Wonder Woman: War Of The Gods

Wonder Woman: War Of The Gods is a 2024 superhero film. It is the third film in the Wonder Woman series and an entry in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Directed by Zack Snyder with a screenplay wrote by Chris Terrio, Zack Snyder and Geoff Johns. Snyder replaced Patty Jenkins after the financial flop and the negative reviews of Wonder Woman 1984 while Zack Snyder's Justice League got worldwide acclaim. Due to Warner Bros' unwillingness to produce Snyder's Justice League planned sequels, he decided to use the characters of Darkseid and his Apokolips warriors in this movie. The theater version is 151 minutes long, the streaming version released on HBO Max is 181 minutes long. Compared to Snyder's other DCEU films, this one is shot with less dark colours and cameras, similar to Man Of Steel. The film grossed $942,561,184 worldwide.
== Synopsis ==
The movie will be primarly based on DC Rebirth Wonder Woman's storyline Children Of The Gods. Diana Prince/Wonder Woman will learn that something is killing the children of Zeus across the world and she is likely to be next. Even worse, the responsable of the attacks is Grail, the princess of Apokolips, daughter to Darkseid himself. Grail, who has come with her own personal army of Parademons but also the Furies (Darkseid's female elite warriors), hunts the demigods in order to suck dry their divine life-energy using a modified Mother Box designed by Deesad. Darkseid plans to use that energy to empowers himself beyond godhood itself! Grail's fist move will be to neutralize those who could pose a treath to her schemes so she will take by surprise Diana's Justice League teammates: she first attacks Superman, while he's walking the street in Metropolis as Clark Kent, poisoning him with a kryptonite dagger. Then she will attack Barry Allen in his sleep, cutting off his legs (they will grow back by the end of the film). Finally, she will surprise Aquaman in his private room in Atlantis and backstabs him, wounding him almost fatally, then steals his trident which she will keep as additional weapon through the movie (Diana will later return it to him). With her fellow leaguers out of the play, Diana will instead be aided by A.R.G.U.S. agents Julia Pennyworth and King Faraday but also by her new Amazonian protégé Donna Troy who heavily admire her and wishes to follow her trails and learn about the human world to protect it like she does. But above all Diana will discover a dark secret about her family: she isn't the only child of Zeus and Hippolyta. She has a twin brother, Jason, who was, however, rejected and abbandoned by the Amazons, since men are forbidden in their island. Jason was therefore raised by his elder brother Hercules, with both hiding in the disguise of mere mortals on Earth. However, it will not be long before Jason revealed his jealousy for his sister, who was raised as princess of Themyscira and became known throughout the world as Wonder Woman, while he was forced to hide his existence from the world, living as a fisherman among the mortal. Still, he disobeyed his brother by engaging in battles against powerful enemies from the shadows, risking to be discovered. Because of this feeling, Jason sided with Grail and betrayed Diana, revealing his hatred for her. The loneliness he felt made it easier for Grail to bring him to her side, lying to him when she said that she did not kill Hercules and his other brothers and sisters to absorb the energy of Zeus in them for her father, Darkseid. However, if Jason resents and initially even despise his sister and his mother, he has opposite feelings for Donna: the two will like each other from the first time they meet and, even when he goes to Grail's side, Donna refuses to believe there isn't a way to reach out to him and will prove to be correct as she will be the one to explains to Jason the truth about Grail's murder of Zeus's children. Eventually, Wonder Woman is finally starting to overpowering Grail in a one on one duel but this will cause her own father, Darkseid himself, to descends to Earth and, seeing her suffer fighting Grail and Darkseid together, Jason repents and turns to his sister's side. But the two, even together, are no match for the lord of Apokolips who is about to order Deesad to absorb their life-energy as well. But suddenly they are surprised by the arrival of the director of A.R.G.U.S. Blake Hooper, who turned out to be none other than Zeus himself. A great battle immediatly erupts between the king of Olympus and the king of Apokolips : Zeus appears to outmatch and outpowers his enemy in every way but still the fight goes on. At some point, Darkseid is sent flying into space and crashes into a satellite. Zeus teleports behind him and prepares to strike again, sending the both of them to a remote star system, far away from Earth when he no longer needs to hold back. The Apokolips ruler fires his Omega Beams with all his might but while the Omega Beams push Zeus planets away from his opponent they appear to have no significant effect on the king of the gods. Zeus proceeds to hurl an entire planet at Darkseid. The villain struggles to hold endure the blow as he is sent crashing through several planets before ending up in the middle of a sun. Zeus creates a black hole in the middle of the sun to swallow his opponent and the following planets. However, Darkseid drastically increases his size and grips onto the edge of the black hole and a nearby planet. He grows so large that he simply crushes the black hole in the palm of his hand. Merely amused by the perspective of a proper challange, the god of the sky and the storm tosses the entire solar system forward as he charges and increases his size as well. He tosses the new god back to get pelted by the tossed planets before Darkseid manages to hit him back. Zeus lands another punch, but Darkseid manages to grab another planet in the rebound and crushes it in the Olympian's chest though again to no apparent effect. The two godly beings then unleash two powerful punches, which manages to send shockwaves throughout the entire universe. Both of them ends up again on Earth (where Diana and Grail never stopped fighting alongside Jason and Donna who are facing against the Furies and Deesad) reduced back to their previous sizes. Zeus is about to finish off Darkseid but Deesad interferes and, while he is unable to hurt the lord of Olympus, he drops the Mother Box next to his master and distracts Zeus long enough for Darkseid to strikes him from behind finally using it to absorb his power. This was revealed to be Darkseid's purpose all along while hunting and killing his children was bait to lure him. Zeus is killed by Darkseid, leaving Diana in a rage for failing to defeat him before he, Deesad and Grail left, and Jason is overcome with remorse for his betrayal. With Zeus out of the way, Darkseid will unleash the final part of his plan: opening a giant boom tube Themyscira. His plan was in fact about turning the Amazons into a new kind of perfected and far stronger kind of Parademons. Preparing for the final assault, Diana will reach the celestial forge of Olympus where the god smith Hephaestus once crafted the very stars of the universe. Here, in fire that would melt the sun, Diana will forge herself her new armor and weapons after Darkseid destroyed her previous equipment (and each time she beats the hammer on the anvil she shakes the whole planet). With hordes of Amazons turned into Parademons coming out of the portal, Diana, Donna and their A.R.G.U.S. allies struggle to keep the fight going, overwhelmed by the forces of Darkseid. Trying to stop the transformation of the Amazons, Jason enters Themyscira and fights Grail: with the help of Hippolyta, his mother, which he finally meets, Grail is stopped. Meanwhile, Diana try a desperate face off against Darkseid who appears invincible at first until the daughter of Zeus decides to try her last resort and takes off her bracelets who were actually restraining her full godly potential all along. In her newfound status, Diana is able to match and even briefly overpowers Darkseid but she is totally out of control, a berserker wild animal that risks destroying the planet before Darkseid does (their fight is very similar to Savage He-Man vs Skelegod in MOTU: Revelation with Diana being obviously stronger but Darkseid able to avoid defeat thanks to his magic and the fact that Diana can't think straight). So Donna helps Diana recovers her true self and instead reminds her of her true most powerful weapon she did not use against Darkseid: love. She realizes that the energy of her brothers, sisters and especially father still live in Darkseid and that she can connect with them using her emotions. Doing it, she releases their very souls from Darkseid which results in the tyrant god being violently electrocuted from within and then imploding into a cloud of dust, apparently destroying him for good. With him gone, Zeus and his children are released back to life and the king of the gods immediatly stops the transformed Amazons restoring them to their original beings. Then, as the portal for Themyscira is closing, Jason has to say goodbye to the mother he just met: Hippolyta gives him a gift, her spear, to remember her as she wished she could spend more time with him. But the fact she was able to see him as an adult, strong and powerful, is as much a blessing as anything. Leaving Themyscira, Jason and Diana are visited by their father Zeus and their brother Hercules who tell them that Grail now is a prisoner of the Olympus, but Darkseid, while destroyed for now, will undoubtedly be reborn at some point as it is the nature of evil. Zeus congratulates with his children, telling them he couldn't possibly be prouder of them with Diana wishing to serve as Jason's mentor with him more than willing to accept on one condition: Donna must be with them. As Zeus and Diana leave them alone to further discuss things, Jason and Donna confess each other's feelings and share a kiss. In the last scene of the movie, Diana, Jason, Donna, Hercules and King will accompany Julia at Wayne Manor visiting her father Alfred who will invite them all to stay for thea.
== Cast ==
* Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, an Amazon warrior demigoddess who is the crown princess of Themyscira, daughter of Zeus and superheroine of Earth.
* Alexandra Daddario as Donna Troy, Diana's protégé and fellow Amazon superheroine. She will join her on her quest to stop Grail and will fall in love with her brother Jason.
* Logan Lerman as Jason, Diana's twin brother and son of Zeus who grew up far from his family, except for his elder brother Hercules who raised him in disguise. He initially resent his family for rejecting him but will eventually forgive them and help them stop Darkseid. He also falls in love with Donna.
* Sean Bean as Zeus, the king of the gods, ruler of Olympus, god of the sky and the storm, father to Diana, Jason, Hercules, Perseus and many other gods and demigods. He hided under the disguise of A.R.G.U.S. to help his daughter secretly before finally revealing himself when his children needed him the most. Much like the other gods (both old gods and new gods), Zeus is much taller than mortals (over 9 feet tall) and, instead of blood, gold runs through his veins. His character design resembles his Rebirth comic book counterpart, spotting a full beard, a golden crown and a cape made entirely of lightning. Stunt performer Sergi Costance, who played Zeus in Justice League, physically portrayed the character in the movie (with his face altered through CGI to Bean's) except in the ending scene where Zeus comes to see Diana and Jason and is disguised as a mortal.
*Tom Hardy as King Faraday: an ex-soldier and counter-espionage agent for the U.S. Government. His name is a play on the phrase "king for a day." Having worked as a spy and government agent for many years, he is an expert marksman and martial artist. He has been a member of the Central Bureau of Intelligence, Checkmate and the Suicide Squad. Diana say Faraday remind her a lot of Steve Trevor, though not in any romantic sense.
* Laetitia Wright as Julia Pennyworth: Alfred Pennyworth's daughter and an A.R.G.U.S. agent, she was a member of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and previously worked with Batman to take down a crime lord. She and Faraday are implied to be romantically involved.
* Tom Selleck as Blake Hooper, Zeus' disguise as the director of A.R.G.U.S.
* Manu Bennett as Hercules, legendary hero and demigod who later ascended to full godhood, who is the son of Zeus as well as Diana and Jason's older brother. He raised his younger brother, on behalf of their father, disguised as a mortal for all these years (he's also the one who choose his name in honor of his old Argonaut comrade). Disguised as a mortal, Hercules is as tall as them but in his true godly form he is much taller and wears an armor like his DC Rebirth version.
* Rosa Salazar as Grail, the daughter of Darkseid who has been assigned by her father to collect the powers of the children of Zeus, commanding the Furies and an army of Parademons. She is later revealed to be half-Amazon much to Diana's surprise and shock.
* Ray Porter as Darkseid, the tyrannic ruler of the planet Apokolips, archenemy of the Justice League who plans to take over the power of the old gods using Zeus' children and the Amazons.
* Peter Guinness as Desaad, Darkseid's master enforcer.
*Ralph Fiennes as Hades, the god of the underworld, brother to Zeus and uncle to Diana, Jason and Hercules. He appears only in the ending part, where he imprison Deesad, Grail and the Furies in the darkest pits of Tartarus as punishment for conspiring against his family. Just like Neeson, Fiennes reprises his role from Clash Of The Titans and wears the same costume and make-up.
Additionally the movie will feature the Furies, Darkseid's elite warriors, and the children of Zeus on Earth: Callisto and Perseus. The other gods and goddesses of Olympus (Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus, Hermes and Hephaestus) will also make a cameo in the ending scene where Zeus returns to Mount Olympus. Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa and K.J. Apa will reprise their roles as Superman, Aquaman and Flash. Jeremy Irons will also reprise his role as Alfred in the ending scene.