After an awesome first trailer premiere at Comic-Con, the second trailer for Wonder Woman came out last week and it gives us a deeper dive into the plot and characters of the movie. We know that the modern day scenes in the movie are post Batman v Superman and that Diana Prince is reflecting back on the last time she came out of the shadows to help mankind. We get the whole backstory on the photo that Bruce Wayne sends to her and why it took her so long to come out into the modern world again, this time for the events of the upcoming Justice League movie. There’s a lot to unpack from this new trailer, but for this article I’m just going to highlight ten cool things. So, about that photo…
1. That Photo From Batman v Superman
This is the photo that Bruce Wayne sends to Diana Prince to let her know he knows that she’s something more than she says she is in Batman v Superman. It’s also the photo that ultimately convinces her to come to the aid of mankind once again and helps Batman and Superman fight Doomsday. We know from the Justice League trailer and the end of Batman v Superman, that Batman and Wonder Woman team up. You can see Wayne Enterprises stationary with a note on it in the background. She also has a chart of some sort — perhaps part of their effort to seek out other metahumans and pull them into a team to help fight against the big bad in Superman’s absence? This particular photo shows Wonder Woman with Steve Trevor and some WWI soldiers posing together. We know from this trailer and previous ones that the Wonder Woman movie will tell this story from her long and storied past.
2. Steve Trevor Crash Landing Changes Comic Book Canon
Pretty much all the comic book storylines have Steve Trevor, an American military intelligence officer, crash land on the Amazonian paradise of Themyscira where he is nursed back to health by Wonder Woman, who falls in love with him and then follows him back to America and becomes his co-worker (and Wonder Woman in the process). Trevor is part of the U.S. Army Air Corps during WWII. Here in the movie, they break from comic book canon by not only setting the film during WWI, but by also having German soldiers track him to the island where they battle the Amazonians. Diana Prince sees first-hand the horrors of war and after listening to Trevor speak about how the enemy is starting a Great War and how it must be stopped, she agrees to leave Themyscira and fight along his side with the other U.S. soldiers to help save humanity.
3. Is That Epione Swinging from the Rocks?
This character, played by Eleanor Matsuura, may very well be Epione, the chief healer of the Amazonians. While there is no confirmation by Warner Bros. of her role, IMDB (take it with a grain of salt!) lists her character as Epione in both Wonder Woman and in the Justice League movie. I’m not sure where they got this information from, but judging from the trailer and the slow-mo shot of a German soldier firing a bullet at her while she swings from the rocks firing her arrows, it doesn’t look good for her, especially if Diana Prince can’t stop the bullet from hitting her. While Amazonians do have immortality and can live forever, they are not invulnerable and can be killed in battle, which is exactly what is being waged on them by the German soldiers.
4. Gas Masks Can’t Stop Whatever This Poison Is
The Germans have some sort of chemical weapon that is apparently strong enough to break right through protective gas masks of the era, and this is very troubling. If the Germans have such a powerful weapon and unleash it, it could turn the tide of the war in favor of the enemy. Maybe the mysterious masked woman has something to do with this?
5. Who Is That Masked Villain?
So this mysterious masked woman could be a few different villains. One is a Wonder Woman foe from the comic books — Dr. Poison. She appeared first in Sensation Comics #2 back in 1942 and was a scientist working for the Nazis. She develops a drug that makes soldiers do the reverse of what they were ordered to do. Wearing a bulky costume to disguise her identity and gender, she is later unmasked by Wonder Woman and shown to be a woman named Princess Maru. Another version of Doctor Poison appeared in Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #151. She would fight Wonder Woman a few times over the years, including as part of a ring of evil super-villainess’s called Villainy, Inc. She is an expert in the use of poisons and chemical toxins.
This woman could also be another longtime Wonder Woman foe — Circe, but this is less likely. Circe is the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Perseus. She is a powerful sorceress who is often characterized as violet-haired and red-eyed, who turns men into animals and who has been told by an oracle’s prophecy that she will die by the hands of Wonder Woman. My money is on Doctor Poison, but the possible addition of what appears to be another Greek God may change my mind. About that…
