Wonder Woman isn’t the only deity anymore. Eugene Brave Rock, who plays Chief in DC’s blockbuster film Wonder Woman, looks to have confirmed one of the movie’s big secrets: Chief is a demi-god.
Indian Country Today previously reported a little-known detail about Wonder Woman’s first encounter with Chief, one of the men recruited by Steve Trevor to help Wonder Woman on her mission. The two of them first addressed each other in the Blackfoot language, a native language of the Americas spoken by about 8,000 people in northern Montana and southern Alberta, Canada. It was the only language that wasn’t subtitled in the film, which makes this next part kind of amazing. During their chat, Chief introduced himself as Napi, a Blackfoot demi-god.
Napi, known as Old Man, is the culture hero of the Blackfoot tribe. He was the first man made by the Creator, and he helped shape the world and its people, along with his wife, Kipitaki. As Moviepilot pointed out, Napi’s origin story is unique in the creation mythos. Rather than being benevolent or kind, Napi is a troublesome trickster, showing how the natural world cannot be controlled.
This could’ve easily been an inside joke for the audience, but Brave Rock told io9 on Twitter that Chief is, in fact, Napi. And even though director Patty Jenkins gave Brave Rock a lot of creative freedom with the character, Chief’s introduction wasn’t improvised. Brave Rock said his reveal as Napi was a bonafide part of the script. It makes sense when you consider that Chief is the first person Diana shakes hands with, even though she’s presented with the opportunity several times beforehand with other people.
This doesn’t necessarily mean Napi will be a larger part of the DCEU in the future (although that would be pretty awesome), but it’s exciting to see another side of Chief and his place in Wonder Woman’s world.