Former CIA Agent Tom King Admits New Wonder Woman Book Is Inspired By Fake News About President Donald Trump
John F. Trent
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DC Comics writer and former CIA agent Tom King who also happens to be one of the announced architects behind James Gunn’s DC Universe recently admitted that his upcoming Wonder Woman story is inspired by fake news about President Donald Trump.
Wonder Woman #1 Cover H by Mikel Janin (2023), DC
Speaking with CBR about the upcoming series, King was asked about this idea to have the United States government pass the Amazon Safety Act that bars Amazons from U.S. soil.
This plot point was revealed in the comic’s official description which states, “After a mysterious Amazonian is accused of mass murder, Congress passes the Amazon Safety Act, barring all Amazons from U.S. soil. To carry out their plans, the government starts a task force, the Amazon Extradition Entity (A.X.E.), to remove those who don’t comply, by any means necessary.”
It concludes, “Now, in her search for the truth behind the killing, Wonder Woman finds herself an outlaw in the world she once swore to protect!”
Wonder Woman #1 Cover G by Matteo Scalera (2023), DC
After explaining why he believes Wonder Woman being a rebel differentiates her from Superman and Batman and that he’s attempting to have the book appeal to his own teenagers because Wonder Woman is somehow against the status quo, he revealed the inspiration for the Amazon Safety Act was Donald Trump’s signing of Executive Order 13769 titled Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.
King explained, “I don’t want this to be my Twitter feed. It has to be bigger than life. It has to be a cooler metaphor and not an actuality. I wanted her to rebel against the government and be like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Hulk — someone throwing tanks around.”
“The way that I made that relevant was this idea that the U.S. has turned on the Amazons in a way that resembles the McCarthy era or [the] Muslim ban we had at the beginning of the Trump Administration. All of that power and force comes to her, and she’s the one who says, ‘No more. No, thank you.'”
Wonder Woman #1 Cover F by Chris Bachalo (2023), DC
The “Muslim ban” moniker was a narrative created by opponents of Donald Trump in an attempt to weaponize identity politics against him. The executive order did not name any countries and certainly did not name the Muslim religion. Instead it stated, “Suspension of Issuance of Visas and Other Immigration Benefits to Nationals of Countries of Particular Concern.” Those countries of particular concern at the time had been determined by the Department of Homeland Security as Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq.
Upon further review following the signing of the Executive Order North Korea, Venezuela, and Chad were also added to the list. Iraq was removed from the list.
Even Factcheck.org admitted, “In January 2017, the Pew Research Center estimated that Trump’s original executive order would affect only about 12 percent of Muslims in the world.” The idea it was a Muslim ban was utterly ridiculous.
Wonder Woman #1 Cover C by Julian Totino (2023), DC
Not only did King reveal he was inspired by fake news surrounding President Donald Trump, he further explained how Wonder Woman turning to violence means she’s losing.
Previously, King informed ComicBook Nation that he sees Wonder Woman as a contradiction.
He explained, “As for like who she is as a character, I mean she’s a contradiction. That’s the hard about it. The hard part about writing her is that she’s almost radical in sort of her belief in love, compassion, and peace. Much more so than sort of Superman and Batman.
He continued, “But she’s also, you know, a warrior born. She’s someone who comes from a society involved in sort of an endless conflict who trains you to fight. She comes from sort of that Game of Thrones atmosphere.”
“And those two contradictions live inside of her. She’s someone who wants peace, but makes war. And her having to deal with that makes her one of the more interesting characters in fiction,” he answered.
Wonder Woman #1 Cover A by Daniel Sampere (2023), DC
He elaborated on this idea to CBR, “I think the contradiction at the heart of Wonder Woman that makes her interesting and not just someone up on a pedestal is that she’s a warrior for peace. She’s super empathetic but a warrior for peace. That means every time she throws a punch, every time she’s fighting, she’s losing. Every time she turns to violence, she’s failing, and her life is violence.”
“What does that mean for her over the long term? That’s part of what makes her a warrior. Her war is failure. That makes her interesting, compelling, and a cooler character. She’s not someone on a pedestal but someone who is down here on Earth making decisions and compromises that affect all of our lives, putting that good above herself,” he concluded.
Wonder Woman #1 Cover B by Stanley “Artgerm” Lau (2023), DC
Despite being a former CIA agent and serving time in Iraq, King appears to have no concept that one can indeed wage war and being violent in order to achieve peace.
The National Conference of Catholic Bishops explain this fundamental reality in The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response that St. Augustine viewed war “in some cases at least, to restrain evil and protect the innocent. The classic case which illustrated his view was the use of lethal force to prevent aggression against innocent victims. Faced with the fact of attack on the innocent, the presumption that we do no harm, even to our enemy, yielded to the command of love understood as the need to restrain an enemy who would injure the innocent.”
he document goes on to explain that recourse to war is permissible “only to confront ‘a real and certain danger’ i.e., to protect innocent life, to preserve conditions necessary for decent human existence, and to basic human rights. As both Pope Pius XII and Pope John XXIII made clear, if war of retribution was ever justifiable, the risks of modern war negate such a claim today.”
Thus Diana’s belief in “love, compassion, and peace” actually coincides with her being a warrior and waging war on those who put the lives of innocents at risk.
Wonder Woman #1 Cover D by Rose Besch (2023), DC
What do you make of Tom King confirming his new Wonder Woman book is about propagandizing current day identity politics to a new generation?
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