WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #2, by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer and Rus Wooton, on sale now.
The Amazons have always been threatened and attacked across the history of the DC Universe, using the mythical protective means afforded to them by the Gods. But not every version of the warrior society actually survived these conflicts. Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #2 reveals a terrible potential fate for the Amazons, seeing them transformed into horrible monsters.
PARADISE ISLAND
The Amazons of the DC Universe have had different origins over the years, but they always fill a specific role within the DC Universe. In the DC Rebirth continuity, the Amazons were created by members of the Greek Pantheon. Using the souls of women from across the world who had been unjustly killed by men, the Goddesses provided the newly formed women with enhanced, stronger bodies so they could protect themselves better.
They eventually reached the island of Themyscira, which came to be called Paradise Island. The Amazons are blessed with lengthened lives, a near-form of immortality that makes them among the longest living beings on the planet Earth. Their Queen became Hippolyta, who eventually had a daughter in Diana -- the eventual Wonder Woman. The island has been attacked by outside threats many times over the years, but the Amazons always prove capable of holding the line and protecting their home. But it turns out that even they weren't prepared for how devastating man's war could really be.
THE FATE OF THE AMAZONS
Reawakening in a post-apocalyptic world, Wonder Woman has been doing her best to bring hope back to the world. She's become the leader of a band of humans, liberated from a cruel king and now willing to follow her command. Reasoning that Paradise Island may have been able to survive the destruction that claimed so many lives in man's world, Wonder Woman leads the humans towards her ancestral home. Along the way, they are besieged by terrifying and massive monsters. Many of the soldiers are killed, but they're eventually able to kill the creature. Within it is a surprisingly human bone structure and anatomy, Diana makes her way across the ocean to Paradise Island alongside two of her human companions. where she finds the ancient city in ruins. there, she finds two Amazons -- her former trainer Nubia and her mother Hippolyta.
But in the decades since she last saw her mother, Diana is shocked to discover that she's begun transforming into one of the terrifying, massive creatures. Hippolyta reveals that when the great final war on Earth began, some humans turned their attention to Paradise Island. They shot multiple nukes at the island, decimating it. But the humans didn't realize that the nuclear fallout wouldn't be able to kill those that were blessed by the gods. Instead, the fallout transformed the Amazons into monsters. Out of hatred for what humanity had done, Hippolyta sent the mutant armies into the world, to raze the last of humanity and wipe out the species once and for all. Wonder Woman is saved by her companions Dee and Tal, although the latter is quickly killed by Nubia.
The arrival of the Cheetah gives Wonder Woman and Dee the chance to escape the island. However, when they return to the rest of humanity, an embittered Diana refuses to go back to humanity. Sickened by what happened to the Amazons and the fact that she's had to kill her own sisters by defending humanity, Diana has finally given up hope on mankind and decides to leave with Cheetah to places unknown. The fate of the Amazons is truly terrible, turning graceful warriors into mad beasts. But even worse, it seems to have been finally the one thing to fully defeat Wonder Woman and her spirit.