Does Wonder Woman Open The Door For The New Gods?

Wonder Woman opened in theaters this weekend and has become an instant fan-favorite for audiences. [...]

By Jamie Lovett

Wonder Woman opened in theaters this weekend and has become an instant fan-favorite for audiences. The film primarily told Wonder Woman's origin story but, in doing so, it may have laid down the next segment of track on the way to introducing the New Gods into the DC Extended Universe.

Wonder Woman deals heavily with what are referred to as "Old Gods." That could be a simple throwaway phrase, but in the context of the DC universe, the existence of Old Gods may foreshadow the existence of New Gods as well.

The New Gods were created by Jack Kirby as part of his larger DC Comics mythology collectively referred to as the Fourth World. This mythology introduced such iconic DC Comics characters as Darkseid, Mister Miracle, Orion, Highfather, Big Barda, and others.

As one may expect, the Fourth World mythology evolved out of the First World. The "Old Gods" of the First World were otherworldly beings who inhabited a single planet known as God World, known more commonly on Earth as Asgard. Over billions of years, the First World gods disappeared and the humanoids that lived on God World obtained godhood. This marked the transition from the First World into the Second World.

The Second World played out very similarly to how the Ragnarok cycle in Norse mythology played out. The treachery of Lokee (Loki), the mischievous adopted son of Wotan (Odin), leader of the gods, led to the destruction of God World.

The destruction of God World released a force known as the Godwave. The Godwave bathed the planets of the universe, planting the seeds for each planet captured within it to eventually give birth to its own gods. Earth was among those planets, and the Greek pantheon of gods, including Zeus and Ares, were created as a result. This era of new pantheons on new planets is known as the Third World.

The Fourth World

Though God World was destroyed, its remnants remained. These remnants eventually came to form two new planets: New Genesis and Apokolips.

Each of these planets eventually came to be inhabited by New Gods who resembled the Old Gods in stature and in power, but each planet bore an opposite morality. New Genesis, led by Highfather, idealizes freedom and peace. Apokolips, led by the Tyrant Darkseid, values control and conquest by force.

These twin homes of the New Gods, the Gods of the Fourth World, are locked in a longstanding war as Darkseid searches the universe the anti-life equation, a mathematical equation for total control over the minds of other sentient beings.

New Gods
prevnext

The Fifth World and Beyond

Writer Grant Morrison seeded the idea that the DC Universe is poised on the precipice of the Fifth World in his run on JLA and the Final Crisis event.In

In JLA, the New God known as Metron reveals that the New Gods have been searching for the world which will be the cradle for a new breed of super gods that will usher in the Fifth World. Earth is that planet and the many metahumans that inhabit it are the forerunners to the super gods. However, the Fifth World means the end of the Fourth World, which Darkseid is not keen on, which is what motivates him to invade Earth in

However, the Fifth World means the end of the Fourth World, which Darkseid is not keen on. This is what motivates him to invade Earth in Final Crisis.

Darkseid
prevnext

The New 52 and the DC Extended Unvierse

The Fourth World mythology became somewhat more complicated in the post-Flashpoint era's new continuity. Where New Genesis and Apokolips existed within the DC Universe originally, Morrison's The Multiversity series established that New Genesis and Apokolips now exist outside of the multiverse and that only aspects of the New Gods who inhabit the Fourth World appear within the universes of the multiverse.

So will we see the New Gods in the DC Extended Universe? We know that several Mother Boxes, artifacts of the Fourth World, are hidden on Earth and that Steppenwolf, a general of Apokolips leading a Parademon army, is heading to Earth in Justice League. That army may be the vanguard that will clear the way for Darkseid himself to arrive. If Darkseid does make a play for the Earth, could Highfather, Orion, and the New Gods be far behind?

Justice League - Steppenwolf Lex Luthor
(Photo: DC Entertainment)
prevnext

More Wonder Woman

MORE WONDER WOMAN NEWS: Former Catwoman Anne Hathaway Shares Wonder Woman Support / Wonder Woman To Earn $200 Million Worldwide In Opening Weekend / Batman Reacts To Wonder Woman's Rotten Tomatoes Score / Zack Snyder Sums Up His Wonder Woman Feelings In One Word

Wonder Woman currently has an 88.32 ComicBook.com Composite Score. It also has a 4.42 out of 5 ComicBook.com user rating, making it the fourth-highest rated comic book movie ever among ComicBook.com readers. Let us know what you thought of Wonder Woman by giving the movie your own ComicBook.com User Rating below.

prev
0comments
Start the Conversation

of