Wonder Woman 1984 can redo Man of Steel's most controversial choice - and do it far more effectively. The coronavirus pandemic has caused chaos for Hollywood, with most - if not all - films pushed back. With so much uncertainty, something was always going to slip through that studios didn't want to. For Warner Bros., that is the Wonder Woman 1984 junior novelization.
It's true novelizations are usually adapted from drafts of the script, meaning dialogue probably won't match up perfectly; furthermore, this is aimed at children, and as such it doesn't have the depth of characterization audiences would expect from a full movie. But the plot matches up perfectly with the Wonder Woman 1984 trailers, meaning it can be expected to accurately represent the story. In a curious twist, the Wonder Woman 1984 junior novelization ends just before the third act, as Diana is about to confront Maxwell Lord with the fate of the world on the line. That's naturally led to intense speculation over just how the third act will play out.
Assuming the junior novelization is indeed accurate, Wonder Woman 1984's ending sees Diana confront Maxwell Lord at the height of his power. He successfully acquired an ancient mystical artifact called the Dreamstone, which grants any one wish, albeit with a sinister twist; it was forged by the God of Lies. But Maxwell Lord came up with the best wish of all; he wished to possess the Dreamstone's power himself, in essence to become a human Dreamstone. Lord is a gifted con-man, and he's confident of his own ability to manipulate others into wishing for what he wants. Unfortunately, the curse of this granted wish seems to have given Maxwell Lord a compulsion to use his newly-acquired power, and things are escalating out of control. Maxwell Lord is in the White House, preparing to transmit his image to the entire world and invite everyone who sees his face on their TV screen to give a wish. And already the world is on the brink of nuclear war.
There may well be only one way for Wonder Woman to save the world - by killing Maxwell Lord. Diana is more familiar with mystical objects like the Dreamstone than anyone else on Earth, and she's convinced she can break its power by destroying it; undoing every wish that has been granted, and all the twisted curses associated with them. She is entirely unaware the Dreamstone's power has been transferred to Maxwell Lord, meaning it's likely her only choice will be to kill him. This would recreate a scene lifted straight from the comics, where Wonder Woman realized there was only one way to beat Maxwell Lord, and she broke his neck. The murder was televised, seen by the entire world. This is actually the most famous Wonder Woman/Maxwell Lord moment, so it would hardly be a surprise to see it recreated in the DCEU.
Curiously, if Wonder Woman really does break Maxwell Lord's neck - as in the comics - then it will naturally invite comparisons to an earlier film. Diana will be the second mainstream superhero to break a villain's neck in the history of the DCEU, with Superman killing General Zod in Man of Steel. That proved to be a phenomenally controversial decision, with the fanbase divided over whether or not Superman should ever kill. Writer David S. Goyer defended Zod's death in story terms, insisting the whole point was that Man of Steel's Superman was too much a rookie to think of other alternatives.
"He wasn’t Superman as we think of him in the DC Comics...or even in a world that conceived of Superman existing. He’d only flown for the first time a few days before that. He’d never fought anyone that had super powers before. And so he’s going up against a guy who’s not only super-powered, but has been training since birth to use those super powers, who exists as a superhuman killing machine, who has stated, ‘I will never stop until I destroy all of humanity.’ If you take Superman out of it, what’s the right way to tell that story? I think the right way to tell that story is if you take this powered alien who says, ‘You can have your race back, but you have to kill your adopted race,’ the moral, horrible situation to be in is to actually be forced to kill, not wanting to, the only other person from your race. Take Superman aside, I think that’s the right way to tell that story."
Henry Cavill has suggested the real problem is that audiences will never see Zack Snyder's Man of Steel 2, which would have explored the consequences of this decision to kill; specifically the emotional price Superman paid for breaking Zod's neck. In his view, this would have provided a "wonderful reason why Superman never kills." Because he had done so once, and he wished to never do so again. Part of this arc carried over to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but it was never fully realized.
Wonder Woman 1984's potential killing of Maxwell Lord would naturally invite comparison to Man of Steel, but there would be some notable differences. Wonder Woman is at a completely different point in her journey of personal growth to Superman; she is a seasoned and accomplished hero, having operated in the shadows since the First World War. Furthermore, the act of killing, while distasteful to Diana, is one she is trained for; her people used weapons to lethal effect against German soldiers in Wonder Woman, and Diana was trained as one of their warriors. Indeed, Diana's initial goal when she left Themyscira was to kill Ares, the God of War, so she clearly doesn't have the same code as Superman.
But that isn't to say this will be easy for her. As a hero, Wonder Woman is the embodiment of hope and love, a fact that has been driven home in the comics time and again; in one arc the world was stripped of all love, and Diana lost all motivation, her powers diminishing markedly. As such, it is one thing for Diana to put the God of War out of the world's misery, but it is another to kill a mortal human being who she would far prefer to redeem. Worse still, if this act is televised then it will completely change the world's perception of Wonder Woman. She has acted in secret for decades, and according to the junior novelization she has become an urban legend. Now this urban legend is suddenly revealed to really exist, but to be capable of breaking a man's neck - and willing to do so. Little wonder Diana disappeared into the shadows again until she was forced to step out into the light in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice; she dealt with the consequences of her murder for literally decades.
All this means the death of Maxwell Lord would mirror Man of Steel, but it would do so perfectly in that it is an inversion. With Man of Steel, Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer aimed to present Superman as a fledgling hero who was just stepping out of the shadows, unsure who he really was and what he should stand for, and consequently made mistakes. Continuing with that storyline would mean Superman would've seen those mistakes as lessons and altered his approach (coming up with the no killing rule).
In contrast, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman is a seasoned hero who has always tried to stand for an ideal, and is forced to do something she would most likely find reprehensible. The decisions are the same, but not in the sense they are symmetrical; rather, in the sense they are inverted. She would be killing Maxwell Lord because she knows she has to, all the while knowing what it means to truly kill. And, frankly, if done well - and there's no reason to doubt Patty Jenkins' skill - Wonder Woman 1984 should be a lot more effective.
There's one final thing acting in Jenkins' favor. Unlike Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer, she is likely to get the chance to finish her story. Viewers will never see Snyder and Goyer's Man of Steel 2, and thus we will never get a sense of payoff for Zod's death. In contrast, Patty Jenkins has clearly been approved to work on Wonder Woman 3, with the basic story already finished. For Diana, at least, there will be a complete story; an opportunity to explore how the death of Maxwell Lord changed and transformed her, until she once again became the Woman of Wonder the world loves.
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