DC’s Latest Wonder Woman Issue Sparks Fan Backlash Over Death & Birth

DC’s Wonder Woman comic series is generating some trending buzz this week, following the release of Wonder Woman #14. Writer Tom King’s current run on Wonder Woman has sparked a fair amount of backlash since it began, but issue #14 was (as promised) a major pivotal chapter of the story, which revealed a major death, as well as the origin story that DC fans have been waiting for since King started mapping out the future of DC’s Justice League.

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Wonder Woman #14 tells a story titled “What’s the Point of Steve Trevor?” The title is incredibly on-the-nose, as we learn through non-linear storytelling how Wonder Woman’s current nemesis, America’s “Secret King” The Sovereign, murders Steve Trevor in cold blood just to break Diana’s heart. The other part of the story sees Diana travel to the Underworld to retrieve Steve – only to ultimately fail in her mission, and return back to Earth with Steve gone and truly dead.

Through a series of circumstances that still feel like they need full explanation, Wonder Woman villain Circe and some witches working with the Sovereign spot that portions of Diana and Steve’s souls (represented as threads) have been cut out – threads Diana intertwines into a golden single thread, and uses it to seemingly make a baby fashioned out of clay into a real daughter.

DC Fans Have Very Mixed Reactions to Wonder Woman #14

The reactions to Wonder Woman #14 have been straight down the love/hate divide line. Tom King got a pretty loud earful when he simply posted a promo about the comic’s release today, calling it “a big one”:

The comments section of the post quickly went off, with users making posts like: “You hype this particular issue up so much and it ended up being the most universally hated one out of the entire run.” Or, the more humorous snark aimed at King himself like “I thought that after leaving the CIA you would no longer collaborate with crimes.”

Other fans got even more dramatic, posting things like “Congratulations on doing irreparable damage to Wonder Woman… Go write someone else and leave Diana to someone who loves and respects her Legacy.” The insults only got bigger once memes got involved – and since fans who enjoy and support the issue have jumped in it’s become a hot debate within the DC fandom.

Weirdly enough, there was a fair amount of free promotion for writer Kelly Thompson and her upcoming Absolute Wonder Woman series. That book is part of DC’s new Absolute Universe, a reality created and ruled by god-level Darkseid where the origins of core Justice League heroes like Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman take very different twists and turns:

In some cases, Wonder Woman #14 seems to be acting as a Rorschach test, with fans coming away with big love or hate opinions over the same exact set of panels!

There’s also a single-panel image of Wonder Woman crying on an American flag that has sparked some of the ugliest discourse online (in an election year? Who would’ve thought!).

In full context: the scene is Diana grieving over Steve Trevor’s death while off in seclusion. She steals the service flag laid over his coffin as a memento and wraps herself in it, sobbing in agony on the ground of a cave. King’s Wonder Woman run has been criticized by some as allegedly reframing the character to be an American propaganda tool – so this image with the flag has triggered ire in those circles. Of course, there are just many fans who are proud to see Americana symbolism being emphasized in the current era of Wonder Woman, as it’s arguably been a traditional theme of the character and her iconography, all along. The result: another flame-war debate.

By the time we get to the end of Wonder Woman #14 and the strange mysticism and romanticism that led to Trinity’s “birth,” some fans weren’t just done with the issue – they’re claiming to be done with this entire run:

Wonder Woman #14 Synopsis

STEVE TREVOR’S LAST STAND AND THE BIRTH OF A HERO! With the tide of the war against the Sovereign turning, Wonder Woman’s greatest love takes matters into his own hands with deadly consequences. Could Steve’s end be the beginning of Diana’s greatest adventure yet? Behold the birth of Trinity!

Wonder Woman #14 is on sale at DC.