With many of the major superhero film projects of the past decade, fans have more or less known what to expect. There have certainly been some fairly original projects. When “Iron Man” and “Thor” first arrived, for example, they were fairly new (at least in a cinematic context) to modern audiences. However, heroes like Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man were able to build on previous television shows and films. Also, even “The Avengers” was working with characters that were, by that time, extremely familiar. This will not be the case when Wonder Woman finally arrives on the big screen, and that makes her one of the most intriguing heroes in modern cinema.
The simple fact is this: the modern perception of Wonder Woman, beyond comic book lore, is extremely limited. It basically all depends on a couple of video game appearances and a failed television pilot.
As for the pilot, it was produced for NBC by Warner Bros. and DC back in 2011, and it had Adrianne Palicki (of “Friday Night Lights” TV fame) slated to star as Diana Themyscira/Wonder Woman. However, following early screenings of the show, NBC refused to pick it up for a full season due to what ScreenRant described as “script issues and lamentable costume choices.” There were some negative fan reactions, too. Ultimately, this prevented what would have been the first major live action Wonder Woman adaptation in a very long time.
As for video games, Wonder Woman’s most noteworthy appearance was in the popular Injustice: Gods Among Us, which was released in 2013. Available for Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation systems, it was essentially a head-to-head fighter in the vein of Mortal Kombat, but with DC comic heroes (including Wonder Woman) as the main characters. There was also a mobile version, but it was more of a card collection and role-playing game than a fighter. Additionally, Wonder Woman has her own slot machine game online at InterCasino. In this title, you have the ability to “help her through an island full of zombies,” which injects some action into a more straightforward gaming format. Various Wonder Woman icons and superpower-related bonuses also help to make the game unique.
But when it comes to big screen content, Wonder Woman is something of an unknown. Video games offer some fun reminders of who the character is and what she looks like while the failed 2011 TV pilot provided a few teasing examples of what the character could look like in film. But really, we won’t know much about that until Wonder Woman appears on screen in “Batman vs. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.” After that, she’ll have her own film in 2017 and just for fun, here’s what we know so far.
To begin with, we know that Wonder Woman will be played by the beautiful Gal Gadot, best known for her role as Gisele in a few of the “Fast & Furious” films. Cinemablend reveals that Gadot has signed a three-film contract with Warner Bros., which seems to confirm the standalone project in 2017. It’s likely that the third film is meant to be the “Justice League” film that’s on the way after “Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice.”
At this point, however, that’s about all the information we have on Gadot’s involvement as Wonder Woman. She certainly looks the part, exuding both the beauty and power of the mythical Amazonian princess-turned-superhero. Also, it’s nice to know that the studio is going to give a real effort to establishing the character in multiple film appearances As for how Wonder Woman will factor into the DC collaboration films, though, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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