira.    They had a child of their own and named him Ryan (in memory of Castle's ally and Thanoseid's son Orion, who had sacrificed his life during the SECRET CRISIS OF THE INFINITY HOUR).   Unfortunately, the differences between Castle and Prince drove them apart shortly after Ryan's birth.
 

(Tales of the Amazons) - Prince and her adopted sister Wonder Woman (Ororo) teamed-up to defeat the combined might of Professor Psycho, Panthera, Circe, and Giganta -- four super-villains who formed an unholy and uneasy alliance in an attempt to take out their respective revenges on Diana and Ororo.  Bruce Wayne, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., played a vital behind-the-scenes role.
 

(Amazons: The Contest#1) - After years of being at odds with each other, Prince and Ororo finally went head-to-head in a winner-take-all battle to determine who would claim the title of "Wonder Woman."  Although Prince had learned much about combat from her life with the Punisher over the years, Ororo ultimately won the savage fight with her metamutant ability to manipulate the weather.
 

(Bullets and Bracelets#1 (fb)) - Thanoseid, the ruler of Apokolips, orchestrated the kidnapping of young Ryan from Diana's home (although Diana had no idea who was responsible for her son's abduction at first).
 

(Diana Prince, Freelance #90-98) - Diana Prince set out on a quest to locate her kidnapped son, Ryan.
 

(Amazon#1) - "Family History" - Battered and bruised from her search for her kidnapped son, Prince traveled to Ororo's apartment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in search of help.  Although Ororo was battling the sea god Poseidon over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea at the time, Prince found her way into Ororo's bedroom where she was assisted by Angelica Jones and her mother.
 

(Amazon#2) - "Reunion" - Prince's return to Baton Rogue was anything but triumphant as she sought the one person who could help her -- the Amazon sister who she always spurned, Ororo.
 

(Diana Prince, Freelance #99) - Prince's search for her son finally led her to the stronghold of the Hand.  Coincidentally, Castle's search for Ryan had also led him to the Hand stronghold and the estranged couple were reunited.
 

(Bullets and Bracelets #1)  - "Final Thrust" - Diana Prince and Trevor Castle, reunited during the search for their missing son, stormed the Hand stronghold, leaving many dead Hand assassins in their wake.  As they advanced further into the Hand stronghold, War Monarch (who was rumored to be the one behind Ryan's abduction) appeared as a holographic image and trapped Prince and Castle between two brick walls. War Monarch admitted that he was the manipulator of the scenario, but claimed that he was not the true power or motivator behind the abduction of Ryan.  Diana Prince attempted to appeal to the human side of War Monarch and pleaded with him to take her to her child.  But War Monarch responded that he was no longer the man she once knew as Jim Rhodes.  Nonetheless, War Monarch opened a Boom Tube under Prince and Castle that transported them to Apokolips.

After recovering from their inter-dimensional jump from Earth to Apokolips, Prince and Castle parted ways.  As Prince headed toward Granny Harkness' Orphanage in search of Ryan, Castle headed toward the Tomb of Orion in search of more firepower.  En route to Granny Harkness' Orphanage, where the ruling elite of Apokolips are pounded into shape, Prince was intercepted by her former friend, Big Titania, who had since allied herself with Thanoseid's Female Furies.  Big Titania attacked Diana Prince, but Prince fought back with unexpected intensity and floored her assailant.  But as Diana stood over Big Titania's body and asked her to reveal the location of her son, she was struck in the back and knocked unconscious by the spiked fist of Mad Harriet, one of the Female Furies under Big Titania's command.  Admitting to herself that her heart was not in the battle, Big Titania instructed the Female Furies to bring the unconscious body of Diana to Granny Harkness.

The Female Furies brought Diana before Granny Harkness and Thanoseid.  Thanoseid ordered the shackled Prince to reveal the location of the Infinity Links.  Prince insisted that they were destroyed, but Thanoseid did not believe her and threatened to kill Ryan if she would not talk.  Just then, Castle, who had retrieved the Astro-Glider from the tomb of his fallen friend Orion, burst into the room.  Thanoseid, who mistook Castle for his deceased son Orion, was taken aback for a moment.  Castle took the opportunity to free Prince from her energy shackles and the two began to battle Thanoseid's assembled minions.  Big Titania also had a change of heart and joined Prince and Castle in their fight against Thanoseid's forces.

In the ensuing chaos, Thanoseid's master assassin Kanto confronted Diana and was about to slice her throat with his sword in the name of Thanoseid.  But, for some reason, Kanto's heart would not let him kill Diana.  Rather, Kanto withdrew his weapon and allowed Diana to escape with her life, warning her that others may not be so gallant.

Thanoseid, annoyed by Castle's interference, struck young Ryan Castiglione with his Omega Beams, causing the baby to disappear in a flash of light.  Castle immediately assumed that Thanoseid had destroyed his son and was about to kill Thanoseid's minion Kanto for his participation in Thanoseid's scheme, but Prince (realizing that Thanoseid's Omega Beams had the ability to bend space and time) deduced that Thanoseid had merely sent Ryan back in time so he could be raised on Apokolips as Kanto -- Thanoseid's personal assassin.  Diana explained to Trevor that it would have been Thanoseid's ultimate revenge to have Trevor kill or be killed by his own son (just as Thanoseid's errant son Orion was killed defying his father's will during the SECRET CRISIS OF THE INFINITY HOUR).  When Diana looked into Kanto's eyes earlier she had realized that he was her son Ryan -- and Kanto subconsciously realized this as well, explaining why he found himself unable to kill Diana earlier.

Disgusted that his master plan did not come to fruition, Thanoseid struck Kanto with his Omega Beams again and sent him to live with Highfather Odin and the New Asgods across the Bifrost Bridge in the gleaming realm of New Asgard.  Prince and Castle were similarly sent back to Earth were they reconciled and decided to give their marriage a second chance.
 


Comments: created by John Ostrander, Gary Frank, Cam Smith, and Regie Milburn

Key:
Marvel characters are listed in regular, or bold black type.
DC characters are listed in bold blue type.
Amalgam characters are listed in bold purple type.
 

After her debut in ASTOUNDING COMICS #1, Diana Prince was featured in the long-running TALES OF THE AMAZONS monthly title, which she shared with Ororo (each character starred in their own separate 12 page feature).  Both Amazon sisters branched out as Diana was introduced to the CASTLE series in issue#18 in a bid for more female readers for that title while Ororo starred in GIANT-SIZED TALES OF THE AMAZONS.  Before its final issue in 1995, TALES OF THE AMAZONS merged its separate featurettes into a single dynamic 4-issue storyline that pitted the unholy alliance of Professor Psycho, Panthera, Circe, and Giganta against Diana and Ororo.

Then, in June 1995's AMAZONS: THE CONTEST mini-series, Amalgam Comics finally gave fans what they wanted -- the Amazon brawl of the century where it was plain to see that Ororo's metamutant weather-manipulation and Diana Prince's god-given abilities made them perfectly matched combatants.  Both spun out of this mini-series into their own#1 titles -- Prince in BULLETS & BRACELETS and Ororo as Wonder Woman in AMAZON.
 

In case you're confused, Amalgam Comics didn't really exist beyond those seen in the few DC/Marvel cross-overs. The titles you don't recognize are amalgams of similar Marvel and DC comics--Snood.

Amalgam Universe

Earth-Amalgam  
 

ASTOUNDING COMICS is an Amalgam Universe version of DC's ALL STAR COMICS (DC's Wonder Woman made her first historical appearance in ALL STAR COMICS #8).
 

TALES OF THE AMAZONS is an Amalgam Universe version of DC's WONDER WOMAN.
 

The SECRET CRISIS OF THE INFINITY HOUR is an amalgam of Marvel's SECRET WARS and THE INFINITY GAUNTLET and DC's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS and ZERO HOUR.


AMAZONS: THE CONTEST is an Amalgam Universe version of DC's WONDER WOMAN: THE CONTEST.
 

The cover to AMAZONS: THE CONTEST #1 (the issue where Diana Prince battled Ororo for the title of Wonder Woman in the Amalgam Universe) is based on the cover to June 1995's WONDER WOMAN: THE CONTEST (the issue where Diana battled Artemis for the title of Wonder Woman in the DC Universe).
 
Special thanks to writer John Ostrander for clarifying some of the component sources for his amalgamated characters and providing some additional insight into the Amalgam Universe!

            • Q: Was the character of Prince (Princess Diana of Themyscira) inspired by anything out of the Marvel Universe or was she  influenced solely by the DC Universe's Wonder Woman (Diana)?

            • Mr. Ostrander: Diana was mostly DC, maybe influenced a little by [the Marvel Universe's] Elektra (reference The Hand).
 

            • Q: Where does the "FREELANCE" in "DIANA PRINCE, FREELANCE" come from?

            • Mr. Ostrander: The "FREELANCE" was actually a reference to First Comic's "JON SABLE, FREELANCE."
 

First Comics' "JON SABLE, FREELANCE" was created by Mike Grell and had many similarities to the Marvel Universe's Punisher (Frank Castle).  Jon Sable served in Vietnam, just like the Punisher.  Like the Punisher, his wife and children were killed (only by poachers in Africa rather than by mobsters in North America).  And, like the Punisher, he lived in New York City.  However, while the Marvel Universe's Punisher became a take-no-prisoners vigilante, Jon Sable offered his services as a "freelance mercenary and paladin for hire."
 

When contacted for comment, Paul Kupperberg (the editor of AMAZON #1 and creator of the Amalgam Universe's Circe, Giganta, Panthera, and Professor Psycho) could not recall the component parts of these characters.  As a result, I was forced to speculate as to the component parts.
 
 

Special thanks to penciler Matthew Haley for identifying Prince as one of the characters present at the death of American Girl (Carol Barnes) in SECRET CRISIS OF THE INFINITY HOUR #7.
 

Special thanks to Ivan Schablotski for providing me with the Amalgam Comics Trading Cards that I didn't already have!
 


Circe

An enemy of the Amazons, Circe formed an unholy alliance with fellow super-villains Giganta, Panthera, and Professor Psycho in an attempt to exact revenge upon Ororo and Princess Diana of Themyscira in the final issues of TALES OF THE AMAZONS.  With some help from S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Bruce Wayne, Ororo and Diana were able to defeat Circe and her allies.

Circe is presumably skilled in sorcery.
 
 

Circe is most likely an amalgam of Sersi (also known as Mesmer and Sylvia Sersi) of the Marvel Universe and Circe (also known as Donna Milton) of the DC Universe.

-- Amazon#1


Giganta

An enemy of the Amazons, Giganta formed an unholy alliance with fellow super-villains Circe, Panthera, and Professor Psycho in an attempt to exact revenge upon Ororo and Princess Diana of Themyscira in the final issues of TALES OF THE AMAZONS.  With some help from S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Bruce Wayne, Ororo and Diana were able to defeat Giganta and her allies.

Giganta presumably has the ability to grow in stature and strength.
 
 

Giganta is most likely an amalgam of Gargantua (Edward Cobert) of the Marvel Universe and Giganta (Doris Zuel) of the DC Universe.

-- Amazon#1


Panthera

An enemy of the Amazons, Panthera formed an unholy alliance with fellow super-villains Circe, Giganta, and Professor Psycho in an attempt to exact revenge upon Ororo and Princess Diana of Themyscira in the final issues of TALES OF THE AMAZONS.  With some help from S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Bruce Wayne, Ororo and Diana were able to defeat Panthera and her allies.
 
 

Panthera is most likely an amalgam of Puma (Thomas Fireheart) of the Marvel Universe and Cheetah (Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva) of the DC Universe.

-- Amazon#1


Professor Psycho

An enemy of the Amazons, Professor Psycho formed an unholy alliance with fellow super-villains Circe, Giganta, and Panthera in an attempt to exact revenge upon Ororo and Princess Diana of Themyscira in the final issues of TALES OF THE AMAZONS.  With some help from S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Bruce Wayne, Ororo and Diana were able to defeat Professor Psycho and his allies.
 
 

Professor Psycho is most likely an amalgam of the Professor Power (Anthony Power) of the Marvel Universe and Doctor Psycho of the DC Universe.

-- Amazon#1


Profile by Skullogeist

If you like the Amalgam stuff, Skullogeist recommends these two sites:
http://www.geocities.com/schablotski.geo/Center.htm
http://www.io.com/~woodward/chroma/amalgam.html

CLARIFICATIONS:

Also assume that the Amalgam characters have no other connection to any others than whom they are Amalgamated, unless specifically mentioned.

Prince is an amalgam of:

            • Elektra of Earth-616, Elektra Natchios, @ Daredevil (vol. I) #168

            • Wonder Woman of the mainstream DC Universe, Diana, @ (historical) All Star Comics#8; (current)
                Wonder Woman (vol. II)#1
 
 

Prince should not be confused with:

            • Wonder Woman, Prince's adopted sister (also known as Amazon) , @ Amazon#1

            • Catsai, New Gotham assassin and cat fancier, @ Assassins #1
 
 

Panthera has no known connection to:

            • Lethal, half human / half cheetah assassin, @ Assassins#1

            • Pelt Man, the man horribly scarred by an ancient ritual that transforms him into a cheetah, @ Amalgam
                Comics Trading Card#50
 



 

Last updated01/02/04

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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