Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Wonder Woman 1984
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The DCEU took a major detour away from Zack Snyder's original plan after the critically divisive Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but things have changed and now Wonder Woman 1984 leans heavily on a song from BvS' score. Hans Zimmer composed both movies and both he and director Patty Jenkins thought it was the perfect fit for the film's climax.
Wonder Woman 1984 marks the first Warner Bros. movie to be released on HBO Max at the same time as theaters before their entire 2021 slate sees similar treatment due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The movie initially saw a positive reception before a second wave of much more negative reviews. Regardless, the movie secured a pandemic-high opening weekend and posted strong numbers for HBO Max, securing a sequel and even boosting movie theater stocks.
While the future of the DCEU has been in flux for years, their new approach to the multiverse lifts any need for films to fully interconnect, but Wonder Woman 1984 still bears a number of strong connections to her future appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. From her keeping a (mostly) low profile and destroying security cameras down to lifting "A Beautiful Lie" for the movie's climax, adding a layer of depth to scene and firmly establishing Wonder Woman as an essential part of the DCEU's Trinity.
Wonder Woman 1984 Uses Batman v Superman's "A Beautiful Lie" Song
During the climax of Wonder Woman 1984, Diana is knocked down and unable to stop Maxwell Lord from collecting wishes from the population of Earth. Lord says she can have anything she wants, she can even have Steve Trevor back again, all she has to do is "want it." Diana replies that there's nothing she wants more, but "everything has a price" and she's not willing to pay the price of bringing back Steve. "This world was a beautiful place just as it was, and you cannot have it all. You can only have the truth, and the truth is enough." As she says this, "A Beautiful Lie" from Hans Zimmer's and Junkie XL's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice score starts playing.
It turns out the song originated as a piece of temp music during that scene in the editing process, but according to Patty Jenkins, eventually they decided it was too fitting to cut, and considering it was already a piece of music from the DCEU, there wouldn't be an issue with keeping it. Not only is it fitting because of its place in the franchise and the contrast of "A Beautiful Lie" over Diana's speech about truth, but the thematic significance of the concept of the "beautiful lie" in Batman v Superman adds an entire new layer of depth to the scene and elevates Diana's character, carving out her true role in the DCEU's Trinity.
What The "Beautiful Lie" Means in Batman v Superman
"A Beautiful Lie" isn't just a piece of music in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it's actually Batman's theme and the title strikes at the core of his character arc and the journey Zack Snyder set Batman on in the DCEU. The song is first heard during the Wayne murder in the opening scene, where the only dialogue is a voiceover from Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne. Bruce opens the movie saying "There was a time above. A time before. There were perfect things. Diamond absolutes. But things fall. Things on earth. And what falls... is fallen." Clearly, Bruce is referring to his own loss of innocence as a child and how he falls into a pit (literally and figuratively) he thinks he'll never climb out of.
Following the Wayne murder and funeral and Bruce's fall into the batcave, the voiceover continues, accompanied by a controversial metaphor of Bruce rising up, floating out of the cave in a swirl of bats toward a bright light as the voiceover continues, "In the dream, they took me to the light. A beautiful lie." The "beautiful lie" he talks about is his belief that he could be a heroic figure with the mantle of Batman and truly make a difference, fixing the world and preventing problems like the murder of his parents. But 20 years fighting crime and losing friends in Gotham taught him something different. By the time of the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, he no longer has faith in that symbol and believes only by embracing his darker nature as a brutal vigilante can he make a difference. We meet a Batman who doesn't shy away from causing collateral damage or death if it leads him to his goal, and he's determined Superman needs to die to keep the world safe.
Batman almost kills Superman, only to discover the alien he spent the whole movie dehumanizing is just trying to save his mother, whose name is the same as Bruce's mother, Martha, and the last words spoken by his father. At this moment, the movie uses "A Beautiful Lie" again to bring the story of Bruce Wayne's trauma full circle. After the Man of Steel sacrifices himself against Doomsday, Batman is determined to learn from his example. It turns out he could have used a dose of Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth to defeat the "beautiful lie" as well.
In Wonder Woman 1984, as "A Beautiful Lie is playing, Wonder Woman tells the world, via the Lasso of Truth wrapped around Maxwell Lord's ankle, "You must be the hero. Only you can save the day. Renounce your wish if you want to save this world." It turns out Batman's beautiful lie was itself a lie, and when he saw the truth about Superman, he renounced his own wish for the death of the Last Son of Krypton. Sure, the world is broken and he can't fix it on his own, but crossing the line as a ruthless killer isn't solving Gotham's crime problem - or healing his own trauma - either. As Diana says, "Look what it's costing you."
Wonder Woman Shows Why Both Batman and Superman Need Wonder Woman in the DCEU
Batman and Superman have both been on a journey in the DCEU, but it seems like Wonder Woman is already a few steps ahead, which makes sense - she's 5,000 years old. But the message she delivers to Maxwell Lord and the rest of the world is one that Batman and Superman (particularly Batman) could have benefitted from hearing in Batman v Superman before their titular brawl. "you're not the only one who has suffered. Who wants more. Who wants them back. Who doesn't want to be afraid anymore. Or alone. Or Frightened. Or Powerless."
Her speech hits on a lot of the same language Alfred uses when he confronts Bruce over his practice of branding criminals in Batman v Superman. Bruce, rejecting the "beautiful lie" says "we've always been criminals, nothing's changed" and Alfred responds with one of the movie's most famous lines "Oh, yes it has, sir. Everything's changed. Men fall from the sky, the gods hurl thunderbolts, innocents die. That's how it starts, sir. The fever, the rage, the feeling of powerlessness that turns good men... cruel.
Diana, as the wielder of the Lasso of Truth, knows this. Fear, rage, and feeling powerless to stop injustice against yourself and others turns people cruel. She's able to save the world with this truth, defeating the lie that is the beautiful lie. As Superman and Batman continue their DCEU journey as it was originally planned in Zack Snyder's Justice League, we know Batman will be awakened to this truth as he tries to do right in Superman's memory, but Superman is headed down a path that will see him corrupted by the anti-life equation, which, conveniently, also involves preying on lies. Fortunately, Batman and Wonder Woman have the truth he'll need to overcome it, so it'll be fascinating to see if this thematic resonance between Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Wonder Woman 1984 continues in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
