WARNING: The following story contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
Wonder Woman 1984 was scored by the legendary movie composer Hans Zimmer, marking his third time working on a DC Extended Universe film after Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, while Zimmer's score for the Wonder Woman sequel is full of brand-new music, during the film's climax, it also reuses his "Beautiful Lie" theme from Batman v Superman.
Wonder Woman 1984 ends with Diana facing off against Maxwell Lord as he uses the U.S. satellite broadcast system to grant wishes to people around the world, all while the "Beautiful Lie" theme plays. Ultimately, Diana is able to stop him by using her Lasso of Truth to speak through Maxwell and convince everyone to renounce their wishes, telling them, "You cannot have it all. You can only have the truth. And the truth is enough. The truth is beautiful." Even Maxwell renounces his own wish to control the Dreamstone after having a vision of his terrible childhood and seeing his young son, Alistair, alone and terrified.
The "Beautiful Lie" theme was first used in Batman v Superman's opening, which flashes back to a young Bruce Wayne remembering his parents' death as he runs away from their funeral, only to fall into a cave where he's swarmed by bats and then floats to the light at the surface. As the older Bruce notes in voiceover, "In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie." Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder has since explained the meaning of this scene, revealing that Bruce's move towards the light symbolizes his search for justice. However, it's a lie in the sense that Bruce's quest leads him into darkness and keeps him trapped in his grief.
Meanwhile, Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins has explained why "Beautiful Lie" is used in her film's climax, saying "We cut to it when we were editing... Hans was like 'But I wrote that song for this universe so why aren't we using it? That's what you do with themes.' ... It was so perfect and we cut to the rhythm of it exactly." It's also an appropriate choice of music given the parallels between the scene and Batman v Superman's opening, such as Maxwell staring up at the light at the center of the satellite. In fact, the light Maxwell sees threatens to lead him to his doom, much like the light Bruce saw as a child.
Batman v Superman revisits the "Beautiful Lie" theme in the infamous "Save Martha" scene, in which Bruce once again flashes back to his parents being killed and realizes he's become the very monster he's spent years trying to defeat as Batman. Once again, this makes the theme's use in Wonder Woman 1984 all the more fitting as it plays over Maxwell's memories of being a social outcast who was abused by his father and subjected to racist insults from his schoolmates. Realizing he's put Alistair in danger, Maxwell takes back his wish, similar to how Bruce refrains from killing Superman and instead joins forces with him.
In both cases, Maxwell and Bruce are redeemed when they recognize the dark truth about where their trauma and subsequent behavior have led them, and then take steps to set things right. By reusing Zimmer's "Beautiful Lie" theme, Wonder Woman 1984 not only enhances this idea, it creates a stronger link to Batman v Superman and the larger themes of the DCEU. The film also honors the Batman v Superman continuity in more explicit ways, like having Diana work at the Smithsonian Museum to keep tabs on dangerous magical items. Still, in a storytelling sense, its use of "Beautiful Lie" might be its most important connection to Snyder's movie.
Directed by Patty Jenkins, from a script she wrote with Geoff Johns and David Callaham, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film is playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.