Andrea Mandell

USA TODAY

Why are women crying when they watch Wonder Woman fight?

Director Patty Jenkins has grown accustomed to hearing stories about Wonder Woman audience members welling up as Gal Gadot, playing DC Comics heroine Diana Prince, grabs her shield and sword and plunges into battle in the new superhero epic (in theaters Thursday night).

“I didn’t even realize I needed this,” says Jenkins, who makes history as the first woman to helm a superhero movie. “I didn’t realize that I needed to let this out, that’s what I was tasked with. But it opened a door to all the expressions of this superhero, all the dimensions of a woman that maybe we haven’t seen or felt.”

Gal Gadot to the rescue! 'Wonder Woman' charts a new course for superheroes

To prepare herself for battle, Gadot, 32, spent six months in superhero training camp. “I had to gain a lot of body mass," says the Israeli actress, who introduced her character in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. "Gradually, we increased the intensity, the food, the workouts, so I can be my best shape.”

Wonder Woman opens on the island of Themyscira, where its population of female warriors (called Amazons) endure daily military exercises in relative peace. When the island’s security is breached by a fleet of Germans during World War I, the armored women fly into spectacular action, bows and arrows eclipsing the gun-wielding soldiers.

On the set, Jenkins instructed the Amazons not to appear angry as they battled. "This is them in their element," Gadot recalls Jenkins would say. "Just to fight in an aggressive, strong way. Own it."

The resulting fight choreography? "It's feminine-style super-bada--, super-original," says Gadot. "I’ve never seen a fight battle driven by so many women on the big screen. Never!"

Look for a particularly poignant battle scene as Wonder Woman weaves through the trenches of a bullet-ridden war zone known as no man’s land.

“Up until that point, she’s an Amazon who has stolen a costume,” says Jenkins, who had to sell the scene of Wonder Woman fighting a line of German soldiers solo to studio executives. "(They said), ‘She’s on the field by herself. How many times is she going to block a bullet?’ But the scene is about her,” says the director. “It’s a battle with oneself to change the way the world works.”

The message is proving universal. In China, where the cast recently screened Wonder Woman footage at a fan event, “it was palpable, the swell of emotions in the room as the audience watched this woman," says Chris Pine, who plays her mortal love interest, a spy named Steve Trevor. “It was really powerful. I got goosebumps.”

USA TODAY's critic called the resulting footage of Wonder Woman deflecting machine gun bullets solo "stunning to behold."

In the end, it’s the way the real Wonder Woman wanted it.

“You have to imagine (Gal) doing that shot standing there in the dead of winter," says Jenkins, who would run over to her star between takes to throw warm clothes on her. “She’s standing there in the freezing cold, not just because I told her to, because she fought every day to make this movie great. She would do anything she could to stay open and loving with the belief that this movie would matter to the world."