Zack Snyder reveals original Batman v Superman picture of Wonder Woman
The first version of the picture was set in the Crimean War
Zack Snyder has revealed the original version of the Wonder Woman picture seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
In the movie, Diana Prince is trying to get the picture back from Lex Luthor – and Batman eventually uncovers it. The photo that made it into the final cut depicts the hero during the First World War alongside Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor.
Before the concept for Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman movie was fully formed, Snyder took a placeholder photo to use in Dawn of Justice, and, while speaking to Comic Book Debate, the director showed the image for the first time.
Here is a clear look at the pic shown during Zack’s interview today, it was used as a placeholder in BVS and was taken before Patty was hired and took on Wonder Woman’s origin Story. Thanks boss @ZackSnyder for letting us share this.#UsUnited #ZackSnydersJusticeLeague pic.twitter.com/qeBFCev9MTJanuary 4, 2021
Such a powerful photo of Wonder Woman from what would’ve been her from the Crimean War, an unstoppable force and leader. Seeing Diana standing side by side in battle with a truly diverse group of warriors is amazing to see pic.twitter.com/eZRLU7UCHdJanuary 5, 2021
Set during the Crimean War rather than World War One, the picture shows Wonder Woman alongside some fellow warriors, the superhero holding some decapitated heads. A bit gruesome, perhaps, but the spear and cloak do look epic.
Earlier in 2020, during a Vero watch party of Dawn of Justice, Snyder shared some info about the image: “I’d shot a placeholder because when we shot [Dawn of Justice] we hadn’t really finished the concept for Wonder Woman yet… The idea that Batman was looking at an image from an early photographic image... not a painting, but a photograph to prove that it’s the same person, and that the photograph was 100 years old to show that she hadn’t aged. That notion was in the film before we made the Wonder Woman movie.”
He added: “Originally it had been the Crimean War because it was one of the early conflicts where photography was used, and I really wanted to really get the longest stretch possible. I think we originally talked about it being even the Civil War as a possibility, just in our early conversations… And then we reshot it with the real actors, I had Gal [Gadot] in the original photo but it was the Crimean War, so it was like a much different look.”
We’ll next see Wonder Woman in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is due for release this March. Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order for the ultimate movie marathon.
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I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.