Absolute Wonder Woman #24 is set to bring the series’ “Heretic” storyline into a sharper, more openly divine conflict. Diana’s personal search for a lost friend remains at the center of the issue, but Gateway City is now buckling under the pressure of gods intervening in mortal affairs. The immediate question is not merely whether she can win a fight: it is whether a hero already dealing with loss can keep pursuing someone important while the city around her becomes a battleground.

The issue is due in comic shops on September 23, 2026, from DC Comics. Kelly Thompson is credited as writer, with Hayden Sherman credited for art and the main cover. The standard issue carries a suggested retail price of $4.99; listed variant covers by Terry Dodson, Chris Burnham and Carmine Di Giandomenico are each priced at $5.99.

The supplied premise frames Diana as someone who has endured major losses over the preceding month and is unwilling to abandon her search for her friend. That motivation matters because “Heretic” is not positioned as a detached mythology spectacle. The conflict in Gateway City grows out of a very personal refusal to give up.

Gateway City’s crisis is described as the result of gods “putting their fingers on the scale.” In practical story terms, that phrase signals unequal power and intervention: powerful figures are not simply watching events unfold, but actively tilting conditions against ordinary people and against Diana. The city’s chaos and reported heretical rebellion therefore form a backdrop where belief, authority and fear are all under pressure.

That is a useful setup for Wonder Woman specifically. Diana is confronting beings with divine status while maintaining a commitment to a human-scale objective: finding a friend. The issue’s tension appears to come from the collision of those two responsibilities. Saving the city may require everything she has, yet stopping the search would be its own kind of defeat.

Weapons made in hell, forged by an unusual trio

Diana returns to the surface with new weapons forged by Diana, Circe and Hephaestus. The book’s use of “hellforged” establishes more than a decorative fantasy label. These are weapons tied to an underworld setting, and their creation joins three figures whose presence makes the process feel consequential: Diana herself, Circe and Hephaestus.

Hephaestus is identified here as one of the makers, which gives the weapons a direct link to divine craft. Circe’s role makes the alliance more complicated. The available details do not establish why the characters work together, how much any party trusts the others, or the full nature of the armaments. What is clear is that Diana is not simply handed a convenient upgrade. She participates in making tools intended for a fight that reaches beyond conventional superhuman danger.

Hellforged, in this context, means forged in or connected to hell rather than a technical claim about a real-world material or manufacturing process. The term tells readers to expect the weapons to carry supernatural weight and possibly unsettling imagery. It also contrasts with the heavenly or Olympian authority Diana is challenging: she is preparing to face gods with implements made outside the systems those gods command.

Preview material depicts Diana in red-and-black armor amid green underworld mist, holding a large blade and another glowing, organic-looking object. Those images suggest that the issue will make the weapons central visually as well as narratively. Still, the materials do not confirm the exact abilities, limits or names of the items, so readers should treat their full function as a question the comic itself will answer.

Phobos and Deimos bring fear to Gateway City

The gods named as Diana’s opponents are Phobos and Deimos, and the preview description presents their threat in emphatically public terms. They are said to create a false Eye of Zeus over Gateway City, turning the sky itself into a symbol of divine surveillance and intimidation.

Phobos and Deimos are associated with fear, a fitting choice for a storyline in which a city is descending into disorder. Fear is not just a monster to punch; it is a force that can reshape how people respond to authority, danger and each other. A giant false divine eye over an urban landscape is consequently more than an attack effect. It is a visual attempt to make people feel watched, powerless and subject to judgment.

The supplied preview details point toward an aerial confrontation as Diana calls on a skeletal winged Pegasus to face the pair over the city. That promises a major escalation from the underworld imagery surrounding her return to the surface. It also gives the issue two connected spaces of action: an underworld-associated forge and a sky over a civilian city transformed into a stage for godly intimidation.

Whether the hellforged weapons can actually repel Phobos and Deimos is the issue’s stated suspense point. The solicitation intentionally leaves that unresolved. Having extraordinary equipment does not automatically settle a story about gods, grief and fear; it instead gives Diana a chance to confront them on more even terms.

What readers can reasonably expect from issue #24

The available material supports a few clear expectations. First, #24 continues “Heretic,” rather than acting as an unrelated detour. Readers following Diana’s missing friend storyline should find that search still active. Second, the conflict shifts into a large-scale threat for Gateway City, with divine meddling affecting the wider setting. Third, the new weapons and the Phobos-and-Deimos showdown are not background details—they are the apparent centerpiece of the issue.

What should not be assumed is equally important. Nothing provided confirms the lost friend’s identity, a rescue, a permanent change to Diana’s arsenal, or the final outcome of the clash. Nor do the listed cover artists indicate different interior art or story content. They are variant cover options accompanying the same issue.

For readers who enjoy tracking a busy release calendar across comics and games, Joking Joystick’s look at a packed indie week of mechs, mayhem and DVD stores offers a separate snapshot of new genre releases. Absolute Wonder Woman #24, meanwhile, is firmly focused on Diana’s escalating mythology-driven ordeal.

Release and cover details

  • Title: Absolute Wonder Woman #24
  • Publisher: DC Comics
  • Release date: September 23, 2026
  • Writer: Kelly Thompson
  • Artist and main cover: Hayden Sherman
  • Standard SRP: $4.99
  • Listed variant covers: Terry Dodson, Chris Burnham and Carmine Di Giandomenico
  • Listed variant price: $5.99 each

With Diana carrying weapons forged alongside Circe and Hephaestus, a missing friend still driving her forward, and Phobos and Deimos turning Gateway City into the site of a divine fear campaign, #24 has the ingredients for a crucial “Heretic” chapter. The issue’s strongest hook is the balance between spectacle and purpose: Diana is going to war against gods, but she is doing so because someone she cares about has not been left behind.