The skinny: Not only is Wonder Woman noteworthy for giving DC Comics’ female icon her first solo film but also for putting its superhero in a real-world setting: World War I. Princess Diana (Gadot) of Themyscira is introduced to the world of men during “the first mechanized war, where mankind is really pushing the boundaries of what they’re willing to do to each other,” says Jenkins. “If you tried to do it in a more literal event that we all know the details of, it would bog it down. (It would be) an alternate reality where you’re like, ‘That’s not how Watergate went.’ It could be more complicated.” Jenkins also used the era as a way to reflect social issues of more modern times: “She’s never met men before, so she has zero understanding of sexism in kind of a hilarious way. It just seems totally absurd to her.”

Why Ares was the right villain for Wonder Woman

“I mean I think he’s the biggest villain of Wonder Woman’s world, and so I think if you’re going to start off big, start off right with the greatest villain.”

“It was a great delight to place him in the world in a way where he believes in exactly what a real true Ares does. And what kind havoc would Ares wreak on this planet and how? There’s some pretty good jobs to put them in for that.”

When dad gets to pick the new babysitter... @GalGadot @WonderWomanFilm #Wonderwoman #WonderWednesdays #Partner

Becoming a superhero is no easy feat. It takes patience, a bit of circumstance, and more than a dash of wisdom. Such is the case with Princess Diana (Gal Gadot), who must first leave her idyllic homeland of Themyscira, gain an understanding of mankind in war-torn 1918 Europe, and discover her true power before she can truly become Wonder Woman. That sequence — shown in the concept art above — occurs about halfway through director Patty Jenkins’ highly anticipated DC Comics standalone (due out June 2), in the grim no-man’s-land between English and German battlefield trenches.

Though Diana has been told she can’t cross it and must play by man’s rules, she takes it upon herself to save women and children threatened by the Germans. “It’s a very powerful moment,” Gadot says. “We have a character committing to her true self, doing what she believes needs to be done.”

Diana is thrust toward her destiny after American intelligence officer Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) crashes near her island, pursued by the German army. Trevor has discovered that German general Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) has plans to release a chemical super weapon, potentially killing millions. Diana wants to help — convinced that this evil could only be the work of Ares, the God of War.

Trevor escorts Diana to England, where she catches her first glimpse of industrialized London, or Man’s Land, a world she doesn’t quite understand, specifically the era’s antiquated gender and social norms. But it’s this battlefield scene that marks the first time Diana reveals her iconic garb — a moment that Jenkins (Monster) equates to Superman ripping apart his dress shirt to unveil the S across his chest: “It’s when she says, ‘Enough is enough.’”

Executive producer and chief creative officer of DC Entertainment Geoff Johns goes a step further with the Superman analogy. “[This scene] reminds me of when Superman caught Lois and caught the helicopter [in the 1978 movie],” he says. “But this one is even more visceral.”

And more beautiful.

On March 20, The New York Times published a Metropolitan Diary column about a group of octogenarians on their way to see Fences. While taking an escalator in a movie theater near Union Square, the women chatted about the future. “I hope I live until summer,” said one. “Why?” asked another. “Because your granddaughter is getting married?” “No!” the first woman said. “Because I want to see the Wonder Woman movie.”

That little exchange has had a big impact on Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins. “It brought tears to my eyes,” she says. “Because I love Wonder Woman, and I have grown up seeing who else loves Wonder Woman, I know there is this huge swath of women — and men — who love Wonder Woman in this old-school way.”

On June 2, Jenkins (Monster) will unveil her action-packed ode to the iconic Amazon princess, and finally — 76 years after psychologist William Moulton Marston created her — Wonder Woman will star in her own film. The origin story tracks Princess Diana’s transformation from a young, curious, and somewhat rebellious child living on the idyllic island of Themyscira among her all-female family into a bullheaded young woman. Played with a mix of spunk and humility by Israeli actress Gal Gadot, Diana is spurred toward her destiny when Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), an American spy, crashes near the island and informs Diana of the horrors awaiting him back in World War I Europe, circa 1918. Motivated by her duty as an Amazon to protect the vulnerable, she ventures to London on a mission to kill Ares, the God of War, whom she suspects is responsible for it all.

“Diana starts more naive than most of us, but she ends more mature than most of us,” Jenkins says. “She learns that it’s not going to be at all what you think it is to be a hero, and that what it means to be loving and kind is complicated.”

What’s even more complicated than Wonder Woman’s hero quest is the character’s decades-long journey to the screen. In this week’s cover story, we examine why Warner Bros. has made seven Superman movies since Christopher Reeve first showed audiences he could fly in 1978 and eight Batman films, but not one Wonder Woman project until last year when she debuted in D.C.’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.