(LifeSiteNews) — For years, mainstream American comic books have been used with increasing brazenness as a vehicle for creators’ left-wing politics, with the current run of DC Comics’ Wonder Woman pitting the iconic heroine against a new villain whose machinations present a barely veiled indictment of Christian conservatism.
Writer Tom King’s current story arc, which began in September 2023’s Wonder Woman #1, opens with a violent altercation between misogynistic pool hall patrons and an Amazon from Wonder Woman’s homeland. The incident sparks an effort to deport Amazons from the United States, paralleling real-life America’s immigration debate – complete with civilians complaining about the un-American ways of “these people” contrasted against “mothers being separated from their children.”
It is soon revealed that events are being orchestrated by a new villain called the Sovereign, whose predecessors have secretly ruled America from the beginning behind a mere illusion of democracy and are described as having even been obeyed by Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln.
The Sovereign holds a Lasso of Lies that he uses to control people, at one point brainwashing a soldier into killing himself and telling the world that Wonder Woman’s superior fighting ability “robbed me of the dignity of my gender, which is a gift from God” in his suicide note.
At one point in the story, Wonder Woman visits a terminally ill child named Jack, described as her “biggest fan,” who eventually confesses that he fears “God made me sick” because his favorite superhero is a girl. Wonder Woman reassures him “there is nothing wrong with you.” While the scenario appears intended to skewer opposition to the gender-fluidity movement, today it is the LGBT lobby that is more likely to conclude that a child’s interests not matching gender stereotypes means they need to transition out of the “wrong” gender.
The most recent issue, Wonder Woman #8 (published April 16), finds the heroine captured by the Sovereign, attempting to resist an illusion of herself as a stereotypically submissive 1950s American housewife. He quotes from the Bible as he attempts to break her resolve: “Wives, be subject to your own husbands”; and “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.”
Notably, as this is going on, the villain’s internal monologue reveals “we are not particularly religious, per se,” but considers faith a “glorious fiction” useful to maintain control. “We pick the ancient words that suit our causes and ignore those that do not,” he continues. “Fictionalize meanings where appropriate, adding our context to clarify moments that might induce doubt in our dominion.”
The text echoes long-running liberal talking points about the so-called Religious Right (while presumably giving King and DC wiggle room to claim they are only villainizing a particular usage/interpretation of Christianity rather than Christianity itself. Ironically, however, it most accurately applies to liberal Christians’ and Jews’ selective use of Bible quotes to rationalize their support for left-wing agenda items such as abortion.
“I do not believe your words,” Wonder Woman declares as she breaks free. “I do not believe your god.”
Left-wing entertainment website ScreenRant hails the Sovereign as having the potential to be Wonder Woman’s greatest foe in part because he is the “symbol of an institution that is built on falsehoods, oppression, privilege,” while PJ Media’s Jon Del Arroz had a different take.
“The implied message is the Bible itself is corrupt and a tool of the patriarchy, and St. Paul’s message should be fought against,” he wrote. “DC Comics has pushed an unabashed message of anti-Christianity and anti-conservatism over the last years. However, Wonder Woman has removed the mask from any pretense that they were still attempting to tell superhero stories. These comic creators hate America and Christ, and it’s on full display.”
DC Comics has been as aggressive as anyone in the entertainment industry at using its outlet to push left-wing themes. In recent years, despite ongoing discontent from both comic shops and fans over the infusion of “woke” themes in entertainment, it made Superman’s son into a bisexual climate activist and turned Tim Drake, the third of Batman’s Robin sidekicks, gay despite being depicted as straight for most of his publication history. In 2015, Wonder Woman herself officiated a same-sex “marriage.”