During a panel at SnyderCon, Zack Snyder discussed a new but controversial direction that he wanted to explore with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman in his DC movies, which fans might not have enjoyed.
Those familiar with Wonder Woman know that the character’s initial origin story concerned Diana being sculpted from clay on the island of Themyscira by her mother Hippolyta.
Diana’s origins have gone through different permutations and retcons over the years but the bones of the story always have had her growing up and training among the Amazons.
Zack Snyder's Different Origin for Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman
Speaking at SnyderCon 2023, (via LadyJenevia on YouTube) Zack Snyder, director of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League revealed the sure-to-be-controversial direction for Wonder Woman that he first wanted to take in his DC films.
In short: Snyder was originally planning to make Gal Gadot's Diana a Kryptonian just like Superman, noting that plans were in place to have Zeus, Wonder Woman‘s father, originate on Krypton:
"It's this whole thing with Ares and Zeus... [We considered how] Zeus could possibly be a Kryptonian. So, that Wonder Woman's powers...you can sort of see where that's going. Because the whole thing of whether or not magic or gods... There's a version of where you're like, 'That's cool, I guess.' But then there's also more the scientific aspect. You have the pathology built up of like, 'Where do gods come from? What is that about?' We had played around with that quite a bit."
John DesJardin, who served as VFX supervisor on Zack Snyder’s DC trilogy added that it was meant to be Zeus’ son Ares who crash-landed the Kryptonian scout ship, as seen in 2013’s Man of Steel:
"And Ares was the one who caused the scout ship to crash to be in the ice... He killed his crew."
Ultimately, Warner Bros. executives disapproved of the idea. But suffice to say, if this particular plot element made actually it into a finished movie, it wouldn’t have gone over well with the fanbase given that it completely goes against the traditional way that Gadot's Wonder Woman has been presented in the comic books and just about every other incarnation.
Reactions to this rejected development were decidedly negative by those on Twitter:
”I hate those changes,” Tweeted user 9th_Hokage_732, referring to not only the would-be Wonder Woman alternation but other Snyder touches, such as the proposed romance between Batman and Lois Lane.
A21starman broke down exactly why the change wouldn’t have worked:
Okay. Seeing as Zeus was her father, how were they going to explain Wonder Woman having no Kryptonian powers like heat and x-ray vision and super senses and non-Kryptonian powers like Divinity and energy manipulation? They were not at all thinking things through.
jmaster_888 expressed thanks that Snyder’s grand plans for the DC Universe weren’t fully realized: “In retrospect, I’m so glad the SnyderVerse didn’t become a thing.”
Will Snyder’s Full Vision Ever Be Seen?
Before and after the HBO Max release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, calls to “restore the SnyderVerse” have been relentless.
Die-hard fans have been, at times, fully convinced that the director would be allowed by Warner Bros. to finish his film series and make Justice League 2 and 3.
But the chances of this happening are just plain slim. James Gunn and Peter Safran have unveiled their grand plans to reshape the DCU on film, television, and animation, leaving little room for another Snyder League movie, which would need a massive budget and the commitment of several actors who have moved on from the franchise.
There have been hopes of a comic book continuation that would adapt Snyder’s outline for the sequels, but that doesn’t seem to be in development either.
Stranger things have indeed happened, but at this juncture, it would seem that the idea of continuing the so-called Snyderverse is a non-starter, despite Snyder’s continued interest in finishing what he started.
Zack Snyder’s trilogy of Justice League movies can be streamed on HBO Max and purchased wherever movies are sold.
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