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WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, on sale now from DC.
For as long as the DC Universe has been around, Superman and Wonder Woman have stood as two of its strongest heroes. Each wielding an enormous slate of superpowers, the Kryptonian and Amazon heroes both count themselves among the Justice League’s strongest powerhouses. But while various forms of mind control or other disagreements have seen them occasionally spar, they’ve never really had a knockdown, drag-out fight to the death in the DC Universe.
However, that’s not the case in the post-apocalyptic world of Wonder Woman: Dead Earth, by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer and Rus Wooton. After an invasion by the Amazons and complete nuclear devastation of the world, an amnesiac Wonder Woman retraced her surprisingly brutal past. And over the course of that journey, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth reveals that, in a throw-down death battle, Wonder Woman would defeat and kill Superman in a seriously brutal way.
SUPERMAN VS. WONDER WOMAN: WHO WON?
Before their final fight, Superman and Wonder Woman met several times throughout the history of the DC Universe and the wider multiverse. Given the frequency with these two have been mind-controlled or otherwise manipulated against each other, each one of these Justice League heroes has won a few of their fights. In 1978’s Superman vs. Wonder Woman graphic novel by Gerry Conway and Jose Garcia-Lopez, the two came to blows over the Manhattan Project during World War II before teaming up to take down a common threat.
Since then, Superman and Wonder Woman have traded victories in their respective battles, usually depending on which hero’s series the fights appeared in. While Superman won their battle in 2004’s Superman #211, by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee, Wonder Woman knocked him out with a single kick in 2012’s Justice League #11, by Geoff Johns and Lee. In their most vicious fight, Wonder Woman took on a mind-controlled Superman in 2005’s Wonder Woman #219, by Greg Rucka, Tom Derenick, Georges Jeanty, Karl Kerschl, David Lopez and Rags Morales. In the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, Wonder Woman took on a Superman controlled by the villainous telepath Maxwell Lord. After a brutal battle, Wonder Woman freed Superman with the Lasso of Truth before that feat was quickly overshadowed by her snapping Lord’s neck.
WHY DID SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN FIGHT?
In this post-apocalyptic version of the DC Universe, Wonder Woman and Cheetah find themselves outside the doors of the Fortress of Solitude, which in the years since the end of the world has essentially become a mass grave. Countless souls made their way to the Arctic to beg Superman to come to their aid, but the doors to the Fortress remained shut for decades until all of them had died of exposure to the elements.
Upon entering the Fortress, Wonder Woman and Cheetah discover why Superman never came out of the fortress. He’s long dead, his body sitting on a stark and forgotten throne. As revealed by the last of the Superman Robots, Superman and Wonder Woman had tried to stop the chaos that was overtaking the world, to no avail. The armies of Themyscira advanced onto the world to try and force their ideas of order onto humanity, but all this did was escalate the conflicts.
Eventually, the human governments turned their full arsenals against Themyscira: A volley of nuclear weapons was aimed at the island and every known location of Amazons and their allies. Although Wonder Woman took off her power-constraining bracelets and did her best to contend with them all, a few made it past her and seemingly destroyed everyone on the island. While many of the Amazons actually survived but were mutated into monstrosities, a furious Wonder Woman found herself staring at her friend, Superman.
WONDER WOMAN VS. SUPERMAN: WHO WINS?
Superman tried to ask for forgiveness, as he’d departed to make sure the rockets aimed at Smallville had been stopped — saving his family but dooming the Amazons. Enraged, Wonder Woman lashed out at Superman. Almost incapable of words, she proceeded to beat up Superman relentlessly.
Although Superman tried to counter, Wonder Woman’s sheer power, speed and ferocity made it near impossible for Superman to even try to throw a punch in return, let alone land one. Their battle took them across the entire planet, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Mountains were destroyed, cities razed and populations wiped out in the collateral damage of their battle. As it turns out, the nukes didn’t ruin society as much as Diana did, with the effects of her rage, fully unleashed.
Finally arriving at the Fortress of Solitude, the two continued to battle, but a weakened Superman wasn’t able to defend himself as Wonder Woman continued to attack him. Eventually grabbing a handful of kryptonite from the fortress and clutching it between her fingers, she punched Superman until one last fateful hit went through his chest, killing him instantly.
In the present day, Wonder Woman is horrified by actions she can’t remember — possibly having even blocked them out due to trauma. It’s revealed that Batman discovered the truth about what happened and even help set up the last Superman Robot so someone could eventually reveal the truth to Diana.
Seeing an unrestrained Wonder Woman is a genuinely terrifying sight, as it shows just how much power she had to throw around. Superman may technically be stronger, faster and have more endurance. but Wonder Woman has a warrior’s edge that allows her to believably win a fight between the pair.
All of his attempts to attack her fail and are countered. Wonder Woman has enough power to actually be a threat to Superman and when unleashed, her magical aspects might even give her an additional edge in their battle. All in all, it proves Wonder Woman does have it in her to win this fight if it ever comes down to it. While this may have taken place in an alternate reality, it proves that no one can stop an enraged Wonder Woman on the warpath, not even Superman.
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