In the wide world of Image Comics' The Walking Dead, Rick Grimes is a hero that fans of the comic know and love, but after Rick dies, it’s clear that his right-hand gal, Michonne, is the true hero of the series. Rick may have received more of the spotlight and acclaim over the years, but Michonne’s story, character arc, and ultimate fate prove that she’s the character that deserves the real heroic recognition.
Set years after the untimely death of Rick Grimes, the final issue of The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard, sees Rick’s son, Carl Grimes, his trusted friend and confidant, Michonne, and the handful of surviving members of his zombie-hunting crew finally living life in a society free from the fear of death and zombification lurking around every corner. Part of a world where zombies are now more of an afterthought than a real threat, Michonne is shown to have become the person she always strived to be as the series concludes, giving fans an unsuspecting coda to her years-long zombie fighting journey.
Working as a lawyer before the zombie apocalypse threw a wrench into those plans, Michonne is revealed to now be a well-respected judge within this new society, no longer protecting people in a physical sense but doing so in a way that defends their livelihoods and rights instead. Helping an estranged Carl get out of a predicament that would have seen him heavily reprimanded due to his violent actions against a zombie that rightfully belonged to Maggie Greene’s son, Hershel, Michonne shows that she’s no stranger to doing what’s right in a world that’s still finding out exactly what "right" means.
Not only that, but compared to the doomed Rick and by extension his traumatized son, Carl, Michonne has it all together in more facets of her life than expected. From finding her long thought dead daughter, slipping into the natural extension of her pre-apocalypse role by taking on the gig of a judge, successfully reintegrating into a budding society with purpose, and above all else, becoming a better, more well-rounded, and transformed character than what she was like when everything started, Michonne accomplishes things that Rick was never able to finish himself before he died, giving her a far more legitimate claim when throwing her hat into the "real hero of the story" ring.
Also getting a far more satisfying ending compared to the unfortunate and unceremonious way that Rick’s story concluded, Michonne is one of the only main characters that has been at the forefront of near every major Walking Dead event since its inception and lived to tell the tale, placing her directly in the conversation of being the true hero of this series. Oftentimes acting as the moral compass to Rick's more savage actions, it makes sense that Michonne is the person who can return to the service of others when the zombie plague is under control, making her a hero in more ways than one and outshining Rick in ways he could never achieve, despite how hard he tried to be the kind of person Michonne ultimately becomes.
So while Rick Grimes may go down as the most integral and popular character in this popular zombie-tinged series, the real hero of it all is arguably the badass warrior turned judge, Michonne. The Walking Dead comic is long over, but Michonne will always be remembered as a character who gave it her all at every turn before, during, and after the zombie apocalypse, and because of that, she became the real hero this series deserved.