Follow

    The Bana

    Team » The Bana appears in 86 issues.

    A sect of the Amazons in the DCU led by Antiope, sister of Hippolyta of the first born of the Amazons. The Bana are different from the Amazons of Themyscira who possess immortality. However, they are a powerful and vicious race of warrior women.

    Short summary describing this team.

    No recent wiki edits to this page.

    History

    Two sisters, two destiny's.
    Two sisters, two destiny's.

    At one time in Amazon history, there were two queens ruling over a single united Amazon tribe. When the Greek goddesses formed thousands of super-humanly strong, adult female bodies from the clay bed of a lake in Greece, and imbued them with the spirits from the Well of Souls. The first to come forth from the lake was named Hippolyta by the goddesses, and she was crowned queen of these women. These newly re-born women would to become to be known as Amazons. The second woman to emerge from the lake was called Antiope, and according to the goddesses she was to rule as second in command.

    The Amazons were to serve the Olympian goddesses in spreading their principles and devotion to a largely barbarian world of man. The Goddesses also bestowed a great city in Greece and they called it Themyscira. After a great length of time they were attacked by the forces of Hercules, and were saved thanks to the gifts of the goddesses. Afterwards, Hercules' men and the Amazons became friends. However, the friendship act was a ruse to get the Amazonsto let their guard down. Once they did, Hercules and his men enslaved the women and burned their home to the ground.

    The Amazons split apart
    The Amazons split apart

    even though the goddesses freed them from their captivity, their home was destroyed and the group had lost their way. Prospects for success in their worldly mission dashed, Antiope led a portion of the Amazons away from her sister and the influence of the Greek gods, to travel the world in search of a new purpose. After the conquest of Heracles, Queen Hippolyta and her tribe moved to the Island of Themyscira while Antiope and her group wandered throughout Europe and the Middle East for a while but eventually settled in Egypt. There they founded a new city, began worshiping Egyptian gods, and becoming known as the the Amazons of Bana-Migdhall.

    The Bana tribe gleaned religious elements from all their travels and created a belief structure in goddesses separate from the Olympians who were worshiped by the Themyscirans. The city of Bana-Mighdall was destroyed through the collateral damage caused when Wonder Woman, a princess of the Themyscirans, battled her enemy Cheetah. Somehow Wonder Woman and Cheetah broke through the protective charms cast on the city by one of the new goddesses.

    The Amzons of Bana-Migdhall
    The Amzons of Bana-Migdhall

    Naturally, the Bana then wanted to take over the Island of Themyscira, revealed to them by the witch, Circe. Circe made a deal with the Bana-Mighdall that the island and immortality would be theirs if they could defeat the Themyscirans. However with all of the Amazons now on the Island, Circe made a play and teleported it to a demon world. The two tribes worked together to get free from Circe's spell and once the Island was returned to its proper place, the Bana were offered a small section of it for their own.

    Eventually in the Bana's history, the tribe of the Bana is further split when some of them choose to live among the original Themyscirans. The outcast sect of the Bana is led by the warrior Karna. They oppose not only men but all Amazons who disagree with them.

    Darkseid and Apokolips

    Not long after having been returned from the demon dimension, the island of Themyscira was attacked by the New God Darkseid of the planet Apokolips. His Parademons massacred the Amazons, vastly reducing their numbers. In addition to the loss of thousands of Amazon lives, the Amazons again witnessed the utter destruction of their home.

    Magala and the Amazon Civil War

    The body of the Amazonian mystic Magala had been inhabited by the restless spirit of Adriani, the murderer of the Bana-Mighdall Amazon's foremother Antiope. Unknown to the rest of the Amazons of her return she desired to further punish the people of her hated replacement, and began to sabotage the peaceful agreements set up by the two Amazon factions. Her schemes escalated to a full-scale civil war. It was then that Artemis took up the title of Shim'Tar from a wounded Akila and joined Wonder Woman in guiding both tribes to peaceful negotiations. Queen Hippolyta and Princess Diana eventually renounced their crowns, thus ending the war and leaving the island without a structured government.

    Imperiex Death of Hippolyta

    Return of the Bana-Mighdall Amazons
    Return of the Bana-Mighdall Amazons

    During the war against Imperiex, Hippolyta was slain, and the Amazons used the entire island of Themyscira as a weapon against the alien invader. Later, when Themyscira was reconstructed as a floating, crytaline embassy of learning by the transparent sentient alien technology of Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane, it was decided that General Phillipus of the Themysciran Royal Guard and Artemis would be co-rulers of the island, under the titles of Supreme Grand Chancellors.

    In a fit of jealousy after catching her husband Zeus spying on the Amazon Artemis while she bathed, Hera, the one Olympian goddess to have never had a direct hand in the creation of the Amazons, destroyed the island of Themyscira. The Amazons had little time to rebuild from this final destruction, as they were soon attacked by the powerful O.M.A.C. constructs. To avoid their own deaths and to avoid murdering the innocent people inside the O.M.A.C. suits, the Amazons prayed to their gods to be delivered from the terrible situation. They, and the entire broken and battle-scarred island of Themyscira disappeared instantly to an unknown location or dimension, leaving Wonder Woman as the only remaining Amazon on Earth.

    Amazons Attack

    After a time, the Amazons were again returned to Earth by Circe, who, through a resurrected and mind-controlled Hippolyta, goaded them into declaring war on the United States. A full-scale battle ensured in Washington D.C. When attacks were mounted in California and Kansas, it was revealed that a rogue group of Bana-Mighdallian Amazons had remained apart from their sisters, Circe having secretly kept them hidden on Earth while sending the other Banas to the demon dimension with the Themyscirans.

    Bana join the war on D.C
    Bana join the war on D.C

    The rogue group eventually rejoined with their other Amazon sisters, and assisting in the war against the United States of America. When Circe's mind-control over Hippolyta was compromised, she came to her senses and called off the war. Shortly thereafter, the Apokalyptian New God known as Granny Goodness, disguised as the goddess Athena, appeared. She declared that as punishment for their violent actions, all Amazons would be wiped of thier memories and dispersed around the globe to live as mortal women. Hippolyta, alone, was exiled to Themyscira, which, despite a handful of Amazon prisoners, was totally deserted.

    The dispersed Amazons were later returned to Themyscira by Zeus, but as they were then completely integrated, significant distinctions between Themysciran Amazons and Bana-Migdhallian Amazons were apparently diminished.

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Comic Vine for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Comic Vine users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.