We’ve long assumed that Patty Jenkins’ WONDER WOMAN would take place in the 1920’s, and that the idea was to set the first sequel in WWII with the second bringing her story up to the present. Scoopmeister general Umberto Gonzalez over at Heroic Hollywood is proposing that Jenkins/WB’s actual approach is markedly different than what we’d assumed:
”The latest rumor I am hearing is the first half of Wonder Woman standalone film will actually take place during World War I. Again, World War I not II. The second half of the film takes place during modern day.”
So, instead of the 1920’s, we’ll allegedly start in the 1910’s before leaving the period setting entirely for the present in the back half.
As the man formerly known as “El Mayimbe” admits, this has not been confirmed or even alluded to by the powers-that-be, and deserves a big fat “rumor stamp” on it. Splitting the movie in twain seems problematic at best, particularly for this beloved character’s big solo debut. Will the entire supporting cast of the first half disappear after the time jump? Will Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor only appear in the back half of the film? Will the momentum of the first half sustain itself after the narrative jumps forward a full century? Can the tone of a WWI-era WONDER WOMAN story feel cohesive with that of a contemporary-set superhero flick?
Personally, my money would go to neither of these rumors being true, and that the standalone film will take place in the past while directly setting up WW’s latter-day exploits in much the same way THE FIRST AVENGER directly led into THE AVENGERS (JUSTICE LEAGUE PART ONE comes out a mere 5 months after WW). The notion of having that massive of a time jump smack-dab in the middle of the film (so soon about all those complaints about the time jump partway through FANTASTIC FOUR) seems just as unlikely to me as two (or three) successive WW flicks all taking place in the past while BVS and the JLA movies feature her in the present. But it’s something to consider, and everyone does seem to agree on one really cool idea: that this WONDER WOMAN will, indeed, be at least somewhat partially set in the early 20th century. Which is awesome.
WONDER WOMAN will fly her invisible jet (but oh wait, jets didn’t even exist until 1928, so how would that make sense in WWI?) on June 23rd, 2017.
