Western Animation / Wonder Woman (2009)

Wonder Woman is an animated film from 2009 and part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, involving a kind of Superhero Origin for the title character. It stars Felicity's Keri Russell as Diana/Wonder Woman, and Firefly's Nathan Fillion as Steve Trevor. The film involves Diana's first venture into the outside world in order to stop Ares, the Greek god of war, from gaining all the powers of Olympus and using them to destroy the world.

Along the way, she is helped by Steve Trevor, and the two become involved in a somewhat complicated partnership whilst trying to track down Ares.

Not to be confused with the 2017 live-action film. Though, not surprisingly, it was re-released just in time to celebrate said live-action film.

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Tropes:

• Abnormal Ammo: The missiles on the invisible jet are invisible, too.
• Action Dress Rip: Diana rips off the dress that Steve gave her to take down a monster sent by Ares.
• Action Prologue: The story starts in the middle of the final battle against Ares when he tries to take over the world for the first time.
• Actor Allusion: Hippolyta's voice actress, Virginia Madsen, is no stranger to playing a demigoddess' mother.
• Adaptation Distillation: The story is very much just a distillation of Diana's origin story, losing the "Diana Prince" alter ego, World War Two and "working for Department of Defence" angles and focusing on Ares, Steve and Diana.
• Adaptational Attractiveness: While Etta Candy in the comics and most versions isn't considered ugly, she is mostly plain, short, and chubby. In the film, she's beautiful, taller, and thinner.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • In addition, this version of Etta is much bitchier. Being a rival with Wonder Woman for Steve Trevor's attention.
  • Steve in the comics and other media is a Nice Guy and gentlemen, with his goodness being the entire reason why the Amazons and Diana in particular give mankind a chance in the first place. Here however Steve is instead a horny creep who can’t seem to go a minute without hitting on Diana and treating her like a piece of meat, with other Amazons understandably wanting to castrate him for his lechery.
• Adaptational Ugliness: Steve is traditionally pretty damn handsome in the comics (not to mention being played by Chris Pine in the 2017 film) but here he’s much plainer and sketchy looking.
• Adipose Rex: Hades, who's so large that his throne is a lounge sofa!
• Alas, Poor Villain: Persephone may have killed innocent people and nearly brought about an international war, but her death at the hands of Hippolyta is played very sadly. She was driven to join Ares by her desperation for companionship and children of her own which Hippolyta strictly forbid for centuries. Her Shut Up, Kirk! to the queen is said in a very tragic tone.
  "The Amazons are warriors. But we are women too."
• Amazons Speaking English: There's no communication problem between Steve and the Amazons.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Hippolyta's tryst with Ares. Lampshaded by Steve.
  Steve: Your mother and Ares? Really? The whole God of War thing didn't raise any red flags? I guess it's not surprising. Women always go for the bad boy.
• Almost Kiss: Steve tries this on Diana twice. The first time, he's very drunk and she rejects him (by moving out of the way as he leaned in, letting his head fall onto a bar stool). The second time, it looks like it’s about to happen after Steve both points out the hypocrisy of the Straw Feminism that some of the Amazons possess and expresses his true feelings for Diana... then she slaps him in the face (supposedly for attempting to make another move on her).
• Amazon Brigade: The Amazons, of course, being a warrior army composed entirely of women.
• Amazon Chaser: Steve's first reaction to Diana trying to beat him up is to hit on her.
• Amazonian Beauty: Not surprising, considering this IS Wonder Woman we're talking about. Diana is especially muscular and beautiful in this version.
• Ancient Grome: Minor example, but the Amazons' battle armor is based on Roman armor.
• And the Adventure Continues: The movie ends with Diana changing into her costume to fight the Cheetah.
• Badass Boast: Ares has two for Hippolyta during the opening of the film and during his imprisonment to intimidate his former lover.
  Ares: For you may be the Queen of the Amazons, but I am the God of War!!
  Ares: You are a fool if you think you can hold me forever. I am more than a god. I am a force of nature!
• Badass Normal: Steve Trevor, who's just your regular soldier, but manages to fight with Diana... for half a minute, granted, but given how she usually dispatches enemies wholesale, that's something.
• Batman Gambit:
  • Hades helps Ares by breaking his restraints, secretly anticipating his defeat and subsequent enslavement in the Underworld.
  • Diana tricks Ares into using Zeus' lightning to finish her rather than doing it the old-fashioned way. This lets her pull him into the blast using her lasso, weakening him long enough for her to behead him.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: All the Amazons are in several battles, and the only one to get a lasting injury or disfigurement is Persephone - who is still able to cover it up with her hair. Wonder Woman takes a beating from Ares, and isn't even bruised afterwards.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: When trapped by Wonder Woman's lasso, Deimos refuses her questions and kills himself with the bite of one of his own beard snakes than confess to Diana on what Ares' plans are.
• Big Bad: Ares.
• Big Damn Heroes: The Amazons coming to help Diana and handle Ares' army in Washington DC.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Diana and Steve after Ares is killed and his army retreats.
• BFS: Artemis wields one. Lampshaded by Hippolyta.
  Hippolyta: And you could not find a bigger sword, Artemis?
  Artemis: Sword? This is but my dagger.
• Black Girl Dies First: In the dogfight above the island, the black-skinned pilot girl is the first to die.
• Black Sheep: Ares is one for his family despite Zeus defending him, with Hades remarking how the Gods never tried to have Ares freed because of his bloodthirsty ambitions, lack of respect for his family, and overall being a treacherous Wild Card that could upset the power balance on Olympus. When he voices ambitions to take over Olympus, even Zeus decides to abandon him.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Persephone is the only blonde Amazon, Diana and Hippolyta are brunettes, and Artemis and Alexa are redheads.
• Bloodless Carnage: Used and averted regularly, most notably in both decapitations.
• Blood Knight: Artemis loves war and doesn't understand why her academically-inclined sister wouldn't want to die a warrior's death.
• Book Ends: In the battle at the beginning of the movie, Hippolyta is seen slicing off the head of the son that she was forced to conceive with Ares. In the last battle of the movie, Diana beheads Ares in a similar manner.
• Brought Down to Badass: Demonstrated with Ares. Even without his godhood, Ares is still a dangerous manipulator, capable warrior, and skilled spellcaster. He manipulated and seduced his jailor Persephone for centuries to convince her to free him from his prison, could fight Steve Trevor and Diana on his own for some time, and summon stone creatures by reciting spells.
• But Liquor Is Quicker: Implied with Steve Trevor's attempt to get Diana drunk, though he might have just been trying to get her to loosen up a bit. Too bad for him that Amazons don't get drunk.
• The Cameo: Cheetah makes a brief appearance at the end.
• Came Back Strong/Came Back Wrong: The revenant Amazons. All of them suffer Marionette Motion, are skeletal, complete with ominous red eyes. Alexa is the only one who looks normal aside from the fatal injury remnant. Upon being freed from Ares' control, they retain their undead appearance, but then fight for their fellow Amazons again.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Inverted with Steve whenever the Lasso of Truth is used on him. He really hopes the Amazons can't mass produce that thing.
• Canon Immigrant: Persephone shows up later during Gail Simone's run on the comic, as well as Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: Averted. Notable because the comic version of Diana once provided the page image.
• Chekhov's Gunman:
  • Minor example with Ares' son, who's later seen serving Hades in Tartarus, to Ares' mild horror.
  • Alexa, who's killed by Persephone and later brought back to life to fight against the Amazons.
• Chekhov's Skill: Alexa's love of philosophy books, through which she learned the spell required to break Ares' command over resurrected Amazons.
• Chivalrous Pervert: The film's version of Steve Trevor comes across as one. While he ogles the bathing Amazons, flirts shamelessly with Diana and tries to get her drunk to have a better chance - he doesn't seem to have a problem respecting female combatants, and says he likes to hold doors open for women to be polite.
• Combat Pragmatist: A sparring match seems to be over when Artemis poises a sharp, broken staff at Diana's neck...until Diana throws Artemis to the ground by yanking on her ponytail from behind.
• Composite Character: Artemis is equal parts Artemis and Philippus.
• Conflict Ball: Ares' mere presence forces one upon the entire world. It also leads to the President approving a missile strike on Themiscyra without a second thought.
• Cool Plane: Her iconic invisible jet. Its missiles are invisible too.
• Covers Always Lie: The new DVD cover for this shows our main heroine in an outfit that resembles the 2017 film, not what was worn within this film.
• Creepy Monotone: Hades speaks like this quite a few times.
• Cultured Badass: Wonder Woman discusses Greek theatre with Steve at the bar.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Hippolyta:
    Artemis: I could have shot her in the leg. Not near an artery, of course.
    Hippolyta: You are the soul of thoughtfulness, Artemis.
  • Steve as well. It's all he does in his non-action scenes.
• Decapitated Army: Literally. Once Diana beheads Ares, his soldiers just look on for a moment, then turn around and walk off.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Artemis learns to slow down and enjoy a philosophy book.
• Double Standard: A major plot point. The reason Persephone defects is her frustration and resentment at being forced to live a military life of solitude while Hippolyta was allowed to have a baby and raise a family.
• Dressed in Layers: Diana goes out with Steve in a dress. She had her costume on the entire time underneath it, as the fight with Deimos demonstrates.
• Dual Wielding: Some Amazons, with zombie!Alexa being the most notable one.
• Emotion Eater: Ares is one, essentially feeding off the emotions of fear and carnage around him to fuel his godhood, in addition to being an Emotion Bomb whose presence fuels aggression and hostility in others to fuel his power. When more powerful weapons are used, he becomes even stronger. He spent much of the film trying to break the metal bonds that seal his powers and render him mortal.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Ares very deeply cares for his son, Thrax, and desperately begs Hippolyta not to kill him. He suffered a Villainous BSoD at the sight of Thrax's lifeless remains, and even thousands of years later, he is clearly still very bitter about Thrax's death. When Ares sees Thrax has become an undead slave of Hades after his death, he's visibly upset.
  • Ares and Persephone likewise seem to be genuinely in love after centuries of courtship. Or at the very least, Ares respects her as a powerful combatant.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Ares is horrified by Hades' treatment of his son and tries to mitigate it without compromising his own cause.
• Everybody Hates Hades: Played with. Hades looks like he's agreeing to free Ares so the restored god of war can kill, well, everyone on Earth and provide Hades with their souls, but it turns out there's only one soul Hades is really interested in, revealed when his Batman Gambit comes to fruition. Given he looks more like Bacchus than Hades, perhaps this isn't surprising.
• Exact Words: Hades informs Ares that Zeus "begged me not to help you" when Ares asks him to remove his Restraining Bolt. At the very end of the movie, when Ares has been killed and is another helpless slave to Hades, Hades reveals that the reason Zeus asked for that was that Zeus would not be able to save Ares again.
• Eye Scream:
  • Persephone loses her right eye in the opening battle.
  • Deimos also suffers one, courtesy of Diana utilizing a stiletto heel.
• Face–Heel Turn: Persephone falls in love with Ares during her time guarding his cell and helps him escape.
• Fanservice: When the Amazon army is described as "a group of armored supermodels", then yeah.
• Fat Bastard: Hades again, at least towards the dead who serve him if his treatment of Ares' dead son is any indication.
• Feed It a Bomb: How Steve defeats a harpy earlier in the film, by forcing a grenade into its mouth.
• Fighting from the Inside: The zombified Alexa fights back against Ares' control over her enough to tell Artemis the incantation to free the zombified Amazons from his control, and to keep herself from killing Artemis.
• Finishing Stomp: Diana delivers a barefoot one to Deimos' face. Subverted in that it does not defeat Deimos, who blocks Diana's attempt to give him a second one. It takes a jumping spin kick to finally take him down.
• Foot Focus:
  • Diana is barefoot during her fight with Deimos, and uses a lot more kicks than usual in comparison to her previous fights. It ends with the aforementioned Finishing Stomp followed by a jumping spin kick for good measure. Lots of close-ups focused on Diana's feet right at the impact of each kick.
  • A brief one focuses on Cheetah. After jumping on top of an officer's shoulders, a close-up shows Cheetah's feet standing on his shoulders before she uses them to kill him with a Neck Snap.
• Foreshadowing: Alexa says to Persephone that "the heart wants what the heart wants, even that which is worst for it", referring to Diana's wish to see the world of man. However, it foreshadows Persephone's affair with Ares and impending betrayal.
• A God Am I: Ares. Yeah, he was already a god to begin with; but then he becomes "as fast as Hermes, as strong as Hercules and [able to] wield dominion over the dead like Hades" at the beginning of the final battle.
• Good Is Not Soft: Members of the Amazons rack up quite the body count when they're portrayed in battle, Hippolyta, Artemis, and Wonder Woman included. Steve, the only man the Amazons encountered from Man's World on their side, kills a fair share of people throughout the film with weapons and with his bare hands since he is a US Soldier despite being only a pilot.
• Grapes of Luxury: Hades is depicted as an overweight slob who enjoys eating grapes served to him by the damned whom he has enslaved.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Persephone's arguments about the wrongness of Hippolyta's hiding the Amazons away from Man's World:
  Hippolyta: "You were given a life of peace and beauty!"
  Persephone: "And denied one of families and children. Yes Hippolyta, the Amazons are warriors, but we are women too."
  • In his "The Reason You Suck" Speech, Steve also points out that while a lot of Diana and the Amazons' criticisms of the patriarchal mores of Man's World might be justified, their way of life and methods haven't helped the situation much either; their attitudes are just as elitist as the attitudes they condemn, but rather than do anything that might change Man's World for the better, they hid themselves away.
• Groin Attack:
  • Diana does this to Steve when they first meet (right after they have a brief sparring match in which Steve says that he thinks he "likes her"). Artemis also threatens to castrate him herself if he doesn't leave Diana alone.
  • Also in the opening by a couple of Amazons; seems Jewel Kick is a standard Amazon skill.
• Hairstyle Inertia: Averted with Persephone, who goes from long hair in Action Prologue to having bangs in the story proper.
• Hate Plague: Ares' mere presence brings out violence and hate in mortals around him which fuels his power. Diana and Steve track Ares by following the sudden rise in violent crimes.
• Hidden Elf Village: Themyscira, a "utopia" hidden from the world of Man.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Ares gains the powers of the Olympian pantheon, with the intention of using them to overthrow Olympus and destroy the world. In his fight against Diana, he attempts to use Zeus' lightning to finish her, but she uses her lasso to pull him into it and jumps out of the way. The blast of lightning depowers Ares long enough for Diana to decapitate him. Seconds before this, Ares calls out to Zeus to save his life (like he did in the prologue), but it seems dear old daddy wasn't too pleased with the "overthrow Olympus and destroy the world" plan.
• Honor Before Reason: Steve saves Diana instead of stopping Ares. Diana promptly calls him out on his decision.
• Hotter and Sexier: Etta Candy is much more seductive in this version.
• Hypocrite: In his angry rejoinder to Diana's "The Reason You Suck" Speech after he saved her life (and her frequent and vocal dismissiveness towards himself and Man's World in general), Steve accuses the Amazons of this. While they pride themselves on being brave and fearless warriors, in fleeing from and hiding themselves away from the rest of the world they made themselves look cowardly. They sneer at the patriarchal systems of Man's World and the power imbalance between men and women it results in, but their own matriarchal system has created a similar power imbalance, just with women at the top. And while they hold Man's World in contempt, rather than do anything to change the way it worked they just threw up more barriers between men and women. Then Diana slapped him, for being right.
  • Then there's also the fact that the only reason Hippolyta hates men at all is because her past relationship with Ares. Something Steve also points out earlier on, as of course someone who calls himself the "The God of War" would not be a good person to begin with. And that she has no one but herself to blame for Ares' treatment of her.
• Hypocritical Humor: Invoked by Hades when Ares comes to him. Ares says that children should not take second place to politics (referring to Zeus' denial of freeing Ares for fear of upsetting Olympus' power balance), and Hades calls in his servant, who turns out to be the spirit of Ares' son. Hades really enjoys mistreating them while Ares can't do anything, as this would be unpolitical.
• If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...: The 'female warning male' variant. When Steve Trevor asks Artemis what Wonder Woman's "deal" is, he's met with this reply.
  Artemis: Her deal is that I will personally castrate you if you come within five yards of her.
• Immortality: The Amazons and Ares are all immortal. Ares even has followers who have been waiting patiently for him to return since ancient times.
• Implied Rape: Hippolyta's lines of "forcing the child on her" regarding her and Ares' son implies their union wasn't consensual, but their relationship beforehand was implied to be fully consensual before Ares became abusive.
• Ironic Echo: In the opening battle, Artemis rebukes Alexa for relying on wisdom from "some dead philosopher" rather than fighting with her sword. Later, during the battle in DC, Alexa saves the Amazons from their own dead sisters by revealing to Artemis a chant which releases the undead Amazons from Ares' control... a chant that Alexa learned in a magic book by "some dead philosopher".
• It's Personal: Ares wants Hippolyta's beloved daughter dead as payback for killing their son. He also wants to take over Olympus as revenge on his parents Zeus and Hera for leaving him to rot in prison for centuries.
• I Want My Mommy!: Before being beheaded by Diana, Ares screams and begs for his father Zeus to save him, to no avail.
• Jerkass Realization: In the film's ending, Persephone's parting words causes Hippolyta to realize that hiding the Amazons away from Man's World, as well as assuming the absolute worse in men in general, has actually done more harm than good.
• Kick Chick: Downplayed during her fight with Deimos as Diana uses more kicks than usual but still uses her arms to fight as well. Played straight after she does an Eye Scream on Deimos, on which case ALL of Diana's attacks are brutal kicks to her agonizing opponent, complete with Foot Focus close-ups.
• Kick the Dog: Ares with his One-Winged Angel powers specifically summons the Amazons' deceased fighters as a way to torment them.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Everything from depowering gods to bringing sand figures to life.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Latin incantations must be said twice in quick succession to cast the magic behind them. The zombified Alexa reveals that they also cannot be administered to the spell-caster him or herself. It requires a separate person to administer them.
• Marionette Motion: The Amazon zombies. They lose it after Artemis frees them from Ares' control.
• Monumental Damage: Including the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, the Reflecting Pool (at least from getting blood in it, maybe), the White House and the Capitol Building. That first one pisses Steve off.
  Steve: No one messes with Lincoln!
• Most Common Superpower: Lampshaded by Steve Trevor to the point of almost making a Boob-Based Gag joke.
  Hippolyta: What other depraved thoughts might you be thinking?
  Steve: God, your daughter's got a nice rack.
• Mugging the Monster: A bunch of thugs try and mug Diana and Steve outside a bar. Bad idea.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Possibly. In the closing scene, Diana is seen wearing glasses as part of a new secret identity and begins changing for combat by pulling opening her shirt to reveal her costume underneath.
  • A rather literal one to Greek mythology. Persephone is refused entry into the Underworld by Cerberus. The most famous myth surrounding Persephone is her abduction by Hades and having to remain in the Underworld for six months each year.
  • Ares is hated and despised by the other gods for his bloodthirsty ways. Just like in actual Greek Mythology.
• Neck Snap:
  • Steve neck snaps an Ares cultist during his and Diana's infiltration.
  • Cheetah manages to do one with her feet during the ending.
• Non-Action Girl: Alexa, much to the bane of her sister Artemis. Until she comes back from the dead, that is.
• No Social Skills: Wonder Woman. She's less naive than her portrayal in Justice League—while she questions things just as often, it's not because she doesn't understand what's going on, it's because she finds social mores that are borne of patriarchy annoying and pointless.
• Not So Above It All: For all the crap the Amazons give men, as Steve points out they're not so perfect themselves.
• Offing the Offspring: Heroic example: Hippolyta beheads the son Ares "forced on her", who was murdering her fellow Amazons for his father.
• Off with His Head!: The fate of Ares' son and Ares himself.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Used repeatedly throughout the film. Particularly effective when Diana herself uses it after Ares' influence pushes the President of the United States to launch a nuke at Themyscira, causing the war god to reach new levels of strength.
  • A hilarious one is when Steve tries to prevent the missile strike on Themiscyra. He panics when it seems that the jet won't shoot anything...before realizing that the invisible jet's missiles are also invisible.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Ares wishes to slaughter mankind, and use the collective death to fuel his powers to the point where he can take over Olympus.
• One-Winged Angel: As soon as the President of the United States orders a nuke against Themiscyra, the psychic energy of the destructive force and hate that went into deciding to use it transforms Ares, making him twice as tall and bulky as he was before and giving him some very demonic looking armor.
• Our Presidents Are Different: A trigger-happy one who jumps to conclusions rather quickly. However, it's mentioned that Ares' mere presence inspires violent thoughts in men whose hearts are filled with fear, and he was standing on the White House roof for a while.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Controlled by the god of war, who has gained the powers of Hades. All of them are Amazons. Any more who are killed instantly come under Ares' control. They are freed from his control by an ancient chant, however, and seem to have most of their former minds intact when that happens.
• Outdoor Bath Peeping: Steve Trevor when he first arrives on Themiscyra.
• Papa Wolf: Ares was this for his son Thrax, being protective of him when he was alive and eternally hateful of Hippolyta for killing him. Zeus himself is also protective of Ares despite his faults, stopping Hippolyta from killing him despite all the suffering he caused.
• Physical God: Ares, who's still capable of dying by force.
• Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Part of Ares' One-Winged Angel form is his hair going from short and close-cropped to ankle-length.
• Protagonist Title: Wonder Woman.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Given by Trevor to Diana after Steve saves her instead of stopping Ares from opening the gates of Tartarus.
  • Trevor gets his own on her and the Amazons soon after.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Subverted. Body language right before the fact strongly implies that Ares will sacrifice Persephone—who betrayed her fellow Amazons to free him—to open the gates of Hades, but he simply uses one of his cultists as a sacrifice instead.
• R-Rated Opening: The movie opens with a brutal battle sequence that includes the above-mentioned beheading, and the first line is about sex (Hippolyta taunting Ares about not being good in bed).
• Rule of Three:
  • Latin incantations are used three times. The third time is by Alexa.
  • Steve finally gets that kiss on his third try.
• Running Gag: The vulgarity of "crap." At first, the Amazons are disgusted by it (including Diana) but she ends up using it later after seeing a powered up Ares.
• Sadly Mythtaken: As per usual with Wonder Woman stories the Greek Mythology is mostly In Name Only, and some of these changes are new to the film:
  • Hades seems to be reviled and looks and behaves more like an overweight Bacchus than the impartial ruler of the underworld.
  • The Amazons of myth were called the Daughters of Ares due to his favor of them, their warlike nature and the fact that he acted as consort to one of their queens. Hippolyta was his actual daughter with said queen and, like all his children, under his fierce protection should she ask for it. She was not someone he'd have attacked and raped as in the film, especially since Ares is one of the few in the Greek pantheon who doesn't have any famous tales of non-consensual relationships and supposedly caused the first ever murder trial when he killed one of Posideon's sons for trying to rape one of Ares' daughters.
  • While Zeus in the film actually saved Ares, in mythology he hated Ares and laughed him off whenever he tried to ask for help and considered him an embarrassment and tattle-tale.
• Screw You, Elves!: Steve gives a rant to Diana about how the Amazons are not as perfect as she makes them out to be, saying, among other things, that they were cowardly to seclude themselves from the rest of the world.
• Second-Person Attack: The ending has Diana lassoing Cheetah and pulling her in, the camera then switches to Cheetah's POV to see Diana winding up.
  DVD Commentary: Thanks for watching our movie! POW!
• Secretly Selfish: Persephone's words at the end of their fight paint Hippolyta as this. And seing as how all her soldiers were forced to strictly live the military life, while Hippolyta herself got to have a kid and raise a family, she isn't wrong.
• Shout-Out:
  • Diana's suit-up sequence into her trademark costume plays out very much like a PG-13 rated version of Taarna's "suiting up" sequence from Heavy Metal.
  • The cyclopes glimpsed in the battles are based off the ones from Ray Harryhausen's film.
  • The invisible jet is parked in a city park late at night unnoticed by anyone but an unreliable witness, just like the cloaked ship in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
  • Diana and Steve run to each other across Washington D.C.'s Reflecting Pool just like Jenny and Forrest.
  • The following exchange is quoted near word for word from Ninotchka:
    Diana: Must you flirt?

Steve: It's natural.Diana: Suppress it.

• Sibling Yin-Yang: Artemis and her sister Alexa.
• Small Steps Hero/Always Save the Girl: Whilst fighting Ares at the gates of Hades, Diana is endangered, and Steve opts to rescue her rather than try to stop Ares; later, Diana calls him out for it. To his credit, he does defy the Always Save the Girl trope: "I'm not going to leave a friend like that — man or woman!"
• Soft Water: Steve falls a long way into a river while he's being chased by the Amazons, but vines and tree branches slowing him down as he falls pay lip service to the inaccuracy of the trope.
• Stepford Smiler: Implied in the scene where Steve sadly admits that much of his macho and womanizer persona comes from his desire not to be hurt "again".
• Stab the Scorpion: Diana and Steve manage to do this to each other simultaneously as they infiltrate the Cult of Ares—Diana with her tiara, Steve with a jackknife.
• Stealth Pun:
  • Diana uses a stiletto heel as a stiletto.
  • Ares' army emerges from nowhere out of the decorative treeline around the Washington Mall; they are literally coming out of the woodwork.
• Straw Feminist: Wonder Woman and some of the other Amazons have tendencies in this direction, but mostly seem to get over them by the film's end. Hippolyta herself generalizing all men as wicked and evil based on her past relationship trauma with Ares.
• Straw Misogynist: Ares is one through and through, having enslaved the Amazons for decades as well as being an implied rapist. Likewise subverted with Steve, who seems like an average chauvinist lech, but he admits that it comes from a place of insecurity and not wanting to be hurt. He too grows out of it by the end.
• Stripperiffic: Wonder Woman's outfit; lampshaded a few times by Steve Trevor.
  Steve: Let's get you changed into something that won't get me arrested for solicitation first.
• Strong as They Need to Be: Wonder Woman goes through this hard during the film. She initially has trouble fighting a fellow Amazon during a ceremony and later takes down Deimos, son of Ares, by herself. Then she gets caught by one of Ares' flying monsters and injured to the point she ended up unconscious in a hospital bed. Then proceeds to duke it out with Ares, who'd been amped up to be stronger than ever, and gets pummeled with nothing more than a nosebleed.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • As there are no "magical spins" that changes Diana into her battle outfit, she wears it concealed under civilian clothes, and has to carry her tiara, lasso, and boots separately. But as it appears Steve neglected to get a bag large enough to carry the boots, when Deimos attacks she can only slip off the high heels given to her and fight barefoot. At the conclusion, she has a messenger bag or a large purse, so as to have everything on hand.
  • The Amazons are isolated on an island with no men. This means that none of the Amazons are able to have any children or families of their own. Hippolyta was granted a child through the magic of the gods, but otherwise no other Amazons can have families. This is Persephone's primary motive for her Face–Heel Turn, and realizing this triggers Hippolyta's Jerkass Realization.
  • Diana was the only child to ever live on Themyscira. This invariably means that she has never seen children herself. She's in awe at the sight of little boys and girls playing in Central Park.
• Tempting Fate: "What other depraved thoughts must you be thinking?" She asked and he was bound by the Lasso of Truth, so he had to answer.
• Thou Shalt Not Kill:
  • Critics of the 2011 TV pilot called the writers out on having Wonder Woman killing bad guys in cold blood, but she'd already gone there with this movie which at one point shows her slicing the throats of two of Ares' cult members guarding an entrance with her tiara. (Steve also does a Neck Snap on a guy from behind and kills another by throwing a knife at the guard's head.)
  • There were a few critics of that here too, according to That Other Wiki, to the extent that the Novelization leaves out them murdering the guards. The producers of the 2011 pilot were either warned too late about this reaction or just didn't listen.
• Throw-Away Guns: Steve uses one in the fight with the cultists. Oddly, he is seen with the exact same gun later.
• Title Drop: By the little girl at the end. Up until then, the titular character had been called "Diana".
• Took a Level in Badass: Alexa, after coming Back from the Dead. She beats Artemis one-on-one, and manages to tell her the spell to break dead Amazons from Ares's control.
• The Unfair Sex: Played with but deconstructed over time as Diana and later Hippolyta realize that gender doesn't matter when it comes to certain decisions.
• Unfazed Everyman: While Steve is a Badass Normal, he otherwise fits this trope quite well. He takes Greek gods, immortal Amazons, magic lassos, and invisible aircraft with the exact same response: be surprised for a moment, move on.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Deimos (the villain with a beard of snakes) was Ares' son in the myth and Wonder Woman comics. In the movie he's just a monster sent by Ares.
• Villainous BSoD: Ares has one after his son Thrax is beheaded by Hippolyta.
• Villain Has a Point: Persephone's arguments about the wrongness of Hippolyta's hiding the Amazons away from Man's World, especially since she likely didn't ask any of the Amazons their opinion on the matter before making her decision:
  Hippolyta: You were given a life of peace and beauty!
  Persephone: And denied one of families and children. Yes Hippolyta, the Amazons are warriors, but we are women too.
• Vorpal Pillow: Alexa. Justified in that she had just been stabbed and the hand over her face doing the smothering was Ares'.
• Waterfall Shower: Alexa takes one alongside some other girls.
• Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Wonder Woman's outfit, of course. Hippolyta explains it as donning the colors of a foreign country as a sign of goodwill.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Steve calls Diana out on her misandry.
• What You Are in the Dark: Hippolyta could've easily just let Steve crash in the ocean, instead revealing Themyscira location to him.
• Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Artemis criticizes her sister Alexa's non-warrior ways. Instead of grieving for her death, she's angry at her for allowing Ares' escape. When Alexa comes back as a zombie, Artemis curses her for all her mistakes in life. However, they reconcile after Artemis realizes she's trying to speak a spell to free them from Ares' command.
• World of Action Girls:
  • Diana, of course, as the Wonder Woman. She shines even against the backdrop of her fellow Amazons.
  • Hippolyta, who managed to beat Ares on her own the first time around and nearly killed him if not for interference by Zeus.
  • Inverted with Alexa, who's a scholarly type in midst of an Amazon Brigade and panics on the battlefield.

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