Wonder Woman 1984 is now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max. One thing that DC fans may or may not have noticed while watching the Wonder Woman sequel was a major Easter egg reference to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which is used to add power and depth (and even some crossover thematics) to one of the climactic sequences of the film. In this case, the reference is a sonic one: The song “Beautiful Lie” from Batman v Superman’s soundtrack and Batman origin sequence gets brought back as the score for one of Wonder Woman 1984‘s biggest and most pivotal moments.
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Warning: Wonder Woman 1984 SPOILERS Follow!
The plot of Wonder Woman 1984 sees Diana Prince working as an anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C., where she comes into contact with a strange mystical artifact: the Dreamstone. The mystical rock lets a user get their most desired wish, at the small price of the thing they love the most. When Maxwell Lord gets his hands on the Dreamstone, he makes a bold wish: to become the Dreamstone.
Once Max Lord becomes a living genie, he goes on a manic tear of granting wishes to people in power, in order to amass his own power base. Eventually, Max takes his act to television, tempting a global audience to put their own selfish desires first. It takes Wonder Woman fighting her way to Max’s location – and using her Lasso of Truth to influence him – in order to turn the tide.
A big theme of the story in Wonder Woman 1984 is the inescapable need for truth against the corrosive effect of lies and self-delusion. It takes Diana painfully renouncing her own wish to have Steve Trevor back to make her see the truth, and share it with others. Speaking to the world through Maxwell Lord, Diana asks everyone to renounce their own wishes and embrace the necessity for truth – and “Beautiful Lie” proves to be the perfect song to carry that moment.
It’s an ironic (if not wittily sharp) turn by director Patty Jenkins; The “Beautiful Lie” sequence of Batman v Superman was one of the first parts of the film that caused controversy. Zack Snyder’s vision of Batman’s origin (as well as the arthouse cinematic way he conveyed it), were the first clues that the filmmaker was really doing something different with the film – in a way that divides the fanbase and mainstream viewers, to this day.
Wonder Woman 1984 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice are both streaming on HBO Max today.
