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Real name: Virbius Rex Nemorensis, formerly Hippolitus or 'Hunter Prince'
Secret File art: Lorkalt on Deviantart.com (above)
Occupation: Adventurer, Virbius (immortal king) of Aricia and Nemi
Marital Status: Married
Known Relatives: Egeria (wife), Queen Antiope (mother), Queen Hippolyta (aunt), Princess Diana - Wonder Woman (cousin), Theseus (father), Menalippus (half-brother), Demophon (half-brother), Molpadia (half-sister or cousin), Poseidon (grandfather), Hunter Prince (future younger cousin)
Base of Operations: enchanted forests of Aricia
Group Affiliation: Kingdom of Nemi and the Amazons of Themiscyra
Height: Tall
Eyes: Dark
Hair: Black
Notable Appearances: Wonder Woman, Volume Two, Issue #33 (1989); The Bull From The Sea, by Mary Renault; Hippolytus, a play by Euripides
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Classical Origin: King Theseus's will crumbled before the righteousness of the Amazon Queen Antiope, as she marched on Athens to avenge Hercules's rape and plundering of her proud warrior nation. When finally Theseus won the Amazon's forgiveness and love, the two monarchs sealed their alliance in marriage. Before dying heroically, during the Attic War, shortly after Theseus drove her Amazon sisters from Athens, Antiope bore him a son, ..Hippolitus (later, Virbius).
Young 'Hunter Prince' Hippolitus grew to manhood, schooled in hunting, archery, equestrianism, fighting - all the mysteries of the Amazons and their patron goddess, Artemis. His mortal life was cut short, when King Theseus, condemning his son for a crime, he did not commit and consumed by his own pride, ..called upon Poseidon to destroy him. The sea god sent a white bull from the sea to scare the prince's horses, ..wrecking the chariot and killing Prince Hippolitus, as he drove it along the shore!
In that sense, his story perfectly parallels the Amazons' rebirth on Themiscyra. As the Amazons were the reincarnate souls of women, destroyed by man's vanity and barbarism, so is Antiope's son reborn, after being murdered by his own father. Honoring his devotion, the goddess Artemis, with help from the healer god, resurrected Prince Hippolitus in an enchanted, Italian forest, far from Athens and Theseus's madness. In this forest, Aricia, he is called 'Virbius Rex Nemorensis' , a religious title, meaning 'twice a man' and immortal 'King of Nemi'! In the temple he erects to her, Artemis, weds him to the wild, beautiful elemental, Egeria. In some stories, he had a son, with a nymph - his namesake, who fought in the Trojan War.
In Justice League: Legacy, still another namesake and cousin - Hunter Prince - son of the Amazon Princess Diana, Wonder Woman, was sired by a living darkness!
The fate of Virbius Rex is shrouded in mystery! Though he is a king in his own right, the immortal son of an Amazon queen and Wonder Woman's first cousin, the only living Amazon prince - a Wonder knight, even - he has never appeared in any story, with Wonder Woman, Wonder Girl or the other Amazons, as a man. In 1989, an infant Prince Hippolitus made a very brief appearance in a flashback, in Wonder Woman #33, and has not been seen, since. The tragedy that is his origin has been written of, for ages, in scores of languages, and dramatized in critically acclaimed plays, all over the world, ..but, the mystery of his current whereabouts and adventures endure.
Where is Virbius Rex? Is it about time?
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Powers and Abilities: In classical texts, Virbius Rex is most celebrated as a highly skilled hunter and warrior, trained by Artemis's Amazon priestesses. As grandson of Greek god Poseidon, Virbius has agility, reflexes, senses, endurance, durability, an accelerated healing factor and immortality, as exhibited by Hercules in comics, like Hercules Unbound and War Of The Gods. Being the son of a Themiscyran Amazon, he possesses various degrees of superhuman strength, speed, stamina, as exhibited by his mother, Antiope, in the Wonder Woman comic - gifts the Amazons were blessed with, by their gods. Communion with Artemis gives him kinship with wild beasts, as he was her companion and favorite (one of a few).
Weapons: Virbius's enchanted sword magically confers rulership over the Kingdom of Nemi, upon any subject, high or low, who slays him, in physical combat. The Romans say the Virbius (king) of Aricia was never without it, as his rule could be challenged, at any time. His flying chariot, used in the Trojan War, also makes him formidable!
Mel Dyer, without his fine, coyote-hatin' Goldiweiller, Kirby (now moved on to that big, coyote-hatin' hate group in the Sky) continues a somewhat bleaker, dogless existence in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He has been an active member of the Latino Culture Council of the Capitol Area (El Consejo de Cultura Latina – La Zona del Capitolio) and the Kiwanis Club of Capitol Hill.
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