Summary
After all these years, DC’s new Absolute Universe is fixing the one major problem withWonder Womanlore. A lot of fans argue that superheroes are ineffective because they never really change the status quo, like Batman’s never-ending battle against crime. But there’s no character where the status quo is more apparent than with Wonder Woman, and it seems that DC is finally addressing this issue in the Absolute Universe.
As DC begins launching the newAbsolute Universe line of comicsthis October, the publisher has a chance to truly do something amazing with Wonder Woman. Unchained from the status quo of the main DC Universe, Wonder Woman can do and become anything. While there is much currently unknown about the Absolute Universe, one thing that DC has revealed is thatthis universe is far darker and harsher than the main one.
October 23rd, 2024
Variant Covers:
Wes Craig, Jim Lee, Jeff Dekal, Dan Panosian
Without the island paradise…without the sisterhood that shaped her…without a mission of peace…what’s left is the Absolute Amazon!
Wonder Woman’s job in the DC Universe has always been to be an ambassador of peacewho fights to save the world and end war, but she’s never really made any headway in this goal due to the unstoppable status quo of comics. This stalemate could finally be changed in the new Absolute Universe, and it seems this universe needs Diana’s vision of peace more than ever.
DC Launches a Brand New ABSOLUTE UNIVERSE, Completely Reinventing 86 Years of History
DC Comics has officially announced a brand new ABSOLUTE UNIVERSE line, with Scott Snyder returning to Batman as a key part of the new universe.
Absolute Wonder Woman Has the Chance to Finally Succeed
Diana’s Mission Has Always Been Change and Peace
Absolute Wonder Womanby Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman is going to bea completely new look at the Amazon Princess, mostly by removingWonder Woman’s ties to Paradise Island.This version of Wonder Woman will be without her Amazon sisters, Paradise Island, or even her mission for peace, but that might not stay true forever. Readers know very little about this new version of Wonder Woman, but she could just succeed in changing the Absolute Universe in a way that her primary universe counterpart never could.
Wonder Woman’s mission has always been to free man’s world from violence and war.
The DC Universe has a problem with the status quo. No matter how hard someone fights, nothing is ever allowed to really change. Batman has been fighting crime in Gotham City for decades, and while DC has claimed that he’s making a difference in various stories, readers rarely get to see this for themselves. Likewise, Wonder Woman’s mission has always been to free man’s world from violence and war. The Amazons refuse to use violence unless it’s an absolute last resort, of course,but despite this mission, Diana hasn’t managed to change anything.
Wonder Woman Has Fought for Years to End War
But She Has Made No Progress
Wonder Woman is a literal ambassador of Themyscira. Her job on Earth has always been to try and show a better way for humanity to move forward without violence. But because DC can never allow its heroes to make real progress,Wonder Woman hasn’t been ableto change anything. There are still wars every day in the DC world, andWonder Woman’s quest for peace has made no difference at all.While readers know this is because DC tends to keep its heroes static, it’s still hard not to see Wonder Woman as simply ineffectual because of her inability to change the hearts and minds of humanity.
DC’s Absolute Universe will be completely free of prior continuity, allowing writers to create new histories for these characters and, most importantly, fully explore the consequences of their actions, showing the characters' true effects on the world.
DC has already stated that the Absolute Universe will be much darker and harsher than the main universe, with characters like Superman, for example, having grown up without the loving family readers know from traditional DC lore. Sincethis universe also seems to be partially created by Darkseid, who is the personification of tyranny, the Absolute Universe will likely be under the total rule of some dark figure, be it Darkseid or someone else. This darkness will give Wonder Woman a perfect chance to fight against the system and try to bring peace to a world that is likely desperately in need of it.
The Future Wonder Woman Wasn’t Raised As An Amazon Warrior
DC’s future Wonder Woman has a history that is very different from Diana, Nubia, and Hippolyta - she didn’t grow up with Amazons as a warrior.
DC Tried to “Fix” Wonder Woman by Making Her a Warrior
But It Never Fit with the Core of Her Character
Older comics have shown what would happen ifWonder Woman succeeded in her mission, but despite all the alternate realities DC has explored over the years, readers have never seen a universe where Wonder Woman actually succeeds in her mission of saving the world and ending war. Unable to allow Wonder Woman to actually succeed,DC has tried taking Diana in a few different directionsto make her seem less ineffectual. For example, DC tried to reimagine Wonder Woman as more of awarriorprincess, which didn’t sit well with fans.
When DC finally realized that they couldn’t change the entire world to fit Wonder Woman’s mission, they decided to changeWonder Woman to fit the world, resulting in Wonder Woman becoming significantly more bloodthirsty, even going as far as proudly claiming that she doesn’t have a list of long villains like Batman or Superman because she just kills them when they become a problem. This violent-minded status quo is the exact opposite of who Wonder Woman should be as a character, butDC was simply trying to find a way that let her fit in the DCU as it reflected the real world.
While Wonder Woman seems ineffectual in trying to bring about world peace, she is farworse when DC reduces her to just a brutal warrior princess.
Wonder Woman should never be a killer, and the one time she did kill a villain — Maxwell Lord — she faced major consequences. She nearly gave up being a hero entirely and was pretty much kicked out of the Justice League for a time. While Wonder Woman seems ineffectual in trying to bring about world peace, she is farworse when DC reduces her to just a brutal warrior princess who has no issue killing people.This mischaracterization even seeped into other universes, creating the ridiculouslybloodthirstyInjusticevariant of Wonder Woman.
The Absolute Universe Is Exactly What Wonder Woman Needs
Marvel found unbelievable success with its Ultimate Universe line of comic books, and DC’s idea to follow that with the Absolute Universe is likely to provide just as much success. For Marvel, the publisher was able to radical stories, like killing off Peter Parker and introducing the character of Miles Morales. While Wonder Woman has never found success in her mission for world peace in the classic DC Universe,Absolute Wonder Womancould be what the character needs to finally show a world whereWonder Woman’sdream comes true.
Absolute Wonder Woman#1is available October 23rd, 2024 from DC Comics!
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is the superhero identity of Diana, Princess of the Amazons. Created on the island of Themyscira, Wonder Woman is a super-powered demi-goddess with extreme physical strength who utilizes magical gifts (like her famous Lasso of Truth) to defeat her foes. As mighty as her fellow heroes Superman and the Justice League, Wonder Woman is unmatched in her compassion and virtue.
