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

[davejames]

The last I read, it was only the opening 30 minutes or so that are set during WWI, and then the rest is present day. Which sounds pretty reasonable to me.

And love the idea of Eva Green as a villain in a superhero movie, and especially going up against Wonder Woman. Should be really fun to see if it happens.

 

[JD]

Ah, that wouldn't be as bad then. All I read was that it might take place during WWI.

 

[mos6507]

Eva Green and Sean Bean would be awesome villains. Another rumor I saw the other day said the movie might be set during WWI. Why are people so obsessed with it being a period piece? Aren't the majority of Wonder Woman's comic stories set during what was the present when it was written? I never really thought period stories were that big a part of her character.

Is that a typo? WW is associated primarily with WWII, not WWI.

 

[Christopher]

Another rumor I saw the other day said the movie might be set during WWI. Why are people so obsessed with it being a period piece? Aren't the majority of Wonder Woman's comic stories set during what was the present when it was written? I never really thought period stories were that big a part of her character.

The character originated during World War II (making the rumors about a WWI setting extremely odd), and while most of her stories have kept pace with the present day, there have been times when the WWII setting has been revisited, in comics and elsewhere -- most notably the first season of the Lynda Carter TV series, which started off with a pretty faithful adaptation of her first two issues from 1940 and actually included a couple of villainesses from the '40s comics.

There are those who argue that the character works best in a Second World War setting -- having a foreign national align herself with American interests and drape herself in the American flag is the sort of thing that works better in the context of the patriotic fervor and international unity of WWII. And in another sense, WWII was a time when the horrors of war became more palpable than ever before and there was a strong desire in society to find a way to end the scourge of war forever, and the message of pacifism through feminism that William Moulton Marston advanced was perhaps in keeping with the tenor of the times. And Wonder Woman as a symbol of feminine strength and capability fits in with the Rosie the Riveter iconography of the era. Subsequent portrayals of Wonder Woman have tended to be more unfocused and inconsistent, with different (mostly male) creators having their own differing ideas of what being the icon of all womanhood should mean, so some feel the character's best and purest portrayal was her original one.

 

[Skywalker]

Eva Green and Sean Bean would be awesome villains. Another rumor I saw the other day said the movie might be set during WWI. Why are people so obsessed with it being a period piece? Aren't the majority of Wonder Woman's comic stories set during what was the present when it was written? I never really thought period stories were that big a part of her character.

Is that a typo? WW is associated primarily with WWII, not WWI.

I was wondering the same thing, but maybe they decided to change it from World War II because Marvel already did something similar with Captain America: The First Avenger.

 

[Christopher]

I was wondering the same thing, but maybe they decided to change it from World War II because Marvel already did something similar with Captain America: The First Avenger.

If so, that's pretty dumb. So the man gets first claim on WWII and the woman is stuck with the leftover world war? The hell with that. Wonder Woman did everything Captain America did in WWII, and what's more, she did it backward and in high heels! And... probably in bondage!

Heck, if they wanted to make Wonder Woman different from The First Avenger, they could just have Wonder Woman fight, you know, actual Nazis.

 

[Skywalker]

It's not really that dumb when you look at it from a marketing perspective. The last thing Warner Bros./DC wants is for their movies to look like Marvel derivatives, and on the surface a Wonder Woman film that's set (at least partially) in World War II would look derivative of TFA, no matter how different the actual details might be.

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, but retconning it to the First World War seems particularly random. I mean, it's still a period piece and a world war, so people would still compare it to TFA. If the goal is to avoid comparisons, just leave out the period aspect altogether. It's not like Wonder Woman needs a WWII connection. The George Perez WW reboot after Crisis on Infinite Earths had Diana coming to the US for the first time in the 1980s, and that worked quite well.

Or if they want to do a period element, do the period that's most relevant to WW's Amazon origins: Ancient Greece. There'd have to be some connection to that era anyway in order to set up the backstory of the Amazons and Themyscira -- particularly if Ares and Circe are the villains, as is being rumored -- so it would overcomplicate things to feature Ancient Greece, WWI, and the present day.

 

[davejames]

Here's where that rumor seems to come from:

http://heroichollywood.com/home-1/2015/9/9/rumor-wonder-woman

The article doesn't give an explanation, but one that makes sense to me is that being the first major World War, it's the first time the Amazons really take notice and start to have concerns about what mankind is up to with their deadly new weapons and technology. And so of course they send Diana to investigate and learn more.

And plus, if Wonder Woman and all that she represents would stand out in WWII, it's safe to say she would stand out even more in WWI, when the sexism was off the charts and women had even fewer rights than they did in the 40s.

 

[Thestral]

So the man gets first claim on WWII and the woman is stuck with the leftover world war? The hell with that. Wonder Woman did everything Captain America did in WWII, and what's more, she did it backward and in high heels! And... probably in bondage!

The hell with calling it "the leftover world war." WWI's a lot harder to do as "rah rah rah" especially for Americans but it's actually pretty important.

In fact all that "horrors of war becoming more palpable" and "finding a way to end war forever" is much more appropriate for a WWI and post-WWI setting. There's a reason that swathes of the French army mutinied during the war, that some of the most strident anti-war poetry and music comes from that war(think "Dolce et Decorum Est" or "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda"), that the generation afterwards was "the lost generation," that the League of Nations was established and war was literally outlawed.

All of that ties in with Wonder Woman's traditional mission of being an Ambassador for Peace, so you could have her dealing with the huge division of opinion is society. Even have her seeming dichotomy as being a peace ambassador but a powerful warrior brought in. Yeah, the more I think about it the more I really like the WWI setting.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There can only be one comic book story about WWII?

Kaiser Wilhelm was not evil. Superhumanly entitled and nonchalant about human life, but WWI was mostly an accident.

There's no reason that Wonder Woman couldn't have sided with Germany in WWI.

It was contractually obligated vs asshole, not good vs evil.

 

[Christopher]

And plus, if Wonder Woman and all that she represents would stand out in WWII, it's safe to say she would stand out even more in WWI, when the sexism was off the charts and women had even fewer rights than they did in the 40s.

I didn't say she stood out in WWII, I said she fit in with the tenor of the times. With the menfolk off at war and everyone needed in the war effort, there was a lot more freedom and opportunity for women, and you can see it in the fiction of the era. Look at Lois Lane in the '40s Superman cartoons -- she's this utterly fearless, aggressive, daredevil investigator, so unlike the Lois of the '50s comics who was obsessed with whether Superman would ever propose to her or how best to destroy Lana Lang as a rival for Superman's affections.

So the man gets first claim on WWII and the woman is stuck with the leftover world war? The hell with that. Wonder Woman did everything Captain America did in WWII, and what's more, she did it backward and in high heels! And... probably in bondage!

The hell with calling it "the leftover world war." WWI's a lot harder to do as "rah rah rah" especially for Americans but it's actually pretty important.

Good grief. Is it so impossible to recognize something as humor without seeing a smiley attached to it? Especially when it's blatantly silly and obviously referencing a famous joke about Ginger Rogers? Put those rolling eyes back in their holsters, please.

 

[Silvercrest]

I thought the Fred/Ginger reference was great, and you even threw in bondage.

 

[Kor]

Would she have gotten away with that outfit in WWI?

It would have been interesting if the DC superhero movies starting with Batman Begins had been developed into a coherent universe, culminating in a Justice League movie or three (the way Marvel led up to the Avengers).

Somebody missed out on a big marketing opportunity there.

Kor

 

[Icemizer]

No Kor they really didn't. The Nolan, crybaby, retire from active duty, hide in my mansion, Batman was not worthy of joining the Justice League.

 

[Commander Richard]

Every hero slips into a funk every now and then.

 

[DWF]

As long as they tell a good story I don't think it really matters what era the movie is set in.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Gods, not the 70s, please no, that would never work.

 

[Gaith]

Heck, if they wanted to make Wonder Woman different from The First Avenger, they could just have Wonder Woman fight, you know, actual Nazis.

Agreed! As I opined back in '12:

I'd like to see a WW movie start off in an alternate/even worse WW2, where the Nazis have conquered all of Western Europe (and maybe are still allied with the Soviets?). Along the lines of CA: TFA, but with a grittier, more Raiders or even Temple of Doom (the non-"funny" bits, mind) feel. CA: TFA is good and all, but it's so darn shiny.
​

 

[Christopher]

^I think the last thing the DC movie universe needs at this point is more grittiness.