Why Wonder Woman’s DCEU Origin Change Was A Perfect Choice

For the DCEU’s Wonder Woman, the change to the character’s established comic book origin was actually a perfect thematic choice. After being introduced into the DCEU in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was afforded her own solo movie to serve as an origin story. This story saw Captain Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) arrive on Themyscira and alert the Amazons to World War I, which their sheltered existence has prevented them from being aware of. Believing the war to be the work of Ares, Diana leaves with Trevor in the hopes of killing the God of War.

In the comics, however, Wonder Woman’s original backstory was somewhat different. The biggest difference is a matter of decades, as in the comics, Diana originally left Themyscira during World War II, where she met Steve Trevor. Though the distinction may seem relatively small, the massive progress of society, as well as the sociological hardships of the era, means that the world changed drastically in those two decades.

This actually repaints Diana’s entire origin story for the better within the DCEU. As her main motivation is being appalled by the horrors of war enough to want to kill Ares, it actually makes far more sense for the story to occur during the First World War than the Second. It may ultimately seem an inconsequential change, but the subtle differences it creates in the film’s deeper themes actually strengthen Wonder Woman‘s story considerably. The idea of Wonder Woman pursuing the God of War worked particularly well within the film due to the history surrounding World War I. At the time, it was a war on a scale that had never before been fathomed, with millions dead and new weapons creating a seemingly endless stream of destruction that spanned practically the entire globe. This actually makes Wonder Woman‘s central premise – where Ares is at least indirectly responsible for the First World War – far more impactful, as it sees Diana truly face the ugliness that mankind is capable of.

The use of World War I as Wonder Woman‘s setting rather than World War II also made more sense with regard to the film’s supporting characters. Wonder Woman‘s Steve Trevor was equally horrified by the war, and it gave him and Diana common ground from which to begin their relationship. Were the film set during World War II, Steve would have grown up experiencing the horrors of war, and would likely have been a little less affected by it. Having Steve share Diana’s disbelief at the scale of the death and destruction of the First World War gave the two very different characters a common motivation.

Though Wonder Woman may not have been the most faithful adaptation of its titular character, its change of time periods was completely justified. The film’s World War I story allowed for the symbolic moment of Wonder Woman storming No Man’s Land, which showed the hero standing up against the tide of war in a clear representation of the hope she inspires in mankind. With that considered, in terms of the film’s thematic impact, the choice to change Diana’s origin story for Wonder Woman was actually perfect.