Why Wonder Woman had to be set in World War I
Wed, Jun 07, 2017 1:00pm
Spoilers below.
Like her fellow star-spangled superhuman Captain America, Wonder Woman has always been closely and explicitly associated with World War II. In her 1941 debut in All Star Comics #8, Diana is specifically sent by her mother Queen Hippolyta into Man's World to help Steve Trevor fight the Nazis. For much of the decade-long run of Sensation Comics, the anthology series Wonder Woman more or less anchored, she fought alongside Steve Trevor (with the occasional help of Etta Candy and her sorority) against Nazi villainesses like Doctor Poison and Baroness Paula von Gunther.
Throughout the years, there have been some attempts to update Wonder Woman for the modern day. Some are more straightforward, like just introducing the concept of pants. Others have been just bizarre, like that time Diana gave up her powers to run a mod boutique and learn kung fu. (Oh yeah.) But despite her immortality, her origin story is so rooted in World War II that there's always a whiff of that time period about her.
So when it was announced that the first Wonder Woman feature film would be set against the backdrop of World War I, I had to double-check to make sure that there wasn't a numeral missing. At the time, I lacked all faith in the DC Extended Universe, having born witness to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, so I, quite uncharitably, assumed it was Warner Brothers trying to unsubtly stand out from the competition by using World War I as decorative wallpaper.
I'm very happy to report that I was wrong. Not only is Wonder Woman superior to Batman v Superman in every respect, it also uses its World War I setting thoughtfully and cohesively as an integral part of the story.
... up until about the third act, unfortunately, but we'll get to that.
Early in the film, Hippolyta reads baby Diana a bedtime story about the history of their people. It is the Amazons' sacred duty, she tells her, to guard against Ares, the god of war, whose return will herald the war to end all wars. Should he ever arise, it will fall to the Amazons to stop him and save the world.
Little Diana grows up believing that story word for word. When Steve Trevor falls into their lives and tells them of the great war, she believes that Ares has returned and, as the only Amazon willing to help Steve, it is her sacred duty to accompany into Man's World. Diana is supremely confident that if she just kills the right bad man, everyone will be freed from his corrupting influence and peace will reign once more.
