Warning: Spoilers for Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #2 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, and Jen Bartel ahead
Love isn't easy, especially for Wonder Woman and Superman when the end of times is nearing and the world is breathing its last breaths. Unfortunately for Diana, these were the exact circumstances she found herself in when it came to her last love, Kal-El. In Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #2 readers get to experience what the end of Diana's life looks like in this storyline, as well as how love and loss affected her in her final moments.
In the first part of this two-issue series from DC's Future State event, readers saw a nostalgic and existentially lost Diana searching through rubble from days past in order to collect mementos of her fallen friends. It painted a picture of the woman Diana has become in the later events of this possible timeline: how her loss and solitude caused her to lose sight of the optimism and faith she always boasted. But in this second issue fans got to see what important relationship she did have left, and how it would affect her for centuries.
This isn't the first instance in which Superman and Wonder Woman have found romance, but it may be the most tragically beautiful yet. When the end of days is approaching, and Diana and Clark are the only two true heroes of Earth left, they find solace in each other's company; more than that, they find love. Unfortunately, as Diana recounts while flying through space centuries after the events of the first issue, Clark didn't make it to the end with her. Darkseid had made his way to Earth after the destruction of his world, and together Diana and Clark set out to protect it one last time, only Superman was set on protecting Diana from destruction as well. He told her this was not her fate, grabbed Darkseid, and flew directly into the sun to destroy the alien villain, as well as himself and his only source of power. He thought of her in his final moments, but she was not the love on his mind in his final thoughts.
It's obvious from just a few pages that they both cared deeply for one another, but even Diana knew that from the beginning the Earth was the thing that meant the most to him and was the thing that gave Superman purpose. It seems that all the love in the world can't fill the void that presents itself to a hero when they feel their reason for fighting is gone. It really goes to show how much the orphan alien truly found solace and motivation in his adoptive planet. His whole life was devoted to protecting the human race and their home from any type of harm that could befall it. Without it, it makes sense that he'd lose the will to go on, even given the romantic relationship he'd formed with his long-time friend.
It's heartbreaking to see Diana so filled with sorrow when she normally puts on such a strong front, but his sacrifice and devotion are what help motivate her to keep going. By acknowledging that there was still more left for her to do, he reinvigorated the glimmer of hope that makes Wonder Woman the hero she is. Even centuries later, on the cusp of surrender, the memories of her love and her friends are what remind her to keep going and find the solace she's been seeking. It truly speaks to the power of the bonds Wonder Woman forms, and how much they play into her character as a whole. This may not have been a particularly happy ending, but the fact that she kept Clark's, and everyone else's, memory alive even at the end is pretty powerful in its own right.