Little is known about Monolith Productions’ Wonder Woman game besides it being a third-person, open-world action-adventure game with an original story. Its narrative is teased as Princess Diana having to unite the world of Themyscira and the world of modern humans, and Warner Bros.’ patented Nemesis System is also teased to play a part in uniting ally and enemy forces. Many details are still unknown and cast questions about the game’s open-world as well as which enemies players will be fighting as the Amazonian princess.
Still, one of the biggest questions it will likely answer has to clarify the point in Diana’s life that the game is set in. It is currently unclear if it is an origin story for the character becoming the lasso-wielding hero fans know and love, or if she is already a storied hero with an established history, such as Peter Parker is in Marvel’s Spider-Man. If it is the former, then it may truly shine as a standalone title for the character where obscure lore and other developments can be made. But if it is the latter, fans will likely hear mention, if not see direct cameos, of iconic characters affiliated with the Justice League.
Monolith’s Wonder Woman Has an Open Continuity to Play In
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One of the most exciting parts about the upcoming Wonder Woman game is how much supposed creative freedom it has in its own continuity and canon. That is, nothing has previously been shared to infer that it belongs to another IP’s canon, and thus it seems like it belongs to its own. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League belongs to Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham canon while it is still its own IP, for example, and thus it is must adhere to the canonical events established in Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and Batman: Arkham Knight.
This is already a fairly tall order for Rocksteady since the Justice League was not present at all in any of the Batman: Arkham games, and Batman is purportedly deceased following Batman: Arkham Knight’s Knightfall Protocol conclusion. Therefore, there are many narrative threads Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will inevitably have to answer to.
Otherwise, if narrative events are retconned, Rocksteady will dash the expectations fans have and beg the question as to why Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League needed to be part of the Batman: Arkham canon in the first place. Wonder Woman’s benefit, then, is that while she is a popular female character in DC mythology, her birth home on the island of Themyscira and her origins as a character are entirely iterative.
If Monolith chooses to portray Diana while she is on Themyscira, there is a wealth of creative freedom it has to illustrate what the island looks like, such as what architecture is there, and what other Amazon warriors look like and how they interact with the player. This would be the more interesting of the two narrative paths that Monolith could take Wonder Woman, with the other path leading inevitably and instantly to the Justice League.
Monolith Already Has Experience with Freeflow Combat Similar to Batman: Arkham Games
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor and Middle-earth: Shadow of War from Monolith seem to directly spell out what gameplay and combat may be like in Wonder Woman. Of course, Wonder Woman could end up having completely unique gameplay that plays nothing like Monolith’s Middle-earth titles, but it already lays out a blueprint that could work perfectly for the Amazonian.
Diana is known to fight using a sword, shield, and a magical lariat, which could all be used in combat similar to how Talion and Celebrimbor’s mechanics were introduced in the Middle-earth games. Moreover, linking Monolith’s Middle-earth games with DC further, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was originally developed as a Batman game.
This makes sense, as Batman: Arkham’s Freeflow combat was already rampantly sweeping the third-person action-adventure genre and is used in both Middle-earth games. If Wonder Woman also echoes this take on Freeflow combat with its own unique Amazonian abilities, it could be a great extension of what made the Middle-earth titles so popular.
Further, Wonder Woman is incorporating Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis System in some capacity after it has been patented, which makes the two even more alike in terms of gameplay mechanics. Wonder Woman could even feature a spin on a gladiatrix coliseum for sport and entertainment, where these combat mechanics could be tested.
Wonder Woman certainly deserves her own standalone title, and while she is commonly attached to the Justice League, Monolith will hopefully devise an interesting enough narrative and gameplay loop to justify her character having a franchise of standalone titles like what Batman had received from Rocksteady. That said, Batman is well-suited to a franchise due to the extensive rogues' gallery catalog he has. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman’s particular catalog of villains is much shorter and much less iconic.
Monolith Could Establish Justice League Characters in Its Wonder Woman Game
Monolith’s Wonder Woman is presumably its own canon apart from that of Gotham Knights or Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which means that if it is going to be depicting the Justice League, it could be one of its own making. It may consist of the same batch of iconic superheroes, but the reason for them banding together or the events that call them into action could be different. However, Wonder Woman is billed as a standalone game featuring the Amazonian, and thus it is fair to predict that it may not feature the Justice League at all.
Instead, it could simply reference characters or locations such as The Flash and Central City, and tease that Diana may meet them at some point. This does not necessarily mean that they will be playable characters alongside Diana, but Monolith may choose to make that game in the future if the reception to other Justice League characters is positive.
The fact that players will be uniting the forces of two worlds makes it seem like Themyscira will play as big of a role as the modern world, but which characters factor into that will be interesting to see, especially if characters affiliated later with the Justice League are around to witness Diana in action. More will hopefully be revealed soon beyond what few details have been shared since Wonder Woman’s cinematic teaser reveal, whether the Justice League are involved or not.
Wonder Woman is currently in development.