Modern superheroes tend to be an angsty lot. And if anyone can tell her the practical purpose of a corset, surely it’d be Steve. She’ll be leaving her comfy, sheltered environment and entering a brave, utterly confusing new world.

After all, Diana’s adventure includes more than just simply slaying a malicious deity. Oh, she’ll take Steve along for the trip, of course. And if Hippolyta refuses? Well, Diana will search for him alone. The Amazons have to seek out Ares and destroy him. Steve tells Diana about the horrors of World War I, the “war to end all wars.” Diana, who’s heard about Ares since she was a hunk o’ clay, sees the god’s fingerprints all over that conflict. Soon, the beach is filled with dead Germans, dying Amazons and the onset of a cold reality: The god of war might not have found Themyscira just yet, but his handiwork sure has. They don’t have much time to get acquainted: Heavily armed German fighters trundle into the island’s sacred space, forcing the Amazons into action. Diana, now all grown up, rescues the mysterious flyer and drags him to the beach. Then one afternoon, a rickety aircraft crashes into the ocean near the Themyscira shore, carrying Steve Trevor-pilot, spy and handsome man-about-town-into the water with it. And when he does, you can bet Ares wants to do more than just lunch. You see, Ares, the god of war and the Amazons’ mortal enemy, has been looking for Diana for a long, long time. Hippolyta knows all too well that the outside world is dangerous-more dangerous for Diana than perhaps anyone else on the island.

And as Diana grows into a strong, smart, brave woman, Hippolyta wants to preserve that cocoon of safety as long as she possibly can. If Hippolyta had her way, that’s how things would go for, literally, ever. And, when her mother’s not looking, she sneaks off to get some good, old-fashioned warrior training from her aunt and the island’s intimidating general, Antiope. She studies biology, learning what she can about men even if she’s never actually seen one. She learns (no exaggeration) about 150 languages. But she doesn’t have any playmates her own age, so she funnels her time into the Amazons’ strict, classically based education curriculum. Better to be a little girl than a hunk o’ clay, surely. Even Diana wasn’t conceived in the usual way: Her mother, the proud Amazon queen Hippolyta, fashioned the girl from clay and begged Zeus, chief god for this island stuck in the classical past, to give the sculpture life. Themyscira’s populated entirely by women, which certainly pares down procreative activities. Diana’s the only kid on the island, and has been for ever so long. Even if they were, they’d be sparsely attended. Public schools aren’t really a thing on the mystical, isolated island of Themyscira. Not that Diana really had another choice. Ah, nothing like a good homeschooling environment to get a wide-reaching education and a solid sense of self.

Wonder woman movie