Warning: Spoilers for Wonder Woman below .
Real talk: I am one of the women who teared up while watching the Amazons storm the beach in Wonder Woman. There was something primally cathartic about it. To see these brave, capable women battling Germans — who were equipped with better weaponry — with a brutal grace healed me on a spiritual level. Women with swords. Women with bows and arrows. Women on horseback performing feats of agility, like a ballet of death. It was only watching Robin Wright as Antiope shout “SHIELD!” before peppering her foes with arrows that it dawned on me how ridiculous it is that such a scene as this is an anomaly. There are hundreds of battles where brave men fight and die for their homes and loved ones. Now there is one where women do as well.
It’s a start.
For those of us who mourned the ill-timed loss of General Antiope and her battle-hardened personality, there is hope. In a recent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Robin Wright (along with Connie Nielsen and Gal Gadot) sat down to talk about making Wonder Woman. The whole interview is worth a read. Anecdotes about the husbands watching the children while 120 warrior women filmed a battle sequence and the sisterly camaraderie on set is enough to send stalwart MRAs into apoplectic fits. But between alternating praise for each other, the feeling of power when being strapped into leather armor, and exasperation that Wonder Woman was a unique working experience, Gadot, Nielson, and Wright let slip a tiny spoiler: Robin Wright’s Antiope will return in Justice League.
Gadot: Of course; the mother and daughter relationship is always a beautiful but complex relationship. I think that there’s a lot more to explore.
Nielsen: And [Wright and I] got to do more in “Justice League” as well. As sisters as well. Kind of badass as well. We can’t say much, but …
Wright: And more of the story, you get some of the history.
In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the Amazons appear in the Justice League trailer. One could easily see Queen Hippolyta joining the fray at the behest of her prodigal daughter, but how can Antiope return to the screen? My guess would be in flashbacks. Wonder Woman made it clear that Hippolyta was hiding more truths from Diana than just her origin. The history between Hippolyta and Antiope — and how Themyscira came to be — could very well be on the docket for Justice League. Whatever threat the heroes are dealing with, it sounds like the Amazons have seen this story play out before.
Let’s just hope Antiope gets to school more boys in the art of war, whether in the past, present, or future.