How Justice League Missed the Point of Wonder Woman

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Justice League, in theaters now.

Earlier this year, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman hit theaters and took the world by storm, becoming a massive success both financially and critically. Jenkins' film told a great story, filled with likable characters, a compelling threat, a well-written hero and fantastic action sequences. However, in the run up to Justice League, it began to play on some fans' minds that the character might not come across so well as part of on an ensemble, that she might get relegated to the back of the pack of male heroes, all vying for as much screen time as possible. So when the trailers seemed to show Diana as a leader of the team alongside Batman, people were pleasantly surprised.

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And for a large portion of the film, this is what we got. Bruce and Diana work together to form the team before Steppenwolf mounts an all-out assault on Earth. She's responsible for bringing Cyborg to the team, and she leads the charge against Steppenwolf in the final act of the film. She’s been trained for this, after all, so it would be foolish to not utilize her militaristic tactics to fight an enemy like Steppenwolf. Her action sequences were uniformly great, and although each individual character introduction felt incredibly rushed, the hostage situation that Diana defuses was truly impressive. Diana leaping in front of a terrorist shooting at children, it felt very appropriate for the time we live in.

Steve Trevor, and That Teased Bat-Romance

But one of the biggest problems in the film was that her major motivation to fight appears to be Steve Trevor. It's well established by this point that the pair were in love, and that she effectively hid herself from mankind for a long time after his death. But when Batman insults Steve to her face and she punches him, although it’s a mildly humorous sequence, it becomes clear that Trevor's memory is the main reason that she does what she does. Diana doesn’t fight simply because she recognizes the evil in the world, but because it’s probably what Steve would’ve wanted. This almost feels insulting, cheapening the emotional strength established in her solo film.

Then, the story pushes her towards some kind of romantic tension with Batman. We get that they’ve been working together closely to try and foil Steppenwolf's attack and to bring the team together, but they have polar opposite personalities, and it seems strange to picture the pair in a relationship. Yes, it’s happened in other mediums, but in Justice League, the two don’t really share any common ground. As a result, it doesn’t feel genuine, like her relationship with Trevor. Batman is away doing his own thing for quite a while, and only shares individual scenes with Wonder Woman every so often. On the other hand, in her solo outing, Diana spent the majority of her time traveling through Europe with Steve, offering plenty of time to fall for each other before his heroic sacrifice at the end of the film.

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Superman Sucks Up the Storytime

Because a huge portion of the film deals with the absence of Superman, there’s a void to be filled by the rest of the cast. That works fine for a while, until the League realizes they need to bring him back. Once the Man of Steel is revived and restored to normal, Wonder Woman is quickly forgotten about. She’s not literally put on the back bench, but her story is effectively ignored as the entire plot quickly becomes about the return of Superman and how it affects the team, Lois and Steppenwolf. Yes, the scene where all of the League are fighting Superman was quite entertaining to watch, but did his return really need to hinder the progression of other characters?

Wonder Woman as a Sexual Object

One thing that definitely changed from her solo film is the way that Wonder Woman is presented onscreen. Snyder and Whedon's direction frames the character radically different from how Patty Jenkins approached the hero. There are far too many shots that either start focused on her chest or behind, from a low angle, with a few moments where the scene is essentially an up-skirt shot. We get that Wonder Woman is wearing a short skirt, but there’s no need to focus on it. Doing so doesn’t present Diana as a hero who can stand shoulder to shoulder with her male peers -- it reduces her to a sexual object. Yes, Gal Gadot is a very glamorous and striking woman, but she and her character deserve better treatment.

Batman Teaches Wonder Woman to Be A Leader?

As we mentioned earlier, Diana does become a leader in the film pressing the group forward throughout, and motivating them when they’re pessimistic about their situation. But she only truly accepts her role as a leader because Batman shows her how capable she is. However well-intentioned this is, Wonder Woman is a well-rounded enough character to know her own self-worth. She’s aware of her strengths and weaknesses, we’re pretty sure it doesn’t take a guy dressed as a Bat for Princess Diana of Themiscyra to realize her potential. After all, her whole life on the island was spent training to kill Ares, the God of War. Battle is what she’s trained to do, Bruce.

The bottom line is, although we do get to see Diana taking some control and ownership of the team, the way the story treats her in Justice League ultimately diminishes the hard work that Patty Jenkins put in during the solo film. Let’s hope DC Films and Warner Bros. can get it right again next time Gadot's Diana graces the big screen.

Now in theaters, Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Raymond Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Amber Heard as Mera and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon.