"They don't deserve you, Diana."
Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is a four-part 2020 mini-series under DC Comics' DC Black Label, written and drawn by Daniel Warren Johnson.
Diana awakens from a centuries-long sleep to discover that the world of man has been ravaged by nuclear war, and it's up to her to defend the last remnants of humanity from the grotesque monsters that roam the wastelands.
And, somehow, it's all her fault.
Tropes:
- After the End: The world ended centuries ago in a nuclear war and a "Great Fire".
- Age Lift: Nubia is an older woman instead of Diana's contemporary.
- Apologetic Attacker: Diana apologizes to the Haedras before killing them in a Curb-Stomp Battle.Diana: I'm so sorry, my sisters.
- All-Loving Hero: Diana's status as this gets a very thorough examination throughout the series, especially in conjunction with her status as a brutal warrior. She unconditionally cherishes all of humanity, and it's her willingness to protect them that's why she fights, even if that means pitting herself against those who threaten them. Even when it's revealed that the apocalypse was caused in part by her devastating retaliation against Superman, with the revelation causing major distrust in who she really is, she continues to believe in what remains of humanity, knowing full well that love and hope is necessary for if the world will continue to survive.Dee: You're crazy! Who are you to talk about love? You don't even know me! Nobody can live like you say! It's inhuman!
Diana: Exactly. - Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. All the characters, including the usually fanservicey and gorgeous Diana, look appropriately worse for wear in the post-apocalypse and have "ugly" faces in the heat of the moment.
- Big Damn Heroes: Cheetah shows up with Pegasus on Themyscira just in time to save Diana and her companion from Hippolyta and Nubia.
- Bittersweet Ending: Diana regains her full power and humanity is safe, for now. After killing all the Haedras in self-defense, Diana attempts to reach out to her mother again, who still refuses to make peace with the humans and Diana for costing her everything and she disappears to places unknown. Some of her human companions are dead, but Dee, Reya, and Eddog survive and they begin to rebuild on Themyscira.
- Break the Cutie: Diana learns that all her family and friends are gone, the Earth was ravaged centuries ago by an apocalypse that she failed to stop, and not only that, but her family transformed into vengeful monsters, she killed Superman, and she is directly responsible for the end of the world.
- Chekhov's Gun: Diana's gauntlets, which are explained as restraining her from using her raw strength. Removing them is how she killed Superman.
- Driving Question: How did the world end? And how is it Diana's fault?
- Due to the Dead: After bearing witness to Diana's failed attempt at peacefully stopping her mother and her resorting to killing her "sisters", the humans put the Haedras to proper rest in graves.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Batman flung two before his death, one being the key to unlocking Diana's full power again, and Diana herself, as she is the only one who can fix the damage she caused to the world now that all the other heroes are dead.
- Foreshadowing:
- In a flashback, Hippolyta notices that the seawater has risen on Themyscira, foreshadowing what was happening to the Earth before the apocalypse and that it would also affect Themyscira, leading to the Amazons' involvement.
- In another flashback, Diana's horrifying raw strength is noted and leads to Hippolyta and Nubia giving her magical gauntlets to help her control it.
- The Great Fire: The apocalypse that destroyed the world is referred to as "The Great Fire", which was the result of Diana — sent into the most furious she's ever been following Themyscira getting completely nuked — delivering the mother of all beatdowns on Superman (as he was indirectly responsible for its fate), which was so superhumanly fast and brutal that not only did it successfully kill him, it ignited the atmosphere, exploding the world.
- Hero Killer: Wonder Woman killed Superman.
- Heroic BSoD: At the end of Issue #2, upon discovering what happened to the Amazons and that the apocalypse was her fault, Diana deserts from the humans, coming to believe that Hippolyta was right: they didn't deserve her. And she doesn't deserve them.
- Heroic RRoD: Diana goes into one after Themyscira is nuked, leading to her killing Superman out of rage with the Earth as collateral damage. She faints afterward, forgetting what happened.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After bringing Diana to the Batcave and placing her in the healing pod, Bruce, already dying from radiation poisoning, enjoys his first drink on a couch overlooking the ruins of Gotham, the same couch his corpse is found on centuries later.
- I Will Find You: The story ends with Hippolyta disappearing to parts unknown after Diana foils her plan to annihilate mankind and kills the Amazons in the process, but Diana wants to find her to help her be at peace.
- Mythology Gag:
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After retrieving Diana and putting her into stasis, Batman — who has a strict moral code that includes no killing and is one of her closest friends — admits that he wishes she could kill her for ending the world, but he doesn't since he knows she's the only one who can fix it.
- Playing with Syringes: After the End, Cheetah was captured and experimented on for no discernible end goal other than humans wanting to place their anger on someone.
- The Reveal:
- The world was engulfed in a war with the Amazons after the humans rejected their help in solving global warming and resource depletion, culminating in Themyscira getting nuked in an attempt to stop them. Themyscira's magical defenses lead to some of the nukes being redirected to other places around the world.
- The Great Fire was an enraged and unrestrained Wonder Woman fighting Superman at high speeds, leading to other places on Earth getting destroyed in the process. Diana's strength greatly weakened due to her burnout from the fight.
- The Haedras are the Amazons, who mutated into monsters instead of dying due to their immortality and magic. They scourge the Earth to destroy the remnants of humanity under orders of Hippolyta as revenge.
- Diana's equipment is on Themyscira because she left them while she defended the island from the nuclear missiles. This includes her gauntlets, which her mother had taken off to help her against the nukes.
- Sequel Hook: In the final issue, Diana regains her full power and finds one of her gauntlets to keep her powers under control again. However, she needs to find the other one to activate the limiter, and she also vows to find her mother and make peace with her.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hippolyta, when her own daughter denies her vengeance on humanity and kills the remaining Amazons in the process. She admits defeat, summing up her life as having everything taken away from her as she rejects Diana's attempts to reaching out to her, then disappears into the sea to destinations unknown.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Diana vomits after finding Superman's corpse, plus learning that she killed him, although Shadow Discretion Shot is also in play.
- Wham Line:
- "You killed him."
- Wham Shot:
- Issue #1: Diana discovering Bruce's corpse.
- Diana's opponent being... a monstrous Cheetah.
- Diana and co. arriving on the shores of Themyscira... only to find it in ruins.
- Diana finding Hippolyta... who is heavily mutated from the waist down.
- A double-whammy in issue #3: Diana discovering Superman's corpse and then remembering that not only did she kill him, but in doing so reduced the world into the wasteland it is today.
