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DC brought Wonder Woman back to the land of the living almost six months ago — and now they’re planning on killing her again.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman #783 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Marcio Takara, Tamra Bonvillain, and Pat Brosseau, now on sale from DC Comics
Superheroes have an infamous habit of dying and being resurrected, with figures like Wonder Woman having already experienced this sort of storyline in the past. Wonder Woman’s most recent demise was even in the climactic moments of one of DC’s biggest storylines ever.
Wonder Woman only recently returned to the core-DC Universe and yet, DC is seemingly setting up another death for the character alongside the rest of the Justice League. Is there a chance Diana might be the League’s only survivor?
Dark Nights: Death Metal was a universe-spanning storyline, forcing every major DC hero to confront their mortality in the face of the Batman Who Laughs gaining near omnipotence and almost breaking the multiverse. But at the heart of the story was Wonder Woman, whose near-infinite wealth of hope made her a driving force against the villain. At the end of the event and after receiving a cosmic-level upgrade, Wonder Woman was able to successfully destroy the Darkest Knight and was greeted by the shapers of the multiverse, the Hands. Although she refused to ascend to their level, she didn’t immediately return to the DC Universe, instead, she was believed dead by her allies. Hippolyta took her place in the Justice League, and Diana went on a journey through Asgard and the plane between life and death.
Diana finally returned to the DC Universe proper in Wonder Woman #780 (by Jordie Bellaire, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Paulina Ganucheau, Travis Moore, Steve Pugh, Tamira Bonvillain, and Kendall Goode) and was quickly brought back into the fold. She’s quickly also continued to work alongside Deadman, and reunited with Steve Trevor and Etta Candy during their tenure with Checkmate. But Wonder Woman fans shouldn’t get used to seeing Diana back in the field. Teasers for the upcoming Justice League #75 feature Wonder Woman among the heroes who go up against an entire army of superpowered threats. Notably, nine of the ten heroes venturing into that mission will not be returning home. This will set up a new period where the Justice League is (at least considered) dead. Notably, Wonder Woman’s logo on a casket is prominently featured in cover art for the story, strongly suggesting Wonder Woman won’t be the survivor.
It’s surprising that DC only just resurrected Wonder Woman to kill her again. One of the publisher’s “big three” characters, Wonder Woman has become an even more prominent figure in pop culture in recent years. Her “death” in Dark Nights: Death Metal may not have technically killed her, but her path back to the core-DC Universe just ended. Even her emotional reunion with Steve Trevor just happened in Wonder Woman #783, which was released less than a month ago at the time of this writing. Everyone has been portrayed as overjoyed at her return, in these brief bursts of emotion, such as in Wonder Woman #780 when she alerted the Justice League to her sudden return to Earth. And in a handful of months, she’s going to apparently die again.
It’s possible that Wonder Woman’s recent return to the land of the living is actually her means of surviving the conflict. One hero has been confirmed to return from the doomed mission, and Diana coming back to life just in time to watch all her greatest allies die would be a genuine tragedy for the nigh-immortal hero. Otherwise, it’s just bizarre that DC would kill one of their most prominent and popular characters, return her to life, and then just kill her all over again. An alternative would have been to extend Diana’s adventures in the realms of Asgard, removing her from the board without killing her (as DC has done lately to Shazam and Barry Allen), contributing to the power vacuum without killing them. That would have at least avoided the problematic imagery and weird fact that DC’s most prominent female hero is getting killed twice in as many years.
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