Being a warrior as well as a hero, Wonder Woman has killed various enemies before with her most gruesome kill being way too graphic for the DCEU. The comics needn’t worry about this, and thus have been able to have Wonder Woman perform the violence she is unable to on the big screen.

Wonder Woman learned the ways of a warrior from the Amazons on Themyscira. This taught her a variety of martial abilities and also prepared her to use them. Beyond her powers, this training is what makes her such an effective hero. It has aided her in defeating godlike threats that she could not defeat through mere strength alone. It has also occasionally put her at odds with Batman and Superman, who are less willing to kill. This happened most famously when she killed Maxwell Lord to release Superman from his control. But while Lord was probably her most impactful kill, her most gruesome kill occurred when she battled the Gorgon Medusa.

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In Wonder Woman #210 by Greg Rucka and Drew Johnson, Wonder Woman must fight Medusa in a one-on-one fight to the death. The gorgon previously killed a young boy close to Diana, so the Amazon is out for revenge. Medusa tries to get Wonder Woman to meet her gaze in order to turn her to stone, but Wonder Woman has various precautions in place to prevent that, like a blindfold worn under her helmet. Eventually, Medusa does manage to strip Wonder Woman of her armor and protection, but upon doing so Diana grabs some of her snake hair and sprays its venom in her eyes, blinding herself. She is then able to chop off her opponent's head without having to fear petrification.

Wonder Woman Comic Blinds and Kills Medusa

Not only is a beheading too extreme for a PG-13 movie, but Diana blinding herself with acid is a bit too graphic, as well. But the violence displayed in the comic is not gratuitous despite its extremity; Wonder Woman blinding herself shows both her ingenuity and her dedication. There was no guarantee that she would ever be able to recover her sight (and indeed she remained blind for a non-negligible amount of time afterwards, which is shocking given that DC rarely lets heroes have lasting injuries), but she was willing to make that sacrifice for the greater good. And her graphic beheading of Medusa both hearkens back to ancient myth and reveals the anger Wonder Woman holds towards the villain.

Wonder Woman is the only major DC superhero who could have dealt with Medusa this way. Other heroes would have shied away from such violent tactics or not have had the resolve to painfully blind themselves, but as a warrior trained to fight legendary monsters since childhood Diana was able to do what needed to be done.

It is a shame that this side of Wonder Woman is too graphic for film,as it is an awesome part of her character and something that sets her apart from the rest of the Justice League.

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