The Moral Imperatives of Wonder Woman

[mabfan]

For those looking for my next Infinite Crisis speculation post, I'm afraid that you're going to have to wait until Sunday or Monday. A combination of Rosh Hashana and the Ig Nobel Award Ceremony made it difficult for me to read through all the tie-in comics deeply enough to make further speculations. (Although I am amazed at the revelation of Donna Troy's status as the Anti-Harbinger.) So to give everyone something to think about while waiting for my final speculation before Infinite Crisis #1 hits the stores next week, I thought I'd open up a discussion about the recent choice made by Wonder Woman.

To recap, as part of the events surrounding The OMAC Project, Maxwell Lord took control of Superman's mind, fooling him into almost killing Batman by making him think Batman was one of many villains threatening Lois's life. When Wonder Woman finally confronted Lord, he told her that the only way to make him give up control of Superman would be by killing him.

And so she killed him.

The repurcussions are being felt throughout the other comics. In Wonder Woman #221, released this week, the world finds out what she did before she has a chance to turn herself in to an international tribunal, and people's loss of trust in her becomes evident. Although both Superman and Batman benefited from her actions, they have distanced themselves from her. Diana has become that one thing a superhero never should become: a killer.

But is she a murderer?

Wonder Woman has often viewed herself as a soldier in a war. Soldiers in war kill without committing murder; it's entirely possible that one could justify her actions under that perspective. Even Superman seemed intent on killing Doomsday when there appeared to be no other choice.

On the other hand...she did have other options. She could have brought Lord to Zatanna for a magical lobotomy. Or she could have found a way to keep him unconscious until they had a chance to figure out a form of safe incarceration. From that perspective, her actions might be considered morally repugnant, saved only by the defense that she killed him in the heat of the moment, without really having a chance to ponder her other options.

So...was Wonder Woman justified? Were her actions moral?

What do you think?

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose you could rephrase that last sentence and repost? (Check my info page - I have a "no obscenity" policy here...)

[fhwqhgads.livejournal.com]

appologies, michael!

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

No problem!

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

This is probably none of my business, and I'm sympathetic to one not wanting obscenity on their friends-page: I don't like it either. But you are aware, I trust, that the post you made isn't in your personal journal; it's on an LJ community page. (That's where I read it, anyway.) I know you crossposted it on your own LJ, but the point is, the commenter was commenting on a post in an LJ community, NOT your own journal. So, when you post onto a COMMUNITY, should anyone who responds reasonably be expected to call up your user-info page before they respond? I know I don't access the user-info pages of everyone who comments on one of the various LJ communities I'm on before I respond to their posts, nor would I expect people to do so for me when I post onto a community. Granted, I tend not to use obscenity in comments anyway, but the point remains valid.

To summarize: It's reasonable to expect people to abide by your guidelines when they're responding to posts on YOUR journal. But it's probably unreasonable to expect that when people respond to posts on a COMMUNITY, a PUBLIC journal.

I hope no offense is taken. Anyway, for what it's worth, I agree that the writers are essentially manipulating all the characters -- Superman, Batman, Max himself, J'onn (come on, would J'onn EVER have been as dismissive of Beetle as he was in "Countdown"?) to do what they want them to. EXCEPT for Wonder Woman, who DOES seem in character.

[ldwheeler.livejournal.com]

Please disregard my comments above -- I just realized that you in fact were linking to your own journal, and that you did make the obscenity note in the body of the post. My mistake, and my apologies.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

You hit on exactly the reason why I make the point in the community post which refers people back here, and no apology is necessary.

If people want to use obscenitites in replying to my post in the dc_clocktower or dc_universe communities, I agree that I have no moral authority to tell them no. But what's been happening is that people come over here and then forget (as you yourself did) that they're commenting in a personal journal, not in a public community. Which is why I've made the point when posting the referrals.