What You Need to Remember About ‘Batman v. Superman’ Before Seeing ‘Wonder Woman’

Gal Gadot as the titular protagonist of ‘Wonder Woman.’ (Warner Bros.)

Wonder Woman, the new D.C. superhero movie earning rave reviews from critics, hits theaters on June 2nd.

Although this is the first standalone Wonder Woman film, and the movie is meant to function on its own, Wonder Woman takes place in the D.C. Cinematic Universe continuity, and it’s technically a followup to last year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. 

So if you didn’t see Batman v. Superman, or you did see it but some of the details are a bit foggy, here’s what you need to remember about Diana Prince, the hero known as Wonder Woman, from that film.

Wonder Woman Was Trying to Track Down a Photo of Herself From World War I

Wonder Woman’s plot in Batman v. Superman sees her trying to track down a photo, which is in the possession of Lex Luthor, the film’s villain. Luthor has the photo of Wonder Woman in an encrypted file, and it just so happens that Bruce Wayne is also after that file of Luthor’s.

This is what causes Batman and Wonder Woman to cross paths, although Bruce Wayne doesn’t know who she is at first. They meet at a party, and Diana introduces herself as someone who is interested in the same man Batman is.

“I believe Mr. Luthor has a photograph that belongs to me,” Diana Prince says.

She says, however, that the file has military-grade encryption, and so she was not able to access it.

Batman Finds the Photo, Which Reveals That Wonder Woman is Immortal

Later in the movie, Bruce Wayne is able to gain access to the aforementioned file.

In it, he finds a file which is from Belgium in 1918, but it clearly shows Diana Prince, the same woman he met at the party earlier, and she is exactly the same age as she is in 2016. This is when Bruce Wayne realizes that this woman is actually immortal.

Because D.C. already had Wonder Woman planned back then, pictured next to Wonder Woman in the photo is Steve Trevor, the character Chris Pine portrays in Wonder Woman. This old photograph will come back in Wonder Woman.

Bruce Wayne Shares the Files With Wonder Woman & It Reveals a Whole Lineup of Superheroes

Later in the movie, Bruce Wayne shares that file with Diana Prince. He writes in an email to her, “Cracked Luthor’s Drive, found your photograph. But it does’t belong to you…it IS you.”

Bruce Wayne includes in the email the photograph of Diana from World War I. He adds, “Who are you? Where have you been?” Wonder Woman appears to be very stressed out that someone discovered her secret, as she has been apparently working hard to get rid of any evidence that she is immortal.

In addition, Bruce Wayne attaches to the email a bunch of files of other superheroes that Lex Luthor apparently had information on: The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. This whole sequence is basically just an excuse for Wonder Woman to show the audience preview clips of upcoming D.C. movies.

Wonder Woman Helps Batman & Superman Defeat Doomsday

Later in the movie, while Batman and Superman are fighting a monster referred to as Doomsday, Wonder Woman suddenly appears, wearing the full costume for the first time. Superman asks Batman, “She with you?” Batman replies, “I thought she was with you.”

We get a hint of the kinds of threats Wonder Woman has dealt with before in this scene, as when Superman notes that Doomsday is from another world, Wonder Woman replies, “I’ve killed things from other worlds before.”

Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman put up a good fight in the battle, but it all ends with Superman being killed by Doomsday.

At Superman’s Funeral, Wonder Woman Says She Abandoned Mankind 100 Years Ago

Later, Diana Prince and Bruce Wayne attend Superman’s funeral.

Bruce Wayne asks Diana Prince to help him “find others like you,” referring to other metahumans. Diana replies, “Perhaps they don’t want to be found.” Bruce Wayne replies, “They will. And they’ll fight. They have to stand together.”

We then get a tease of Wonder Woman’s backstory, as she tells Bruce Wayne, “100 years ago, I walked away from mankind. From a century of horrors. Man made a world where standing together is impossible.”

Going into Wonder Woman, then, the big question is, what was it that made Wonder Woman go into hiding 100 years ago? Presumably, things did not end well for her, but we’ll get the details in Patty Jenkins’ new film.