WB/DC has their Wonder Woman, and she will indeed appear in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Director Zack Snyder confirmed as much today, releasing the following statement (via Variety):
“Wonder Woman is arguably one of the most powerful female characters of all time and a fan favorite in the DC Universe. Not only is Gal Gadot an amazing actress, but she also has that magical quality that makes her perfect for the role. We look forward to audiences discovering Gal in the first feature film incarnation of this beloved character.”
Where did this come from?
WB/DC has been attempting to develop a Wonder Woman film or TV show for quite some time now. Most notably, a pre-Avengers Joss Whedon worked for years on a Wonder Woman script that sounded a lot like what Marvel ended up doing with Thor. In the past two years, there were separate attempts to adapt Wonder Woman to TV, first in David E. Kelley’s ill-fated pilot
Then the CW developed a Smallville-like Wonder Woman prequel, working title Amazon, but it never advanced to the pilot stage.
Thanks to the recent success of female-led films like Hunger Games, The Heat and Gravity, the higher-ups at WB and DC Entertainment. WB CEO Kevin Tsujihara succinctly told The Hollywood Reporter, “We need to get Wonder Woman on the big screen or TV.” DC Entertainment President Diane Nielsen elaborated even further:
“We have to get her right, we have to. She is such an icon for both genders and all ages and for people who love the original TV show and people who read the comics now. I think one of the biggest challenges at the company is getting that right on any size screen. The reasons why are probably pretty subjective: She doesn’t have the single, clear, compelling story that everyone knows and recognizes. There are lots of facets to ‘Wonder Woman,’ and I think the key is, how do you get the right facet for that right medium? What you do in TV has to be different than what you do in features. She has been, since I started, one of the top three priorities for DC and for Warner Bros. We are still trying right now, but she’s tricky.”
Over the past month, Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace, Oblivion) and Elodie Young (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) reportedly read for a mysterious strong female character in Batman Vs. Superman. At the same time, Jaimie Alexander, aka Lady Sif from the Thor films, was said to have taken multiple meetings with WB.
What was this all about – a love interest for Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, perhaps? Maybe, but the rumor mill argued the role in question was Wonder Woman. Kurylenko and Young likely read for the role while speculation has it that Alexander’s stated love of the character and genuine high comic book IQ meant WB simply brought her in as a consultant. After all, Kurylenko, Young, and Gadot are all foreign born actresses with almost identical builds and exotic looks meaning they fit the exact same casting profile. The South Carolina-born Alexander doesn’t exactly match that profile, even if among the group she clearly most closely resembles the traditional image of Wonder Woman.
Obviously, Gadot won the big casting call. Step aside Lynda Carter; we have a new Wonder Woman, but…
Who the heck is Gal Gadot?
According to IMDB and Wikipedia, Gadot is a 28-year-old Israeli model and actress most known for having starred as Gisele in the past three Fast & Furious films (Fast & Furious, Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6). Here’s Gadot talking about the strong feminine roles in Fast & Furious:
Prior to acting, Gadot grew up in Israel, winning the Miss Israel competition at the age of 19 in 2004 before going on to be a Miss Universe contestant.
We get it – she’s apparently one of the most attractive women in the entire universe. That’s great, but Wonder Woman is a freakin’ Amazon warrior, a fierce fighter, an aspect which has been heavily emphasized in the New 52 re-boot. Was she honing her fighting skills on those Miss Universe runways?
Well, Gadot hasn’t sliced any marauders in half – that we know of – but she actually served in the Israeli army for 2 years, serving as a sports trainer in the army while also still working as a professional model. She’s also a mother, bearing her first child with her husband in 2011.
To sum up, Wonder Woman is supposed to be a bastion of femininity. The actress they picked to play her is an objectively gorgeous mother and soldier who has held her own on-screen against the likes of Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and the late Paul Walker. She may not instantly look like our image of Wonder Woman, but she sounds kind of wonderful in every other way.
Are we excited?
No, but it has nothing to do with Gal Gadot. Well, maybe a little. It was so much easier to imagine Jaimie Alexander as Wonder Woman:
The bigger concern, though is not who is playing Wonder Woman or the amount of screen time she’ll receive but instead who is making this movie. We are talking about Wonder Woman making her debut in a Zack Snyder movie. The Sucker Punch guy?
To make a character like Wonder Woman work, you need levity to make her sympathetic and relatable. She’s a freakin’ warrior princess who was either molded from clay or is the bastard daughter of Zeus (depending on which continuity you follow). She has a lasso of truth, an invisible plane, and a tiara which can be thrown like a boomerang; Thor just had the hammer. That’s not even mentioning the challenge of translating her entirely impractical and revealing costume to the screen.
This requires a nuanced approach, which is not Snyder’s forte. You could cynically argue Wonder Woman is but another super-powered, god-like figure which Snyder can use to bash bad guys through skyscrapers. She’ll probably look amazing – we just won’t care about her.
I extend that to pretty much all of Snyder’s work as he comes off as a great visual effects guy/production designer who’s somehow ended up as a director. You can’t really argue his bonafides as a visual filmmaker, but it’s always an oddly cold, emotionless affair. io9’s Charlie Jane Anders took it one further and looked at his consistent failures with female characters:
“Snyder has a problem with capturing real emotions, as opposed to surfaces, something the cold and depthless Man of Steel confirms. And he especially has a problem with female characters, because his love for pulp imagery leads him to explore women as fetish objects. It almost doesn’t matter if, as some have discussed, Snyder is trying to turn this fetishization on its head or show how it’s harmful — it still tends to dominate.”
Pulling off Wonder Woman on screen will be incredibly challenging. Even if they copy Thor, Wonder Woman doesn’t have a Loki-like figure lying around to play off of. They are at least trying, but our faith in their ability to pull it off is remarkably low. It’s been said the only person who could actually make a comic book movie focused on a female character work is Joss Whedon. DC had their chance with him. He’s not available anymore. However, surely this can be done by someone other than Whedon.
We won’t find that out for a while as Wonder Woman will most likely be but a minor presence in Batman Vs. Superman. However, Batman Vs. Superman is starting to gain an alarming X-Men: First Class vibe. That film was the combination of two separate projects Fox had put into development, ultimately deciding to cut their losses and combine their Magneto origin story and X-Men prequel into one movie. The result was a rushed production that at least hit jackpot with casting and the Magneto part of the story. Batman Vs. Superman is starting to take the shape of a Batman/Superman team-up combined with an origin story for the Justice League. A colossal match-up like Batman and Superman shouldn’t need anything extra.
UPDATED 7/26/14 –
Straight from Comic-Con (or, technically, Zack Snyder’s Twitter Account), here is the first image of Gal Gadot in full Wonder Woman costume in Batman Vs. Superman:
What do you think? Should we just delight for one moment in the fact that Wonder Woman is actually going to be in a movie? Or are there enough things here to seriously temper enthusiasm? And does Gadot look anything like how you pictured Wonder Woman? Let us know in the comments.
We Minored in Film 
Yeah, I’d have liked to see Jamie Alexander give it a go! I’m not thrilled with the news today because I feel like they’re shoe-horning Wonder Woman into an already-full movie and she deserves better. They talk about ‘getting her right’, but this just feels like an afterthought. 😦
I’m with you. Since the news broke and we wrote our respective articles on the topic, I have seen quite a bit of focus on Gal Gadot herself and whether or not she is a good choice for the role. However, honestly, I kind of don’t care about her at all at the moment because I think this is all missing the larger point, which is “Was Man of Steel actually any good?” and should we really be excited about a sequel just because it’s going to have Batman and Wonder Woman? Plus, as you pointed out this feels like a throw-in more than anything else.
While I do think that MoS is a good gateway to a JL movie, I’d rather see them stay focused on what they need to accomplish with the sequel rather than scatter themselves and not do justice to the characters.
It’s a tough position for them to be in. Do you go the Iron Man 2 approach and ultimately sacrifice the quality of one of your movies to help further set-up a bunch of future ones? Or do you just focus on the enormous task at hand with doing a Batman/Superman story justice? I see why they’d go with the former, but based upon the many weaknesses in Man of Steel I’d trust them more if they just focused on doing a good Batman/Superman story.
I like Superman; I love Batman. In that, I am not unique. So, I have an instinctual reaction of utter joy to the idea of a Batman Vs. Superman movie. But then I remember all of the problems I had with Man of Steel and the sobering realization that the sequel is going to be even more of a Zack Snyder movie than the original since Christopher Nolan won’t even contribute to the story this time. I want to be nice and fair to Ben Affleck and say things like, “He is not the reason Daredevil failed,” but fear that such an argument makes it seem like he was far better in Daredevil than is actually true. I want to be nice and fair to Gal Gadot and say things like, “Look how badass Zack Snyder made Faora seem in Man of Steel,” but then I remember I can’t think of a single other strong female character from Snyder except for maybe Amy Adams as Lois Lane but after a strong start she mostly recedes into the background.
Basically, the Batman fanboy in me keeps arguing for optimism whereas everything else tells me that at best this will be a passable Iron Man 2 type of movie where in order to set up future stories none of the characters in this particular story are given full justice.
I dunno, I kinda liked all the ladies in MoS. The movie wasn’t about any of them in particular so I didn’t have huge expectations for them to take up screen time or story time, but I can’t say that I didn’t find them tough and interesting but still feminine. Well, maybe not that chick that got stuck under a building toward the end… but, you know. 🙂
But I do agree that I’d rather see the writers stay focused on Batman & Superman (rebooting Batman alone is enough for one film) rather than trying too hard to set up JL.
Faora is pretty awesome in Man of Steel – she was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie. Plus, I think that Amy Adams was a genreally strong Lois Lane, and could be even better in a sequel now that the establishing has been done. I admit that I did forget about Diane Lane as Martha Kent, and I did like her, her flashback sequence talking to a young, scared Clark Kent through a closet door being the standout moment. I can’t really recall any other notable female characters (Jenny who Perry White has to save doesn’t qualify), other than Kal-El’s birth mother whom I must admit I barely remember. However, there is enough in Man of Steel to make an argument for Snyder being capable of giving us a badass Wonder Woman. It’s every single other film he’s ever done, particularly Sucker Punch, that everyone points to as the counter-argument. Plus, until we actually see this new movie we won’t really know how much of Man of Steel is owed to Christopher Nolan’s influence since he won’t be nearly as involved with the sequel. Then again, Nolan has been hounded with criticism over his treatment of female characters over his entire career as well. So, who knows.
It does sound as if they are just not bothering with doing another Batman origin story but instead presenting him to us fait accompli. That should cut down on exposition, though a brief flashback to the death of his parents is likely (maybe to draw a connection between Batman and Superman as both being orphaned children). But focus on making that awesome. We’ve waited a long time for Batman Vs. Superman. Don’t screw it up, guys. No pressure or anything.
Is this movie going to end up, not just like First Class, but like Iron Man 2? Some continuing character story, mixed with some larger world-building? Substitute SHIELD and the Avengers for the Justice League… Yeah.
I liked First Class. I thought Iron Man 2 was passable. Which will Batman vs. Superman be more like?
Iron Man 2 is a good comparison. Heck, I want to say you and I might have even discussed this very topic in the comments section of an article over at your site. Regardless, the main reason I made the First Class comparison is because its origin as two separate developed films which were ultimately combined into one is so well-known. In the case of Man of Steel, it is so well known that they were talking about doing a Justice League move that even though they moved on the script made its way to the internet somehow. As such, from a mere production standpoint Batman Vs. Superman rather clearly has the look of a film which has become the combination of two separate projects. Your point speaks more what shape the final product will take and whether or not it will be any good. I would anticipate it will look more like Iron Man 2 than First Class mostly because I really do think Wonder Woman, Flash, and whoever else might show up won’t be around too much but just enough to distract.
David S. Goyer told Empire Film Magazine when Man of Steel came out that his vision for the future of the DC film franchise was to build everything outward from Man of Steel. He argued that the introduction of Superman into the universe could not only inspire others to become crimefighters but also draw out into the open those who had been heroes in secret. Goyer now has a Joss Whedon-like position with WB/DC, and the older, hardened version of Batman for the Man of Steel certainly sounds like a hero drawn out into the open as Goyer said. I would anticipate the story would center on Batman’s suspicions of Superman leading to a conflict before their efforts are united in the form of a common enemy, with Wonder Woman or whoever else most likely showing up to validate Superman’s potential for good as examples of those he inspired to be more than they had been.
My mixed-to-negative reaction to Man of Steel has tempered my enthusiasm for the whole thing, though.
I think that Gal Gadot will do an alright job, but I want to see what the director does with her. You can have good actors, but if you don’t have a good script or director, all the good acting would be for naught.
Gadot could be fine. However, as I argued and others have there is more than sufficient reason to suspect that it pretty much doesn’t matter whatsoever who plays Wonder Woman because director Zack Snyder is completely ill-prepared to do the character justice. I touched on that a little bit in my article, but Charlie Jane Anders of io9 hit the nail on the head:
“And that’s why Zack Snyder taking on Wonder Woman — or, more broadly, anyone recreating Wonder Woman in the same style as Man of Steel — is potentially a nightmare. After watching 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch and Man of Steel, there’s plenty that I admire about Snyder’s film-making. He’s great at creating arresting visuals, and he has a deep appreciation for the grammar of comic-book storytelling, creating splash pages on the screen. But he has a problem with capturing real emotions, as opposed to surfaces, something the cold and depthless Man of Steel confirms. And he especially has a problem with female characters, because his love for pulp imagery leads him to explore women as fetish objects. It almost doesn’t matter if, as some have discussed, Snyder is trying to turn this fetishization on its head or show how it’s harmful — it still tends to dominate.” – As quoted in an article at FilmSchoolRejects: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/zack-snyder-is-the-real-problem-with-that-wonder-woman-casting.php
So, yes, it is alarming that they might be shoehorning Wonder Woman into this movie and Gadot is an odd choice who might actually be okay in the role, but all of this as well as the whole Ben Affleck as Batman controversy is but a mere distraction from the larger concern that this is going to be a Zack Snyder movie. If his past work (including Man of Steel) is any indication it will likely look great but fail to make us actually care about the characters.
I feel that DC’s (and I use DC loosely here) possible strategy to use Superman – Man of Steel as Marvel used Ironman to tie up DCU and JL together will not work as well for two reasons:
1. That there is no connection with the audience with Superman as he is right now. Don’t get me wrong, aside from the ending where Clark is suddenly a reporter (what qualifications?!), I loved the movie, and I don’t even like Superman.
2. And as fitting (or not) as Cavill was a Superman, he is no RDJ. (no, I’m not a fan of RDJ).
Allow me expand upon my points.
1. Superman is alien and for lack of better words, a god. Ironman is a man in a suite, human, imperfect and vulnerable (and armed to the teeth).
Almost anyone (arguably) could relate to Tony Stark and see this fantastic world he’s about to be a part of through his eyes. And with the addition of Agent Coulson, Marvel threw in an insurance in case Tony Stark started getting too ‘big’ for us to connect with.
Man of Steel featured Superman, not Clark Kent. We see his journey through his alien eyes, and try to connect to how he might feel to be the last of his kind (sort of), losing both birth parents and growing up in an alien world with powers he’s trying to control, understand and hide. So we may be able to to understand his motives, but we can’t relate (not talking about the 3.7% of aliens hiding in our world).
This may not be the fault of the writers because DCU just so happens to be overpopulated with overpowered primary characters… The point I’m trying to make is that it might be best not to emulate Marvel’s strategy because the ingredients are just different. It’ll be like trying to bake an apple pie with oranges.
Lastly, their first movie is again about Superman the alien, and very little of Clark the human, which brings me to the next point…
2. Henry Cavill is no RDJ, again not a fan of RDJ. But you can’t deny his screen presence, charm and acting prowess. Cavill as Kent is still an unknown but, with due respect to the actor, I doubt he’s gonna fly. Secondly, Clark Kent is no Tony Stark, so even if Cavill matches up to RDJ in acting abilities, Kent still won’t match up to Stark. So same conclusion, apple pie with oranges. Better to adopt a different strategy.
But I’m digressing. The topic is about Gadot as WW. Right now she’s a scrawny chicken, and yeah Cavill was no Superman prior to Man of Steel, but WW needs an actress who not only has the physical attributes of WW (which Gadot doesn’t) but also the acting range for Diana Prince (ermm… Fast&Furious isn’t exactly comforting CV material), because screen time for Diana will definitely be very limited, so every second of powerful acting will count (along with a powerful script) in getting the audience to relate to, and care for her. Case to point, in Man of Steel, everytime I see Cavill on screen, to me it’s Superman out of costume, and never Clark Kent. I’m hoping the sequel will allow me to get to know Clark better, but now with almost all the core JLA members announced to appear, I doubt there’ll be room for that.
The way DCU movies are going with casting, it’s just only ever gonna be about the ‘SuperWonder’ part and never gonna be about the ‘ManWoman’ part. Full-on wam-bam one-dimensional city-leveling Michael Bay action fluff with little heart. Which might not be a bad thing, but definitely doesn’t have sustainability. Which would mean that Marvel’s Movie Universe (not that their’s have A LOT of heart, but just enough IMO) will keep on chugging along and expanding, while DC Movie Universe will be facing reboots after reboots.
I’m in full agreement with you guys. Snyder so far seems to be all flash and little substance; but I maintain the the bigger problem may be DCU’s core heroes – aside from Batman, the rest are more gods than men. Think about it, the strongest mainstream character in Marvel U is the Hulk. Superman, WW, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and even the trident equipped Aquaman can take down the Hulk in a one-on-one without breaking a sweat. And none of them even has the flaws that the Hulk has (ie. capable of rational and strategic thought).
Lastly, the movie medium with its 90mins is handicapped in exploring the complexities of these DC gods the way comics or even TV can. That said, I doubt DCU movies can ever match up to Marvel’s; unless they begin to de-power these gods, which the fan boys will never, ever allow…
Here is what David S. Goyer said about how Man of Steel might begin a new DC film continuity:
“In our minds, this would be ground zero for a greater DC universe. This is a shared universe. Yes, Lex Luthor exists in this world, Bruce Wayne exists in this world. We mentioned Star Labs. So, the intention is if the film is well received that this would be the starting point for introducing other characters, and maybe seeing those characters appear in each other’s films. I think WB’s plan is to maybe do the opposite of Marvel, and do a team up movie first and then expand from there. I’m not sure what their plans are. It all depends on how well this movie does.” (On the Empire Film Podcast)
That was back in June; Goyer has since signed on to be put in a Joss Whedon-like position at WB.
As for your points, I don’t really disagree with anything, other than maybe that I am actually a fan of Robert Downey, Jr. (especially of his version of Tony Stark), and I liked but definitely didn’t love Man of Steel. Plus, that Man of Steel ending makes no sense whatsoever and I should hate it, but, I actually got a kick out of it. Other than that, I ultimately agree with every single point you made. I’ve focused on the Zack Snyder of it all. What you’re getting at is the even larger concern, and the subject of undoubtedly countless debates between DC and Marvel fans which is that these DC characters simply are not nearly as relatable. Most of these people might as well be gods.
Beyond who’s been cast to play the characters or who’s writing the dialogue or who’s behind the camera, the DC canon will always presents far more challenges to adaptation than Marvel. DC mostly has a bunch of gods existing in fictional cities whereas Marvel is a bit more concerned with fallible people who live in actual places like New York City. Man of Steel had to go out of its way to present Superman as a heroic figure who could inspire heroism around him, thus just how many human side characters help save the day in the end. The Marvel films don’t have to mess with that kind of thing, not even Thor which is about a literal god (or alien humans mistook for a god a long time ago).
For all of my reservations about Man of Steel, I did actually walk away from it curious to see them do a proper Superman movie now that they’d gotten the origin story out of the way. That’s not going to happen now.
As for Gadot, I have never seen any of her Fast & Furious films. So, I can’t really speak to her as an actress. When writing my article the first YouTube clip of Gadot I found claimed to be her best scene from any of her Fast & Furious films, and when I watched it the scene turned out to mostly be her character on a stakeout and then dropping down to a slinky bikini and walking in slow-motion while her male friend stares at her ass before she seduces a bad guy. It’s out of context and everything, but it’s not encouraging.
“The way DCU movies are going with casting, it’s just only ever gonna be about the ‘SuperWonder’ part and never gonna be about the ‘ManWoman’ part. Full-on wam-bam one-dimensional city-leveling Michael Bay action fluff with little heart. Which might not be a bad thing, but definitely doesn’t have sustainability.”
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Rejoice because you love these characters from the comics, but despair not just because who is going to be adapting them to film but also because you remember that in the live-action format these characters are incredibly problematic. Well, not Batman because he’s awesome, and that’s been scientifically proven at this point, right?
You had me until you brought up the Hulk, after which I thought you were out of your mind.
Over all, I tend to agree, though.
I honestly like Godot for the part. But I am skeptical, as it seems most are, about the role Wonder Woman will play in this movie. And if it is done as poorly or as sketchy as it appears it will, will that turn audiences off of a possible future Wonder Woman movie? (Lord knows we’ve seen many sad attempts to “get her right”.) AND in doing so, will we see a multitude of different actresses playing the part in other projects (as we have seen in Batman)? Too many questions, not enough answers from the powers that be have me thinking we will all be disappointed come movie time 2015.
I would have preferred Jaimie Alexander as Wonder Woman because she more aligns with the cartoon and comic book versions of the character I’m most aware of plus she’s basically already playing her with Sif in the Thor films. However, even if she’s not a complete physical match I, too, kind of like Godot for the role.
But, like you’ve said, is shoving Wonder Woman into a Batman Vs. Superman movie really “getting her right”? I understand their dilemma. If you introduce each Justice League member individually in their own films, each film tied together by a Nick Fury/Agent Coulson-like figure (maybe Amanda Waller), you are banking on getting those characters right each time. WB/DC already failed on an embarrassing level with Green Lantern. Heck, Marvel has the easier, more relatable characters to adapt and not even they pulled it off, only getting The Hulk right on the third try with Mark Ruffalo in The Avengers. So, if you build out of an established brand – Man of Steel – and lump them altogether, giving us teases of the characters in the hopes of leading to individual films to follow you are making the safer bet.
There is an obvious risk of failure either way you go. However, the benefit of failing with a character like Green Lantern in his own movie is that as well liked as Hal Jordan may be there are multiple other Green Lanterns. So, instead of re-casting just do one of the other guys, most likely the African-American John Stewart. That way it doesn’t feel like re-casting but instead a legitimately new character with similar powers. If you fail with Wonder Woman, though, you are going to have to re-cast.
Most of this is from the business point of view. However, from a storytelling standpoint – and maybe I’m in the minority – but this is a movie which is going to have Batman AND Superman. Holy crap, WB/DC. Don’t get greedy. That is all this movie you need. That is a match-up/team-up so colossal your film doesn’t need to do anything other than that. Focus on the two of them AND then tease the Justice League in a post-credits stinger.
We’ll have to wait to see what they actually end up doing, but I’m with you – we are most likely in for a disappointment by the time this comes out in 2015.
Wonder Woman is a powerful AMAZON, and should look very strong and buff, just like the way every female superheroine is drawn, particularly WW. Gadot is too petite. But like you say, it wont matter because Snyder is too shallow, as is amply reflected in his vapid movies. Same with Bay. It will just be more flash and noise, signifying nothing.
Others have argued that Gadot will undoubtedly bulk up, made into a fine physical specimen just the way male action stars like Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and Superman himself Henry Cavill have. However, I agree that Gadot’s basic body type is such that even after such training it’s hard to see her really matching the drawn version of the character, but, ultimately, it doesn’t matter because this is still going to be a Zack Snyder movie.
I’d never thought of Alexander as WW…not because I think she’s wrong for the role (she looks fantastic in those Photoshopped pics and I definitely get the female warrior vibe from her role in Thor)…but now that you mention it, it makes Gadot’s casting even less desirable. She’s just so petite and gamine. It’s like casting a tall Audrey Hepburn as WW. And Afflect? And how they made Superman a killer in the movie and Cavil and Adams’ zero chemistry on top of his oddly washed-out complexion…all of this is just a recipe for a disaster when it comes to all three franchises.
I know X-men was a hit and all, but I personally hated it and though Singer did a horrible job, especially with casting. X-Men First Class was good though, except for Emma Frost and the young Mystique storyline. The Magneto aspect of the story was done wonderfully. Also have enjoyed the Wolverine films and a couple of the Batman films (though they could never cast Rachel properly). But the Superman films have been awful. How many times do they have to reboot to get it right? I know, I’m all over the place with the various opinions and all. It’s just so much to digest.
Zack Snyder’s work (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, Man of Steel) to this point lacks one single compelling, strong female character, despite their efforts to make clunky expository dialogue-burdened, forced love story-having Lois Lane one in Man of Steel. So, to me, anyone who is cast to play Wonder Woman in a Zack Snyder is being set up to fail. The best female from his films – Eva Green’s grade-A, man-slaughtering badass villain from 300: Rise of an Empire – is from a film he did not actually direct, just produced.
Those in support of Gadot as Wonder Woman argue that she can always bulk up, which Twitter photos indicate is exactly what’s she up to, adding muscle definition to her biceps. However, while the likes of Henry Cavill, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, and all the guys in the 300 films have gone from strong to comic book strong through intense training there is precious little precedent for that type of transformation among female stars. The most famous is Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2, and that was back in 1991. I’m sure Gadot will look more buff by the time they film than she did in the last Fast & Furious, but because of her body type I struggle to imagine her every coming close to looking the way Wonder Woman has traditionally been drawn/animated/depicted on TV. Of course, she might be great at playing the fierce Amazon warrior nature of Wonder Woman. However, the actress who played Faora in Man of Steel or Jaimie Alexander as Sif look more like Wonder Woman than Gadot ever will. If we’re wrong then Gadot will be so awesome as to change the definition of what Wonder Woman should look like. It happens all the times with comic book movies, but with Snyder behind the camera I doubt it will this time.
Really, with Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck as Batman, and Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor Batman Vs. Superman has 3 very unpopular, against-the-grain casting decisions. Fans are often wrong – Daniel Craig is a great 007, Michael Keaton a fantastic Batman, etc., but that’s almost always about one big role in a big film not 3 big roles in the same film. It’ll be surprising if all 3 actors are so brilliant to prove everyone wrong (1 or 2 of them, sure, but all 3?).
I’ll have to disagree about Bryan Singer’s X-Men, although, to be fair, at that time my only exposure to X-Men was through the 90s kids cartoon on Fox. So, I had very little problem with casting because I had no concept of who these people were, although as much as I love him elsewhere I did think James Marsden was/looked/seemed way too young to play Cyclops.
I don’t think the first Superman has aged well, but I still like Superman 2, even though it also shows it age now. However, Superman 3-4 are complete embarrassing disasters, and Superman Returns is something closer to a well-intentioned, noble failure undone (beyond its misguided conception as a spiritual sequel to the Donner films) by horrible casting – Routh as Superman, Bosworth as Lois Lane. Superman is a dramatic challenge to adapt to film, and Man of Steel made a briefly interesting go at it until they just couldn’t resist being able to finally visually recreate comic book fight scenes in which Superman punches/is punched literally through skyscrapers.
I dont think Gal Gadot as wonder woman is a good choice. She is a skinny twig and cant act, as seen in all her other movies where she is just the “pretty girl” in the background. She got the role because of her Jewish connections. Wonder woman is supposed to be proud, strong, a REAL woman. If you google her she is just a shallow twig……….
i HATE this. lets see.. i have nothing against Gadot. I think she can fit the role perfectly. But… WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT COSTUME FOR??? A TRANSVESTITE THOR??? C’mon… They have drawn Wonder Woman to the soil. In our minds, Wonder Woman is STILL Lynda Carter, with that AMAZING colorful costume!! I know WW is an amazon, but back there in 1975 she also had the same origin!! This Gadot’s character IS NOT Wonder Woman, but Sheena or some second hand femenine character, like Supergirl or Batgirl… No. Now that i mention them, this is not even that. I HATE THE COSTUME! I repeat it is like a re-encarnation of Sheena; Shee-ra… or even He-Man. Im NOT watching this film AT ALL. I’d rather watching my set of the Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman’s 4 seasons.
I can’t say that I hate Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman costume. I don’t love it, but I also don’t flat out hate it. Part of the thing for me is that I don’t have a particularly long history with Wonder Woman. It’s only in the past couple of years that I became fan. I didn’t even really know what her backstory was until I picked up the complete series Justice League/Justice League Unlimited DVD boxset (and right before they put the episodes up on Netflix, damn my bad timing). As a result, I don’t have any kind of big attachment to a specific look for her. When I think of her in animation I think of Justice League, and when I think of her in live action I think of Lynda Carter. When I look at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman I don’t immediately think Wonder Woman. Instead, my immediate thought is Xena the Warrior the Princess and then Red Sonja if they had been designed to appear in the movie 300. I didn’t think of She-Ra from He-Man, but I can kind of see that. She even kind of looks like a female version of Simon Belmont from the old SNES game Super Castlevania IV, just trade out his whip for her sword.
It’s when I look again when I see that all of the classic parts of the Wonder Woman costume, minus the stars, are all on Gal Gadot. It’s just the coloring that’s totally different, really.
I respect how much you hate it, and I get it. I’m still getting used to the new costume, and remembering the outrage thrown Bryan Singer’s way when he put the X-Men more into sleek uniforms instead of their signature costumes. At that point, I had grown up on the X-Men cartoon, but I actually liked the way the characters ended up looking on in Singer’s films. I’m also remembering that we don’t really know how much Gadot is going to be in this film, and thinking it’s entirely possibly she could start out looking like this picture before transitioning into something slightly more colorful by the end of the film (or in her own solo film, should she get one).
In general, though, I can’t really get too passionate about any of it because I always remember that I wasn’t really crazy about Man of Steel. In fact, I’ve never liked a Zack Snyder movie, although there are parts of Watchmen and Man of Steel that I enjoy. So, everything I read or write about Batman Vs. Superman is always from the point of view that I’m probably not going to love this thing either way, regardless of costume choices.
novelty stripper outfit… very sad.
I say give her a chance. I will watch it.
I like hte look. People that make “Stripper” references and such, I think it’s something off about their psyche that makes them draw such negative references to what is being done. I didn’t hear such noise attributed to Thor, for instance. But, make a woman look awesome in a costume and the “sexist police” come out. Give it a rest, already.
That’s fair – give her a chance. I think it’s highly likely, regardless of how good or bad Gal Gadot turns out to be as Wonder Woman or how much of the success/failures owes to Zack Snyder, that this new Wonder Woman costume will end up as a novelty Halloween costume. That just seems to be the way these kinds of things are marginalized. However, as it actually relates to Batman Vs. Superman we can certainly at least give her a chance.
Okay Wonder Woman’s an Amazon so I think it’s alright for her to have an accent, exotic or otherwise but I think Gal Gadot needs to work on her grammar.
Not sure about Gadot playing wonder woman. As an amazon I would imagine a different build. Although Gina Carano isn’t a well seasoned actress, I think that Wonder woman would have more of a build like hers. As far as the acting ability itself I agree that Jamie Alexander is a better representation. Who knows, maybe a new undiscovered Actress might be cool.
“Who knows, maybe a new undiscovered Actress might be cool.”
That’s a great point to go out on because before Thor Jamie Alexander was a undiscovered actress as well, at least as far as the moviegoing public knew. We don’t now have cool fan-art depicting Alexander’s Sif as Wonder Woman if Kenneth Brannagh doesn’t cast an unknown in Alexander to play Sif to begin with. Thanks to the Fast & Furious films, Gal Gadot isn’t a complete unknown, but it still kind of feels that way. As a result, it’s mostly whether or not Gadot meets the eye test for your personal image for Wonder Woman, and she really doesn’t, not compared to the women who’ve played the character in the past or how she’s been drawn for over 70 years in the comics. She doesn’t have the build of Gina Carano nor the overall look and screen presence of Jamie Alexander. However, fans have been wrong so many times with comic book movie casting choices over the years. Gadot could be great. The larger concern is whether or not Batman v Superman will be in any good, regardless of her contribution.
Hey you get permission to use my Wonder Woman Tiara design for your poor Photoshop of Jamie Alexander?
I didn’t realize that’s where the tiara came from. If you disapprove I will taken down the Jamie Alexander Wonder Woman photos I have on the site. My apologies.
It’s cool if you give credit where credit is due. I just saw it while browsing around and realized it was a manipulation of a sculpt I made. Any idea where you got it from?
Sorry. I can’t remember where it came from. I just did several Google Image searches to see if I could find it anywhere else, like “Jaimie Alexander Wonder Woman,” and I can’t actually find any other site using the same image. There are plenty of similar ones out there, though, such as the one featured in this September 2013 MarySue article:
http://www.themarysue.com/things-we-saw-today-373/
Since I’m more a fan of the Perez led Wonder Woman comics, I was hoping for someone with a bit of naivete and strength combined. As such, I was leaning towards Ogla K. If I had to choose someone based on the more steel-core, kick-@$$ WW figure, I’d definitely go with Alexander. Wow! She looks great. However, you were right about Marvel not letting that happen.
As to Gal G. as WW, I hate it. She looks nothing like what I pictured. Too long in the face. Too petite in bone structure. Why does DC struggle so much with casting female leads? Look at all the Batman women. The only one they got right was Talia from the last in the installment. Katie, Maggie, and Anne were awful. Catwoman was a joke. None of the dangerous sensuality Kyle is known for. Superman’s LLs were not great either. Though Marvel is almost as bad. They nailed some. Missed completely on others. The males though…they almost always get right. But the women are almost universally bad choices. Very frustrating from this gal’s standpoint. The only ones I was really happy with was DC’s Talia and Marvel’s Peggy Carter, Gwen Stacy, Sif, and Frigga.
what kind of woman is this she looks like a flat travo . need ass and titties wonder woman represents a woman with curves,
Mila Kunis would be perfect
Her costume could do with more colour. Though since this is publicity shot .That might change I hope. WW is bright and colourful, with shiny bracelets for deflecting the ordinance the bad guys shoot at her. Dull brown on brown does her no favours. Give us the Amazing Amozan in all her bright and shining glory!
From what I’ve heard, that picture of her in costume was taken with some kind of filter to make her appear more monochromatic. Her costume apparently does have more color in it, and we’ll get to see that in the actual film.
Alexander’s face looks a little more like the comic book version, but she is every bit as skinny (if not skinnier) than Gal Gadot. And have you seen Lynda Carter’s WW recently? She is almost anorexic, even by today’s standard. So I think people are unfairly judging Gal Gadot as being too skinny. I would say she only needs to gain about 5-10 pounds of muscle and she’ll look just fine.
She shared a lot of photos from the gym as she trained for the role:
https://www.google.com/search?q=gal+gadot+gym+photos&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kvmKVY6uCYHIsQWnqoHQAg&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=787
Alexander has the look. Too bad Lucy Lawless isn’t in the running. While watching Xena, I thought she would be a fabulous WW!
At one point, Lucy Lawless would have made a great WW which is kind of funny since the costume they created for Gal Gadot looks an awful lot like Xena’s (or at least it does in the color-corrected photo they released; the actual costume has red and blue in it and may not look quite so Xena-like in the movie).
….While I don’t like being rude in stating facts, I think it is called for here; if anyone still prefers “Mrs. America bikini bottom” WW of Lynda Carter, watch her o YouTube. While I guess many WW fans never asked this: why d hell would an Amazon wear d American flag as a costume? Lynda carter looked more like a psychotic runaway model who decided to play hero 4 a day after picking up d nearest attire. Her take on it ruined WW. The movie, even for its time, was a farce
…Now gal wants to give us a Diana we can relate to…an Amazon(a female gladiator more or less) sent to earth to bring back Ares. I don’t see y the “patriotic” costume causes nostalgia…WW is no longer fighting the Nazis… no need to don’t the skimpy nonsense.
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….While I don’t like being rude in stating facts, I think it is called for here; if anyone still prefers “Mrs. America bikini bottom” WW of Lynda Carter, watch her o YouTube. I guess many WW fans never asked this: why d hell would an Amazon wear d American flag as a costume? Lynda carter looked more like a psychotic runaway model who decided to play hero 4 a day after picking up d nearest attire. Her take on it ruined WW. The movie, even for its time, was a farce
…Now gal wants to give us a Diana we can relate to…an Amazon(a female gladiator more or less) sent to earth to bring back Ares. I don’t see y the “patriotic” costume causes nostalgia…WW is no longer fighting the Nazis… no need to don’t the skimpy nonsense.
…..
cant wait to see wonder woman attacking Palestinians screaming “you started this”
Oh ya- the wonder skanker! LOL!