Gal Gadot cast as Wonder Woman In ‘Batman Vs. Superman’

[Captaindemotion]

I don't think there's any contradiction between being a successful company, or even artist, and still watching what your competitors are doing and being influenced by a successful product or fashion. It shouldn't be viewed as insulting to WB to suggest that they're aware of what Marvel or doing and are factoring it into their own strategy.

Be it other phone companies making their own smartphones after the launch of the iPhone, be it the Stones making Their Satanic Majesties Request as their own version of Sgt Pepper, be it Paramount relaunching Star Trek in response to the success of Star Wars or be it car manufacturers all creating their own model of whatever is successful this year, it's what helps makes the creative and business worlds go round.

I'm sure that WB have their own particular way of doing things (e.g. the supposed 'no jokes' dicta certainly would differentiate their superhero movies from those of Marvel) but they'd be foolish if they didn't take on board how their closest rival in this field is approaching the market.

 

[Christopher]

^Right. Copying whatever's currently successful has been Hollywood's standard MO for decades.

 

[davejames]

Even if it is just blatant copying, who cares? We're still getting to see WW, Flash, Aquaman, LSH, and the Justice League on the big screen for the first time. And that's all I really care about in the end.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Even if it is just blatant copying, who cares? We're still getting to see WW, Flash, Aquaman, LSH, and the Justice League on the big screen for the first time. And that's all I really care about in the end.

Exactly.

 

[Agent Richard07]

The last time they copied Marvel, we got Green Lantern and Green Hornet.

 

[davejames]

I think the problems with GL stem more from the casting, design and story than any attempt to copy Iron Man or other Marvel movies.

 

[Captain Craig]

The last time they copied Marvel, we got Green Lantern and Green Hornet.

Green Hornet was produced by SONY not WB.
GL was trying to riff the IM template and Thor w/the cosmic elements and failed.
GH though was pretty much it's own thing, not riffing a particular Marvel film. More that it just was another superhero property trying to cash in.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Iron Man was successful largely because of Robert Downey Jr's humor and charisma, so I'm sure that someone thought they could repeat the same formula with GL and GH by bringing in Ryan Reynolds and Seth Rogen.

 

[Anwar]

GL's problem was that they couldn't decide to make it funny or serious, hired a Director who had no experience with that sort of stuff, spent a lot of money on ultimately useless things and crammed too much stuff into one flick.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Yeah, Campbell's films usually were more earthly action thrillers such as his Bond and Zorro films...a cosmic superhero saga was a bit out of his usual area of expertise.


Didn't MOS have a new Carol Ferris in it as well?

 

[Christopher]

Didn't MOS have a new Carol Ferris in it as well?

There's a "Major Carrie Farris" in the film, but it's unclear whether that's meant to be the same character or just a nod or just a really weird coincidence. I'd guess maybe she was supposed to be Carol Ferris but they decided to backpedal at the last minute and changed the spelling of her name in the official materials.

 

[Mudd]

GL's problem was that they couldn't decide to make it funny or serious, hired a Director who had no experience with that sort of stuff, spent a lot of money on ultimately useless things and crammed too much stuff into one flick.

GL's problem was that it was too faithful to the comic. A lot of us love Jordan, but no GLs other than maybe Gardner have really compelling personal arcs (despite Johns's more-than-adequate-for-a-comic retconning of so much of Jordan's backstory). Reynolds did a decent job, but a good actor can't overcome the kinds of problems that movie shared with the Iron Man series over at Marvel - that takes a great one, like Downey.

 

[M.A.C.O.]

Leaked photo of Affleck and Wonder Woman

Err... Wrong Wonder Woman.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Leaked photo of Affleck and Wonder Woman

Err... Wrong Wonder Woman.

No, definitely the RIGHT Wonder Woman...hanging with Adam Sandler...

 

[Gaith]

Does it strike anyone else that DC's names for things just kinda, well... suck?

> Marvel's "The Avengers": cool. DC's "Justice League": meh.
> Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy": very cool. DC's "Legion of Superheroes": lame.
> Marvel's "Thor": badass. DC's "Green Lantern Corps": huh? A unit of primitive light bulbs?
> Marvel's "Namor the Sub-Mariner": kinda dorky, but okay. DC's "Aquaman": the jokes just write themselves...


... Annnnnyyyhow, The New Yorker has a large article on Wonder Woman in its latest issue. I'm partway through it, it's mostly about William Marston and his academic/personal stuff so far.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Link?

 

[Silvercrest]

I don't think Marvel's naming conventions are much better, or at least they traded off making much sense in the effort to sound cool. To wit:
--Who are they avenging?
--They're so powerful and widespread that they can defend a whole entire galaxy?
--And which galaxy?
--A guy who rides around in a submarine?

Anyway, I always thought "Aquaman" was a cool enough name. Whether he's any use when there are no fish to talk to-- well, that's another question.

 

[Christopher]

Does it strike anyone else that DC's names for things just kinda, well... suck?

> Marvel's "The Avengers": cool. DC's "Justice League": meh.
> Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy": very cool. DC's "Legion of Superheroes": lame.

I don't see the problem. "Avenger" is a rather petty and violent label if you ask me; revenge is a crude, primitive drive that generally does more harm than good. Justice, by contrast, is moral and civilized. It's not about an eye for an eye, it's about achieving a fair and equitable outcome for all. And I think "league" is a nice, classy term.

As for "Guardians of the Galaxy," that may sound cool, but it's really rather pretentious; in the movie, Ronan coined it as a mocking joke which Quill then adopted in defiance. "Legion of Super Heroes" at least has the virtue of accuracy. Well, it's still a little pretentious, since it's really more a club than a legion, but it's somewhat closer to reality.

> Marvel's "Thor": badass. DC's "Green Lantern Corps": huh? A unit of primitive light bulbs?

Thor is just a given name. It's only badass by association. (And it doesn't really sound that impressive by itself. "I'm Thor!" "You are? Tell me where it hurtth.") And a lantern is a hopeful symbol, as in a lantern in the darkness, a beacon of hope or salvation. It's the same kind of symbolism as a sheriff or marshall wearing a star, and thus is fitting for a galactic police corps. (And I don't see the analogy to Thor. The Nova Corps is the most direct Marvel analog to the GLC. Thor is more analogous to Wonder Woman.)

Anyway, I always thought "Aquaman" was a cool enough name. Whether he's any use when there are no fish to talk to-- well, that's another question.

Surviving in the harsh conditions of the ocean depths, and patrolling the oceans which constitute nearly 3/4 of the planet's surface, requires superhuman strength, speed, senses, and endurance. Aquaman is one of the most physically powerful heroes in the DC Universe. This is a guy who's been known to deal with bad guys by throwing a polar bear at them.

He's also the King of Atlantis, a world leader and the ruler of the vast majority of the Earth's surface area. That gives him rather enormous resources at his disposal, more so than most surface nations. This is a guy who, as seen in Flashpoint, could conquer the world if he were inclined to.

And his telepathy only lets him communicate with sea life, not force it to his will, yet the sea creatures still usually do what he asks, because they trust and respect him. So he's got some pretty impressive leadership skills in addition to psi powers.

Really, the only reason the "Aquaman is useless" meme ever got started is because he was portrayed weakly on Super Friends -- but who wasn't?

 

[Guy Gardener]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G255fHPals4[/yt]

Anyone need some coffee?

 

[Silvercrest]

Christopher, I was just kidding. Also acknowledging that the jokes are irrespective of his name.

Besides, you forgot to mention that he punctuates everything with "OUTRAGEOUS!"