Broadcast this Wednesday January 1, 2025 at 9:10 p.m. on TF1, Wonder Woman takes certain liberties with the original material, particularly regarding the era. So why these discrepancies with the comics timeline?
There was a time when comics were the preserve of male characters. Superman, Batman, Flash, and even Captain America, who will be the subject of a new film, reigned supreme on the boards of American comic books. A certain William Moulton Marston then wanted to change this exclusively masculine conception of the superhero. In the early 1940s, this psychologist was an editorial advisor for All-American Publications (a publishing company that would merge with DC Comics). To go against the grain of this universe particularly criticized for its violence, it offers a strong female character in order to promote another type of model to young people: Wonder Woman. Little by little, this superheroine met with enormous success, even becoming one of the main figures in Marvel’s competing team… Before having the right to a series, and more recently to a film led by Gal Gadot released in 2017.
A big difference
Originally, in the comics, Steve Trevor, an American Air Force pilot, crashes on an island populated only by women. Among these Amazons, warriors with mythological origins with superhuman powers, is Diana (who will become Wonder Woman), the daughter of Queen Hippolyte. Quite logically, William Moulton Marston places his story in his time, in other words during the Second World War. However, the film directed by Patty Jenkins takes place… in 1918. So why this choice of temporality? Producer Charles Roven above all evokes the idea of developing this powerful and independent female character in the era of the first suffragettes. It also suggests an entirely different reason. “The subtleties of the early 20th century convey the horror of modern war”he explains in comments reported by Allocinated.
“She is part of a war where heroes do not exist”evokes producer Charles Roven
Coming to the end of his idea, Charles Roven specifies: “It was the first war that was not fought in close combat but rather from afar, with a certain distance. Previously, even shooting at someone had to be done up close and you therefore had to face the gaze of your opponent. Whereas in the First World War you could bomb a place without even seeing your enemy or anything else you were destroying. Killing became easier.. A dynamic of “war machine” which Diana Prince faces: “Until then, Wonder Woman was fighting warriors who deserved respect and admiration and suddenly she’s part of a war where heroes don’t exist because it’s impossible to be a hero if you don’t. don’t know who we’re fighting against.” This choice of time is therefore carefully considered.
