Genocide is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. Genocide is a superweapon created by the Secret Society of Super Villains to fight

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

. Her powers have yet to be revealed in full.

Publication history

Genocide first appeared in ''Wonder Woman'' vol. 3 #26 and was created by

Gail Simone Gail Simone (aka Gladys Simonetti) is an American writer best known for her work in comics on DC's ''Birds of Prey'', '' Batgirl'', Dynamite Entertainment's Red Sonja, and for being the longest running female writer on Wonder Woman to date. Othe ...

Fictional character biography

At some point in the future, Ares steals the dead body of

. He comes back through time and manipulates Dr. Barbara Minerva, the power behind the Secret Society of Super Villains, and Dr. T.O. Morrow to gather a team of

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

s to collect soil samples from various regions of Earth where acts of genocide took place over the past 100 years ranging from 1908 to 2008.''DC Universe'' #0 (June 2008). DC Comics. The scientists, with the magical help of

Felix Faust Felix Faust is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Justice League of America #10'' (1962), created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. He is depicted as an mystic sorcerer obse ...

, use the soil to further empower the corpse of Wonder Woman with the evil energy of death and destruction. The result is the creation of the sadistic monster Genocide, brought to life through a combination of science and magic. T.O. Morrow believed Genocide was too unstable to be let loose, and pleaded with Minerva to terminate the project. Further validating his point, Genocide even attacked her fellow team member Phobia, nearly killing her. Despite this, Morrow's words of caution were completely ignored. Dr. Minerva initially set Genocide loose at a shopping mall in downtown Washington D.C. to draw the Justice League's attention. The

Department of Metahuman Affairs The Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) is a government agency in the DC Universe appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was co-created by Dan Curtis Johnson and J. H. Williams III and first appeared in ''Batman'' #55 ...

dispatched a team of agents, which included Agent Diana Prince to investigate the disturbance. After Diana changed into her super powered alter ego, Genocide beat

nearly to the point of death and stole her

Lasso of Truth The Lasso of Truth is a weapon wielded by DC Comics superhero Wonder Woman, Princess Diana of Themyscira. It is also known as the Lariat of Truth, the Magic Lasso, the Lasso of Hestia or the Golden Perfect. It was created by William Moulton Mars ...

. After having the lasso surgically grafted into her body by the new Crime Doctor, Genocide was sent to the home base of the Department of Metahuman Affairs to retrieve the captive

Doctor Psycho Doctor Psycho is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superhero Wonder Woman. First appearing in ''Wonder Woman'', issue #5 (1943), written by Wonder Woman creator W ...

. She slaughtered nearly everyone there before being attacked by the Justice League. Genocide quickly defeated

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

Firestorm A firestorm is a conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system. It is most commonly a natural phenomenon, created during some of the largest bushfires and wildfires. Although the term has been used ...

, and

Red Tornado Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

. However, once Wonder Woman returned to the battle with reinforcements and the creature was close to being overwhelmed, Genocide tapped into a facet of Wonder Woman's lasso that allowed her to create an explosion of negative psychic energy. The blast destroyed the Department of Metahuman Affairs building and killed the majority of persons left in its wake. The resulting after-effect overwhelmed the few survivor's emotions and rationality, causing them to react negatively. Before leaving, Genocide kidnapped Wonder Woman's friend

Etta Candy Etta Candy is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as the best friend of the superhero Wonder Woman. Spirited and vivacious, with a devil-may-care attitude, Etta debuted as a young white woman with ...

. Genocide tortured her, ultimately leaving Etta in a comatose state for Wonder Woman to later find. Athena reveals to Diana the truth behind Genocide and that the creature will be used by Ares as an instrument to destroy the gods and heroes unless Diana can stop her. Upon learning this, Diana attacked Genocide with renewed vigor, ripping the surgically implanted lasso from Genocide's body and leaving her to drown in the ocean. When Diana went to retrieve the body, she discovered that Genocide had disappeared. Ares arranged for

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...

's son Euphemus to bring him her body so that he can heal her wounds. He then transferred Genocide's soul into a clay figure of a demon child and placed it in the care of a rogue Amazon warrior named Alkyone who is determined to destroy Diana. When Alkyone becomes the new Queen of Themyscira, she magically causes the spirit of Genocide to enter herself and three other Amazon allies by sacrificing the clay figure. Their present status is unknown as Wonder Woman slammed the

Hecatonchires In Greek mythology, the Hecatoncheires ( grc-gre, Ἑκατόγχειρες, , Hundred-Handed Ones), or Hundred-Handers, also called the Centimanes, (; la, Centimani), named Cottus, Briareus (or Aegaeon) and Gyges (or Gyes), were three monstrous ...

Cottus on top of them causing the stone monument they stood upon to crumble to the sea. The either unconscious or dead bodies of several of the Genocide-possessed Amazons were dragged to the shore by other non-possessed Amazons. In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "

DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 initiative in May 2016 as its launching point, DC Rebirth restored the DC ...

", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "

The New 52 The New 52 is the 2011 revamp and relaunch by DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic books. Following the conclusion of the " Flashpoint" crossover storyline, DC canceled all its existing titles and debuted 52 new serie ...

". In this continuity, Genocide is a golem of unknown origin where she was defeated by Wonder Woman and the past and buried on the island of the Gargareans in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Sometime later, Paula von Gunther in her alias of Warmaster unearthed Genocide and used her blood to revive her. She then recruited Genocide to join her Four Horsewomen alongside Armageddon III and Devastation while planning to use Genocide as a weapon to use against the Amazons. While Warmaster battled Wonder Woman and managed to pierce the superheroine's shoulder with the Spear of Gudra, she threatened to have Genocide kill all the heroes guarding the portal to Themyscira unless Wonder Woman opened it and allowed her inside.

Soil sample locations

The known soil samples Genocide was created with were taken from: * Auschwitz, Poland - Samples collected by

Professor Ivo Professor Anthony Ivo (pronunciation: Eye-voh) is a supervillain and mad scientist in DC Comics. He is the creator of the android villain Amazo and, along with villainous scientist T.O. Morrow, the co-creator of the android Tomorrow Woman. As a r ...

and Red Volcano. * Logor Jasenovac, Croatia - Samples collected by

Doctor Poison Doctor Poison is a fictional character appearing in DC Comics publications and related media, commonly as a recurring adversary of the superheroine Wonder Woman. A sadistic bioterrorist with a ghoulish face, she first appeared in 1942’s ''Sensat ...

II. *

Darfur, Sudan Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju ...

- Samples collected by an as-yet-unknown member with black gloves, probably T.O. Morrow. * Rwanda''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 3) #30 (May 2009). DC Comics. - Samples collected by an as-yet-unrevealed member. *

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

- Samples collected by an as-yet-unrevealed member.

Powers and abilities

The full extent of Genocide's abilities has yet to be revealed. Genocide has superhuman strength, durability and speed. She also has the ability to teleport. Genocide can project anger, fear, and despair to weaken her enemies. Being a magical construct, she is nearly indestructible and can heal any damage her body receives. Because Genocide bears the body of the future Wonder Woman, she can tap into the

to create a large explosion of negative psychic energy. The explosion can not only destroy nearby solid material and people, but also leaves survivors with a backlash of such negative emotion that they do not think or act rationally.''Wonder Woman'' (vol. 3) #28-29 (March–April 2009). DC Comics. She has effortlessly defeated the Justice League of America and nearly killed Wonder Woman herself.

References

External links

Genocide
at DC Wiki

Newsarama Newsarama is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website GamesRadar+, also owned by FutureUS. History ...