Diana : Goddess of War Bruce : God of Death ?
Writer : Priest - Pencils : Pete Woods
Batman and Wonder Woman’s powerful underlying feelings for each other are most of the time only visible thru interactions intently scattered over a long period in DC’s Stories. This makes it harder for the readers to get a hold of their longtime unresolved romantic attraction. And It makes it easier to tell independent more short-lived romantic stories in both solo series without confusing and upsetting too much the audience.
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
The title refers about what happens in the Issue #43 but to understand what the last issue is talking about you need to know what happened in the previous ones, starting with Issue #34 …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
An over exhausted Batman leads simultaneously 3 different missions of the JL and the one he works on directly with Diana goes south because the FBI’s Tactical team interfered stupidly … A innocent Nun gets killed with Diana’s own sword. Bruce was in charge of the mission even if only Diana was close from the terrorists and the Nuns. Diana’s eyes looking at Bruce are very telling. The league saved thousands that day, but one died, … just next to Diana … and was killed with her own weapon.
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
To say Diana was angry would be an understatement… and her unspoken anger was obviously directed at Bruce to the point she was considering leaving the JL.
I am sure Bruce understands perfectly Diana’s emotions after all he just has to imagine that an innocent would have been killed next to him with one of his own Batarangs, and Diana’s sword is even more personal than his numerous gadgets. An immense guilt would be the result.
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
Bruce : “Diana doesn’t feel she should blame me. but she does.”
Even if she denies it, that’s exactly what Diana really does … and Hard. Clark is the most comprehensive of all the Heroes and tries his best to play peacekeeper but … The JL members, following a very upset Diana, want Batman to give up his leadership pushing Superman to tell him.
Diana’s overall behavior makes me think that she transfers the blame she would make to herself onto Bruce because it is just too much to feel responsible of the death of an innocent person. It may have reminded her that her powers will never be enough to save everyone. Of course neither, Bruce nor Diana, are really responsible of that disaster. But she needs an outlet to take the blame : Bruce.
Batman on the other hand blames himself anyways, if not for the Nun at least for Diana. He knows very well what guilt does to Diana (see “The Hiketeia” for example) so it only adds to his decision to take the blame along with its consequences.
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
A sad and unhappy Clark does “the talk” and Bruce Leaves the JL. Judging by Diana’s reaction that’s not really what she wanted … but it is a bit too late …
A few issues later Batman leads now the “Justice League of America” while Cyborg leads the “Justice League”…
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #34 to #43)
Much later an other incident makes a young man shoot on the Man of Steel whose body just deflect the bullets. One of them reaps Wonder Woman’s carotid artery open. She’s dying …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
Both Flashes are not sure a Doctor can heal Wondy so they take her to Raven who uses Magic on her.
But it seems Diana is going to have to find her way back to the living and it will need more than Magic to bring her back…that’s when “HE” appears in her.. delirium ? half-life state ? :
Thanatos, the God of Death …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
So the “God of Death” is trying to kill the “Goddess of War” …
That’s already an Irony considering how closely related “War” and “Death” are … you could say “War” loves “Death” and “Death” loves “War” … They combine perfectly and thrive in each other’s company … If it wasn’t for the compassionate Diana being the “goddess of war”, you could say “War” and “Death” are more or less “Soulmates” …
But could we please take a moment, and give a closer look to that “God of Death” …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
Dammit !! Pointy ears, Bat symbol on the chest and the belt, gauntlets with three spikes … that reminds me of someone … Bruce “Batman” Wayne is Thanatos the God of Death ?! … At least metaphorically in Diana’s feverish mind.
And that’s not the only reference to Bruce/Batman that we’re going to get …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
Sure being a “Goddess of War” on a “mission of Peace” is an Irony in itself but given Diana’s comment later we’ll get another Irony paralleled to this one …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
OK this is again kind of revealing, Thanatos tells Diana she blames him ? why would he say that ? Thanatos isn’t responsible for her current injuries… why would she blame him ? …
But considering Thanatos seems to be a metaphor for Bruce/Batman … he is right ! she blames him … but for the death of the Nun in Issue #34 … not her own death.
Sure, you could go the easy way and just say : “This has nothing to do with Batman, Diana just blames the God of Death because people die” …that would be childish and Diana isn’t … plus then why all these Batman/Bruce-references on Thanatos ?
And if Thanatos is a fantasy of Bruce … Diana knows she doesn’t risk anything…
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
She said it herself in “DCeased #6″ : “Bruce is a lot of things … but he was never Lethal” … is this why she knows Thanatos won’t kill her ? because Bruce won’t kill ? Like I said earlier a parallel of two Ironies : A “Goddess of War on a mission of Peace” and a “God of Death who doesn’t Kill” … Diana and Bruce.
Diana cooled down … and doesn’t blame “him” anymore … she has great compassion for “him” … because he is “a man so haunted by his past” … She calls him Thanatos but we are definitively talking about Bruce …
The Death of an innocent Nun took her Peace away from her but “he” gave her that peace back. Is that supposed to be the moment Bruce left the League and took full responsibility even if he could hardly have done anything against what happened - the moment she understood it wasn’t what she wanted ? … or did she still blame him until that near-death dream ?
Batman/Thanatos told her earlier :“You are weak … as long as you continue to blame me”. But Diana is still in denial : “I… I don’t blame …”
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
Lets just try to consider Diana and Bruce as “soulmates” in the same way War and Death would be. There is no War without Death and every Death is a War you’ve lost against something (an enemy, or a disease or even the passing of time). Both need each other to exist, and if Diana “War” rejects Bruce “Death” it strips her of her own meaning and she destroys herself.
Choosing “Thanatos the God of Death” as a metaphor for Bruce Wayne is very telling for Diana “the Goddess of War” regarding how closely related she must consider him. Subconsciously Diana knows that their relationship is one of mutual need, not just care…
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #43)
Deep down Diana still blamed Bruce until that moment. But Thanatos/Bruce helped her to understand that blaming him/Bruce Wayne weakens herself and her will to fulfill her mission, as well as her will to live… empowering him, the God of Death … of her death this time.
Loosing her faith in Bruce, is stripping Diana of her will to live … Wooaaaw ! … said like that … gives me goose bumps …
Lucky us … Bruce, the God of Death, helped Diana, the Goddess of War, to see the truth, restored her faith in her mission and her will to live and fight at his side again. Diana finally found her way home.
So through 10 “Justice League” Issues we have a very nice little story only for Diana and Bruce hidden in the main one.
OK maybe I am overthinking what I am about to say but, there could be a little message behind that as well : could you imagine the consequences if “War” and “Death” would give into each other ? … maybe “War” could forget about her mission of peace for “Death”, and maybe “Death” could start to kill for “War” … maybe they both fear this so much that it explains what they said in Batman #40 “No, we can’t …Ever”. That kind of consequence has already been addressed : for example in JLA(1997)#90 (Diana kills the Joker for Bruce) and more recently in “Batman : the Merciless” (Bruce kills Ares for Diana) …
(Edit from DC Comics Batman(2016) #40, Batman: the Merciless and JLA(1997) #90)
Is she so wrong to choose Thanatos “the God of Death” to picture Bruce ?? …
(Edit from DC Comics Rebirth Justice League (2016) from Issue #42 and #43)
While Diana is out because of her injury the Bad guy responsible for all that colossal mess (and indirectly of Diana’s near-death), a killer whose knowledge threatens the very existence of the Justice League, is killed by Deathstroke. In the end Cyborg wonders if Batman has “solved” the League’s impossible problem in the same way Batman ended Ras Al Guhl in Christopher Nolan’s movie : “Batman Begins”
Batman to Ras Al Guhl : “I won’t kill you ! but nothing can force me to save you”.
Death has many ways … Diana knows the truth… he really is her Thanatos “the God of Death who doesn’t Kill”.
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