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This issues sees the revelation that Wonder Woman and Superman have feelings for each other. The topic of a relationship between Diana and one of her team mates had of course been explored before in the JLA title, when the Amazon Princess and Batman had briefly pondered whether to takie their obvious feelings for each other further than just on a platonic basis. However the New 52 really took things to a whole new level.
DC revealed that in fact this New 52 Universe would see Diana and Kal become a fully fledged couple in every sense and Lois and Steve would no longer play the role of the “other half”. Fans were split pretty evenly, between expressing joy that DC’s premier hero and heroine would at last be an item and that they were the perfect match for each other- and sheer horror that this was simply a cheap marketing stunt to sell books and merchandise and that Diana didn’t need a man to “validate her”.
DC added insult to injury by launching a new, stand alone title called “Superman Wonder Woman”, which featured the two heroes confronting their respective rogues gallery together in each issue. The Rebirth “soft-reboot” saw Superman killed and aKal from another dimension arrive together with his family. This Superman was married to Lois who had also borne a son for him. And Diana – much to most fans pleasure – returned to the arms of her beloved Steve.
Synopsis
In a cave in the Himalaya Range, the Justice League are face-to-face with their greatest weakness: their dead loved ones. Aquaman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Superman are amazed by their disapproving parents. But the most arresting visitations are those of Cyborg, who is face-to-face with his own soul, and Wonder Woman, who is facing the ghost of Steve Trevor… until the real Steve Trevor stumbles into view.
On this cue, the ghosts, who had been begging the heroes to join them in the afterlife, turn into monsters and trap them in magic ice. David Graves steps out and explains that he has been trying to make them and the world better. By making the heroes face their loved ones, he planned to refocus them as better heroes. By giving Wonder Woman, a demigod without much stake in the wider world, a similar tragedy, he would make her better in time. He now plans to unleash the ghosts upon the world, giving people the chance to be with their loved ones.
Aquaman breaks the team out of the ice and leads the charge against Graves. In the aftermath, Graves has a breakdown at being separated from the ghosts of his family. Batman, who read Graves’ books as research, explains that the “ghosts” were pretas – a preta being a parasite spirit that Graves wrote about before. They were using Graves as part of their plans. Graves clung to the story of empowerment by deceased family because he could not face the alternative.
The next day, Wonder Woman visits Steve Trevor in the hospital. She laments that she has put him in danger, but Steve becomes irate – he was a soldier for years before she and people like her appeared. She offers her apologies, but Steve demands that she get out.
In the Watchtower, the Justice League are reviewing the footage of the fight. Aquaman and Batman argue about Batman’s ability to lead the team, but Green Lantern short-circuits the argument by saying he will take the blame for the fight and leave the team publicly. His friends cannot argue against him as he teleport away. They discuss Graves’ degenerative condition, which they realise must have come from exposure to Apokoliptian substances during their origin. Aquaman vows that the team must become better.
In Belle Reve prison, David Graves has been processed. He is visited by the facility’s warden, Amanda Waller. She says that the pretas have hampered his condition somewhat, and hands him a typewriter, suggesting he write a book while in prison entitled “How To Defeat The Justice League”.
David Graves begins working on something with the working title of “The Villain’s Journey”.
On the roof of a building in Washington, Superman finds Wonder Woman. He explains that the League got worried after she never came back from the hospital. She explains that she feels an amazing loneliness, and she and Superman discuss their similarities.
Then they kiss.
