Warning: SPOILERS for Wonder Woman #82
One of the most iconic parts of Wonder Woman's arsenal is back in action, with the latest issue of Wonder Woman bringing the return of the Invisible Jet, new and improved. But is it enough to save Themyscira from certain doom?
In Wonder Woman #82, the supervillain Cheetah is on the warpath on Diana's home island. She's armed to the teeth, too, carrying the God Killer sword in her hands and Wonder Woman's Golden Lasso on her hip. It's all part of Cheetah's plan to slaughter the Greek pantheon—and Hera, patron of the Amazons, is next. The Amazons manage to call out to Wonder Woman, but she's weaponless. Undeterred, she visits Natasha Irons, aka Steel, with a request: rebuild the Invisible Jet, destroyed in the fight against the forces of the mysterious Leviathan.
In the nick of time—after a quick jaunt to China to borrow the weapons of New Super-Man's Wonder-Woman—the new and improved Invisible Jet blasts past Cheetah, and Wonder Woman leaps into the fray.
Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet dates all the way back to 1942's Sensation Comics #1, introduced by Wonder Woman creator William Moulton Marston. Back then, before 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was a necessity: pre-Crisis, Wonder Woman couldn't fly. The plane had allegorical significance as well—Marston intended it to represent 1940s women having to be "invisible" to navigate a male-dominated workplace. Though originally a simple means of conveyance built by the Amazons, after Crisis, things became a little more complicated.
After Crisis rewrote DC's history, writer John Byrne made significant changes to the Invisible Jet, including the revelation it was actually sentient. The plane started as an alien "morphing crystal," having landed on Earth and discovered by a secretive underground race called the Lansinarians. After Wonder Woman saved the Lansinarians from certain peril, they gifted her with the crystal, which could alter its shape into essentially any vehicle she needed. Eventually, it displayed a personality (even turning on Wonder Woman for using it with no thanks—rude!), and later gave its "life" to save thousands of innocent people. Though no longer "alive," it was still a functioning jet, and Wonder Woman still used it... essentially flying around in a dead body. Bummer.
DC's Rebirth seems to have swept all of that under the rug, however, as Natasha Irons describes the sole remaining piece of the jet as technology. The new jet's abilities have yet to be explored, but no doubt it'll become a fixture of Steve Orlando's run on the series. Hopefully this time it won't be alive!
Wonder Woman #82 is available in stores and online now.