We got the final Wonder Woman trailer last night. So we took that, and every other bit of footage we’ve seen, and teased out as many plot points and rumors as we could.
“Diana, fighting does not make you a hero,” says Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen).
Little child Diana responds, “What if I promise to be careful? Just as you have been?”
“Be careful of mankind, Diana. They do not deserve you.”
“You have told me this.”
This trailer features a lot of young Diana, which it looks like will help explain why Diana decides to go off and help in World War I. What’s really interesting here is that, if this summary of the motivations of the villain is true, than Hippolyta and Ares (rumored to be played by David Thewlis, but it’s unconfirmed) have a bit in common, mainly a hatred of mankind: Ares out of envy for how Zeus treated them better than the gods and Hippolyta out of anger for mankind enslaving the Amazons in the past.
We know several new things about this scene: The first is that takes place about halfway through the movie. The second is the reason Diana (Gal Gadot) crosses no man’s land is because she sees “women and children” in danger from the Germans and decides to rescue them all on her own. The third—and likely a major part of the reason we’ve seen this scene so often in the trailers—is when she takes off her robe and walks up the ladder, it’s the first time she’s seen in the iconic Wonder Woman outfit in this movie.
Director Patty Jenkins said of the scene, “It’s when she says, ‘Enough is enough.’”
Back to young Diana! Hippolyta says, “I do not deserve you.”
Diana: “You’ve told me this story.”
Presumably this is her origin story, but exactly what her origin is in the movie is a mystery. The traditional backstory for Wonder Woman has her made from clay. However, evidence and rumor suggest that Diana’s movie origin follows DC Comics’ New 52 continuity and, therefore, Diana’s father is Zeus.
Which is interesting, because in timeline of this movie has Zeus very dead at the hand of Ares, the last remaining (but injured by Zeus) god. Themiscyra was, in this movie, created by Zeus in his dying moments as a safe haven for the Amazons.
Here, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes in the waters near Themiscyra having stolen information about a dangerous chemical being deployed by the Germans. He’s a spy AND a pilot. Quite a catch!
Steve: “What is this place? Who are you people?”
Diana: “We are the bridge to a greater understanding.”
Steve’s face says it all in terms of how little sense that makes. Also, I really feel there is some dialogue cut out to make this a funny moment for the trailer.
We’ve seen some of this scene, where Steve explains WWI to the Amazons, before. Now, though, we see that he’s answering Hippolyta’s questions with some lassos of truth secured around him, meaning we can trust everything he saying here.
And what he says—although it’s in voiceover and thus could be from a different scene entirely—is that the danger comes from someone the “boys in the trenches” called Doctor Poison.
The scene shows Steve witnessing a bit of what Doctor Poison’s gas can do, even with a gas mask.
The confirmation of even one of the villains is a big deal. Doctor Poison was one of Wonder Woman’s earliest comic foes, seen back in the ‘40s; her real name is Princess Maru, and she was a Nazi spy trying to infect the US Army’s water and who manages to capture Steve and Diana. Doctor Poison returned in the late ‘90s, but this time it was Maru’s granddaughter behind the mask. Both of these incarnations of the villain dressed to keep their gender ambiguous.
There was yet another Doctor Poison when DC Comics launched its New 52 reboot; this time as the daughter of Russian chemists who researched poisons and died in Siberia after the U.S. fails to recruit them. (And then, DC’s recent event, Rebirth, changed her origin again, making her a Japanese woman working for an organization her family founded, named Poison.
The thing is that all of these origins are tied to a time later than the movie is set. Nazi, the granddaughter of a Nazi, or the daughter of Russian scientists imprisoned in Siberia—all of these backgrounds don’t fit WWI. Ironically, the easiest one to retcon is the Rebirth version, since “working for my family’s poison company” is pretty generic. That said, the Japanese were allies with the U.S. and Britain in WWI.
I think we’re most likely to see some remixed version of the original Doctor Poison, but the important thing is that she has a drug to turn the tide of the war and I bet anything it’s still called “Reverso.”
“Millions would die, the war would never end,” says Steve. This seems to get to Diana, and, I bet the notion of a never-ending war cements in her mind that this is the work of Ares.
Diana: “I’m going, Mother.”
Hippolyta: “If you choose to leave, you may never return.”
“Who will I be if I stay?” It’s dramatic scenes like this one, shot in the dark, where Wonder Woman fits seamlessly into the style of the rest of the DC films so far.
Here’s more proof of Diana’s skills, which are also and these are extended versions of scenes we’ve seen before of Diana gathering up what she needs for her trip and taking some prized artifacts.
Everything in the trailer is from the first half of the movie, basically, and that’s a fairly standard way of keeping these secret. That means that, outside of Diana’s childhood, this trailer is mostly extended versions of what we’ve already seen.
From other trailers, we know Diana’s training has been particularly intense, possibly because her whole life’s purpose is to slay Ares.
Lasso, shield, sword, and tiara. Plotwise, the sword is particularly important—it’s the Godkiller, made by Zeus, and since there’s only one god left, we know who Diana is seeking out to destroy. Presumably getting rid of it ishigh up on Ares’ to-do list. Steve’s information about the poison and the presence of the sword help explain the invasion of Themiscyra we’ve seen so prominently in other trailers.
Just pointing out that there’s never enough Etta Candy (Lucy Davis).
Sir Patrick (David Thewlis) asks who this young woman is. Now, if the rumors that he’s really Ares are true, he’s a) playing both sides (which is obvious and makes sense) and b) it’s a really bad idea for Diana to reveal anything about herself to him.
Our own Evan Narcisse noticed something very particular about this pose:
That pose may come from the cover, but there are a lot of things from that cover that seem to have made it into this movie. The use of her bracelets kind of match what we see from later in this scene, for example.
Steve’s struggles to explain who Diana is are intercut with bits from the fight against the Germans that now look like her saving people right after that no man’s land scene.
Eventually, Diana tries to introduce herself as “Diana, Princess of Themiscyra” only for Steve to interrupt with “Diana Prince.” And that’s how this particular pseudonym is born in this universe.
If he isn’t who he appears and is Ares, this look could easily be translated to “I know you’re lying.”
This is one of the very few clips that looks like it’s definitely from the end of the film. It’s the only hint that Diana’s going to end up fighting something more powerful than just Germans.
Steve and Diana are obviously undercover here, and I think Diana believes—as we have been sort of led to assume but not told—that German general Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) is actually Ares. That’s why she takes the sword with her to the party, I bet. But I think it’s too obvious and, again, too early in the film.
Ludendorff asking, “What are you?” kind of clinches that he’s not Ares for me. Although that doesn’t stop Diana from saying he will find out and coming at him with the Godkiller.
This is one of the few scenes we’ve seen that alludes to the fact that Steve and Diana aren’t going on this journey alone. And since the picture of her that Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne had in Batman v. Superman was of a whole group, here’s them in action.
The white of what I’m guessing is the poison being destroyed kind of looks like the beam of whatever Diana’s blocking with her shield earlier in the trailer.
This bit from Diana’s early life and training we’ve seen in trailers before, but it’s a good reminder that there’s something special about the princess that Diana herself isn’t being told.
This is the last trailer and still we haven’t seen Ares at all, even though his presence in the movie has been pretty much confirmed. Something about him is a big old twist, then. It’s probably a) the Thewlis rumor and b) Diana not knowing that the God of War is more or less her step-brother. Which, ugh—last minute familial relationships was a place I was hoping one movie would avoid. The character traditionally made of clay seemed like a safe bet, but I guess someone thought that wouldn’t make her relatable.
That said, now we’ve got a much better idea of what’s happening in this movie. We already knew that it was a flashback—confirmed by the shots of Diana walking past the modern Louvre in other trailers. The photo triggers her memories. And now we know that the flashback goes way back to her early childhood, not just her first meeting with Steve Trevor. This is going to be an origin story with an emphasis on the origin.
Wonder Woman is out June 2.