Wonder Woman Movie

As You Know (or you may not) there have been attempts throughout the years to make a live action film starring Wonder Woman herself. Every single one of those attempts have never even gotten off the ground.

I guess that leads to one big question: why? She tends to be shown together with Superman and Batman as part of a "Trinity". She's supposed to be an A-list character. It shouldn't be so hard to make a movie starring this character!

Coz a lot of people have trouble identifying what makes Wonder Woman who she is. Superman and Batman have certain images in popular culture, its easier to make a movie about them (And even Superman's known his share of Development Hell). And I think for a lot of people, including movie writers (and some comic writers too), have no idea what makes Wonder Woman who she is beyond that she's not a dude.

Plus, her origin would be a great way to make a gorgeously rendered and designed Clash Of The Titans-esque Greek Mythology inspired adventure.

The only thing I can think of that works against Wonder Woman as a movie series is her rogues gallery - Wonder Woman herself is a very interesting, strong character, but the antagonists she has tend to leave much to be desired in the interest department, and many of them lack depth or presence. That's why, in my opinion, Wonder Woman is best in ensemble works, where her personality shines against other heroes and she can forge battle with more compelling adversaries.

But then again, Iron Man's rogues gallery in the comics lacks personality as well (for a different reason, they're mostly intended to be a supply of semi-flat mercenaries that can be thrown at heroes without requiring plot significance) and look how they've worked with

edited 14th Sep '12 10:32:15 AM by KnownUnknown

DC pushes her as one of the 'trio', but she's really not equal in terms of popularity.

The reason we haven't had a film is sexism.

I think one prominent issue too is that she is tied in very strongly with real Greek Mythology. It isn't Ancient Astronauts stuff like with The Mighty Thor, but treating Greek Mythology as actual history and Mt. Olympus is their home. Thus it presents a dilemma, how do you portray the mythology aspect in relation to the modern world? Is it Shrouded in Myth, do you make them Ancient Astronauts too or do you go full out and make them actual Gods?

It's one of those things that is easier to present in animated form (especially Justice League with an already established canon having supernatural elements) than in having to explain all the rules in live action.

edited 14th Sep '12 10:49:50 AM by KJMackley

Something akin to the current New 52 series would be to my liking, sans the stupid rape retcon about the Amazons. I think actually giving her mythological foes to face does a good job of setting her apart from most other movie heroes, except Thor obviously.

She's always had mythological foes, the ones cribbed from mythology tend to be her best ones. The original rogues tend to be the not so inspiring, which is sad because she's an original character. Not all of them are so bad but many of them(Dr. Poison, Dr. Psycho, The Baroness) aren't actually able to physically challenge her. Giganta and the Queen of Fables have weird origins that would take more explaining on top of Wonder Woman's. Silver Swan's was messed up by the crisis(and is heroic anyway. Hollywood historically has problems moral ambiguity). Cottus would just be plain hard to do in live action.

What's that, Ironman 2 and Blade 2 just made a new nemesis for the sake of the film? Yeah, but usually Hollywood is only doing comic book movies to decrease the amount of original work they have to do and even new ones can fall flat(Cat Woman). So just crib one for mythology? Okay but that leaves other problems.

There is a strange trend for writers to shy away from her unique traits. Hellenistic golems can be counted on one hand, yet, that she is one pretty much only brought up when talking about Wonder Woman's origin and is usually implied to be false, such as when the DCU implied she was Hades's bastard child and DC retconned it outright, never mind the bastard born half human hybrid plot has been done as far back as Asmodeus and her current origin is the same as Xena's.

The outfit is not easy to use in live action but Lynda Carter made it work so everyone else seems to think they can too(including stunts Carter never did because of the thing's limitations), instead of just going with one of Wonder Woman's more practical outfits and leaving the "iconic hot pants and bustier" to a mythology gag.

A two meter plus athlete who settled on an acting career isn't easy to find. Especially when a lot of casters, for whatever reason, avoid women taller than their man leads, discouraging those who otherwise would aspire to act. Chyna came close enough that they could easily hide the two inch lift to make her six foot but WWE was probably sabotaging her chances if she had any.

I've always found myself comparing Wonder Woman to Xena Warrior Princess. They seem to have a lot of similarities, when I think about it. That, and Lucy Lawless did voice WW in an animated film!

There is that one character called...Genocide. She (yes, that thing is a "she") actually beat the stuffing out of WW, showing that WW is not so invincible, and is as monstrous as you would expect. If there is a villain that could make the plot, I bet Genocide could fit the bill!

Wouldn't the obvious choice for villain be Ares?

And I could see the Vanessa Kapatelis version of Silver Swan as the villain of a sequel. Maybe introduce Vanessa in the first movie, then she turns into Silver Swan in part 2?

I can't speak for anyone else, but the few times I have seen people try to render WW's suit in live action, it looks ridiculous.

It doesn't bother me in the comics, but I have a hard time taking live-action Wonder Women seriously.

Well most superheroes have their costumes altered for live-action anyway. Wonder Woman's fans tend to get super outraged whenever someone suggests updating the costume or changing it to look better on film, but it's what happens with pretty much every superhero I can think of save for Superman.

The thing about the Wonder Woman costume is that there are some costumes that are nearly impossible to pull off in live action and with the reality of costuming. The human body can't replicate the hyper-reality of comic book physiques, which is hard enough with the male body's Heroic Build but the stripperiffic female superhero costumes are even less forgiving. You can compare that to Black Canary's use of fishnet stockings, which may be quite sexy in a formal setting or in still images but in an live action action setting they twist and contort the skin in unflattering ways. That's the real reason why the Spy Catsuit is more popular.

Although here is a fan made concept art that I think works really well. Instead of replicating the leotard and bustier it goes towards a Greek armor design with a leather skirt and a sort of "tank top." It may be a little too Xena-ish and the colors can be a little bit brighter but I think it is more important to represent the warrior look instead of the Vegas showgirl look.

Another problem potentially, about Wonder Woman is trying to explain why she would leave the island and fight crime in Man's World as super heroine and she doesn't work too well without the larger D.C.U present.

That's just my two cents.

I think the core reason why Wonder Woman is so hard to adapt, is that she never really got a solid refining of her character. Whereas Superman and Batman both eventually had their core mythos solidified into something everyone agrees "Yeah, that's Superman/Batman," Wonder Woman has had radical shifted in direction and concept every decade or so. Now, this wouldn't necessarily be a problem; a lot of obscure characters have been brought to screen despite lack of a singular "definitive" version. The problem is, Wonder Woman *isn't* obscure; she's one of the most recognizable characters there is. So you have a character "everyone" knows, but what they know is widely contradictory. Recipe for disaster.

Also, Hollywood is deeply sexist, which doesn't help.

...Um... no? You really don't need the rest of the DCU to explain that. Like I mentioned earlier, just make the movie a loose adaptation of Perez's first story arc, with her leaving Themyscira to stop Ares, then at the end she becomes the Ambassador to the US from Themyscira. Easy.

Warner are probably going to try and copy Marvel's success with the Avengers films, using the Justice League - there were hints at it in the abysmal Green Lantern film, though given how badly that bombed they might decide against it - so if there was a Wonder Woman film, it could include elements of a wider DC cinematic universe. Not that I think it would need that, as Lizard Bite said, it would be pretty easy to make a standalone film.

A Wonder Woman film will happen once one or two male-led DC superhero films succeed - probably Superman and the next Batman reboot.

edited 15th Sep '12 7:48:28 AM by imadinosaur

I don't know, they are doing a second attempt at a TV show. If that fails, it might sour them on the character, while if it succeeds, they might not want to distract from it. Yes, its not totally rational, but since when has WB's behavior been totally rational?

As for copying Marvel's framework, its not the worst idea. The problem is that, so far, WB seems to either not understand what was actually *important* in Marvel's framework, or they are just incompetent at executing it.

I'd go with putting her in Greek battle armor, as she sometimes goes in the comics, but underneath she wears, as an inner layer of clothing (do I dare to call it underwear?) a skintight variation of her typical comics duds. Not something that strictly follows the design of the American flag, to make it more believable, but something following the same basic color scheme. I'm sure you even can work some discreet but visible stars in there (I'd suggest going the John Byrne route and putting only two to avoid visual overkill).

Then, during the final battle, she suffers massive Clothing Damage and ends the fight in the classic 'swimsuit', hopefully in a way that manages being sexy without being explotative.

edited 15th Sep '12 8:07:48 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

The only film that they've so far tried it with was Green Lantern, which was terrible by any measure (as a piece of artwork it was dull, as a character piece it was flat, as a narrative it was disjointed, and as an action film it was boring), so maybe they'll strike lucky with a better director etc for some other films. Handled Iron Man-style, a Flash film could be fun; handled TDK-style, it would be horrible.

On top of what other people have said about Wonder Woman not having a really defined character; her costume also makes no sense! I don't mean the high heels being impractical (though they are), but dressing her up in an American flag is ridiculous, since she comes from an ancient Greek-inspired Amazon culture.

Also institutional sexism.

Well, the comics try to rationalize it as her adopting an American look as a way to make it easier for her adoptive country accept her.

Of course, that can come as jingoistic in this age, so I'd suggest going with a blue, white, red and golden (as in her chestplate) design that manages to be stylized enough to vaguely resemble of the banner, but without it being blatant.

Which DC superheroes could work in a Dark Knight style? I'm thinking of The Question, but maybe he's too low-key. The Spectre could work as a big budget supernatural horror drama.

edited 15th Sep '12 8:16:04 AM by NapoleonDeCheese

Wonder Woman's costume could be explained as simply that, after 2000 years of isolation, the Amazons have developed a very strange sense of fashion.

Wasn't the second attempt at a TV Show the one the NBC didn't pick up, for reasons that may or may not be obvious? I've read up on that pilot, and I have to say that it doesn't really match up to the Wonder Woman character at any point in her history! I mean, when you have a statement saying that Xena Warrior Princess has 10 times more compassion than her, you know there's a red flag waving in it!

That casually happens to look just like the American flag?

That's also why I've never liked the explanation of Superman's 'S' shield being a Kryptonian symbol, and I prefer the explanation of it being something he came up with in Earth.

I'd have her just waer some armor, something ancient Greeky or whatever that stuff the mongol cavalry used to remove arrows was. The iconic outfit would be one of her casual wears.

How armor would work would be tricky. One of her gimmicks is swinging around and creating shields with her bracelets. They could be a specialized part around her wrist or maybe her arms could just stay bare? The strapless and hot pants are the bigger issues, really doesn't need practical soldier gear, just something that would allow for athletics and or something for formal occasions.

edited 15th Sep '12 1:49:23 PM by Cider

Just take her most iconic costume, tone down some fanservice if it's too much, replace dyed cloth with painted bronze. Remind the viewer that it's magical. It's one color scheme among her people, when she decides to "go native" in the US she can ask Hephaestus to help repaint it. If she needs to fly around, include Hermes' winged sandals. Her outfit doesn't need to be completely practical, so long as you can design it a little more functional.

And thinking of hypothetical "Nolan-Wonder Woman": she is the pious DC hero, is she not? What if the Olympians aren't around to help her? Their artifacts exist, from long ago, but she can't call them up and ask for advice. They were there, but where are they now? Are they dead? Do they truly care?