While most superhero movie are usually set in the "present day" (i.e. whenever the movie was made), Wonder Woman went a different path by placing Diana of Themyscira in the early 20th century as World War I was still raging. While Justice League will reunite audiences with the present day Diana following her debut last year in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there's already talk about about when Wonder Woman 2 might be set. Well according to Patty Jenkins, the plan for this potential sequel is to keep it set in the past, and not incredibly far off from Wonder Woman's late 1910s setting. When asked if she'd like to have Wonder Woman 2 set in the present or perhaps around the 1930s, Jenkins said:
I'm definitely planning something more interesting using that period of time. Definitely, it's the plan. I can't say what it is! But it's definitely right in the pocket of what you're talking about.
So while Patty Jenkins wouldn't disclose to Uproxx what time period she has in mind for Wonder Woman 2, it appears that the current plan is to revisit Diana sometime after 1918 and before World War II erupts in 1939. That's a good two decade period for speculation. It's worth noting that Diana told Bruce Wayne at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that she walked away from mankind 100 years ago, "from a century of horrors." That implied that she hadn't been active as Wonder Woman for a century when she jumped in to fight Doomsday. Wonder Woman 2 will have to work around this, but it'd be easy enough to have Diana pick up the Lasso of Truth and bulletproof bracelets for a covert mission.
Of course, Wonder Woman isn't the only superhero movie to be a period piece. 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger was mainly set in World War II, with only the opening minutes and the ending set in the present day. The recent X-Men movies also turned back the clock, with X-Men: First Class set in 1962, X-Men: Days of Future Past balancing 1973 scenes with an apocalyptic 2023, and X-Men: Apocalypse set in 1983. These are just some recent examples, but since Wonder Woman is set in World War I, a conflict not often explored in major blockbusters, it's more novel.
Personally, I would be interested in seeing Wonder Woman 2 set in the 1920s, the time period originally rumored for the first movie back when it was in the early stages of development. Seeing Diana beating up gangsters during the Jazz Age would be amazing. But whether the sequel is set then, during the Great Depression or even past the period Patty Jenkins is considering now, keeping Wonder Woman movies set in the past is a smart idea. Since Diana's modern day exploits can be chronicled in the Justice League movies, the Wonder Woman series can be where we see more what her life in man's world was like long before Batman v Superman.
We'll see how Diana of Themyscira's first experience with mankind fared when Wonder Woman finally comes out next Friday, June 2.
