Superman and Batman may be the most public of the DC Extended Universe’s superheroes, but they certainly weren’t the first ones in existence. Case in point: Wonder Woman. Last year it was rumored that Diana of Themyscira would 500 years years old in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, proven by photographs and artwork of her looking exactly the same in these older eras. Now it turns out that she hasn’t been around for centuries, but millennia.
Yes, by the time Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice kicks off, Diana will be over 5,000 years old, though by this point she’s long since retired from protecting humanity. Why? Here’s what Gal Gadot told Empire (via ComicBookMovie):
Because she's seen it all, she has seen what humans can do, so it was very hard for her to come back and fight.
Wonder Woman’s age varies in the comic books, from being only in her 20s or 30s to walking the Earth for thousands of years, so this is definitely marks one of the oldest versions of the character yet. We can thank that Amazonian magic for her excellent aging, specifically her being the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. Although Diana is 5,000 years old, her first exposure to non-Amazon society will have only come 100 years before in Wonder Woman.
In last week’s CW special DC Films Presents: Dawn of the Justice League, Geoff Johns mentioned how the Amazons were originally created to protect "man’s world," but ultimately abandoned it. Diana eventually questions why they’re not still protecting mankind, they (most likely her mother, Hippolyta) tell her "because they’re not worth it." This will lead to Diana venturing off Themyscira in and into Europe during World War I. While every war is devastating, seeing the horrors of the Great War will open her eyes to what kind of atrocities the outside world is capable of. Its sounds like she’ll try her best to make the world a better place, but eventually she’ll leave the superhero life behind.
As for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman will use her "Diana Prince" civilian identity to blend in with the present day crowd, including attending a fancy soiree with Bruce Wayne. Gadot mentioned that when trying to blend in, Diana isn’t too outgoing for fear of making people "think she is perfect." Somehow she’ll get drawn back into action, and this will culminate in her team up with Superman and Batman to fight Doomsday. A year later (in real life, at least), she’ll become one of the founding members of the Justice League, with renewed hope that she can help change the world for the better with the help of new allies.
Moviegoers can look forward to Wonder Woman’s cinematic debut when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is released on March 25.
