So About Those Wonder Woman Deepfake Theories …

**Sort-of spoilers for Shazam! Fury of the Gods but not really, apparently**

One of the oddest things about the promotional work for Shazam! Fury of the Gods is that Warner Bros. has chosen to officially spoil Wonder Woman’s appearance in the film. I saw my screening before the now-infamous ad was released but the studio itself has decided to let everyone know that Gal Gadot as Diana Prince is in fact in the movie. What I would have thought they’d keep as a fun surprise, they’ve instead made the center of a whole ad:

In the context of Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Diana first shows up when Billy Batson (Asher Angel) is having a dream where he, as Shazam (Zachary Levi), is on a date with Diana. The two are talking about their potential relationship, though her face is obscured. It’s only revealed to be a dream when the Wizard (Djimon Hounsou) interrupts, with us still never having seen her face. And it seems like that’s the end of the cameo.

But she returns later in the film as well. This time, we see it really is Gal Gadot, the actual Diana. But when a set picture came out with Gadot’s body double Taylor Cahill on set, fans thought that Gal Gadot was deepfaked into the movie. Director David F. Sandberg clarified what happened though on Twitter.

“We shot the scene with [double Taylor Cahill] to figure out what coverage we then needed to get with Gal since she couldn’t make it to Atlanta,” Sandberg explained. “It’s also Taylor’s body with the wizards head on it. There is absolutely no deepfaking going on. When you see Gal it’s 100% her.” So now that we know that Gal Gadot was really there and in the movie, what does all of this mean in the changing future of the DCU?

What does this mean for the future of Wonder Woman?

First of all, I still think it is absolutely wild that this was something spoiled in the commercials. The fact that my friend had it spoiled for them just by watching the TV spots? Baffling! But then it does feel like a move to get people to go and see the movie. I genuinely liked Fury of the Gods, I thought it was a cute venture into the world of Billy Batson and reminded us how important Billy’s found family is to him.

Second, this is now confusing. What we know about the DCU is … well, we’re getting a Superman story from James Gunn and the Green Lanterns are coming. But we don’t know who is still part of the franchise, who isn’t, and where things like Shazam! fall. Including Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in this now makes us question whether or not that means she’s also done with the DCU? Or will The Flash clarify a lot of these questions and the reboot? Especially if they’re doing a storyline like Flashpoint in the comics.

All of this to say that seeing her Diana again was a surprise. I didn’t expect her to show up but then again, this is a movie about gods so it makes sense that the god of the DC catalog is there. And at least now we know that it was actually Gal Gadot.

(Featured image: Warner Bros.)