The best scene in the DCEU movie Wonder Woman was almost completely scrapped. Of course, that scene is the epic No Man’s Land scene, in which Diana Prince decides to stride across the World War 1 battlefield to save a village from the occupying German forces. It sees the superhero blocking gunfire with her shield and armour, creating space for the allied forces to advance.
However, the superhero movie‘s director revealed that the scene was almost never even shot. Speaking to Fandango, Patty Jenkins described the difficulty of trying to convince others working on the film that the scene was necessary. She explained that “It’s my favorite scene in the movie and it’s the most important scene in the movie.”
Jenkins then went further, saying “when I started to really hunker in on the significance of No Man’s Land, there were a couple people who were deeply confused, wondering, like, ‘Well, what is she going to do? How many bullets can she fight?'”. The director shared the frustration that she felt, stating “It’s not about that. This is a different scene than that. This is a scene about her becoming Wonder Woman.”
The executives and producers still required convincing however, despite Jenkins’ passion for the scene. So, the director decided to storyboard the scene to show how important the action movie scene would be visually, managing to convince her bosses that way.
Jenkins’ determination to get the scene shot, and then into the final cut, is an indicator of her passion for the movie and for the character of Wonder Woman. Of course, the determination also ended up being proven completely right.
More than any other part of the movie the No Man’s Land scene gets to the heart of Wonder Woman, showing her bravery, dedication, and empathy. It shows why the character is different to her DC superhero peers. It also proves that, despite Wonder Woman 2 being a stumble, Gal Gadot deserves another shot at the character, potentially in a third Wonder Woman sequel or Justice League 2.
If all the talk of Wonder Woman has got you desperate for a dose of adrenaline, check our guide to the best adventure movies of all time.