The Wicked + The Divine - 10 Most Shocking Twists
3. Baal’s Sacrifices (Issue 35)
Baal is the closest thing the comic has to a male lead. He has always been level-headed, a father figure to Minerva and a reliable boyfriend to both Laura and Inanna. This made the twist of Issue 35 easily one of the comic’s most painful gut punches so far - and also one of the darkest things WicDiv has ever done.
It turned out that Baal was not the thunder god Baal Hadad, as he had always claimed, but was actually Baal Hamon god of (amongst other things) sacrifice. In order to hold the Great Darkness at bay, and keep his friends and family safe, Baal had been regularly sacrificing children at an altar hidden deep in the Pantheon’s base.
It was typical of WicDiv to so utterly flip reader expectations on their head like this. Really, it should have been obvious that the comic’s main good guy would be secretly performing such unspeakable acts. Even if he was doing it for the “right reasons” such actions are unforgivable and completely change how readers will respond to the character moving forward, not to mention making a re-read almost mandatory to look for any subtle hints or references.