FILM · 2017 · USA
Wonder Woman
- Directed by
- Patty Jenkins
- Runtime
- 141 min
- Studio
- Atlas Entertainment, Cruel & Unusual Films, DC Films
153 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
An Amazon princess comes to the world of Man in the grips of the First World War to confront the forces of evil and bring an end to human conflict.
153 Interesting Facts About Wonder Woman
Interesting Facts (60)
- #001
The Amalfi Coast in southern Italy stood in for Themyscira. Production designer Aline Bonetto called it the perfect location: "Italy had beautiful weather, a beautiful blue-green sea, not too much tide, not too much wave."
- #002
Gal Gadot trained for nine months and put on seventeen pounds of pure muscle, but it didn't show in the final film, and many fans felt she looked too thin for the character.
Wonder Woman (2017): Diana Prince / Wonder WomanImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 - #003
Contains a major spoiler — show
About 55 minutes in, when Sir Patrick is first seen speaking in the Council, he spots Diana in the crowd and looks shocked to see a woman in the council chamber. Look closer and his expression is one of fear: Ares has recognized the Godkiller sent to destroy him. He quickly regains his composure and hides his fear behind another explanation.
- #004
In the comics, Steve Trevor and Diana met during World War II (1939-45); in the film they meet during World War I (1914-18). The filmmakers moved the story because they found that period a better fit. As director Patty Jenkins put it: "World War I was the first time that civilization as we know it found its roots, but it's not a history we actually know much about. There are questions in this world about women's rights, about a mechanized war where you don't see who you are killing. It's a very interesting time."
- #005
About 56 minutes in: in the comics, Wonder Woman took the name Diana Prince from a U.S. Army nurse who looked very much like her and whose identity she bought during World War II. In this film, as she poses as Steve Trevor's secretary, Trevor cuts off her "I am Diana, Princess of…" and renames her "Prince. Diana Prince."
- #006
Diana's London scenes pay tribute to Superman (1978) and its hero's first brush with city life: the newcomer disguises herself in a formal suit with glasses, stops a mugging and has some trouble with a revolving door.
- #007
About 1 hour 25 minutes in, Steve Trevor sarcastically calls Diana's island home of Themyscira "Paradise Island," its original name in the early comics and in Wonder Woman (1975). In the 1980s, George Perez's revamped Wonder Woman stories gave the island its official Greek name, Themyscira.
- #008
Every design choice for Themyscira came down to the wishes of director Patty Jenkins and designer Lindy Hemming: "How would women want to live that's badass?" Hemming created a look that showed off the Amazons' toned shoulders and legs, set off by wrist guards and heeled sandals, because, as Jenkins explained: "As a woman, I want Wonder Woman to both fight and look great at the same time. To me, that means she has really long legs."
- #009
Contains a major spoiler — show
About 2 hours in, for the scene where Steve blows up the plane, director Patty Jenkins insisted the cockpit set be built on a gimbal to mimic the plane's movement. None of that movement shows on camera, but she wanted Chris Pine to feel the plane tilt as his character starts to climb, believing it would help his performance.
- #010
(About 1 hour 12 minutes) At first the No Man's Land scene puzzled some of the film's creative team. They saw it as an action scene and couldn't see how it would work without Diana fighting a villain. Patty Jenkins insisted it was a vital, dramatic moment that underlined Diana's self-belief and determination.
- #011
This was the first female-led superhero film in twelve years, since Marvel Studios' Elektra (2005). It is not the first female-led film based on a DC property (that honor goes to Supergirl (1984)), but the DCEU did beat the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to the first female-centered superhero film; Marvel didn't manage it until Black Widow (2021).
- #012
(About 29 minutes) Chris Pine wore a Speedo for his nude scene; it was digitally erased afterwards.
- #013
Patty Jenkins says the work of Wonder Woman's creator William Moulton Marston (the early stories in which Wonder Woman rescues Steve from the Germans) and of George Pérez (Greek gods meddling in the world) shaped the film.
Wonder Woman (2017): Steve Trevor and Diana Prince / Wonder WomanImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #014
(About 1 hour in) The con Sameer pulls in the bar has a lot in common with the notorious "Nigerian Prince" internet scam. He claims to come from an African country, talks up his fortune and falsely offers to share it in return for a small fee to help get it out of the country. This kind of scam, known as advance-fee fraud, has existed in various forms since the 18th century.
- #015
In the framing story, Diana wears a red turtleneck sweater and a ponytail, much like her civilian look in the second and third seasons of Wonder Woman (1975).
- #016
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the comics, Ares abandoned his plan to wipe everyone out when Wonder Woman pointed out it would destroy him too: with no people left to fight, there would be no war, and without war Ares would cease to exist. In the film, though, he is a more vengeful, jealous figure with plans for a future beyond the destruction.
- #017
(About 29 minutes) Patty Jenkins said Chris Pine's nude scene was a nod to the many films with female frontal nudity. Apparently the idea stuck with Pine, who appeared fully nude the following year in Outlaw King (2018).
Wonder Woman (2017): Steve TrevorImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #018
Contains a major spoiler — show
Diana takes her dress from a gala guest credited as Fausta Grables, the Swiss Nazi villain of the "Wonder Woman" comics, whom Lynda Day George had played in Fausta, the Nazi Wonder Woman (1976).
- #019
(About 57 minutes) Diana is introduced as Captain Steve Trevor's secretary in First World War Britain, a tribute to the first season of Wonder Woman (1975), in which she served in the Second World War as a yeoman (United States Navy Yeoman, Petty Officer, first class) to US Army Major Steve Trevor.
- #020
Throughout the film Diana wears her Amazon outfit under her other clothes; there is no transformation scene.
- #021
Steve flies from Turkey to Themyscira in a short-range plane, which puts the island somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. In most comic books, Themyscira lies somewhere in the Atlantic.
- #022
Nobody in the film ever calls Diana "Wonder Woman."
- #023
The horse-whipping scene, about 1 hour 11 minutes in, was shot after principal photography had wrapped. Director Patty Jenkins felt Diana's journey to the front lacked tension, so she added a moment in which Diana witnesses brutality.
- #024
The end credits include a dedication to Patty Jenkins's father, William T. Jenkins, who, like Steve Trevor, had been an Air Force captain and fighter pilot.
- #025
This is the first Wonder Woman who doesn't wear earrings. Wonder Woman (1975) wore red round earrings throughout the live-action series, as she did in Hanna-Barbera's long-running cartoon Super Friends (1973), while Cartoon Network's Justice League (2001) gave her white star earrings. In the earliest comics the earrings let her breathe in any environment, even space, but the idea was dropped as her powers grew.
- #026
Contains a major spoiler — show
(About 2 hours 5 minutes) The photo of Steve Trevor at the London memorial after the war is modeled on a photograph of Eddie Rickenbacker, an American fighter pilot of World War I. It uses the same squadron emblem, the 94th Aero Squadron's "hat in the ring", and the same aircraft number (5), though in Rickenbacker's photos he leans against the plane rather than standing with his back to it.
- #027
Filmmaker James Cameron, known for strong female action heroes, angered many Wonder Woman fans by saying that while the film was good, it was not especially groundbreaking, and was even a step backward for sexualizing its heroine to appeal to young boys. Putting a shapely model (Gal Gadot) in a tight, form-fitting costume, he said, had already been done in the 1960s, for example with Raquel Welch in films such as The Magic Christian (1969). Director Patty Jenkins replied that how Wonder Woman looks shouldn't make any difference: strength isn't the preserve of hard, tough, troubled women, so a woman also has the right to be beautiful, attractive and strong all at once. Cameron stood by his view, noting that he had deliberately desexualized Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Aliens (1986) to focus on who they were rather than how they looked, but admitted that his first reaction was "probably a little bit simplistic."
- #028
(About 18 minutes) When Diana saves Steve from drowning, he wakes up and says "Wow," American slang in use since the early twentieth century. That explains why Diana first speaks to him in English even though he is dressed as a German pilot.
- #029
Contains a major spoiler — show
The device Etta tries to save in the epilogue, seen in a drawing, is a Mother Box; it would go on to matter in Justice League (2017).
- #030
Diana's best friend and fellow hero Etta Candy was part of the original Wonder Woman comics created by William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter. Usually drawn as plump, she has been reimagined several times. Here she resembles her earliest version (though British rather than American), while the character's more recent comic book incarnation is African-American.
- #031
Contains a major spoiler — show
(About 1 hour 50 minutes) Near the end, Diana learns that her mother, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta, hid from her the fact that the god Zeus is her real father (an idea taken from the character's New 52 version), which makes Ares her half-brother. In classical Greek mythology, though, where the Amazons and the gods Zeus and Ares come from, Hippolyta was the daughter of Ares and so the granddaughter of Zeus.
- #032
Contains a major spoiler — show
(About 2 hours in) Ares orders Wonder Woman to kill Dr. Maru, but she refuses, and he turns away from her in frustration. The same thing happens in DC's "New 52" comics, but with the Minotaur.
- #033
This is the first live-action film to show Diana's childhood; every earlier live-action version showed her only as an adult.
- #034
It is the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), following Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Suicide Squad (2016).
- #035
Director Patty Jenkins and executive producer Geoff Johns rewrote most of Allan Heinberg's screenplay. To producer Charles Roven's dismay, a Writers Guild arbitration ruling denied the pair a writing credit. On top of that, Zack Snyder, Heinberg and Jason Fuchs got story credit despite contributing very little to the final screenplay. Roven added that Heinberg might have worked alongside Jenkins and Johns, but a television commitment kept him from continuing.
- #036
Zack Snyder originally pictured Wonder Woman chasing Ares through centuries of historical conflict, ending with her meeting Steve Trevor in the Crimean War in 1854. He had Stephen Berkman photograph Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman among soldiers of the period, meant to be the picture Bruce Wayne comes across in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). As screenwriter Jason Fuchs put it: "There was a great encounter between Diana and Florence Nightingale just before Diana joined the Charge of the Light Brigade." Patty Jenkins later reshaped the idea, swapping the Crimean War for World War I, and in 2021 Snyder posted Berkman's original photograph on Twitter.
Wonder Woman (2017): Steve Trevor and Diana Prince / Wonder WomanImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #037
Contains a major spoiler — show
About 1 hour 50 minutes in, Ares handles the Lasso of Truth without pain and says war and truth are one and the same, a moment taken from the "Warkiller" story.
- #038
Artemis fights the Germans with an axe. In the DC comics, Artemis wielded an axe as a member of the superhero team the Outlaws.
- #039
The German boats early in the film bear the name Schwaben, suggesting they come from a ship of that name (Schwaben is German for Swabia). There was a real German warship called Schwaben, but it spent the whole war in the Baltic Sea and on training duties.
- #040
Contains a major spoiler — show
(About 1 hour 55 minutes) When Steve gives Diana his watch, it reads about three minutes to 10:00. Back in the present at the Louvre, as Diana looks at the watch and the original plate of the photograph from Veld, she says it stopped at about ten past 10:00, when Steve blew up his plane and died in the explosion. The film's novelization backs this up.
- #041
Contains a major spoiler — show
Ares hides behind the alias Sir Patrick. The name Patrick comes from the Roman term "patricius" ("nobleman"), fitting for a Greco-Roman member of a divine ruling class.
- #042
Chris Pine made a point of getting into great shape for the film, especially because of his nude scene; the rest of the time he was bundled up in heavy First World War winter clothing.
Wonder Woman (2017): Steve TrevorImage: Wikimedia Commons · Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 - #043
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film has both Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff die in 1918. In reality, Hindenburg lived until 1934 and played a key part in Adolf Hitler's rise, and Ludendorff died in 1937, so the film arguably unfolds in an alternate history. Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) makes that even clearer, adding historical events that bend the timeline further.
- #044
All the Amazons went through the same training as the cast of 300 (2006), and getting them all into shape took four months.
- #045
In the Wonder Woman comics, the bracelets have a purpose. When the Amazons were enslaved by the Greeks and rebelled, Zeus ordered them to wear bracelets as a reminder of their enslavement by men. The bracelets have no real power, but they are made of a metal that can deflect bullets or stop a sword from cutting off an arm. If an Amazon took them off by force, she would lose all reason and go mad until they were put back on. As the film says, Zeus found them an island to hide on and made them immortal, barring death from wounds, and the Amazons became an elite fighting force with special powers.
- #046
Lilly Aspell (Young Diana) made her screen debut in this film.
- #047
Danny Huston plays a villainous First World War general who backs the use of disfiguring mustard gas, which left many veterans needing painted tin facial prostheses to cover their wounds when they came home. Danny Huston's nephew, Jack Huston, played a disfigured First World War veteran with a tin face prosthesis in Boardwalk Empire (2010).
- #048
At the end of the film (around the 2 hour 5 minute mark), as Diana looks at the photograph of Steve Trevor leaning against the plane, a red, white and blue roundel can be seen on the side of the aircraft. It marks Steve as a member of the American 96th Aero Squadron, commanded in World War I by the flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.
- #049
In Hippolyta's story about the gods (around the 6 minute mark), Poseidon wields a trident, the same weapon Aquaman uses in the DC Universe films.
- #050
Production designer Aline Bonetto and location manager Charlie Somers scouted 47 countries in search of the perfect Themyscira before settling on a stretch of the Italian coast.
- #051
No film directed by a woman had ever opened to more than $100 million domestically before this one.
- #052
When Steve Trevor finds the motorcycle, around 1 hour 40 minutes in, the moment recalls scenes from two other Chris Pine films: The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004) and Star Trek Beyond (2016).
- #053
At around the 30-minute mark, Diana asks Steve Trevor, "Would you say you're a typical example of your sex?" and he answers, "I am above average." Barbarella (1968) had a similar exchange, with Dildano asking Barbarella, "Are you typical of Earth women?" and her replying, "I'm about average."
- #054
It finished 2017 as the year's tenth highest-grossing film.
- #055
At around 1 hour 21 minutes, after the sniper's church is destroyed, the language being spoken is Flemish, the Belgian form of Dutch.
- #056
Sameer and Charlie both shoot their rifles left-handed.
- #057
David Thewlis and Steffan Rhodri were both in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), though they had no scenes together.
- #058
Contains a major spoiler — show
Before David Thewlis was cast, it was rumored that Sean Bean would play Ares. Bean had previously portrayed another Greek god, Zeus, in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), a film that also featured Alexandra Daddario, a fan favorite to play Wonder Woman. Eva Green was rumored to play Circe, but the character did not appear in the film; Green had played the ancient Greek queen Artemisia in 300: Rise of an Empire (2014).
- #059
Longtime DC Comics writer Grant Morrison pitched several DC film projects to Warner Bros. while working as a consultant in 2008, among them a Wonder Woman film. The Nazi invasion of Paradise Island was defeated with weapons that caused Wehrmacht soldiers to orgasm uncontrollably! Funnily enough, some readers felt the Amazon weapons were far more aggressive than guns that fire bullets and kill people. Or crippling swords! Is experiencing a non-consensual orgasm in the middle of battle really a worse prospect for some than a non-consensual bullet hitting your face?" Morrison eventually worked the scene into their graphic novel Wonder Woman: Earth One.
- #060
Paul Feig pitched a Wonder Woman film in 2013, shortly after The Heat (2013) premiered. According to IGN, his Wonder Woman "keeps hitting the glass ceiling" of the superhero world… [and] had to struggle against male heroes like Batman and Superman. Feig saw it as a "lighter action-comedy" along the lines of the Iron Man films. Warner Bros. passed, fearing that "fans can be quite protective of their characters and any changes made to them."
Production Story (70)
- #061
Director Patty Jenkins first held talks with Warner Bros. in 2005 and agreed to direct the film, but had to step down after an unexpected pregnancy. Jenkins said that although at that point, 14 years earlier in her career, she had directed only a low-budget drama and had no experience with big-budget action, this was the film she had always wanted to make, and she felt lucky to come back to it.
- #062
After its opening weekend, it overtook War Horse (2011) as the highest-grossing World War I film, and the first to take more than $100 million domestically.
- #063
Screenwriter Jason Fuchs said a post-credits scene featuring Kalibak, Darkseid's son, was planned but ultimately scrapped.
- #064
(At about 1 hour 9 minutes) The Chief's first words to Wonder Woman are: "Oki, niitaniiko Napi" in Blackfoot. This means "Hello, my name is Napi" in Blackfoot. Napi is a creative and trickster being; he is known for being very clever and resourceful. The producers confirmed that the Chief is actually a god.
- #065
(At about the 43rd minute) The discussion on the boat about "the pleasures of the flesh" was improvised.
- #066
(At about 3 minutes later) Some of the Amazons have a skin-colored fabric on one side of their chests, making it look almost as if one breast is exposed or missing (this is very noticeable in the opening scene when young Diana watches the training and Antiope comes over to speak with an Amazon dressed this way). This may be a nod to the fact that Amazons are often depicted in art with one breast exposed. Ancient sources even state that Amazons cut or burned off their breasts on their dominant side so that it would not hinder them in battle, especially in using the bow. Some ancient sources suggest this is the origin of their name; in Greek, "a-mazos" means "without breast."
- #067
General Erich Ludendorff was a real person and was ruthless; however, this was not more so than any high-ranking commander in the countries of World War I. As commander-in-chief of the German forces, he authorized the use of mustard gas, a corrosive substance that could literally melt tissue and cause temporary or permanent blindness, permanent lung damage, and an extremely painful death depending on exposure. With the armistice, Ludendorff later supported Adolf Hitler's failed coup, but he began to dislike Hitler long before the Nazis actually came to power.
- #068
(At about the 55th minute) When Sir Patrick is first seen speaking at the Council, he spots Diana in the crowd and is shocked to see a woman in the so-called council chamber. On closer inspection, his expression is one of fear, as Ares recognizes the Godkiller sent to destroy him. He regains his composure and hides his fear by offering the other explanation.
- #069
In the comics, Steve Trevor and Diana met during World War II (1939-45). However, in the film they meet during World War I (1914-18). The change in world wars was made because the producers found that period more suitable. According to director Patty Jenkins: "World War I was the first time that we found the roots of civilization as we know it, but it's not actually something whose history we know. There are questions in this world about women's rights, about a mechanized war where you don't see who you're killing. It's a very interesting time."
- #070
Although Dr. Maru's scars are implied to have been caused by fire, the disfigurement on her face is more consistent with the effects of real mustard gas. The gas is corrosive and attacks mucous tissues such as the eyes, mouth, and nose, leaving permanent scars. Her mask is also based on real prostheses created to conceal facial injuries. Developed by the French and British after the war, these devices were made of tin, painted to match skin tone, fitted with real hair if needed, and adjusted to the patient's face with glasses or straps. These were the first aesthetic prostheses created to help wounded soldiers regain some normality in their lives.
- #071
(At about 56 minutes) In the comics, Wonder Woman took the alias Diana Prince from a U.S. Army nurse who looked very much like her and whose identity she purchased during World War II. In this film, while posing as Steve Trevor's secretary, Trevor interrupts her introduction of "I am Diana, Princess of…" and renames her "Prince. Diana Prince."
- #072
Diana's scenes in London are a tribute to Superman (1978), in which Superman first encounters city life: the hero disguises himself in formal glasses and clothing, stops a mugging, and has some trouble with a revolving door.
- #073
(Around 1 hour 25 minutes) Steve Trevor mockingly refers to Diana's island home of Themyscira as "Paradise Island." This was the island's original name in the early comics and in Wonder Woman (1975). In the 1980s, the island received its official Greek name, Themyscira, in stories featuring George Perez's updated and revamped Wonder Woman.
- #074
(Around 1 hour 9 minutes) The actor who plays Chief, a Native Blackfoot named Eugene Brave Rock, did not know he was auditioning for a Wonder Woman film. Director Patty Jenkins asked him his views on stereotypes and explained that his character's name, "Chief," could not be changed due to obligations to DC Comics. Upon hearing the name DC Comics, he realized the part was for Wonder Woman. Jenkins then told him he would never have to be called "Chief" on screen and that if he could speak his own language, he could introduce himself and give himself a name in the film. He introduces himself as Napi, a Blackfoot creator and a clever trickster. He later said he was very proud to speak the Blackfoot tribe's language in a major motion picture and to say "Oki" to the world (loosely translated as "hello" but closer to a wish for a good life).
- #075
(Around 2 hours) For the scene where Steve blows up the plane, director Patty Jenkins insisted that the cockpit set be built on a gimbal to mimic the plane's movement. Although no part of this movement is visible on camera, she wanted Chris Pine to feel the plane's tilt as his character begins to ascend because she thought it would benefit his performance.
- #076
(Around 1 hour 12 minutes) The No Man's Land scene initially caused confusion for some people on the film's creative team. They thought it was an action scene and did not understand how it could work without Diana fighting the villain. Patty Jenkins insisted that the scene was a very important and dramatic moment, underlining Diana's self-affirmation and determination.
- #077
(Around 2 hours 5 minutes) Near the end of the film, when Diana returns to London, she looks at images of dead soldiers (including Steve Trevor) that are implied to be portraits of real-life war poets: Britain's Captain Siegfried Sassoon, Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen, Canada's Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, and America's Sergeant Joyce Kilmer (author of "a poem as lovely as a tree") (even though Sassoon did not die in the war and, unlike the others, lived to the age of 80).
- #078
(Around 1 hour 6 minutes) The scene where Diana eats ice cream for the first time and praises the vendor is an event from the "New 52" DC Comics (2011), also adapted from Justice League: War (2014).
- #079
(Around the 1-hour mark) The con Sameer runs at the bar bears some similarities to the notorious "Nigerian Prince" scam spread over the Internet. He claims to come from an African country and describes his fortune in exaggerated terms, offering a fake deal in which the mark receives a share of his wealth in exchange for a small fee to help him get it out of the country. Known as an advance-fee scam, this type of fraud has existed in various forms since the 18th century.
- #080
In the framing story, Diana wears a red turtleneck sweater and a ponytail. This closely resembles Diana's civilian outfits in the second and third seasons of Wonder Woman (1975).
- #081
In the comics, Ares stopped his plan to kill everyone because Wonder Woman pointed out that it would destroy himself: having no humans left to fight meant there would be no war, and Ares would no longer exist either. In the film, he is a more vengeful and jealous character who plans a future beyond destruction.
- #082
(Around the 29th minute) Patty Jenkins said the reason for Chris Pine's nude scene was to call back to the many films featuring female frontal nudity. Apparently that idea was left to Pine, who appears fully nude the following year in Outlaw King (2018).
- #083
The gala guest whose dress Diana steals is credited as Fausta Grables, the Swiss Nazi villain from the "Wonder Woman" comics who was played by Lynda Day George in Fausta, the Nazi Wonder Woman (1976).
- #084
(Around the 57th minute) Diana is introduced as Captain Steve Trevor's secretary in First World War England. This is a tribute to the first season of Wonder Woman (1975), in which she served as an office officer (United States Navy Yeoman, Petty Officer, first class) to US Army Major Steve Trevor during the Second World War.
- #085
(Around the 19th minute) The big fight on the beach was shot over two weeks with the participation of two film units and six cameras. The shots in the scene consisted of digital composites of two separate locations: one with white cliffs in the background, the other with a beach large enough to accommodate the action. Cinematographer Matthew Jensen said that, besides shooting such a complex visual sequence with so many cameras, actors and stunt performers, the biggest challenge was keeping the lighting consistent across two weeks of changing weather conditions.
- #086
In this film, Diana always wears her Amazon outfit underneath her other clothes. There is no transformation scene in this production.
- #087
Steve flies from Turkey to Themyscira in a short-range aircraft, suggesting the island is in the eastern Mediterranean. In most comics, Themyscira is somewhere in the Atlantic.
- #088
(About 50 minutes) In this film, Diana briefly wears glasses as a disguise, but Etta Candy points out how ineffective they are, and they are broken shortly afterward in a street fight scene. This is a nod to Wonder Woman (1975), whose first season had Diana wearing glasses in her civilian guise, similar to Superman's Clark Kent.
- #089
Throughout this film, no one ever addresses Diana as "Wonder Woman."
- #090
(About 1 hour 11 minutes) The horse-whipping scene in the film was shot after principal photography was completed. Director Patty Jenkins felt the scenes of Diana approaching the war front lacked tension, so she added the scene in which Diana witnesses brutality.
- #091
Ares uses several forms based on his various incarnations in DC comics: * In his godly form he has a blue cape and a Roman helmet that conceals his face, his classic design in the comics. * He takes human form to adapt to modern times (in the DC Comics event Crisis on Infinite Earths). * His final form wears Roman armor, based on his appearance in George Pérez's "Wonder Woman" comics (1987-92). * His true form, based on his appearance in the "New 52" DC comics (2011), is a cynical character who tries to teach Diana about the world's moral grayness.
- #092
Elena Anaya plays Dr. Maru, a woman hidden behind a plastic prosthesis. Anaya's casting is a tribute to her performance wearing a face mask in Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (2011). Patty Jenkins is a big fan of Almodóvar.
- #093
The end title sequence includes a dedication to Patty Jenkins's father, William T. Jenkins. Jenkins was a former Air Force captain and fighter pilot, like Steve Trevor.
- #094
This is the first feature in which Wonder Woman does not wear earrings. Wonder Woman (1975) wore red circular earrings throughout the live-action series and in Hanna-Barbera's long-running animated series Super Friends (1973), but wore white star earrings in Cartoon Network's series Justice League (2001). In the early comics, the earrings were said to provide the ability to breathe in any environment, including space, but this idea was abandoned as Wonder Woman's abilities increased.
- #095
(About 2 hours 5 minutes) Although Diana cannot fly in the film, she is implied to be able to hover in the air after the final battle with Ares. The slow-descent shot looks like slow motion, but on closer inspection her hair rippling against the wind shows that the sequence is at normal speed.
- #096
(About 2 hours 5 minutes) The photograph of Steve Trevor taken at the memorial ceremony in London after the war ends is based on a photograph of Eddie Rickenbacker, an American fighter pilot in World War I. They used the same squadron logo, the 94th Aero Squadron's "hat in the ring" emblem and aircraft number (5), but Rickenbacker's photographs show him leaning against the plane rather than with his back to it.
- #097
Filmmaker James Cameron, known for his films featuring strong female action heroes, drew the ire of many Wonder Woman fans by claiming that while the film was good, it was not particularly groundbreaking and that it even took a step backward by sexualizing its main character to appeal to young boys. He elaborated by saying that putting a shaped model (Gal Gadot) into a tight, form-fitting costume had already been done in the 1960s, for example with Raquel Welch in films like The Magic Christian (1969). Director Patty Jenkins responded by stating that what Wonder Woman looks like should not make any difference; being strong is not the privilege of hard, tough and troubled women, so she also has the right to be beautiful, attractive and strong at the same time. Cameron stuck to his position, noting that he deliberately desexualized the character of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Aliens (1986) to focus on their personalities rather than their looks, but admitted that his initial reaction was "probably a little bit simplistic".
- #098
(Around 18 minutes) When Diana saves Steve from drowning, Steve wakes up and says "Wow," an American English slang term in use since the early twentieth century. This explains why Diana addresses him in English for the first time, even though he is dressed like a German pilot.
- #099
In the epilogue, the drawing of the device Etta tries to save is a Mother Box. This will become important in Justice League (2017).
- #100
The character of Etta Candy, Diana's best friend and heroic partner, was part of the original Wonder Woman comics created by William Moulton Marston and H. G. Peter. Although she was almost always depicted as plump, she has been reimagined several times. In this film, she resembles her earliest original version in appearance (though changed from American to British), while the character's more recent comic book version is an African-American.
- #101
(Around 1 hour 50 minutes) Toward the end of the film, Diana discovers that her mother, the Amazon Queen Hippolyta, hid from her the fact that the god Zeus is her real father (a plot concept derived from the character's New 52 version), making Ares her half-brother. However, in Classical Greek mythology (the origin of the Amazons and the gods Zeus and Ares), Hippolyta was the daughter of Ares and therefore the granddaughter of Zeus.
- #102
(Around 2 o'clock) Ares orders Wonder Woman to kill Dr. Maru, but she refuses, and he turns his back on her in disappointment. This event happened in the "New 52" DC comics, but with the Minotaur.
- #103
(At about the 43rd minute) Diana mentions Clio's studies. In Greek mythology, Clio is the Muse of History.
- #104
The Blu-ray version includes a number of bonus features, including a 20-minute segment at the beginning of the film showing various women who trained for months for the Amazon battle scenes - one is a professional boxer with various titles under her belt, another an Olympic athlete, several professional martial artists, and another is Doutzen Kroes, a Dutch supermodel who appeared in Victoria's Secret - you can see her in the hall when Diana insists that someone accompany Trevor back to the battle.
- #105
Director Patty Jenkins and executive producer Geoff Johns rewrote much of Allan Heinberg's screenplay. To producer Charles Roven's dismay, the two did not immediately receive writing credit because they were denied by a Writers Guild arbitration ruling. Going even further, Zack Snyder, Heinberg and Jason Fuchs were credited for the story despite having contributed very little to the final screenplay. Roven also added that Heinberg could have collaborated with Jenkins and Johns, but his commitment to a television project prevented him from continuing.
- #106
Zack Snyder's original concept for the film involved Wonder Woman pursuing Ares through centuries of historical conflict, resulting in her encounter with Steve Trevor during the Crimean War in 1854. Snyder commissioned Stephen Berkman to photograph Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman alongside soldiers of the period; this was to be the photograph Bruce Wayne discovers in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Screenwriter Jason Fuchs added: "There was a great encounter between Diana and Florence Nightingale just before Diana joined the Charge of the Light Brigade." Patty Jenkins later reworked the idea, changing the Crimean War setting to World War I. Snyder posted Berkman's original photograph on Twitter in 2021.
- #107
(At about 1 minute) The license plate of the Wayne Enterprises armored van begins with the letters "JL," a possible reference to the Justice League.
- #108
(At about 1 hour 50 minutes) Ares using the Lasso of Truth without suffering and saying that war and truth are the same comes from the "Warkiller" story.
- #109
The German boats at the beginning of the film are named Schwaben, indicating they are from a ship by that name (Schwaben is the German name for Swabia). There was a real German warship by that name; however, it spent the entire war in the Baltic Sea and on training duties.
- #110
Some places offer hints about Diana's divine heritage: * In the tower where the God Killer is kept, a bull appears in the cliff behind Diana. In Greek mythology, Zeus often takes the form of a bull. * A great fight breaks out over Diana in a church in the Belgian village of Veld. * Diana is seen working at the Louvre Museum in Paris in modern times. According to a popular conspiracy theory spread in part by Dan Brown's conspiracy novel "The Da Vinci Code," the Louvre is the resting place of at least one member of Jesus's human family.
- #111
(About 1 hour 55 minutes) When Steve gives Diana his watch, it shows about three minutes to 10:00. Returning to the present day, at the Louvre, while Diana looks at the watch and the original plate of the photograph from Veld, she says that the watch stopped when Steve blew up his plane and killed himself in the explosion, about 10 minutes after 10:00. This trivia is supported in the film's novelization.
- #112
Dr. Maru (Doctor Poison) is seen in her laboratory in a green coat and comical costume; she also has large goggles that can serve as a mask for her, a reference to her wearing a mask in the comics.
- #113
Ares in this film is based on the evil god of war from DC Comics, but he is also based on the First Born, Zeus's banished and angry son who tries to destroy everything. Ares also embodies the traits of his daughter Eris (goddess of strife and chaos) and his subordinates consisting of three aristocrats who drive people to wage war (the Duke of Deception, the Earl of Greed and the Count of Conquest).
- #114
Ares hides under the alias Sir Patrick. Patrick's name comes from the Roman term "patricius" ("nobleman"), a name fitting for a Greco-Roman member of a divine ruling class.
- #115
In Patty Jenkins' original ending, Diana and Ares did not fight. Ares would simply explain "I did nothing," and Diana would remain undefeated because she would have to confront the good and evil that make up the human race. However, Warner Bros. wanted a more explosive climax and added a new ending to Jenkins' film; Jenkins admitted she is still conflicted about it.
- #116
In the Wonder Woman comics, the bracelets had a purpose. When the Amazons were enslaved by the Greeks and rebelled, Zeus ordered the Amazons to wear bracelets to remind women of their enslavement. The bracelets have no real power, but they were made of a metal that could deflect bullets or prevent a sword from cutting off an arm. If an Amazon forcibly removed the bracers, they would lose all reason and go mad until the bracers were put back on their arms. As stated in the film, Zeus found them an island where they could hide and made them immortal except for dying from wounds. The Amazons became an elite fighting force with special powers.
- #117
Danny Huston plays an evil World War I general who supports the use of disfiguring mustard gas, which caused World War I veterans to need painted tin face prosthetics to cover their wounds when they returned from the war. Danny Huston's nephew Jack Huston played a disfigured World War I veteran with a tin face prosthetic in Boardwalk Empire (2010).
- #118
Patty Jenkins had no say in Gal Gadot's casting because it was a decision Zack Snyder had already made for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Jenkins was hired to direct Wonder Woman while the film was in production. Her prior doubts that Gadot was anything more than a model quickly disappeared when she saw the big action scene at the end of Snyder's film and realized Gadot was truly perfect for the role.
- #119
(About 2 hours 5 minutes) At the end of the film, as Diana looks at the photograph of Steve Trevor leaning against the plane, there is a red, white and blue roundel on the side of the aircraft. This indicated that Steve was a member of the American 94th Aero Squadron, commanded by World War I flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.
- #120
(About 6 minutes) In Hippolyta's story about the gods, Poseidon is seen wielding a trident. It is the same weapon Aquaman uses in the DC Universe films.
- #121
The film, about a superhero inspired by Greco-Roman mythology, is produced by Atlas Entertainment. Atlas is the name of the giant who carried the world on his shoulders in Greek mythology.
- #122
Patty Jenkins became the first woman to direct a DC film, thereby surpassing Marvel Studios, which had no female co-director until Anna Boden (for Captain Marvel (2019), shared with Ryan Fleck) and no female solo director until Cate Shortland (for Black Widow (2021)). Ironically, Jenkins had originally been hired to direct Thor: The Dark World (2013), but left the production due to "creative differences."
- #123
Production designer Aline Bonetto and location manager Charlie Somers visited 47 different countries to find the perfect location for Themyscira. They eventually settled on a stretch of the Italian coastline.
- #124
After Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) was initially greenlit, Alexandra Daddario quickly became fans' number one choice to play Wonder Woman. After Gal Gadot was cast, many fans were disappointed and wanted to know why Daddario, who they thought was far better suited to the role than Gadot, had been passed over in her favor. Zack Snyder, who cast Gadot in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), made no statement about why he chose her over other actresses. Olga Kurylenko, Elodie Yung and Jaimie Alexander were also considered, but Gadot had previously auditioned for the role of Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). She did not get the part, but her impressive audition tape was reportedly circulated at Warner Bros., making her the studio's favorite for Wonder Woman.
- #125
(About 30 minutes in) Diana asks Steve Trevor, "Would you say you're a typical example of your sex?" and he replies, "I am above average." Dialogue of this kind had appeared earlier in Barbarella (1968), in which Dildano asks Barbarella, "Are you typical of Earth women?" and she answers, "I'm about average."
- #126
Wonder Woman's new costume is based on Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) and has been adapted into the comics since Wonder Woman (Volume 5) #1, published by DC Comics and released on June 22, 2016.
- #127
Longtime DC Comics writer Grant Morrison pitched several DC film projects to Warner Bros., including a Wonder Woman film while working as a consultant in 2008. The Nazis' invasion of Paradise Island was defeated with weapons that caused Wehrmacht soldiers to orgasm uncontrollably! Funnily enough, some readers felt that the Amazon weapons were far more aggressive than guns that fire bullets and kill people. Or crippling swords! Is experiencing a non-consensual orgasm in the middle of battle really a worse prospect for some than a non-consensual bullet hitting the face?" Morrison ended up incorporating the scene into their graphic novel "Wonder Woman: Earth One."
- #128
Screenwriter Jason Fuchs explained that there were plans for a post-credits scene featuring Darkseid's son Kalibak, but it was ultimately canceled.
- #129
David Thewlis plays Ares, the God of War in Greek mythology, whose symbol is both a boar and a wolf; David Thewlis also plays the famous Remus Lupin (surname derived from 'lupus,' Latin for 'wolf'), a werewolf in the Harry Potter series; the character's first name references Romulus and Remus (the former the namesake of Rome, Italy), the twin sons of Mars (Ares's Roman counterpart) who were raised by wolves in Roman mythology. References to these twins also appear in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and Raised by Wolves (2020).
- #130
Paul Feig pitched a Wonder Woman film in 2013, shortly after the premiere of The Heat (2013). According to IGN, on stage there was a Wonder Woman who "kept hitting the 'glass ceiling' of the superhero world… [and] had to contend with male heroes like Batman and Superman." Feig envisioned it as a "lighter action-comedy" in the vein of the Iron Man films. Warner Bros. passed on the idea for fear that "fans can be quite protective of their characters and any changes made to them."
Behind the Scenes (4)
- #131
The boat conversation about "the pleasures of the flesh," roughly 43 minutes in, was improvised.
- #132
The big beach battle, roughly 19 minutes of the film, took two weeks to shoot with two film units and six cameras. It was stitched together digitally from two separate locations: one with white cliffs in the background, another with a beach big enough for the action. Cinematographer Matthew Jensen said that beyond shooting such a complex sequence with so many cameras, actors and stunt performers, the biggest challenge was keeping the lighting consistent through two weeks of changing weather.
- #133
Gal Gadot was five months pregnant with her second child during reshoots. It didn't stop her doing her own stunts, but she had to wear a green cloth over her bump to make the CGI work easier.
- #134
Gloria Steinem grew up on Wonder Woman comics. In the early 1970s, when DC Comics took away the heroine's costume and powers, she and many other feminists were appalled. In protest she put Wonder Woman, in full costume, on the cover of the first issue of "Ms." magazine, and DC was persuaded to restore the costume and powers in issue #204 (February 1973).
Characters & Cast (7)
- #135
Director Patty Jenkins is a big fan of Wonder Woman (1975) and wanted Lynda Carter, Diana in that series, to have a small role in this film. Unfortunately, Carter was tied up with her cabaret shows. Lyle Wagoner, who played Steve Trevor in the series, couldn't join either, as he was at a cast reunion for Carol Burnett's variety show at the time. Carter eventually got a small cameo as Asteria in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020).
- #136
Patty Jenkins admitted that at first she didn't think Gal Gadot was a good fit for Wonder Woman, but once she looked into her, she decided Gadot was perfect for the role.
- #137
Elena Anaya plays Dr. Maru, a woman hiding behind a plastic prosthesis. Her casting is a tribute to her masked performance in Pedro Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In (2011); Patty Jenkins is a big Almodóvar fan.
- #138
Liam Hemsworth and Alexander Skarsgård were both considered for Steve Trevor. Liam Hemsworth's brother Chris Hemsworth and Alexander Skarsgård's father Stellan Skarsgård both appear in Marvel's "Thor" films.
- #139
In a December 2019 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Olga Kurylenko revealed she was one of three actresses in the final round of auditions for Wonder Woman, the role that went to Gal Gadot. Kurylenko said she had to read lines in a swimsuit and leather boots. Ironically, she added, Gadot had also auditioned for Camille Montes in Quantum of Solace (2008), the part Kurylenko ended up playing.
- #140
Once Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) was greenlit, Alexandra Daddario quickly became fans' top choice for Wonder Woman. When Gal Gadot was cast instead, many fans were disappointed and wanted to know why Daddario had been passed over for someone they felt was far less suited to the role. Zack Snyder, who cast Gadot in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), never explained why he chose her over the others. Olga Kurylenko, Elodie Yung and Jaimie Alexander were also in the running, but Gadot had previously auditioned for Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). She didn't get that part, but her impressive audition tape reportedly made the rounds at Warner Bros. and made her the studio's favorite for Wonder Woman.
- #141
At around 1 hour 35 minutes, Diana (Gal Gadot) wears a long blue dress in one scene, possibly a tribute to the 1975 Wonder Woman series starring Lynda Carter, whose Diana wore a similar dress in the second-season episode "Light-fingered Lady" (1978).
Easter Eggs & References (2)
- #142
Roughly 50 minutes in, Diana briefly tries glasses as a disguise, but Etta Candy points out how useless they are, and they soon get broken in a street fight. It's a nod to the first season of Wonder Woman (1975), in which Diana wore glasses as her civilian disguise, much like Superman's Clark Kent.
- #143
Dr. Maru (Doctor Poison) appears in her laboratory in a green jacket and an almost comical outfit, with large goggles that double as a mask, a reference to the mask she wears in the comics.
Deeper Meaning (10)
- #144
Contains a major spoiler — show
About 1 hour 9 minutes in, the Chief greets Wonder Woman in Blackfoot: "Oki, niitaniiko Napi," meaning "Hello, my name is Napi." Napi is a creator and trickster of Blackfoot mythology, famous for his cleverness and resourcefulness, and the filmmakers have confirmed that the Chief is indeed a god.
- #145
At roughly 3 minutes in, some of the Amazons have skin-colored fabric over one side of the chest, so that one breast almost looks exposed or missing (it's very noticeable in the opening scene, when young Diana watches the training and Antiope comes over to talk to an Amazon dressed this way). It may be a nod to the way Amazons are often shown in art with one breast bared. Ancient sources even claim the Amazons cut off or burned the breast on their dominant side so it wouldn't hinder them in battle, especially with the bow, and some suggest this is where their name comes from: in Greek, "a-mazos" means "without breast."
- #146
Contains a major spoiler — show
Although Dr. Maru's scars are implied to come from fire, the disfigurement on her face fits the effects of real mustard gas better. The gas is corrosive and attacks mucous tissue such as the eyes, mouth and nose, leaving permanent scars. Her mask is also based on real prostheses made to hide facial injuries. Developed by the French and British after the war, they were made of tin, painted to match the skin, fitted with real hair where needed and held in place on the face with glasses or straps. They were the first cosmetic prostheses designed to help wounded soldiers regain some normality in their lives.
- #147
Contains a major spoiler — show
(Around 2 hours 5 minutes) Near the end, when Diana is back in London, she looks at pictures of dead soldiers (Steve Trevor among them) that are implied to be portraits of real war poets: Britain's Captain Siegfried Sassoon and Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen, Canada's Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae and America's Sergeant Joyce Kilmer (author of "a poem as lovely as a tree"), though Sassoon, unlike the others, did not die in the war and lived to 80.
- #148
Contains a major spoiler — show
Ares takes several forms drawn from his various DC comics incarnations: his godly form, with a blue cape and a Roman helmet hiding his face, is his classic comic book design; he takes human form to fit modern times (as in DC Comics' post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era); his final form wears Roman armor based on George Pérez's "Wonder Woman" comics (1987-92); and his true form, based on the "New 52" DC comics (2011), is a cynic who tries to teach Diana about the world's moral grayness.
- #149
Contains a major spoiler — show
(About 2 hours 5 minutes) Diana can't fly in the film, but after her final battle with Ares she seems able to hover. Her slow descent looks like slow motion, but look closely and her hair is rippling in the wind at normal speed.
- #150
(At about the 43rd minute) Diana mentions Clio's treatises. The item notes that in Greek mythology Cleo is the Goddess of Writing, but Clio is the Muse of History.
- #151
Contains a major spoiler — show
The main posters follow a color scheme: blue, orange (yellowish) or red. Blue stands for the island of Themyscira, orange for the mustard gas used on the village Diana saves, and red for the fiery battle against Ares at the climax.
- #152
Contains a major spoiler — show
Patty Jenkins's original ending had no fight between Diana and Ares. Ares would simply explain "I did nothing," and Diana would be left without a clear victory, forced to confront the good and evil that make up the human race. Warner Bros. wanted a more explosive climax and added a new ending; Jenkins admits she is still conflicted about it.
- #153
Contains a major spoiler — show
David Thewlis plays Ares, the Greek god of war, whose symbols include both the boar and the wolf; Thewlis also plays the famous werewolf Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter series (the surname comes from "lupus," Latin for "wolf"). The character's first name refers to Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Mars (Ares's Roman counterpart) raised by wolves in Roman mythology, the first of whom gave his name to Rome, Italy. The twins are also referenced in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and Raised by Wolves (2020).
Related pages
- Mad Max: Fury Road — Wonder Woman comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
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- IMDb
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