It's good news for Wonder Woman fans to hear Gal Gadot will return in Flashpoint - but she may actually be playing the villain, if the movie is true to the comics. It's a little hard to believe, especially given the excitement fans felt when reports claimed Ezra Miller's first solo movie in the DCEU would be teaming The Flash with Wonder Woman. The undisputed winner of the DCEU's 'Most Popular Hero' title, it only seems wise for DC Films to launch Wonder Woman's success into Justice League... and as many other DC movies as can possibly work.But there's one problem with that plan when it comes to Flashpoint. Assuming that the movie has chosen that title with a specific plan in mind, then the role to be played by Gadot is anything but a hero. In fact, she may swiftly change from the DCEU's greatest hero to its most powerful villain. Since many will assume that's the only explanation for Wonder Woman's role in a Flashpoint movie, we're taking a closer look and seeing if it truly adds up given the rest of the DCEU plan.
RELATED: Why a Flashpoint Movie Shouldn't Reboot The DCEU
Will Wonder Woman go evil and militarily crazed in the DCEU's Flashpoint reboot? Not unless the DCEU is going to make The Flash's first movie one of their biggest ever.
The Wonder Woman of The Flashpoint Comic
For reason obvious to DC Comics fans but unknown to casual moviegoers, the simple fact that Comic-Con revealed the title of The Flash's solo movie to be Flashpoint was a bombshell of seismic proportions. The name was first introduced in a colossal DC event written by Geoff Johns, imagining what the DC Universe would look like if Barry Allen had never gotten superspeed, and never become The Flash. No Justice League, no Superman, and no Bruce Wayne (Thomas Wayne became a violent Batman instead). Oh, and the planet destroyed by World War III.
Specifically, a massive war between the empires of Atlantis and the Amazons, with Aquaman waging the war on one side, and Diana leading her army on the other. Without the rest of Earth's greatest heroes to bring peace, a planned wedding between Arthur and Diana was foiled by assassination, plunging the world into a war of total annihilation. The only thing that kept the planet from being completely destroyed was Barry Allen realizing the truth: that he had caused this terrible nightmare by changing the past, not one of his diabolical enemies.
In the end Barry realized this world was the result of preventing his mother's murder, thereby never throwing himself into forensics, never being struck by lighting, never becoming a hero... you get the idea. Once he tried to reset the past, the New 52 Universe was born (a reboot updating DC's heroes in an almost-the-same-but-different version of reality). Not to mention proving to fans everywhere that while Batman and Superman may get the spotlight, it's Arthur and Diana who could conquer the planet, if they were driven to it.
With word that The Flash's first solo movie has been titled Flashpoint by the studio, and with rumors that Gal Gadot will reprise her role, it seems movie audiences will learn the same lesson... right?
You Don't Make Your Best Hero a Villain
For those who know the title and premise of the comics, the inclusion of Wonder Woman is obvious. DC Films is adapting Flashpoint with the same plot, the same characters, and the same purpose: to reboot the DCEU and start over. For those who haven't responded well to Zack Snyder's style or the DCEU's more 'serious' tone, or those who despise it as if it had destroyed their world, it's a tempting line of reasoning. But as Marvel showed with Captain America: Civil War, sometimes a good comic book event title is just that, and not a strict translation from page to screen.
For starters, the very reason that Wonder Woman's role in the Flashpoint comic was that it subverted expectations. Diana is DC's truest hero, when you get right down to it - meaning the slippery slope that led her to extremism was a fascinating one for fans to see. The same was true for Aquaman, seeing him leading Atlantis against the mainland when the heart of his character is both a Human and Atlantean. It worked for the DC readership, but if movie fans and critics have shown one thing... it's that they're not interested in seeing darker, more socially and politically complicated versions of the Justice League on film.
To be honest, that's not even the BIGGEST challenge that this Flashpoint movie would face...
When Does It Become a Justice League Movie Instead?
Even ignoring the desire to keep Wonder Woman's popularity up for her own sequel out of the equation, Flashpoint is a hard story to imagine in a single movie. If Wonder Woman is in, then Jason Momoa's Aquaman must be, as well. If it's keeping that close to the comics, then Jeffrey Dean Morgan's Flashpoint Batman plays a pivotal role, too. Before long the solo Flash movie charged with explaining his powers and the Speed Force (and introducing his own villain) becomes a Justice League-sized epic.
It's possible the movie is being planned as the most complicated, far-reaching, and star-studded, universe-expanding movie in the DCEU yet, and Flashpoint's rumored release date of 2020 gives them time to plan it out. But to deduce that much from the title before a writer or director is locked in seems... well, foolhardy. There are plenty of reasons why a Flashpoint movie shouldn't reboot the DCEU, but the sheer size of the movie suggests some changes will have to be made to actually keep it centered on Barry allen - including a new role for Wonder Woman.
The More Likely Role For Wonder Woman in Flashpoint
Assuming that Flashpoint will focus on Barry Allen's mastery of time travel, and his desperate decision to rewrite history so that his mother lives - and the world suffers - the filmmakers have some wiggle room. The spirit of the story, no matter how grand the action, is Barry's realization that he can't change the past (and that every time he does, things change in unpredictable ways). That simply means that the version of the DCEU he creates has to be worse, less joyous, less hopeful, or as teased in his Justice League trailer scenes, lacking in friendship and a community. Friendship in the form of his Justice League teammates.
It would be a clever way to keep the film informed by Justice League preceding it, without demanding all the principle cast members appear. If Barry undid his powers and heroics... then he couldn't meet the Justice League if he wanted. A news report showing a vicious Bat-vigilante in Gotham City would be all that's needed for viewers to know that in this world, Superman never redeemed Bruce Wayne. The film could make due with such references, but if you're keeping true to Flashpoint beyond Barry, then a member of his former superheroic community will be needed - just not the version the audience knew.
That's a role that could potentially turn Ezra Miller's solo movie into a two-hander, as Barry reunites with one of his League allies (Batman in the comic) to regain his powers and set things right. Along the way, encountering other heroes in a Christmas Carol-esque parade of tragedy and sadness that replaced their former bonds. That seems a perfect place to include Gal Gadot's Diana, especially since the audience already knows that the Dawn of Justice as a whole only occurred thanks to her intervention.
Had she not seen the footage of Barry's powers in action, she may not have intervened in the Doomsday fight. Batman would have been incinerated, and Superman likely killed all the same. Perhaps that's the reason why Gal Gadot may be the only DCEU star left to appear in Barry's solo story.
Regardless of how Diana will cross paths with, be discovered by, or simply coexist alongside Barry Allen, it seems to make more sense than casting her as a major antagonist in a worldwide war. Given Wonder Woman's claim of walking away from mankind, it seems more believable that she would remain in the shadows than be corrupted into a global tyrant. In the process, revealing just how much each of the DC heroes rely on eachother to become their best selves - a major theme in Justice League.
Not to mention a clever way of linking Flashpoint - the story most separated from the 'real' DCEU - to the surrounding stories and heroes thematically, if not temporally. Assuming that Geoff Johns's affection for Robert Zemeckis means he's the Flashpoint frontrunner, fans don't need to use too much imagination to see the similarities between this proposed 'lesson' and adventure for Barry and that of Back to the Future.
That's as likely a coincidence as anything else... but it seems a more fitting brand of adventure for Zemeckis to even be considered for in the first place. But who knows? It's possible Wonder Woman will be taken from director Patty Jenkins's heights to a warrior ruling the ruins of Earth. But it sure doesn't seem too likely. And if anyone is suited to rewriting the Flashpoint story for film, it's Geoff Johns. He wrote it, after all.
