All 7 Times Wonder Woman Died in the Comics

Like most DC Universe characters, Wonder Woman has been part of the many “retcons,” especially regarding her origin story. However, since she is one of the oldest DC characters, Diana had many versions of the character that were part of the main DC continuity – at least until the writers decided to change that and separate them from each other. Wonder Woman has been part of many major comic book events; in some, she lost her life.

Wonder Woman died at least seven times in the DC comics. The main continuity saw Princess Diana die at the hands of her biggest nemesis’, Neron and Circe, while her permanent death occurred in Tom Taylor’s ‘DCeased: Dead Planet,’ when she was affected by tainted Anti-Life Equation, after her fight against the infected Superman.

Wonder Woman died many times, especially in the Elseworlds continuity and stories, but her few deaths in the main DC Universe were significant enough to be included on this list. As for ‘DCeased,’ this Elseworlds story was cool and popular enough to mention in this context, like we mentioned ‘Marvel Zombies’ and Tony Stark’s death when we covered that particular character.

1. ‘Justice League’ #75 – ‘Death of Justice League’ storyline features the death of heroine Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic superheroines of all time. Her journey in DC Universe started in 1941 and has undergone many changes since then. However, in 2018, Wonder Woman and the rest of her Justice League members are included in a dark comic book storyline with the notable superhero team in focus. The pinnacle of the comic book run, written by Joshua Williamson, happens in ‘Justice League’ #75, where Wonder Woman dies, among other members of the famous superhero team.

The story revolves around a new threat to the Multiverse, this time by the Dark Army, which consists of the most notorious supervillains of the DC Universe. Among them are Darkseid, Doomsday, and others. The whole comic book run is tense and epic and is helped by its big connections to another major comic book event, ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths.’

Pariah is the one who kills Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and they disintegrate similarly to Barry Allen did in the ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths,’ where he sacrifices himself to save the Multiverse. This death of Wonder Woman is temporary, as we see her later in the new stories.

2. ‘Dark Knights: Death Metal’ sees Wonder Woman sacrificing herself to save the Multiverse

‘Dark Knights: Death Metal’ is the comic book story written and drawn by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, which marked the end of the Dark Multiverse Saga and kickstarted the New Justice era of the DC Universe. This run sees Earth being enveloped by the Dark Multiverse, and the Justice League must confront one of their greatest foes, Batman Who Laughs.

Everything falls back on Wonder Woman, who transforms using the power of Truth and Element X (the Tenth Metal) and becomes more than a goddess. She enters the fight against Darkest Knight, which transcends time and space.

Darkest Knight tries to influence Wonder Woman and get her on his side, but her determination and will to save her close ones prevail, and she ultimately fights the foe. With the “help” of the Hands, Diana sacrifices herself and ascends to become the protector of the new (experimental) Multiverse.

The rest of the heroes and her friends pay their respects in the new reality while the new threat and happenings prepare to affect our superheroes.

3. Earth-One version of Wonder Woman dies in ‘Crisis of Infinite Earths’ event

‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’ is still the biggest and most iconic comic book event in DC Universe. The way it changed the comics and characters we knew at that point is still felt today. Gone were the days of DC’s older, evergreen characters, and newer, possibly better versions of the same characters emerged after the destruction and consequent recreation of Multiverse.

Of course, this refers to Golden Age characters, mostly the main trio – Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman – who were a duo to change the future of the DC Universe. The Multiversal catastrophe eventually established the recreation of a single-matter universe and the anti-matter one but with a huge cost.

We lost Barry Allen’s Flash and Kara Zor-El’s Supergirl, but besides these two, we lost many Earth-One characters that “helped” with the reboot of the DC Universe. Diana of Paradise Island from Earth-One was slained in the major event, but it was later established that she was sent back in time – she was reverted to the clay statue from which she was born and established the “birth” of New Earth’s and another version of Wonder Woman.

4. Neron killed Wonder Woman in the second volume of the ‘Wonder Woman’ comic book in the 1990s

Wonder Woman was killed off once again in the 1990s, specifically in the second volume of the ‘Wonder Woman’ comic book run, where she faces off against Neron, a fallen angel of hell who powered up multiple supervillains in exchange for their immortal souls.

The conflict between Neron and Wonder Woman starts with Cheetah exchanging her soul for her deceased servant Chuma, and it escalates in every Amazonian turning into stone, including Diana herself. Greek Gods saved Diana and restored her people to the flesh. However, Neron gets the upper hand in the end and pierces Diana with the lethal bolt, killing her on the spot. Wonder Woman is resurrected later as the new Goddess of Truth by the gods of Olympus once again.

5. Supervillainous sorceress from Greek mythology, Circe, killed Diana in the ‘War of the Gods’ storyline

‘War of Gods’ was a four-issue limited series written and drawn by the late and great George Pérez, who greatly influenced Wonder Woman’s character. The story heavily focuses on Wonder Woman and her supporting characters, like the gods of Olympus.

This time, Wonder Woman faced off against her then arch-villain, Circe, an ancient and immortal sorceress, who wanted to appease her goddess Hecate and recreate the whole reality. Of course, Wonder Woman wants to stop her, but she dies the same way she was created – Diana is reverted back to clay by Circe and ultimately dies.

The plot thickens when we discover that Diana’s spirit is very much alive – Phantom Stranger leads the spirit and ends up inside Gaea’s womb. New Earth Wonder Woman went through a lot, especially during the 1990s.

6. Like many superheroes, Wonder Woman also died in the ‘DCeased: Dead Planet’ storyline

Finally, we will mention a notable ‘DCeased’ storyline written by Tom Taylor. A dangerous Anti-Life Equation infects our superheroes in this comic book run. An infected Cyborg starts spreading the infection, which “catches” various superheroes, including the Bat Family, Superman, and others.

Wonder Woman is not infected until ‘DCeased: Dead Planet,’ the sequel of the original story, which takes five years after the Anti-Life Equation infected the Earth. Wonder Woman dies when infected Superman strikes her in the abdomen, resulting in her becoming a “zombie,” like the other superheroes.

7. ‘Earth 2’ comic book from 2012 sees Wonder Woman killed by General Steppenwolf in the first issue

The New 52 brought us many new versions of the characters, some good, some bad, and among them was the ‘Earth 2’ comic book written and drawn by James Robinson and Nicola Scott.

The story revolves around the Wonders of the World, a group of superheroes that parallel the notable superheroes from Prime Earth, among them Wonder Woman. Diana takes over the command over Amazons and Paradise Island after her mother’s death.

She even has an affair with the Apokalips Warlord (unknowingly) and gives birth to her daughter Fury. However, Wonder Woman tragically dies after helping Batman and Superman against Darkseid’s invasion – she is stabbed in the back by Steppenwolf himself, which is ironic in a way.

Currently, Wonder Woman is alive and well in the DC Universe, but we never know with new stories and alternate versions of the characters.

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