Invisible Plane
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The Invisible Plane is the fictional DC Comics superheroine Wonder Woman's venerable, though now seldom-used, mode of transport. It first appeared in Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942).
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[edit] Original History
As the winner of a competition to choose the most skilled and strong Amazon, Wonder Woman won the right to return an injured pilot, Steve Trevor, to the United States. The two traveled in an invisible airplane. Although the outline of the plane and some transparency is shown in the comics, the people inside are always clearly visible. It is assumed this is for the benefit of the reader, as the plane must make those riding in it invisible, otherwise, enemies would spot Wonder Woman sailing through the air.
In the 1940s, the Invisible Plane was originally referred to as the "Transparent Plane." When Wonder Woman was featured as a newspaper comic strip (in addition to her regular comic book titles), the plane was depicted as an invention of Princess Diana herself. The chronicles originally depicted the Amazons of Paradise Island as being more technologically advanced than the outside world. The Amazons also had their own version of planes but Princess Diana used Amazonian technology to build the original Invisible Plane.
The plane originally was hidden on an abandoned farm near Washington, D.C. It was established soon after that the amazing mental powers of Wonder Woman's tiara also gave her telepathic control of the plane, and that she could summon the supersonic propeller plane at will, always arriving quickly, and it is often called the robot plane. The plane dropped a rope ladder, also invisible, to pick up Wonder Woman in various locations. Wonder Woman frequently is depicted controlling the plane mentally from a standing position on the wings as she engages in battle with aircraft or airborne supervillains.
During the Golden Age of comics, continuity was not an important element of comic book writing so there were variations of the Invisible Plane's origin. During the late Golden Age, the origin of the plane was told differently. In this variation of the earlier origin, Diana was called upon to perform three Trials. For each of these obstacle courses, Diana recovered portions of the Invisible Plane. Everytime she successfully completed one of the tests, she would retrieve 1 of 3 parts of the craft until all 3 were procured to form the whole plane.
But during the Silver Age, another origin was told. In this story, Diana had to tame the magical flying horse- Pegasus and once she had, Pegasus passes through a mystic cloud and comes out the other end transformed into the Invisible Jet (jet configuration began in the mid 1950s).
In the jet age, the plane has become a jet, and Wonder Woman frequently uses it to travel at very high speeds, even into outer space. Its capacity expands to allow all of the Holliday Girls, Steve Trevor, or superhero friends to ride along. The rope ladder is rarely used; the Wonder Woman of the Silver Age can bound much higher than previously, and glide on air currents if there is a breeze, in order to reach the plane.
The plane is not indestructible; when accompanying The Atom to rescue his fiancee, Jean Loring, (Super-Team Family number 14, 1977) from the evil Star Sapphire, a blinded Wonder Woman crashes the jet, showing damage, near Gorilla City.
[edit] Current History
In the current Post-Crisis version of the DC Universe, Wonder Woman can fly, regardless of wind currents, and rarely uses the Invisible Plane. The plane's history has subsequently been revised as well.
INVISIBLE JET (a.k.a."The Robot Plane", "Invisible Plane", "Amazon Plane" in the original series. The Original Invisible Plane was made of elastic-amazonium called "Amazsilikon")
Here is the CURRENT VERSION:
The Origin of the Modern Age version of the Invisible Jet was chronicled during John Byrne's run of Wonder Woman v2,. Detailed information was chronicled in the WONDER WOMAN SECRET FILES# 1
The Jet is originally a "morphing crystal" that was developed scientifically by an alien race called the "Lansinarians".
The Lansinarians were a blind alien race and could not react quickly enough to changes in their environment. So developed a life support device- the morphing crystal that catered to their needs. The crystal is a shape-changing device that can take many forms.
-It was created to attune itself to its user and its environment. The vessel responds appropriately and can take the form of any vehicle of earth, water and beyond (A Sub-marine or Rocketship). This amazing craft was given as a gift by the Lansinarians as a gift to Wonder Woman who saved them.
-It has the power to be undetectable by radar or the human eye and the ability to shift from its crystal, "transparent mode" to complete invisibility rendering BOTH itself and its occupants truly invisible.
-The Invisible Jet propels itself by harnessing graviton particles. It is in this fashion also that it shields its passengers from the forces of sudden acceleration.
-In Outer space: The Craft can extrude a portion of itself around Wonder Woman. Without taking in additional air supply, it can process one's own exhaled oxygen to allow breating for 20 minutes. It can sense Wonder Woman's thoughts and will respond to her needs.
-Arsenal: The Invisible Jet can shape projectile weapons out of its own substance but doing so depletes the amount of material in the vessel. When such depletion occurs, the craft can regenerate itself slowly. This function is to be avoided and used only when absolutely necessary as a last resort.
-Although Wonder Woman possesses the power of flight, the Invisible Jet is very useful when she needs to transport a larger group of people or when she needs to use stealth on a mission.
Prior to being engineered by the Lansinarians, it was initially a malleable alien sentient being whowas part of "The Ring," the device which would become the Invisible Plane crash lands on Earth and is found by a group of subterranean beings called the Lansinarians. These beings later bestow the device to Wonder Woman in gratitude for saving them. The plane, which possesses a sophisticated artificial intelligence, responds to Wonder Woman's thoughts. It is able to render itself invisible as well as alter its shape, transforming into any form of vehicle its bearer desires, be it a jet, submarine, motorcycle, or horse-drawn chariot.
Wonder Woman's mother, Hippolyta, makes use of the plane during her time-traveling stint as the Wonder Woman of the 1940s. To adjust to the era, she wills the device to assume the form of a prop-driven plane and it takes on the appearance of the original Invisible Plane of the earlier comics. The plane later becomes known as the WonderDome and serves as Wonder Woman's floating base above Gateway City. During this time, it begins to even display a personality and is a frequent ally to the Amazon Princess. The Dome's technology is also incorporated into the Amazons' city of Themyscira following its reconstruction in the wake of the Imperiex War.
In Wonder Woman #201 (by Greg Rucka), the Dome sacrifices itself to prevent a tidal wave from destroying Themyscira. All that now remains is its shell, which has resumed the traditional shape of the Invisible Plane. It no longer retains a mind of its own however and it presumably can no longer alter its shape.
[edit] In Other Media
The Invisible Plane is a regular feature on the Super Friends cartoon show; Wonder Woman gives a ride to Aquaman and the Wonder Twins on a regular basis.
It has appeared on the animated series Justice League Unlimited. The Invisible Plane had a separate origin that was supposed to have been told in an Animated TV movie- "Justice League: Worlds Collide." But the feature was never produced. Had it been produced, it would have featured the origin of Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet in addition to how the League roster would be expanded and transformed into Justice League Unlimited.
A very realistic, full-size plane was featured on the Wonder Woman live-action series, and shown several times during the World War II era. It was featured as a jet in two episodes of the CBS series, set in the 1970s, before disappearing. After its disappearance, Wonder Woman runs at incredible speeds, bounds great distances, or even changes costumes and rides to her destination on motorcycles.
[edit] Trivia
- In Challenge of the Super Friends, the invisible jet is shown using magic lasso projectiles.
- As Wonder Woman's powers were expanded throughout the Silver Age and Modern Age, she was depicted more often as being able to fly, and thus relied on the invisible jet less frequently.
