THE (PRE-CRISIS) STEVE TREVOR TOUR

The history of (pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths) Steve Trevor is one giant hot mess! This character was put through the wringer over and over again. In this tour, we will try and break down the important moments in the life of one of Wonder Woman's primary supporting characters.

(Note: All references to the Wonder Woman comic book in this tour will be from volume 1 unless otherwise noted.) Steve's first appearance is All-Star Comics #8, the first Wonder Woman story to be published. He is the catalyst for her decision to leave Paradise Island and to go live in "man's world". In this debut story, he is described as "Captain Steve Trevor U.S. Army Intelligence Service".

A mere six issues into his appearances in Sensation Comics (in 1942), Steve is given a promotion to "Major"!

About 6 years after his promotion to Major, Steve would advance in rank again. I couldn't find an on-panel promotion, but the earliest use of "Colonel" Steve Trevor I could locate was in Wonder Woman #27 (Jan. 1948).

In the mid-1950s and early 1960s, the characterization of Steve Trevor shifted. Contributions to this shift might include the success of romance-themed comics, the new editorship of the character under Robert Kanigher, and the attack on comics by Frederic Wertham's book, Seduction of the Innocent, which led to the implementation of the Comics Code Authority.

Rather than being an equally represented ally and supporter of Wonder Woman, he seemed more to be jealous of her and wanting her to settle into a particular female archetype... that of a wife and eventually a mother. Throughout this period he was much more a male version of Lois Lane (of this era), obsessed with Wonder Woman's affections and her dual identity.

Because Wonder Woman (along with Superman, Batman, Green Arrow and Aquaman) never ceased publication between the periods of DC's Golden Age and Silver Age, there was no official official point when the Earth-Two adventures of these characters ended and when the Earth-One adventures began.

For Wonder Woman fans, many have accepted Wonder Woman #98 as the first appearance of the Earth-One ("Silver Age") Wonder Woman, and in turn, this would be the first appearance of the Earth-One Steve Trevor.

This story retells Wonder Woman's origin. It states that Steve never set foot on Paradise Island, revises Wonder Woman's reasons for going to "man's world", and establishes Wonder Woman's mother as being blond. This new Steve Trevor of Earth-One begins his adventures as a Colonel.

In 1968 (Wonder Woman #174), Steve gets his opportunity to be a superhero. Steve is given some "super-power pills" that temporarily give him super strength, super speed, and limited invulnerability. He takes on the hero identity of "The Patriot".

(His power pills were given to him by Angle Man, who had robbed Wonder Woman of her superpowers. Honestly, why didn't Angle Man just take the power pills himself?!! Some supervillains are so dumb!!)

At the end of 1968, Wonder Woman would opt to relinquish her powers and stay in "mans world" rather than join her sister Amazons as Paradise Island was shifting into another dimension. One of her reasons for staying behind was her love of Steve Trevor. Sadly, in Wonder Woman #180 (Feb. 1969), Steve Trevor would be murdered.

Thus begins the rollercoaster portion of this tour!

So, we learned that Steve Trevor was killed off in 1969, at the same time Wonder Woman lost her powers.

Well, Diana would get her powers back in Wonder Woman #204 in 1973. Later that same year, in Wonder Woman #208 she has an adventure that's titled "The Titanic Trials". In that story, she spends some time with Steve Trevor. No mention of him ever being dead, and no explanation on how he returned!

When the Denny O'Neil/Mike Sekowski non-powered era for Wonder Woman came to its end, DC sadly decided to put Wonder Woman's previous writer/editor, Robert Kanigher, back at the helm of her title. Kanigher decided the entire powerless era would be jettisoned and forgotten. Kanigher also, lazily, would use old published stories and simply have them drawn with new art. In the case of "The Titanic Trials" in Wonder Woman #208... the story was originally published in Wonder Woman #33. And because the original story included Steve Trevor, so did the new telling!! Kanigher either didn't know Steve had been killed off or didn't particularly care. Continuity was not one of his fortes.

Fans of Wonder Woman did care though. When they pointed out the inconsistency, an explanation for Steve's presence needed to be made. So how did he come back to life? Well, he didn't. He was simply a figment of Wonder Woman's subconscious!! A "mentally induced substitute"!! Seems that when Hippolyta helped to restore Diana's memories (she had amnesia at the end of her powerless era), she felt Diana just wasn't strong enough to handle Steve's loss. Hippolyta intentionally meddled in what memories Diana would get back, and decided to leave out Steve's death (Revealed in Wonder Woman #212).

OK, now we'll just forget the fact that this "mentally induced substitute" interacted with other characters and was integral in helping Wonder Woman defeat her foes! We'll also just overlook the fact that other characters Wonder Woman interacted with were not subject to lost or tampered memories and would remember that Steve was dead. But hey, as long as Hippolyta assuaged Diana's super dainty and fragile consciousness by having her live in a world of self-delusion... I guess everything is okay. Sigh. But hold on to your seats, we aren't even halfway through this tour yet!

To recap... Steve Trevor was killed in 1969. Steve Trevor returned in 1973. Steve Trevor reconfirmed as still being dead in 1974.

So what better thing for DC to do than to have Steve Trevor return from the dead in 1976 (Wonder Woman #223)! (In fairness to DC, this was most likely because Steve was appearing in the new Wonder Woman TV series so it made sense for him to also be in the comics.)

Seems Hippolyta did not approve of the Justice League judging Diana's 12 trials (we will cover this event in a future tour), so she set out to arrange her own trial. And what better way to test her daughter than to have her battle her former true love. So she, through Aphrodite, has Steve returned to life. However, once Diana's trial is successfully completed, Hippolyta informs her that Steve must once again be returned to the land of the dead!

What a dick move. Seriously.

Diana jumps in and implores Aphrodite to allow Steve to remain alive, citing how cruel it would be to bring him back only to take him away again. Aphrodite acquiesces and Steve is allowed to stay alive. And what is Hippolyta's reaction? She's upset because Steve now knows Diana Prince and Wonder Woman are the same person. Sigh.

It's beyond me how anyone reading this could not think that Hippolyta was competing for "worst mother ever"!

Steve Trevor was returned to the land of the living, but of course, he can't announce that to the world. I mean... who comes back from the dead (other than Superman, Alfred Pennyworth, Green Arrow, Lightning Lad, Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Jason Todd... well, you get the point!)??

It became necessary for Steve to take on a new identity. So "Steve -- er -- Howard" is "born" in Wonder Woman #225 (Sept. 1976)!

Now using the name Steve Howard, Steve Trevor needed to further cement his new identity. To make sure he wouldn't be mistaken for the supposedly deceased Steve Trevor, Steve Howard would undergo some elaborate hair dying. No doubt he heard from Black Canary and Supergirl on how well this works to fool people! (I guess he was too vain to simply start wearing glasses as a disguise!)

Jet black-headed Steve Howard would emerge in Wonder Woman #226 (November 1976).

Steve Trevor. After being killed, he was returned to life by the goddess Aphrodite. But because the rest of the world still thought he was dead, he had to take on a new identity, that of Steve Howard.

Steve "Howard" and Diana went about their new lives together for a couple years... sharing adventures and settling into the new dynamics of their relationship. So what original plot concept could the writers of the Wonder Woman title do to shake things up? Why, kill Steve Howard/Trevor of course!

In Wonder Woman #248 (10/1978), after his double identity is discovered, Steve is killed by a rogue government agent in a black magic ceremony! Don't worry though, we're nowhere near done with this tour. Fasten your seatbelts!!

In 1978 Steve Trevor was killed for a second time. In 1980, Wonder Woman decided she had had enough of man's world and was going to return to residing on Paradise Island (Wonder Woman #269). She shares with her mother how sad she is over losing Steve. So what does Hippolyta do? Why she of course decides to meddle with Diana's memories yet again. Seriously, it's like she never learns!

Hippolyta calls upon Aphrodite to make Diana forget Steve, so that Diana can find peace.  (I guess Hippolyta couldn't convince Diana to sit in that memory chair again!) Aphrodite conjures the "mists of Nepenthe" which shroud Diana as she sleeps and the mists erase her memories of Steve Trevor.

But is that the end of things? Of course not! At the conclusion of Wonder Woman #270, Diana rescues a pilot who crashes off the shore of Paradise Island. What is the pilot's name? Colonel Steve Trevor.

Here we go again!

After unknowingly having her mind wiped of any memory of Steve Trevor, Wonder Woman saves a pilot from crashing off the shore of Paradise Island. His name is Steve Trevor.

Apparently, a Steve Trevor from an alternative universe was pushed through to "this" universe. And conveniently, according to Aphrodite, there is no way of knowing which universe he came from so he's stuck in this one.

Hippolyta, being the selfish mother that she is, rather than experiencing happiness that her daughter might find true love again, instead becomes overwrought by the fact that Diana will now once again need to return to man's world.

But unlike the last time Steve was returned from the dead, this time Aphrodite is smart enough to send those "mists of Nepenthe" all over the world. This way, the original Steve Trevor is erased from the memories of everyone on Earth.

All of the "original" Steve's family and friends are robbed of their relationship with him. And all of "new" Steve's family and friends back in his universe will have no idea what happened to their Steve. But hey, so long as Earth-One Diana can sleep more soundly... all's good I guess! Sigh.

So we know that a "new" Steve Trevor has now crashed onto/into Earth-One from another parallel Earth. An Earth he can't return to. Upon his arrival he was met by Princess Diana of Paradise Island.

Now it is time for "new" Steve to get a job. How fortunate that all that hocus-pocus Aphrodite did just magically created a whole back-story and job for "new" Steve. He's Colonel Steve Trevor of the U.S. military. It's like he was always part of Earth-One!

The "new" Steve Trevor gets an opportunity to be a superhero himself. In Wonder Woman #289 Steve briefly assumes the persona of Captain Wonder.... sort of! In actuality, Captain Wonder is Doctor Psycho, but the Captain Wonder identity comes from Steve's subconscious.

We're going to take a quick detour and head on over to Earth-Two! In Wonder Woman #300 (1983) we learn that E-2 Steve Trevor had married his Wonder Woman and that they had a daughter named Lyta. (She would later become the heroine named Fury.)

Whether or not the Steve Trevor of Earth-Two died, was a figment of imagination, returned, died again, and was then replaced with the Steve Trevor of yet another alternative universe is unknown!

OK, check your seatbelts because the next part of this tour is a bumpy ride!. In Wonder Woman #322 (1984) Diana finds out once again that her mother has meddled with her memories. Aphrodite shows up and we enter exposition overload!

Diana re-learns of Steve's initial death and return, but now we find out that Aphrodite wasn't quite goddess enough to return people to life. When Wonder Woman thought Steve had returned to life, he was actually inhabited by the lifeforce of Eros, son of Aphrodite. So even though Diana thought she was in a relationship with Steve Trevor, masquerading as Steve Howard, she was really in a relationship with Eros who was pretending to be Steve Trevor masquerading as Steve Howard. Are you with us so far?

So when Steve "Howard" Trevor was killed a second time, it was Eros's lifeforce that departed the body. Seems when that lifeforce finally came back together, Eros was a little koo koo for coco puffs crazy so Aphrodite sent him to the Twilight Zone until he decided to be a little less cray-cray. When Eros finally exited the Twilight Zone he was furious that a new Steve Trevor from another universe was now in a relationship with Wonder Woman.

Furious Eros sets out to kill "new" Steve Trevor. "New" Steve Trevor is confused as hell wondering why this Eros dude thinks that he's the real Steve Trevor. Once all the Three's Company style misunderstanding is revealed, Eros calms down and lets everyone know that because of his initial fusion with "original" Steve Trevor, Eros still has all of "original" Steve's memories housed within him. Soon, Eros is downloading all the VHS memories of the "original" Steve into the flashdrive mind of "new" Steve's body.

By the end of the issue (yes, all of this played out in one single issue), Wonder Woman is reunited with her true love... Steve Trevor, who now apparently has ownership of "new" Steve Trevor's body. Of course, where the mind/memory/id of "new" Steve went to is completely unimportant and it is nothing anyone anywhere in the vicinity of this madness is the least bit concerned about.  Sigh.

After 44 years of publication, the first volume of Wonder Woman would come to an end in 1986, coinciding with the events unfolding in the Crisis On Infinite Earths maxi-series.

We can only assume that with the end of Earth-One Wonder Woman's existence on the horizon, the big-wigs at DC wanted Diania to be finally reunited with the original Steve Trevor. So the fantastical tale regarding Steve's history told in #322 was simply a way to ensure that the "real" Steve Trevor would marry Wonder Woman seven issues later in issue #329... the final issue of volume 1 of Wonder Woman.

While the Earth-One Steve Trevor marries his Wonder Woman just a month before she's erased from history... let's also take a look at the Earth-Two Steve Trevor. As the events of COIE play out, Steve Trevor and Wonder Woman of Earth-Two are brought to Olympus to live amongst the gods... "happily ever after"!

This our was a doozy! It now reaches its conclusion. Following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman's history is deleted, along with Steve's. A new modern version of the character debuted in 1987 with the second volume of Wonder Woman. In this revised continuity, Steve Trevor would be a more mature character and not a love interest for Diana. But that is a tale for another future tour! Wonder Woman, Steve Trevor, and all related characters, names, and elements and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of DC Comics, Inc.

Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor are the creations of William Moultan Marston and H. G. Peter (uncredited).