WARNING: This article contains minor spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now available in theaters and on HBO Max.
When Diana makes her grand entrance in Wonder Woman 1984, she lacks two of her iconic assets -- and for good reason. According to star Gal Gadot and writer-director Patty Jenkins, the Amazon warrior traded her sword and shield for her lasso and gauntlets because she is a peacekeeper who leads by example. To reflect that, not a single person dies in the film.
Asked why it was important to show Diana rescuing her antagonists, Gadot explained, "This is part of the reason to why we decided that she shouldn't have a sword or a shield. Diana is not aggressive. She's not there to fight. She's a peacemaker. Also, she has the higher understanding that people are not bad, per se... We're all the same. We all have our moments when we don't do the right thing in order to fill this hole. So she assumes the best out of people, and so her default is always to protect them. She leads by example. So, for her, humankind -- they'll get it. They'll understand it eventually, but she always will do and give everything she has in order to bring goodness to humankind."
"And not one person dies in the whole movie," Jenkins added. "Which you may or may not notice, but we went out of the way, because if all of these people are under the power of something else, then it's not their fault. So I loved dealing with that, where, like, you can't -- what can you -- you can't do it! It's not their fault that they're attacking you! So it became hilariously entertaining that she got the guy in the car off the road, because his brakes still work. You know, it's like she said, it always has to be -- or no, Steve, we can't use the sword."
"Or even the gun! Yeah, exactly," Gadot agreed.
"It's not their fault. It was really fun to try to do that, and our stunt guys and everything, we laid out the challenge at the beginning, like, 'Not one death.' People get pretty hurt, probably!" Jenkins acquiesced with a laugh. "Thrown around! But no death. There's no shooting, no death."
"Yeah! No bodies! No dead bodies," Gadot said.
The sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman finds Diana feeling adrift and alone -- until she makes a friend in Kristen Wiig's Cheetah, that is. When the two museum curators stumble across an ancient artifact left by the gods, both of their lives begin to change, sending them down opposing paths. Along this journey, Diana chooses to save as many people as possible, including those that stand against her.
Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film is now available in theaters and on HBO Max.