Warning! Spoilers for Wonder Woman #775 ahead!
Wonder Woman has worked with plenty of heroes in her time, but her latest team-up with the fan-favorite Deadman makes more sense than most superhero duos – even Superman and Batman. And though they haven’t been teaming up as long as the World’s Finest, it’s a wonder that it took them so long to work together at all. Since Wonder Woman #770 by Becky Cloonan and Travis Moore, Diana has been traveling through the Sphere of the Gods after her supposed death in Dark Nights: Death Metal, and while she did ascend to the afterlife, Diana ended up in Asgard alongside Norse heroes like Thor himself.
Having spent the last few months lost in various pantheons, Diana needed a tour guide, and nobody knows the realm of the dead better than Boston Brand. With help from the classic DC hero, Diana finds her way to a ruined Olympus, with issue #775 taking their quest into the Graveyard of the Gods. And while their mission is deadly serious, it doesn’t stop these two heroes from proving just how well they work together.
After finding Olympus in ruins, Diana vows to return the Olympians to their home and bring their killer to justice. Having traveled to the Graveyard of the Gods with Deadman leading the way and the Asgardian messenger, Ratatosk, by her side, Diana notes how different it looks from the last time she visited. Boston tells her that the appearance of the Graveyard changes along with the beholder, and Wonder Woman has changed since the last time she’s set foot in that realm. The heroes continue deeper into the Graveyard, and as they explore, they draw the attention of the Keeper of the Grounds, whom Diana challenges to a battle of wits in exchange for the Olympians’ restoration. Diana eventually wins, earning freedom her friends, the Olympians, and herself, and she and Boston part ways as the ghostly adventurer promises to investigate the Gods’ killer further.
Though it seems Wonder Woman and Deadman’s brief team-up has ended, at least for the moment, it already feels much more organic than the Superman and Batman duo. Though Superman and Batman are a great team, they couldn’t be more different. Superman is a nearly all-powerful alien raised in small-town middle America. Meanwhile Batman is a pinnacle of human potential, but still just a traumatized billionaire who grew up in the heart of a major city. Their ultimate goals may be the same, but their personal histories and methodologies are entirely different, and while he’d like to believe otherwise, Batman is still just a man, so Clark’s lifespan will far outlast any age he can hope to reach.
Meanwhile, Diana has faced her fair share of traditional supervillains, but at the end of the day, she’s still a creature of magic. She and Boston have ventured through many of the same realms, and with those similar backgrounds come common experiences that make them a natural pairing. Boston may be the ghost of a circus acrobat, but he’s been around the block enough times to eventually know Diana the way Batman knows Superman, and vice versa. With both characters’ functional immortality, they have the option of working together for years to come. And with Wonder Woman’s popularity in the DCEU, and a live-action series in the works for the Justice League Dark – a group which has frequently claimed Boston as a member – it’s possible fans will get to see this pairing for years to come in a live-action setting.
It’s not difficult for characters to get along with Diana. She is a magical princess from an island of immortals, after all. But when it comes to chemistry, Wonder Woman and Deadman have it in spades. And with Diana’s journey through the realms still going strong, she’s going to need all the allies she can find – alive or dead.
