Wonder Woman – No Man’s Land
Every superhero origin story needs that special moment when the lead character truly becomes their heroic self. The best examples must, by necessity, be a moment that combines a sense of transformation, with an equal sense of the inevitable settling into what the character already knows to be true. In Wonder Woman, director Patty Jenkins and her team absolutely nail it.
Diana of Themyscira has travelled to Europe at the height of World War I with Steve Trevor and his team. Trevor’s mission is to deliver a German scientist’s notebook to the military leaders at the Allied front, while Diana’s mission is to find the God, Ares, and kill him – believing that to be the way to end the war. Nobody really believes her, though – and when she first arrives in ‘Man’s World,’ she is thrust into the absurdity of a patriarchal society, having been raised on an all-female island.
Since being in Europe, she has constantly been told ‘No,’ and faced attempts to make her conform to misogynist social conventions. Finally walking through the trenches of the front – surrounded by suffering and dying soldiers, and starving, traumatized civilians, Diana is pushed to her limit. She’s grabbed by a terrified young woman, sheltering in the trench having escaped from the nearby Belgian village of Veld – which has been occupied by Nazi troops. She tells Diana that the villagers have all been either killed or enslaved, and that all hope is lost.
Steve begs Diana to leave the woman and continue on with him – but Diana refuses to go any further. She wants to help the people right there and then. Steve explains to her that they’re in No Man’s Land, and that these soldiers have been pinned down in that trench for almost a full year, because the Germans on the other side of the field kill anything that moves over the top. Diana will not be swayed, though.
She turns away from Steve and lowers her head into her hooded cape. When she turns back to him, she’s wearing the late General Antiope’s headband, and her iconic Amazon battle-suit. She drops her cape, lifts her sword and shield, and begins to climb the ladder up out of the trench.
The power of this moment cannot be overstated. Diana is calm, measured, and determined. She’s assessed the situation, drawn her conclusions, decided on a plan of action, and is confident in her choice. She moves slowly, and with purpose, as the music swells, and Steve and his team begin to react to her choices. The camera highlights different aspects of her as she climbs the ladder – her boots, her gauntlets, the lasso of truth. Suddenly, she’s standing – full height – at the top of trench, and Diana, Princess of Themyscira has become Wonder Woman.
She begins to walk toward the German position and the Nazis fire on her. She deflects the bullets easily with her cuffs, and breaks into a run. As she picks up speed, the soldiers change from yelling at her to stop, to yelling at each other to follow her. She has inspired these weary, traumatized soldiers, and given them the will for one, big push.
The intensity of the firing upon her increases, and Diana drops to her knee – holding her position with her shield. She has batted away bombs like flies, and Steve yells to the soldiers, “She’s drawing their fire! Let’s go!” Suddenly, No Man’s Land is filled with men, led by a woman, charging the German position. She leaps into the German trench and destroys their weapons – before leaping straight back out again and heading on to Veld – to save the villagers.
Make no mistake – the No Man’s Land sequence is exactly how to depict a hero becoming a superhero.