Wonder Woman's had a good run as our Character of the Month. She's been dominating in the Battle of the Week, we talked about some of her best covers, explained why she deserves a video game, and discussed why her movie has the potential to be awesome. Now, we're going to take a look at one of the most memorable battles she has ever had: Greg Rucka's WONDER WOMAN #219, the final chapter of Sacrifice (not taking into account aftermath issues, of course).
In this issue, Maxwell Lord has taken control of Superman's mind and makes him see something truly horrific: Wonder Woman slaughtered Lois Lane. Except Kal-El doesn't see Wonder Woman as Wonder Woman; he's fooled into thinking she's Doomsday. Knowing the threat this character poses and the terrible thing he just witnessed, Superman grabs Wonder Woman and begins to fly her straight towards the sun.
During this highly unpleasant trip through our solar system, Diana suffers some heat vision to the face and is barely able to break free. She may have avoided being tossed in the sun, but she suffers an attack that is still hugely devastating. As you can see in the following image, they appear to be not very far from the sun, yet the Kryptonian hits Diana with a strike that's so hard it knocks her all the way back to Earth. And yes, this is just the beginning of the brawl. Crazy stuff, right?
We've seen Wonder Woman in plenty of intense and challenging battles over the decades, but holding her own against a bloodlusted Superman? It's pretty tough to top that. If you're only a casual fan of the character or don't know much about her, that opening attack should really make you realize that Wonder Woman's durability is way up there. Yes, she needs to block bullets and other kinds of projectiles, but against blunt force trauma, she's a titan. She just took a strike that was meant for Doomsday and, once again, that's just the start of the fight. Love or loathe the character, it's tough not to be impressed by that feat.
That punch was absolutely devastating, yet Diana gets back up and continues the melee. Superman isn't holding back and he has no reason to do so. He thinks he's facing Doomsday and believes the creature just killed Lois, after all. Not many could stand up to such an immense obstacle, but Diana finds a way. She may not have Superman's slew of powers, but she's more skilled, has incredible reflexes, and is hardly a shabby tactician. Even after being hit with a blast of freeze breath, the heroine manages to elude Clark's sight and then takes advantage of his super hearing in an amazingly brutal way.
Just to recap, we've now had someone punched so hard that it would kill most characters and now we've had amazingly durable bracelets smash against the ears of a character who has super hearing. So yeah, Rucka really went all-out to make sure this wasn't just another cliche and totally forgettable hero vs. hero fight, didn't he? Superman not holding back is a frightening thing and the writer's doing a great job showing us the measures Wonder Woman needs to take if she wants to survive the encounter.
In spite of the savage attacks, the fight still rages on and the Rucka focuses on the Amazon using her skill to survive against Superman's sheer might. Wonder Woman admits she's barely holding back and her strikes are still huge -- at one point Kal's face violently smashes into the rough terrain. She attempts to use the lasso but Superman's too fast and she dodges more and more of his attacks, but eventually Diana's luck runs out and she suffers yet another harsh injury: a broken wrist.
What's also great is this encounter doesn't feel like it's downplaying Superman to boost Wonder Woman's formidability. The captions and choreography make it crystal clear Diana needs to be on her toes at all times and give it her all or else things are going to take a very, very dark turn for her. She's fighting for her life in an uphill struggle and it really shows. One small mistake could lead to taking yet another powerful strike -- one that could leave her defenseless against a relentless Superman. They make it perfectly clear that she needs to be focused for each and every second of this brawl now that it has become a close quarters fight.
Keep in mind, Wonder Woman has now suffered heat vision to her face, an enormous punch near the sun that sent her all the way back to Earth, and now she has a broken wrist. Yet Wonder Woman still stands, she still fights, and she still keeps a focused mind. She knows that neither one will truly win if they continue this clash, so she realizes she needs to get away from the Man of Steel and go after Maxwell Lord. But what can she do to break Lord's control over Superman's mind? Seeing as this has such a shocking ending and we're sure many of you out there haven't read it yet, we won't spoil it and strongly recommend reading it for yourself. Recapping the moment just doesn't do it justice.
It's pretty easy to understand why we chose to highlight this fight, isn't it? When it comes to characters you want to battle in the DC Universe, an enraged and no holds barred Superman probably isn't on many lists and understandably so. The guy's astonishingly formidable while holding back, so if the gloves are off? Well, that's enough to send most people running for their lives. Despite facing such a ginormous challenge, Rucka shows us why Diana has the talent, mentality, and physicals required to at least hold her own for quite some time against one of DC's most powerful heroes. It's a brutal and epic battle and really reminds us why Wonder Woman deserves your respect as a combatant. Do you also love this battle and think it's one of Wonder Woman's most memorable ones?