The last seventy-odd years have been relatively kind to Princess Diana of Themiscyra, at least comparatively to other things that debuted in 1941. (Anybody heard from Robin Leach lately?) Still, as noted earlier today, there have been many different takes on Wonder Woman since William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter brought her to life back in the Golden Age, some of which were more successful than others. Would a movie do better business with Gail Simone’s ‘Wonder-Woman-As-Dragon’ concept? What about Brian Azarello’s mythological take? How about a World War II era adventure like the Ross Andru stories of the mid-1970s? Before we even talk about WHO should put on the red-white-and-blue, you must have a concept, which in turn begs a query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is well aware that pretty much nobody is going to vote along with my ballot for “Mike Sekowsky power-less hip late-sixties catsuit Wonder Woman”, asking: What iteration of Wonder Woman would you want to see in live-action?
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More or less the version that appeared in the animated film a few years ago. Warner Bros. could shoot a scene for scene live action duplicate of that movie and it would be nothing short of excellent. Get a good writer and director and something unforgettable could be made. I still can’t figure out why they still have no current plans to make a live action movie for Wonder Woman.
The animated take that’s been on the web the past few weeks, with the invisible muscle car. THAT I would pay to see, otherwise I will pass on whatever half baked version WB/DC come up with.
I’m loving Azarello’s current run, but I’m not sure the general public is going to accept it. I think it helps for me to have a deep love of Greek mythology going back to childhood.
I think the best way to go is to probably present an easily palatable version of the classic made from clay and Paradise Island origin, but I think in medias res for the first movie. Get away from the background except to say, hey Greek myths were real she’s from an island of Amazons. Give her a foe to tackle and lets focus on exploring who she is now, and get people hooked to then look back on where she came from. Then maybe we can have more Greek characters come in, and even a surprise twist of actually being Zeus’ daughter.
Another good take, would borrow from the success of Thor and attempt a slightly more scientific lean on all of it (not outer space, per se) and deal with some inter-Amazon politics leading to her leaving the island.
I’d really like to see something based on the current run. Then again, I’m also a mythology freak.
I realized that it’s an omission to not mention which ‘look’ to go for as well. I personally prefer a look that embraces a combination of Ancient Greek and the American Flag (with a little modesty, for use in battle’s sake).
I think to make a movie/TV show, it would have to either embrace the costume in all its glory, and non-comic gripping be ignored because that is a famous look, or something with more battle-ready styling but touching on the main look (either the w/pants look… or, out on a limb here, a modern military fatigue style with blue pants, red top, WW symbol, unzip it a bit and roll up the sleeves.)
I’ve been really enjoying the Azarello run of Wonder Woman thus far. I think making a version that pulls some of the best parts of the Sopranos, Buffy and Pan’s Labyrinth could be awesome.
1980″s George Perez.
Curly hair and Greek, need to make sure she IS ethnic and not an Anglo looking hottie acting Greek.
Stop making origin stories. Comic book adaptations lose a lot of plot time trying to explain where the hero comes from, and most of the time its unnecessary.
The point of the origin story is to define a character, but the visual medium allows you to speed that up.
There was a Justice League Unlimited episode that starred Wonder Woman and it started off with her saving a mother and daughter from a burning building and flying them home. And when she was done she called the girl ‘little sister’ which confused the kid. That’s all they really need to do to set up Wonder Woman.
A short scene that sets her power base, defines her determination, and then reveals her unfamiliarity with the world outside Thermyscira.
And let her fly dammit.
The Run that’s going on right now, by Azzarello would be an amazing tv series, it already reads like a good show.
My ideal Wonder Woman portrayal lands somewhere in between George Perez’s take and Greg Rucka’s.
But considering the direction Warner’s been going with their movies, I have a bad feeling it’ll be like Azzarello’s run, and that’s going to completely ruin it for me. I hate everything Brian Azzarello’s done.