 |
There's no glory in warfare, just as there's no shame in being scared or feeling vulnerable. |  |
| — Himself |
Background
King Hippolytus of Paradise Island had lived for centuries, peacefully separated from what the people of Paradise Island came to know as Man's World, the world of the rest of humanity, of mankind. Various other names came to refer to it, but that seemed the most common.
Hippolytus appealed to the goddess Aphrodite, in order to be taught the secret craft of bringing clay to life. The king desperately wished to have an heir, to one day rule Paradise Island. The goddess instructed him to take clay from the beach of the island and to sculpt it into the perfect child. For days and weeks, Hippolytus worked with painstaking detail, crafting the clay into the most perfect son he could imagine.
At last, he completed the statue and appealed to Aphrodite, who with several other gods combined their powers to bring Dion to life, named after the divine powers who inspired him.
He grew quickly from a promising child to a beautiful youth, and then into a robust young man. All of Paradise Island's inhabitants dearly loved Dion, and Hippolytus was satisfied that there would at last be someone to take the burden of leadership, some day in the future.
But that all changed one day, when test pilot Steve Trevor crashed into the ocean just off the island. Dion could not be discouraged and dove into the water, saving Steve with his peerless swimming ability and bringing him back to the island.
It was little matter for the Purple Ray of Healing to help Steve Trevor, but Dion was fascinated with the man. It was his first outsider, and everything about Steve spoke to him. He appealed to the gods for guidance, and they encouraged him to stay with Steve. So, when Hippolytus called a contest for a champion to return the pilot to the Man's World he had come from, Dion wore a mask and secretly entered and won...after having been forbidden from doing so.
Hippolytus had to admit that Dion must have been meant to be the champion, and his courage and steadfastness were perfectly in keeping with the virtues he hoped his son would have. Dion was given the costume of the champion of Paradise Island and sent, with a magnificent robot plane, to return Steve Trevor back to the outside world.
Dion brought Steve to a hospital for recovery and, in the meantime, started to investigate that happenings that had brought him to crash outside of Paradise Island. Trevor had been testing an experimental plane, the Dynasonic...which brought the wrath of the dangerous Cheetah. Though well-intentioned and acting to protect nature, Cheetah nonetheless put some of the animals in danger that she claimed to be interested in protecting. Dion was, ultimately, able to defeat the Cheetah for the moment and additionally to persuade the developers of the Dynasonic to be more conscious of their effects on the environment. With that first victory, he became an icon.
In time, he also met Etta Candy, with whom he became close friends and worked frequently. He joined the Justice League upon their founding, and Dion regularly helped the go-getter Steve Trevor out of the frequent peril he found himself in. He maintains a high profile as one of the most iconic figures in the heroic world, working for a greater understanding and peaceful enlightenment for humanity and a greater awareness of and respect for nature for the world.