Why Wonder Woman 1984 Was Always Set Before Justice League

When operating in a cinematic universe, certain canon restrictions can be put in place for stories [...]

By Brandon Davis

When operating in a cinematic universe, certain canon restrictions can be put in place for stories which take place after other movies in the same franchise. For Wonder Woman 1984, the only rules in place are those written by the first Wonder Woman movie, the film which told Diana Prince's origin story and took place long before her cinematic debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now, Wonder Woman's sequel Wonder Woman 1984 is set right where the title promises, which gives the character about 25 years of room to play with before other heroes start showing up on Earth.

While on the set of Wonder Woman 1984 in 2018, ComicBook.com heard from Patty Jenkins exactly why the film chose such a time to take place and how the events of Justice League's ensemble of heroes might have influenced the decision.

"There are two things. First of all, I'm a fan of lots of different genres of superhero films, but for her in particular, she just became Wonder Woman in the first movie, so I kind of want a much more solo movie, and as soon as you go current day, you really have to deal with all the other heroes," Jenkins explains. "So I was like, 'We need a movie about Wonder Woman, now on this world.' So that was the leading thing is I was like, 'We got to see Wonder Woman before we ever get into all the other guys at the same time.' But also really, I loved about the first movie where you could talk about current day, but use the metaphor of another time to detach it from everybody getting particular about the details. And I thought that was so cool about 1917, 1918 where you could say, yes, 'We're talking about war, mankind at more mechanization of war, the way we make our choices,' without anybody getting literal and without having to make up a war with much less weight."

As fans will see, very strongly in the film's villain especially, the timing is in its own way a character in the film.

"[1984] ties in in a big way," Jenkins goes on. "Interestingly, here we are again; like suddenly I never thought we'd be so full circle again that we're talking about the same people on the same. So I think the way that the world was at a modern standoff happening then is very evocative to what's happening now. But yeah, it definitely figures in, but everything is very balanced on each other. So when one thing goes astray, what does it do to everything else, et cetera, et cetera."

The film's unit publicist, Lee Ann Muldoon, was also tremendously knowledgeable about the film as a whole. Adding on to the fact that Diana will be rocking some fashionable 80's garb, having cassette tapes in her apartment, and combating what Jenkins labels a time where we see "mankind at its worst."

"Why 1984? America was at the height of its power and its pride," Muldoon explains. "So commercialism, wealth, art, glamour, music, even violence… everything was in excess. So America was at its peak in 1984 it was a decade of greed and desire, a time of need and more. Humanity kind of at its best and at its worst. 1984 was a year of lessons learned. Lessons for goddess warrior Diana, and lessons for all of us."

Ultimately, there is an added bonus for Jenkins, who grew up a big fan of Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman.

"This is the success of modern mankind's way of living and what does it like to put Wonder Woman at the core of that? That was what I was psyched about and the story just started to unfold really lending itself to [that]," Jenkins explains, adding, "Look it's a very different version of the '80s, but I grew up watching Wonder Woman, loving Wonder Woman , so there's also something so American '70s and '80s about Wonder Woman too that this is our own version of it, but I love being a part of it."

More info about Wonder Woman 1984 will be dropping on August 22 during DC FanDome!

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