In less than a month, Wonder Woman finally gets her first live-action film. It’s been 76 years in the making, and fans of Diana Prince, both old and new, are expected to come out in force. Of course, the Gal Gadot-starring, World War I centered origin story isn’t just a Wonder Woman movie - it’s also a part of the larger DCEU.

Contextually this represents a chance for Warner Bros. to turn around its thus far divisive franchise, but on a micro level also informs the narrative. Audiences have already met this iteration of Diana in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which provided a few clues to her past - she was primarily hunting down a photograph of the standalone’s events and alluded to having killed creatures from other worlds before - and will inevitably hang over what is in many ways a prequel.

We're not just looking backward though; later on, in 2017, Wonder Woman returns alongside Batman, The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg in Justice League, and her own film is sure to have some clues for what to expect come November. The plot clues aren't going to be as heavy as with direct lead-in BvS - Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has stated that she was given free reign beyond the basic casting and costuming choices made in Dawn of Justice to craft her own tonal experience - but here’s how, from everything known about the production, we think the setup might work.

The Modern Day Bridging

Wonder Woman Trailer 2 - Diana at the Louvre

As we met Wonder Woman first in Batman v Superman, the solo film will jump off from that and have modern-day-set bookends showing Diana in her day-to-day work at the Louvre. It’s here she gets sent a physical copy of the photo she was hunting in Dawn of Justice, sending her into a spiral of memories of times gone by.

Seeing as it literally bridges BvS and Justice League, this is one of the most tangible links between the solo outing and the team-up, showing us Diana in the calm before the storm. Indeed it seems that Justice League will pick up right here, with one of the brief shots of a non-costumed Diana in the trailer teasers showing her working on a statue in the gallery. Although simple narrative placement may not be the whole of it.

For starters, who’s sent that image is interesting - according to production liaison Anna Obropta, it’s from none other than Bruce Wayne, who presumably in the collapse/restructuring of LexCorp found the hard copy. Bruce and Diana made a deal at the end of Dawn of Justice to assemble the metahumans after Superman’s sacrifice restored their respective faith in humanity and are presumably be still working towards that goal, so this likely plays into the DCEU's bigger picture in some form.

Of course, there may be a greater purpose to these bookends. It has been stated that the modern scenes are primarily just for establishment and won't have any direct plot relevance (so no Ares in 2017 Paris), but that needn't rule out a more tangible link to the future (similar to Captain America: The First Avenger). What exactly probably won’t be known until June 3rd. It may be that Bruce’s message contains more pertinent information about the task at hand, although a more unexpected tease would be the perfect way to cap the film.

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The Amazons' History With Darkseid

Justice League - Amazons fighting parademons

After that opening, Wonder Woman will cycle back through Amazon history, first to Diana as a child, then via a bedtime story to the creation of the species. From what we can gather most of this will be in regards to Zeus and Ares - how the former built Amazon society and the latter corrupted man, leading to an epic confrontation - but there’s another piece of Amazon history we know is coming.

The Justice League trailer wasn’t light on big action, but by far the largest scale example was the brief glimpse of a Lord of the Rings-level conflict of Amazons, Atlantians and man against the parademons of Apokolips. The exact details of this prologue are unknown, but it's set to underpin much of the League's adventure. Now, this event is rather tangential to the concerns of Wonder Woman - and at the time of the movie Apokolips is deemed a resolved threat - so there’s definitely no direct reason to include it; in the scope of the Gods, Ares is a bigger deal. However, there is still the possibility that in spanning the time of this battle we’ll get a glimpse of the fight or a glancing reference to the Amazons teaming up with other Earthling groups.

Even if not, there is still the matter of the Mother Box. We know that after the conflict each of the Earth parties takes one of the MacGuffins as they are less dangerous kept apart, with one in Atlantis, one buried by men and one in Themyscira. It’s probably under lock-and-key, but wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to have it appear in the film alongside other ancient belongings like the God Killer sword that will prove essential in bringing down Ares.

Finding A Way Back To Themyscira

Wonder Woman Themyscira

The first act of Wonder Woman will follow her life on Themyscira, at first forbidden to train but gradually emerging as one of the most skilled Amazon fighters (and certainly the most compassionate). Once Steve Trevor and the Great War arrive, however, she’s pulled into the land of men. And whether she’ll be able to return is a big mystery.

Footage show at the edit bay Q&A and Cinema Con featured a brief moment where Queen Hippolyta discussed whether they should have told Diana a deep secret. As presented it could mean any number of things, but the most fitting would be the question of whether Diana can ever return home. In the DCEU canon, Zeus locked Themyscira away to protect his creation from Ares, with the film showing the island in a bubble, suggesting it's not as easy to find as just using a map; like Asgard in the MCU it, requires special knowledge to find (although Steve Trevor does show it is possible to find by chance).

Per Obropta, the film doesn’t take audiences back to Themyscira and thus won’t address this directly, but it’s a potential dangling thread ready to be picked up in Justice League. After all, Themyscira will be a key concern in the team-up considering it houses a Mother Box, so they’re going to have to find it somehow.

There’s also character importance. For Diana, who has removed herself from the issues of men between the 1910s events of her solo movie and Batman v Superman, losing her home is going to be a key part of her regret. As Wonder Woman is motivated by her memories of a time and people long past, it’s possible she’ll be newly invigorated to return home.

An Evolved Character

Because the main story is set 100 years in the past and we’ve already seen what becomes of Diana after the events of the film, there was never going to be the same level of Justice League establishment in Wonder Woman as there was in Batman v Superman (or its MCU counterparts). Although even with that consideration, there are a lot of interesting avenues for the movie to go in; Amazon culture is going to play a key role in Justice League’s conflict anyway, specifically the prologue, but Wonder Woman can lay the groundwork and help acclimatize audiences to the out-there story on a bigger scale.

Where the real setup comes, though, isn’t in anything as scintillating as Mother Boxes or Batman winks. The way Diana Prince was presented in Batman v Superman was as a blank slate, a mystery woman to serve as Bruce Wayne’s introduction to the metahuman thesis. Wonder Woman provides a way to fully flesh her out, detailing how she went from a princess of a hidden land to a world-saving warrior. It's not setup insofar as we’ve already met a character capable of taking on Steppenwolf, but the solo outing can really help us get to know Diana before she becomes a team player - that is the film's most important job.

NEXT: Wonder Woman: Early Reaction Compares Film to Captain America

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