Why Wonder Woman Kills

Director Patty Jenkins explains the character’s lethal philosophy.

By Joshua Yehl

The subject of superheroes killing bad guys is a debate that continually follows the DC Extended Universe movies. Superman chose to kill Zod at the end of Man of Steel and Batman earned a body count in the double digits throughout his Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice action scenes, and while one could argue the need for going lethal in those situations, there are those that think heroes shouldn’t cross that line regardless of the situation.

Wonder Woman’s solo movie shows the character’s origin story during the time of World War I, and even from the trailers we see her using her sword and shield to cut down and brutally bash enemy soldiers, so it’s clear she’s willing to take a life in combat. With this in mind, we asked Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins about the character’s stance on killing.

“She is actually one of the superheroes, interestingly, who is not adverse to killing when necessary, which is fascinating. But she also is the least likely to do it, I think, because she will always try anything else before she will resort to killing anyone. That's an incredible balance of Wonder Woman,” Jenkins said.

This stands in contrast to Christopher Nolan’s Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy where "no killing" was his one, unbreakable rule. Yet just because Wonder Woman is willing to kill, she’s leagues away from someone like the Punisher who proactively seeks out criminals to put bullets in because she will only do it when absolutely necessary as a last resort.

Jenkins went on to explain how taking a life is a burden that Wonder Woman must bear for the greater good.

“I always think of it like putting a wounded animal down. It's like there's something very maternal Wonder Woman, when push comes to shove if nobody else wants to do it, Wonder Woman would step up and take care of business,” Jenkins explained. “But she doesn't want to do it, and she would never take any delight in it. That's Wonder Woman to me.”

Make sure to check out our review of the Wonder Woman movie.

Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

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