The Deal With Wonder Woman

This property is not curse, no matter what some people might tell you.  Developers are simply going about it the wrong way.

I will be the first person to tell you that I don't know a whole lot about Wonder Woman.  But I do know a couple of things about movies: first, this is the peak time to make a superhero movie.  People may tell you that they're getting burnt out of the spandex features, but they're lying; the box office numbers for Thor tell you a much different story, and he's not even a corner stone character.

Second, the hero landscape is crying out for a strong, identifiable female lead.  Catwoman was an unmitigated disaster, and so was Elektra - even though I thought the latter was fun and a HUGE improvement on its parent film Daredevil.  The truth is, there aren't a whole lot of powerful lady superheroes that have standalone stories.  Many of the ones I can think of (Black Canary, Super Girl, Batgirl, Wasp) are dependent on other heroes for context, and of the few that are not (Zatanna, and even she was retconned to be associated with Batman) Wonder Woman is the most recognizable.  She also stands for a lot of great things that I think we need in the media: strong women who can save themselves.

But she has problems.  A lot of what made her a feminist icon in the 1940's is outdated today.  Her origin is more like Thor than Batman, and at this point in time I think her patriotic iconography is problematic (but then I would have said that about Captain America, and his movie is slated for release this summer.  So what do I know?).  The whole...bondage thing...is not good.  The invisible jet is goofy rather than awesome.

For Wonder Woman to be successful now, in this day and age, Hollywood is going to have to do what they do best: ignore the fans.  No matter what happens or what writers do with the character, fans and the internet will be a riot of hate-mongering.  And I’m going to go on the record and say that’s ok, because here’s the thing about Wonder Woman:

Her origin blows.

.

It’s true.  You can yell at me all you want to about how she’s rooted in Greek mythology, or that her history as an Amazon princess is necessary to her character, but her whole background is ridiculous.  I do not believe there is a way to successfully adapt her canon back-story to a modern setting and make it believable or something to relate to.  It’s just too awful.

What writers need to do is preserve the spirit of the character and re-imagine where she comes from.  There are ways to turn her into a relevant female icon, but I think Wonder Woman needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.  And maybe that means she’s not the same character that she was in the 1940’s, but you know what?  We’re not in the 40’s anymore.  What was revolutionary and feminist then, is now staid and old (and probably offensive).  Wonder Woman needs to be brought into the modern age.  She needs a good villain, and she needs a new costume.  I would love to see a gritty reboot a la Batman Begins, maybe putting Diana in some sort of foster-kid situation in New York City or Chicago.  She’s a tough girl, she could handle it.  The point is: I think there’s a way to preserve the character while scrapping the origin.  

She can keep the whip, though.  Indiana Jones had a whip and no one accuses him of being into bondage.