'Wonder Woman': How 'Etta's Mission' Sets Up 'Justice League' In A Big Way

The greatest success of the DCEU so far, Wonder Woman is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray. That means fans are currently poring over deleted scenes and director's commentaries, eager to gain fresh insight into the Amazon's adventures. One of the most exciting bonus features on the Blu-Ray is a short epilogue that bears the title Etta's Mission. The film stars Lucy Davis's Etta Candy as she puts together a team to go on a top-secret assignment.

What we didn't expect was for this short scene to directly set up the next DCEU movie, Justice League, but that's exactly what Etta's Mission does. Obviously, spoilers follow beyond this point...

Fans had hoped Etta's Mission would be the equivalent of the old Marvel one-shots, a 10-to-20-minute short story that added new depth to the DCEU. Unfortunately, that's not the case. This really is little more than an epilogue, a single scene that runs for roughly two minutes. The story itself is set in the pub, with Diana's surviving allies sharing a toast to the end of the War. Diana herself, it seems, is already long gone.

To the surprise of the boys, and the delight of any viewers, Etta Candy walks in to take charge and lead them on a mission. What follows is wonderfully humorous, as Charlie, Chief Napi and Sameer all object to the idea of following a woman's orders. It seems that Diana's previous exploits still haven't convinced the men that women can lead too, and they insist that Diana is "different." Needless to say, that's not the kind of nonsense Etta will put up with, and by the end of the scene, she has the boys practically eating out of her hand.

But what is this mission? It seems that, after the bombings in Liège during the War, the "powers that be" found something very old and very powerful. Etta's mission is to assemble a team to head to Belgium, retrieve this artifact, and take it to the Americans for safekeeping. The scene ends with a sketch of the object in question. It's one that will leave fans thrilled.

It's a Mother Box.

The Mother Boxes Are Crucial To 'Justice League'

This is a wonderful tie-in to Justice League, where Steppenwolf's armies will scour the Earth in search of three missing Mother Boxes. We already knew that one Mother Box will be in Atlantis, and another will be in Themyscira. We also caught a glimpse of the third one in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice when it was used to create Ray Fisher's Cyborg.

Now, thanks to Etta's Mission, the history of that third Mother Box has been revealed. The Mother Box had presumably been lost in the mists of time, until it was uncovered as a result of bombing near Liège. We can assume that Etta's mission was a success, and that she successfully passed the Mother Box to the United States Government.

Mother Boxes are powerful living computers that possess vast power. They can shape life, transform matter, and create wormholes through spacetime known as 'boom tubes.' The design glimpsed in Etta's Mission is instantly recognizable, and actually seems to be lifted straight from the comics. It's little wonder then that DC Film teased how Etta's mission "could impact humanity’s future."

Wonder Woman was largely disconnected from the wider #DCEU, but this 'epilogue' does a lot to rectify that. It also ties the DVD / Blu-Ray release into the marketing for #JusticeLeague, set for release in November this year. That's a smart move on DC's part, strongly linking the box office juggernaut of Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman to the next superhero epic.