We’ve had three DCEU movies and they’ve all been bad. We keep hoping that they’ll right the ship, and now Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and producer Deborah Snyder are promising that their movie will be the one that turns everything around. They’ve heard the complaints that were leveled against prior DCEU movies, and they’ve taken to Variety to reassure fans that they’re not going to screw up Wonder Woman like they screwed up Batman and Superman.
“There’s a misconception that DC or [parent studio] Warner Bros. has made a conscious decision for all our movies to be darker or edgier,” said Diane Nelson, president of DC Entertainment and resident of Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “That’s not the case. Fans of the DC universe know that there are characters, like Batman, who are darker, but there are others like Wonder Woman, who are hopeful, optimistic leaders, and the tone of this film represents that.”
Jenkins, for her part, isn’t using Zack Snyder’s Superman as inspiration for her Wonder Woman. She’s going back to Richard Donner’s 1978 adaptation:
“‘Superman’ was all about you,” said Jenkins. “It was about you watching and realizing what it would feel like to have great powers and do great things. It was full of love and emotion.”
So how do you reconcile that with Batman v Superman’s Wonder Woman, who smiles when caught up in the heat of battle? Nelson points out that in this movie, the fact that Wonder Woman’s weapons are defensive (not sure how a sword is defensive, but I’ll set that one aside) speaks to her character:
“Her armor, the shield, the lasso, and so forth are what you could describe as defensive weapons as opposed to offensive weapons,” said Nelson. “That’s a pretty good way to think about the way she fights. She’s not choosing to fight for the thrill of battle. She’s fighting because she believes in something and she’s quick to put down that sword when the opportunity is there.”
And if you’re concerned that Wonder Woman might forget the character’s feminist origins, Snyder says you should rest assured that they’ve taken that into account for their movie:
“It would be a mistake to not honor that legacy,” said Snyder. “That’s a part of her history. Her mission to empower women and people all over the world is what makes her very relatable.”
I desperately want Wonder Woman to be good. I want all DCEU movies to be good, but especially Wonder Woman because it’s high time we have a successful superheroine movie. If this film can breakthrough, it could change the superhero genre forever and for the better.
Wonder Woman opens June 2, 2017.
