The new Wonder Woman movie, with actress Gal Gadot wearing the hero’s bullet-proof wristbands, has comic fans and super hero movie buffs excited, to say the least.
But as news leaks out about the film’s various plot points, it is beginning to appear that producers are making a major change in the character’s World War Two origins in order to push a more politically correct plot line.
The origin of Wonder Woman is one that makes liberals uncomfortable, to say the least.
Firstly, in the earliest Wonder Woman comics, Diana of Amazon was carved out of clay and given life by the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. Then we flash forward to World War Two when intrepid Steve Trevor washes up on the shores of the secret Amazonian Paradise Island and Diana essentially falls for him.
Diana then follows Trevor back to the land of men, takes the alias of Diana Prince, and joins Trevor in the effort to destroy the evil Nazis and save the world for freedom.
In fact, Wonder Woman issue number one, which hit magazine stands in July of 1942, features Wonder Woman on a U.S. cavalry horse wielding her “Lasso of Truth” and jumping into a nest of Nazi soldiers.
For the next several years, the comic featured many stories of Wonder Woman defeating Nazi plots and ending battles in favor of the Allied Powers.
It appears, though, this morally righteous Wonder Woman has presented a problem for the makers of the new Wonder Woman, expected out in the summer of 2017.
Featuring Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman and Chris Pine as the intrepid Steve Trevor, the movie is now understood to be set in “The Great War” of World War One instead of World War Two, the war during which the character was originally introduced. The reason? World War Two was too much the “good war” to give their new Wonder Woman a hatred of war and to drive her conflicted ideas of the evils of men for the new DC Universe of films.
Fans have already seen confirmation that the movie will be set in WWI instead of the war against Hitler. Actor Chris Pine himself made the confirmation.
In a recent interview, Pine said of the film, “It’s a period we don’t see often; it’s usually World War II. Our costume design is incredible. We have scenes with, like, 500 extras all in period dress. I’d never been on a film with extras casting as beautifully done as it is here.”
Since his interview, photos from the production have been made public confirming that the film is set in WWI.
So, why the big switch? Why take the character originally introduced as a true American fighter of the Nazis and push her backwards into a whole other era in a war the U.S. had much less to do with when all was said and done?
It’s likely for the same reason that the new Wonder Woman will be dressed in a drab costume of earth tones instead of the red, white, and blue suit we are all used to. Today’s filmmakers want to erase as much of America from Wonder Woman as possible.
The problem, as they likely see it, is that World War Two was the good war, one meant to rid the earth of one of the most evil rulers in human history. Where World War Two was a tough war that killed millions, it had a moral basis its parent war did not. World War One was a meat grinder of an affair, where millions of young men on all sides were churned into mush with little of the moral justification underpinning the conflagration it preceded.
Producers seem to have decided they had a dilemma. If their new movie debuts with Wonder Woman in WWII and they make her a conflicted character who stands against human society—especially men—then that would mean they’d be portraying a hero who was cynical about destroying Hitler. That just won’t do. We can’t have a hero denigrating the war to take out Hitler, after all.
However, resetting her origin to World War One—a war based on colonial expansionism, cynical economics, and land-grabbing royal rulers—they can give us a Diana Prince who is skeptical about war, hateful of the evils men do, and conflicted about helping men in their unsavory plans.
Only, that isn’t the original story of Wonder Woman. The original Wonder Woman gladly entered the world of modern men, happily aided Steve Trevor, and righteously engaged in war against Hitler’s hordes all for the sake of the virtuous United States of America and its democratic, patriotic vision for mankind.
I guess all that glee for the righteous fight and rah-rahing for America was just too much for Hollywood.
This isn’t the first time Hollywood has grappled with the essential Americanness of a super hero. When producers, directors, and writers were first contemplating the new Captain America movies, director Joe Johnston initially said his Captain wouldn’t be a “flag waver.”
Indeed, when the first Captain America came out, it did feature a Cappy who became cynical about the United States and its war against Hitler and will result in another movie this summer where Captain America essentially turns against his country in Captain America: Civil War.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston, or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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