I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier this past weekend and found it really enjoyable. It really shows Marvel’s knack for slowing things down a little and breathing substance into classic characters. It also showed you can have a strong supporting female character without them being a romance interest, Kudos for that.
C’mon DC. How can you treat your leading lady like this?
However, whenever a ‘big three’ movie is made I can’t help but wonder why the film industry dodges one of the world’s most iconic superheroes? Especially since DC has the honor of having Wonder Woman be one of their ‘big three’. The Avengers have Cap, Iron Man, and Thor. The Justice League has Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman. It’s a no brainer.
There’s a boat load of excuses people will use. There is one valid point I will concede to: Wonder Woman lacks a definitive nemesis. She is an extremely interesting and complex character to be sure, but she has no ‘Joker’ or ‘Lex Luthor’.
But you know what? Neither does Cap. Wonder Woman, like Cap, has outgrown her origin story. The success of Winter Soldier proves a Wonder Woman movie would be awesome. They simply need to take a similar approach and not focus on the fact she’s a woman… instead focusing on her as a character a hero.
Part of the appeal of Winter Soldier came from Cap’s “I have more important things to do” approach when it came to dismissing Black Widow’s ploys to hook up our lovable 95 year old virgin. Even better, he remained good natured about it and allowed his personality to shine through. Anyone that’s picked up a Justice League comic book knows the dynamic between Diane and Bruce Wayne. It isn’t just about flirting, it’s about mutual respect.
Bruce is just grouchy Diane is taller than him. Head spikes don’t count bro.
By nature they are enemies. Bruce is a millionaire playboy. Diane is an Amazon princess. When the two clash it makes for quite the show. It’s actually quite similar to the way Steve Rogers and Tony Stark clash. However, Bruce’s game face comes on with the cowl and the flirty millionaire shows he can get the job done. The Avengers don’t have secret identities… (mind blowing I know)… so a crucial aspect of superheroes is lost in the Marvel game plan.
DC can cash in on this. A justice league movie would be twofold: Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. Clark, Bruce, and Diane.
First things first, though. Establish Diane. Establish Wonder Woman. They’ve done Superman and Batman they need to complete the big three. As a Fantasy Author, I salivate at the possibility of a great fantasy themed movie akin to Thor (except with less magic-tech). It’s odd to think of her as one, but Diane is a magician. Her spells just happen to involve punching people in the face. Her power isn’t a mishap of science, it is a divine right. Superman is an Alien. Batman is the personification of human ingenuity. Wonder Woman personifies mythical might like no one else can. Do her justice DC, please.
Memories of a Dimanagul 
Hmmm. Fair point on the nemesis bit. I mean, she’s got a rogues gallery in characters like Cheetah and Giganta, I guess (at least if the Superfriends are to be believed), and I’d like to think that if it came down to it, the moviemakers could pull in a rival Amazon for her to fight. I’d say it could work like Man of Steel, but at the risk of giving rise to a stomach ulcer the size of a bowling ball, I’d rather pretend that movie didn’t count. Or better yet, didn’t happen.
I don’t want to be THAT GUY, but there is one issue that might have kept Wonder Woman off the big screen: no matter who plays her, she’s going to end up being the wrong choice. I’d imagine that Hollywood is more than a little picky about the looks of actresses, so there’s probably been some…well, let’s call it “friction” over getting WW’s look right. And really, how do you show off someone like WW in a way that’ll delight modern-day fans? (I can’t help but think back to what Angry Joe said a while back about Hollywood being afraid to cast “bigger women” — though I can’t help but snicker at the fact that he danced around what “bigger” meant.)
Acting skill should be the determinant and key factor, obviously, but I can’t help but play devil’s advocate in the sleaziest sense. It’s an audiovisual medium, so they have to put up the best visuals they can. That’s got to have caused some problems on SOME level.
Either that, or they couldn’t decide which costume to put her in. I heard she had pants semi-recently, but everybody hated that, I guess? So now she’s back to no-pants? Except in Injustice she had pants, and — screw it. I’d take WW in a paper bag if it’d get her a movie faster.