Is DC Going to Undo a Major Wonder Woman Death?

Wonder Woman has been going through some major changes in the current volume of Wonder Woman. It all began with the introduction of Trinity, the daughter of Wonder Woman, in Wonder Woman #800. Wonder Woman’s battle against new villain the Sovereign has seen the Amazons outlawed, starting a war that has pulled in everyone in Wonder Woman’s life, be they hero or villain. However, Wonder Woman has lost something to the Sovereign — the life of Steve Trevor. This led the war to the next level, as Wonder Woman and the Wonder Girls did their level best to destroy the Sovereign. They succeeded, and readers learned how Trinity was conceived, before getting a chilling glimpse of the future of Wonder Woman. Throughout Wonder Woman, we’ve also gotten Trinity back-up stories. The popularity of these back-ups led to the fantastic Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1, a book that plays into a lot of ideas introduced in Wonder Woman.

The ghost of Steve Trevor haunts Trinity #1 almost from the beginning. The book’s main plot — a time travel story that sees three different versions of Trinity meet up, accidentally turn their Jon Kents and Damian Waynes into Corgis who then steal a Time Bubble, forcing the three girls to travel through time to find and change them back — is set up by the death of Steve Trevor. The loss of Trevor is a major part of Trinity’s life, and the issue does a great job of setting all of this up. However, all of that raises a question — will Steve Trevor be resurrected? The answer to that question is more complicated than a simple yes or no.

Steve Trevor’s Death Is a Major Turning Point in Wonder Woman’s Life

Steve Trevor has always been a very important part of the Wonder Woman mythos. In most versions, Steve crash lands on Themyscira and Diana becomes so enamored of him that she decides that she wants to go to Man’s World, entering the contest that earns her the name Wonder Woman. Trevor became Diana’s de facto significant other throughout the Golden, Silver, and Bronze Ages, and has always played a role in getting Diana off Themyscira. However, their relationship hasn’t always been as important as it once was. While Steve was always positioned as Wonder Woman’s Lois Lane — a resourceful, intelligent human that proves to be the equal of Wonder Woman — in the modern days, that relationship has often fallen to the wayside as Wonder Woman has developed as a character. Many readers were quite surprised that Steve Trevor was made so important in latest run of Wonder Woman, but it worked. It was obvious that Tom King had a story he wanted to tell, and wanted it all to lead to the birth of Trinity. King did a tremendous job of making their relationship work even for fans that might not like it very much. Since his death, Wonder Woman has done a tremendous job of selling the importance of Steve Trevor and his death. Readers got to see Diana bring him across the River Styx to the Underworld, and also saw him in the afterlife, missing Diana. He appears in Trinity #1, tying up the Fates and telling them that he needs to see his daughter.

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One of the things about superhero comics that can be rather infuriating is the tendency to revert everything to the status quo. The main reason for this is because fans from outside superhero comics don’t really know anything but the basics of character. So, for example, Batman couldn’t marry Catwoman at the end of Tom King’s Batman, which has been rumored to be the way it was supposed to end, because casual Batman fans might get confused if they picked up a Batman comic where he was married. So, looking at the death of Steve Trevor from that perspective, it seems like it should only be a matter of time before he’s resurrected, especially with the announcement of a new Wonder Woman movie being planned by DC Studios. However, one of the things I’ve noticed about DC is that they are less likely to actually to reset everything for fans from outside of the comics. On top of that, Wonder Woman writer Tom King is the man who killed Alfred and Alfred has stayed dead since 2020. Wonder Woman and Trinity #1 both have teased the return to life of Steve Trevor, but so far, Steve is still dead. And, honestly, maybe it should stay that way. As someone who has advocated for the return of Steve in the past, I’ve come to the conclusion that maybe things are better this way and DC won’t bring him back.

Bringing Back Steve Trevor Takes Away a Major New Aspect of Wonder Woman’s Life

Steve Trevor hasn’t mattered as a character in a long time. Other than his place in whatever Wonder Woman reboots have gone down over the years, Steve isn’t really a character that always needs to be a part of the DC Multiverse. He’s proven to be much better as a symbol of sadness, a loss for both Wonder Woman and Trinity. Now, there are multiple ways to bring Steve Trevor back to life, and keep the impact of his death — Wonder Woman knows gods after all — and there’s the fact that Trinity herself has done a lot of time traveling in her adventures in Wonder Woman back-ups and Trinity #1. Trinity #1 brings up the idea that maybe younger versions of Trinity will try to bring Steve back. However, I think that would be a mistake.

Bringing back Steve would take away the impact of the Sovereign story. His death helps make this a much more important story in the history of Wonder Woman. It also allows Wonder Woman to move on in a way that she can’t while he’s alive. While I think that Steve should appear at times in Wonder Woman comics — we’re dealing with mythological characters, so Wonder Woman going to the Underworld to talk to him or him getting in touch with Trinity makes sense — I don’t think that he should come back to life. Some characters are better off dead, and I think Steve Trevor is one of those. I don’t think DC is going to bring him back.

Trinity: Daughter of Wonder Woman #1 is on sale now.