The latest Tales from the Dark Multiverse oversized special revisits and provides its own twisted version of the 1991 crossover event War of the Gods. The four-issue core miniseries was helmed by George Perez as the culmination of his Wonder Woman run, which had redefined the character for modern audiences following Crisis on Infinite Earths. The crossover spread across many concurrent titles in the DC Universe and, true to its title, saw its various pantheons of deities go to war with one another, with Earth and its heroes caught in the crossfire.
Here is a quick overview of War of the Gods and how it shaped Wonder Woman's place in the DCU for years to follow.
The Lead-Up
Perez's run had completely updated the origin of the longtime Wonder Woman villain Circe as a daughter of the mythical Titans that had a longstanding feud with the Olympian gods. Hecate, Circe's patron goddess and the bride of Hades, transferred her soul to Circe to reward her for her devotion, imbuing her with powerful magical ability and immortality. After meeting Wonder Woman, Circe became fearful that the Amazon superhero would steal Hecate's soul for herself, leading to a shared antagonism between the two.
In addition to writing the main event, Perez also illustrated the main story's layouts, with finished art penciled by Cynthia Martin. The core miniseries was inked by Martin, Russell Braun, Pablo Marcos, Alan Kupperberg, Phil Jimenez, Gordon Purcell, Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin, Vince Giarrano, Scott Hanna and Romeo Tanghal. The core series was colored by Gene D'Angelo and lettered by Albert DeGuzman.
War of the Gods
Shortly after the Amazons publicly revealed themselves to the outside world, Circe initiated a series of murders surrounding various historical artifacts, implicating the Amazons to turn public opinion against them. As Steve Trevor is forced to carry out an attack on Themyscira in retaliation for the escalating string of murders, Circe revives the Roman pantheon of deities and sets them against their Olympian counterparts, with the Egyptian, Babylonian, Norse, African and Thanagarian pantheons being drawn into the conflict.
After Circe had conquered the weakened Mount Olympus for herself while Wonder Woman was preoccupied with fighting the Roman pantheon's champion, Shazam, the heroes allied to mount their own attack on New Olympus, convincing the warring gods to rally with them. Wonder Woman, who had been killed by Circe, was resurrected and drew Hecate out of the witch, causing her to age rapidly and crumble into dust. As Hecate moved to possess Diana Prince, she destroyed the entity with her Lasso of Truth, ending the conflict for good.
The Aftermath
Diana's mother, Queen Hippolyta, who had been kidnapped by Circe and brainwashed into becoming the champion for the rival Amazon faction the Bana-Mighdall, was restored to her rightful place on the throne of Themyscira. The Bana-Mighdall themselves would be further explored during William Messner-Loebs' subsequent run on Wonder Woman, replacing Perez who left DC for a time over disputes with the company regarding its handling of War of the Gods and the conclusion of his own run, which ended with Issue #62 (vol. 2).
The Amazons themselves were cleared of all wrongdoing from the manipulation fostered against them by Circe as would Steve Trevor who went on to marry Etta Candy. The Ancient Greek pantheon would slowly rebuild from the attack on New Olympus, with Diana ascending to the role of the Goddess of Truth during John Byrne's run on the title while Circe would mysterious resurface sometime later to menace the DCU once again.