With the recent announcement of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in the next Man of Steel movie (and the following nerd-rage that blew up the internet), the concept of a live action Wonder Woman movie really has me intrigued me. I’d love to see it, but honestly – there are a few issues that have to be dealt with for this movie to be any good. What are they? Read on, loyal readers. Read on…

She Has to Look the Part

With any character, especially superheroes, the first thing that hits you is how the character looks. As mentioned in my Man of Steel Review, one of the things that I liked about the movie was how Henry Cavill looked as both Superman and Clark. He was fit and powerful. He was a super man.

Now, Gal Gadot is fine (I’m not particularly a fan of her acting, but let’s look past that for a second) The thing is… she just doesn’t look like Wonder Woman. She’s kinda petite and slender. Very cute…but very not Wonder Woman.




I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, though. Christian Bale went from The Machinist to Batman Begins in one year. 




If he can do that, maybe there’s hope for her. Now that the Man of Steel sequel has been pushed back to May 6, 2016, I hope she’s taking the time to work out and build up her body. Work it, girl!

The Costume has to Look Right

There are so many variations to the Wonder Woman costume that I hardly know where to begin. That being said – the classic costume is still my favorite. The image of Wonder Woman that I’m most familiar with is the character from the DC animated series.




So, at first I thought the movie version should pretty much look just like that. However, I’ve seen a lot of cosplay of Wonder Woman and (more often than not) the costume comes off looking kind of silly when seen in real life. Or too sexy. Or kind of slutty. Or not practical. And on, and on, and on…




All of that is cool for a convention because people are just dressing up and having fun. When dealing with a movie adaptation of the character however, I think a lot of those things would just distract from the character. Instead of thinking about how awesome and strong Wonder Woman is, half of the audience would be like, ‘I just totally saw her booty. Wonder Woman booty. Wonder Whooty.’

Wonder Woman is a difficult costume to do well because she has to be strong and powerful but also feminine and elegant. It’s an interesting balance that not too many can do well. Here are a few examples that I think work really well.




The last picture is my favorite of the group – and that’s a photo manipulation. Which means the photo that I think best represents Wonder Woman ISN’T EVEN A REAL PERSON. It’s this fantasy I have of this … perfect, amazing woman. Truth be told, I think a lot of people think the same way – which is why I think Wonder Woman is an especially difficult character to bring to the big screen. That’s also why comics and animation transcends what can be done in live action – you’re not limited by the constraints of reality.

Have you seen the Wonder Woman television pilot? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. NBC cancelled it before it even aired (though you can still “acquire” it online). Here’s what the costume looked like:




Are you kidding me? Why is so shiny and bright? The colors seem all wrong. Even the cut of the outfit isn’t flattering. Hollywood, you can do SO much better than this. Ugh… moving on…

She Needs to be True to the Character

One of the many reasons that the Wonder Woman pilot didn’t work is that the character didn’t feel like Wonder Woman - at all. At one point she says, ‘People just like to stare at my tits.’ What?! Wonder Woman would never say that! She’s a warrior princess from the Amazon and her tone, mood and speech should reflect that. She’s not a pin-up model in a flashy outfit punching dudes in the face. You have to take the character seriously while also having fun with the humor and camp that is inherent to comic book characters.




This was done especially well in the 2009 animated film, Wonder Woman. In one scene she teaches a little girl (who’s been left out of a game by a group of boys) how to swordfight. In another scene she kicks off her heels to better fight a bad guy. I thought that was awesome! She wasn’t concerned about ‘looking pretty for the camera’. She was like, ‘I need to take care of this situation. These heels need to GO!’

If they can write such a cool and interesting character for the animated film (as well as the animated television series), they should be able to write a character for the film that is true to who Wonder Woman is.

Final Thoughts

Wonder Woman is an icon for a reason. She’s smart, strong, powerful and a really good role model. Lately, however, Hollywood has not been doing the character justice. I really hope that Gal Gadot does a good job and ‘tests well’ in the Man of Steel sequel – and here’s the reason: If people don’t like Wonder Woman in the next Superman film, the odds of her getting her own film plummet to virtually zero – and that would be a real shame. A character as awesome as Wonder Woman deserves her own movie on the big screen. It’ll be really interesting to see how the next Superman film turns out. For Wonder Woman’s sake – I hope it’s awesome.

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That's all for now, y'all. What do YOU think? What do you think would make for a good Wonder Woman movie? Comment below! Let me know!

Much love! Talk to you soon!

Mike Crichlow

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