The photograph was a clue. A revelation unearthed by Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) indicating how long Diana Prince had been in “the fight,” and proving that, as she said, Wayne really hasn’t met very many women like her. This is a moment from Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the photograph was going to show that Wonder Woman has been participating in battles for decades. Centuries. When we finally saw it, it was the above World War I shot that included Gal Gadot and eventual Wonder Woman co-star Chris Pine. But Snyder had something totally different planned, which he has been teasing fans with for years. Yesterday, he revealed it:
Do you look at that photograph and instantly hear Hans Zimmer’s signature Wonder Woman theme? If so, then like me, you might have an incurable disease known as DCEU Syndrome. The new photo shared by uber-Snyder fans The Nerd Queens comes from the director himself, and features Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) surrounded by warriors during the Crimean War, which was fought over the rights to Holy Lands beginning in 1853. This would have set the DC icon’s history back even further than when it is established in Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman origin story, and introduced a wave of original characters to the DCEU.
Look closely at that image. There’s a samurai!
Why do we refer to this image as “Secret,” though? Because this original print had been hanging on the wall of Zack Snyder’s office, and whenever the director would do Zoom interviews of fan streams in 2020, he’d often say that he couldn’t show fans exactly what it was, even though several immediately deduced that the photo in question was his original concept for Wonder Woman in the Crimean War.
During an interview with ComicBookDebate this week, though, Snyder finally showed off the legendary photograph that he used as a placeholder until Patty Jenkins changed the timeline on her story. And after showing it off on the interview stream, Snyder released it officially to The Nerd Queens.
Then, fans took it upon themselves to colorize the image, and it look even better!
Fans spent hours poring over the image to find details. Most eyes went immediately to the severed heads that Diana is holding in her hand, which triggered a fresh wave of “Wonder Woman doesn’t kill” debates. That’s always fun. We mentioned the samurai, which is an exciting addition to the universe. But several fans just celebrated the diversity that Zack Snyder would have pushed to bring to the DCEU if he were able to implement this plan. And some wondered if this is the photo that Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) will see if and when Snyder’s restored Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice cut makes its way to theaters?
This will be an exciting year for Snyder and his fans. The Snyder Cut of Justice League is coming to HBO Max in March, and the potential of the SnyderVerse getting restored looms large. You know we will be covering all of it as it unfolds, so keep it here on CinemaBlend for all of your DC and Zack Snyder needs.
