Name: Wonder Woman (1987-2006) #25
Rating: 3.67 (9 reviews)

2,665 reviews12 followers

January 12, 2026

It’s now dawning on me how many crossovers were planned to take place during the invasion story. What I expected to be a pretty cut and dry storyline has turned into a handful of mini side stories among the big issues that bring everyone together. I’m not complaining, mind you, as seeing these team ups during smaller battles is quite enjoyable, but it did surprise me. And with this Wonder Woman issue it marks the start of a Wonder Woman and JLI crossover that takes place in the first stages of the invasion before our hero’s truly knew how big it was. We find Diana in this issue as she is called back to paradise island as Mebalippe was found to be screaming and calling out for Diana. But this turned out to be a trap, and Diana’s very entry back into paradise island was used as the guiding line for a Thanagarian invasion of paradise island! Usually paradise island is magically protected from the outside world but using Diana as a guide the moment she passed through the barrier the Thanagarian ships follows her and began to bombard and rip open the magical seals to try and get their own ships inside! All of Themyscira could hear the pounding of the weapons as Diana rushed back outside to face the invaders head on and find out exactly what is happening. If I had to guess, I wonder if the Thanagarians used their mind tech to channel into Menalippe’s mind to cause a disturbance for Diana to be called back to, but at the same time the seemed pretty surprised to see her so maybe they were just following the psychic trail of Menalippe regardless. Either way, as Diana tries to get a handle on the situation the Thanagarian ships target her and blast her away. As she falls the aliens ships attempt to fly into paradise island, only for one to get there before the pried open doorway to snap shut. This left Diana to fly up and contend with the two other ships. She ended up blasting away one of their blasts into the second ship, which ultimately crashed into the other taking both of them down. Diana really didn’t intend for that to happen but she didn’t have long to think about it as there is still one more ship to deal with. As she flies inside the border between the world and paradise island she finds that the ship has gotten stuck in the chaotic fury of the storm between worlds that allow only the gods to choose who passes through. The ship is out of control and if she doesn’t act fast they will crash and die. Diana attempted to use her lasso of truth on the ship so that it could be brought into her protective aura and pass back out safely…but the crew is scared and ended up blasting Diana with the connection her lasso made, forcing her to drop it and subsequently their ship as it was flung into the abyss and destroyed by the storms. If only they listened to her could they have survived, and now Diana has no one to question, but Diana feels a sense of impending danger beyond Themyscira as she heads back out to make contact with others.

And there is one person in particular that is under threat and in need of Diana’s aid: Etta Candy! Last we left Etta she was working on a very remote and secret satellite base and the first to become aware of the alien invasion through their communications. As it turns out she actually broke the alien codes but the moment she did they took notice of her. This led to Etta’s base being destroyed and her partner killed as she fled into the jungle on the remote island she is hiding with the broken codes safely in hand. Every attempt Etta made to contact help resulted in the invaders tracking her location and sending a barrage of death her way. Etta is still alive, but as Diana returns to Julia’s house, she finds some of her contacts waiting for her. Including Black Canary, Steve Trevor, and a few military officers. Diana contacted Dinah to reach out to the hawks to ask about the Thanagarians who attacked her and Dinah found out about the other reports of aloe invasions the JLI was already dealing with. Of course the military is also involved in this and now they need Diana’s help with securing her friend, Etta Candy. This is an all hands on deck mission as they instruct Diana where to meet the rest of the JLI and deployed military. As it turns out Steve is only here as a tease for his appearance in a Captain atom tie in comic, but Diana rushes off to the meeting point feeling as though she is constantly stuck in madness and war that will never end.

I have to admit I was surprised to see how this was an all hands on deck mission Erin the entire JLI showing up to assist Diana. But as I believe this takes place before invasion #1 it makes sense that they wouldn’t be stretched then and focused on the global threat. Plus this is an important mission, with the codes Etta broke this could mean the end of the war before it even begins if they can intercept all of the enemy transmissions before they make a move. So this is becoming a battle on two fronts, Diana will lead a team of powerhouses onto the remote island to find and secure Etta and protect her from the small group of Khund invaders that have already made their way onto the island. But the Khunds are expecting backup, which is what the rest of the JLI will be for as they will protect the island from any further reinforcements. Hilariously Ted Kord and Rocket Red are the two members to fawn over Wonder Woman the moment they met her, Dmitri seemingly forgetting about his family back home. But instantly shapes up when he discovers Wonder Woman actually speaks Russian, and immediately begins inviting her over to his home and to allow his wife and himself to be her guides to his country. But that is an activity for another day, as this mission Wonder Woman is taking rocket red and the very reluctant Guy Gardner to battle the Khunds. Guy seems the most distant from Wonder Woman the moment he meets her. He has heard about her pacifist ways and sees it as weak and wants no part of it. Diana does concede she is a pacifist and will not kill but she is also an Amazonian warrior and will do what she must. Fire and ice are eventually the ones to push Guy to go with her. The rest of the issue is of course from Diana’s perspective as the rest of the JLI’s mission is explored in the pages of JLI, but things get off to a rocky start as Guy immediately bashes apart a Khund ship and sends it spiraling into the ground below. They only have a few ships to deal with and Diana is immediately pissed off and restrains Guy using her lasso for his actions, when he could have easily restrained their ship. Rocket red attempts to go after the second ship through a non destructive manner using a tractor beam built into his new apokoliptian suit…but he still doesn’t know how to use it and ends up blasting the second Khund ship down, while simultaneously launching himself into the jungle. As Diana is holding Guy back, Etta candy happened to pop out of the jungle and see the scuffle above. Risking her life, she runs out of the jungle to get Diana’s attention and alert everyone to her location. Etta is making a gamble that Diana can get to her before any harm befalls her and with how tied up everyone currently is, that’s a dangerous gamble. Rocket red is stuck fighting his own Khund ground troops, and the moment Diana realizes her mistake in forgetting the mission she drops the lasso and makes a break for Etta. Unfortunately a Khund ship is closer and immediately makes a bombing run for Etta. It appears that Diana flew just too slow as a blast came down directly on Etta!! But as the smoke cleared it is revealed that guy sent out a protective construct just in time and Etta is completely safe. In retaliation Diana immediately went for the khund ship that sent the blast and knocked it off course and into the sea. For a split second Guy thought Diana died saving them and that he was wrong about her the entire time and actually can come through for them when it counts…Diana proceeded to scare the shit out of guy by popping up behind him. She is still angry but the only reason she killed is because she feared for his life, as any Amazon would do. Diana immediately went to embrace Etta, and although she is safe and that’s what really matters…the codes were destroyed during the chaos. Fortunately Rocket Red was able to capture a few Khunds who may be talking with the right persuasion. It seems that the JLI were successful with their mission, but this raises large questions for Diana and J’onn as they are now getting used to people seeking glory and pleasure in war when that is the last thing they enjoy seeing celebrated.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.

Wonder Woman (1987) (Single Issues) #25

Wonder Woman (1987-2006) #25

George Pérez (Writer/Cover), Keith Giffen (Writer), J.M. DeMatteis (Writer)

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