Wonder Woman: Justice Society

Logo for the Film

Leo Howard

Claire Holt

Jharrel Jerome

Ricardo Hurtado

Benjamin Wadsworth

Graham Phillips

Jacob Elordi

Michael Campion

Ryan Newman

Joanna Fylidou

Marie Avgeropolous

Riele Downs

**Wonder Woman: Justice Society** is a 2021 American superhero film produced by WarnerBros. Pictures and DC Entertainment. It is the second installment in the DC Universe (DCU). The film tells the origins of Diana Prince and the founding of the Justice Society of America. The film was released on July 2, 2021 and received positive reviews from critics.

## Film Info

### Synopsis

Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot who tells her about the massive conflict that's raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time and leads a team of heroes called the Justice Society into battle.

### Plot

The daughter of Queen Hippolyta, Diana is raised on the hidden island of Themyscira, home to the Amazons, women warriors created by the Olympian gods to protect mankind. Hippolyta explains their history to Diana, including how Ares became jealous of humanity and created war and strife wherever he went. Zeus left the Amazons a weapon, the “god killer” to use against Ares. Hippolyta reluctantly agrees to let her sister, General Antiope, train Diana as a warrior.

In the 1940’s, Diana, now a young woman, rescues US pilot Captain Steve Trevor when his plane crashes off the Themysciran coast. The island is soon invaded by German soldiers, who had been pursuing Steve. The Amazons wipe out the German landing force at the expense of heavy losses, with Antiope sacrificing herself to save Diana. Steve is interrogated with the Lasso of Hestia and reveals that a great war is consuming the outside world and that he is an Allied spy. Believing Ares to be responsible for the war, Diana arms herself with the "god-killer" sword, the lasso, and armor before leaving Themyscira with Steve to locate and stop Ares for good.

President Roosevelt meets with Trevor who informs him that Hitler has sent out Per Degaton to seek out magical weapons and is working alongside chemist Marina Maru, aka Dr. Poison to develop a deadly gas. With Roosevelt’s authorization, Trevor assembles a task force consisting of Wildcat, Hawkman, Black Canary, Hourman and the Flash, and introduces Roosevelt to Wonder Woman.

With the Justice Society now formed, the team goes on numerous missions together as Steve and Diana fall in love. As a recurring joke, he proposes to her every single day, with her turning him down each time but promising she’ll say yes one day. The team learns that Per Degaton is wielding a powerful magical item called the Spear of Destiny, capable of changing the outcome of the war and Diana believes it was given to him by Ares. The team heads to the frontlines in France where Diana goes alone through No Man's Land and captures the enemy trench. The team then liberates the nearby town and meets “Shakespeare”, their war correspondent who passes along intel that Per Degaton has a powerful entity at a castle nearby.

The group infiltrates the castle and finds an imprisoned Kent Nelson, who Hawkman recognizes as Doctor Fate, the master of the mystic arts and a Lord of Order. Rescuing him, Kent reveals he’s used his powers to manipulate events from a distance to bring the team together in order to stop Per Degaton, including causing Steve’s plane to enter Themyscira. He gives them the location of Per Degaton and tasks Diana with destroying the Spear of Destiny before it can be used to conquer the war.

The team finds Per Degaton’s base and engages him in battle, during which Hawkman is killed. Black Canary destroys Maru’s lab and the team disposes of most of the soldiers before Per Degaton uses the Spear to make Wildcat, Black Canary, Hourman and the Flash disappear. Diana chooses to carry on with the mission and destroys the Spear and kills Per Degaton.

Shakespeare then arrives and reveals himself as Ares, telling Diana that although he has subtly given humans ideas and inspirations, it is ultimately their decision to resort to violence, as they are inherently corrupt. When Diana attempts to kill Ares with the "god-killer" sword, he destroys it, telling Diana that as the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta she herself is the "god-killer". He fails to persuade Diana to join him. Meanwhile, a bomber gears up to take off with the remaining samples of Maru’s poison. Steve gives Diana the engagement ring he’d been proposing with and bids her goodbye, hijacking the plane and piloting it to a safe altitude where it detonates, killing him. Ares attempts to direct Diana's rage and grief at Steve's death by convincing her to kill Maru, but the memories of her experiences with Steve cause her to realize that humans have good within them. She spares Maru and instead uses her power to destroy Ares.

As the war ends and the world celebrates, Diana puts the engagement ring on her finger and sets off to continue protecting humanity and to find a way to bring back her missing teammates.

### Cast

* Cleo Demetriuou as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
* Austin North as Steve Trevor
* Leo Howard as Ted Grant / WildCat
* Olivia Holt as Dinah Drake / Black Canary
* Jharrel Jerome as Hawkman
* Ricardo Hurtado as Jay Garrick / The Flash
* Benjamin Wadsworth as Rex Tyler / Hourman
* Graham Phillips as Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate
* Jacob Elordi as Ares / Shakespear
* Michael Campion as Per Degaton
* Ryan Newman as Marina Maru / Doctor Poison
* Joanna Fylidou as Queen Hippolyta
* Marie Avgeropolous as General Antiope
* Riele Downs as Artemis

### Production

After the disappointing box office performance and critical reception of the DECU’s Justice League, as well as the same failures of previous films Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman, DC Film’s division began redeveloping it’s plan to reboot their film universe and focus on younger and more comic-like versions of their characters and chronicle the early days of each of their careers as superheroes. In January 2018, Walter Hamada was appointed the President of DC Films and co-runner of the DCEU, replacing Berg and confirmed they would be focusing on younger characters and fresh stories going forward. It was first reported in September of 2019 that a new Wonder Woman film was in development focusing on Diana's first appearance as Wonder Woman. The film was officially announced in September and the casting process went underway shortly after. In December, it was announced that Tanner Buchanan, Rhys Matthew Bond and Cleo Demetriou had been cast as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman respectively. The film was officially announced in January, with the rest of the cast being announced in March. Filming began in June and lasted until September of 2020. The film was released on July 2, 2021.

### Reception

The film grossed over $400 million in the United States and $500 million in other territories for a total gross of $900 million against and approximate budget of $185 million.

The film received positive reviews, with praise going towards the directing, action sequences, musical score and chemistry between the actors. IGN's review stated "Wonder Woman: Justice Society easily ranks among the best of long-running DC Universe Movies series. It draws just the right amount of inspiration from the source material while also pulling from adventure movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark to spin an entertaining superhero yarn. It deftly avoids the pacing issues that have plagued so many of these movies and manages to take full advantage of nearly every member of its ensemble cast." On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has an approval rating of 87% based on 105 reviews, making it certified fresh.