# Ok ... so how would YOU lay out a compelling Wonder Woman storyline for a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 21, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206 "2014-03-21T03:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/41 "2014-03-22T03:36:51Z")
Doing a movie without it being about her origins would take away what makes Wonder Woman special. Doing a movie where her origins are different would make her not Wonder Woman. Giving her Kryptonian heritage takes away greatly from Superman. They tried to do a version of Wonder Woman where she just showed up and was a completely different character. It was so horrible it wasn’t released. Origin stories are what actually make the hero relatable. They’re only bad when people already have seen it multiple times. If you want to do a movie without one, pick either a character that everyone knows or a character whose backstory doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/42 "2014-03-22T05:49:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Doing a movie without it being about her origins would take away what makes Wonder Woman special. You are exactly wrong. They are a cliché of the genre, unnecessary, and a major reason these big budget movies are starting to all seem the same. More fun to just toss the audience into a fantastic, unfamiliar world and let them figure out the details if they so desire. (Also give’s 'em something to discuss afterwards.) I suppose, if you insist, you could start with a narrator who says “WONDER WOMAN! Strange visitor from anther planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal babes!..” ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/43 "2014-03-22T13:11:04Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > It’s how Homer started the Iliad, so prolly a good idea. Homer started the Iliad like that because everyone already knew the story. It’d be like starting a story about US troops during WWII with the invasion of Normandy instead of Pearl Harbor because the audience already knows how we got to that point. Homer also ends the Iliad before the end of the war but it doesn’t matter because the audience knows how it’s going to end. If they don’t want to explain how WW came to be WW that’s okay. But they’re going to have to at least give us a hint as to why she’s suddenly appearing out of nowhere. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/44 "2014-03-22T21:28:59Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > If they don’t want to explain how WW came to be WW that’s okay. But they’re going to have to at least give us a hint as to why she’s suddenly appearing out of nowhere. But I’m positing a world where the heroine has been around for awhile, has done a few things, and the civilians are aware of who she is. Lots of genre pictures operate this way. You start with a crime, and a guy in a suit shows up, you can guess pretty quickly he’s an investigator of some sort and take it from there. We don’t have to see him going to detective school, or as a boy reading true crime magazines. I doubt the audience is confused. My main concern is to avoid yet another hackneyed comic book adaptation that wastes precious screen time building up an invented mythology that should be dispensed with in favor of a better, more complex story line, more action scenes, and all that stuff that people go to these movies to see. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/45 "2014-03-22T21:43:54Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > But I’m positing a world where the heroine has been around for awhile, has done a few things, and the civilians are aware of who she is. > > Lots of genre pictures operate this way. You start with a crime, and a guy in a suit shows up, you can guess pretty quickly he’s an investigator of some sort and take it from there. We don’t have to see him going to detective school, or as a boy reading true crime magazines. I doubt the audience is confused. > > My main concern is to avoid yet another hackneyed comic book adaptation that wastes precious screen time building up an invented mythology that should be dispensed with in favor of a better, more complex story line, more action scenes, and all that stuff that people go to these movies to see. If you’re not going to explore the mythology of mythological characters…what’s the point of using them? Especially one such as WW, whose origins aren’t as well known. Hamlet doesn’t start off with him on a boat to England after all. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/46 "2014-03-22T22:11:51Z")
I do like some of the ideas here, but would like to add 2 things. They should both be throw away scenes but would help build a DC movie universe. First, Wonder Woman has a run in or crosses paths, just briefly, with Amanda Waller. Angela Bassett can do it again. She is the DC version of Nick Fury and was already in the Green Lantern movie (as bad as that was). Second, news of her exploits must somehow reach off world. I don’t know how to do it in an offhand manner. It would set up the possibility of a story line where Darkseid decides Wonder Woman would make a great addition to the Female Furies. And it would also give a Big Bad for a JL movie down the road. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/47 "2014-03-22T22:28:40Z")
For about the hundredth time I glanced at this topic in the forum list, and what keeps popping out is “… **lay…Wonder Woman** …” and y’know, I could get down with that. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/48 "2014-03-22T22:30:38Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > If you’re not going to explore the mythology of mythological characters…what’s the point of using them? Especially one such as WW, whose origins aren’t as well known. Well then, all the more reason to do it my way. But a better reason is that everyone (meaning everyone who spends too much time reading funny books and searching for deep significance, or plot contradictions or whatever) expects a certain sort of product and a truly brave thing to do would be to upend that expectation and do something original, even at the risk of teeing off that core audience. Don’t worry folks, I doubt it’ll happen, but if it did it would be sensational. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/49 "2014-03-22T23:45:20Z")
I think at his point you could do a Batman, Superman and Spider-Man movie (I mean a Reboot since all of these recently retold their Origins anyway) without the origin story but there has never been a Wonder Woman movie ever on the big screen. I would expect an origin story. It doesn’t have to drag the movie down. It can be incorporated into the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/50 "2014-03-23T00:14:16Z")
Well, Batman and Superman had TV series in the 50s and 60s and, as far as I know, they just jumped right in and trusted that the audience - including those who’d never heard of the characters - would get it, and they did. It was the Christopher Reeve movie that set the current trend: we’re gonna bring Superman to the big screen and spend lots of money and explore the whole legend from soup to nuts. That was, how many decades ago? Time for a new angle, I say. (Exception: remember that guy who did that outer space movie like it was an old serial, and just plunged you into Chapter 4? I seem to recall it did well.) Anyway, no matter what you do and how successful it is, in ten years the fans will consider it outdated and start clamoring for a remake, “only this time, do it right!”. ---
**Author:** ![Vashbul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Vashbul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vashbul)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/51 "2014-03-23T00:28:32Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I think at his point you could do a Batman, Superman and Spider-Man movie (I mean a Reboot since all of these recently retold their Origins anyway) without the origin story but there has never been a Wonder Woman movie ever on the big screen. I would expect an origin story. It doesn’t have to drag the movie down. It can be incorporated into the plot. “You hear that, Mr. DeMille? Quimby expects an origin story!” DeMille: “We won’t let him down!” ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/52 "2014-03-23T00:37:37Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > “You hear that, Mr. DeMille? Quimby expects an origin story!” > DeMille: “We won’t let him down!” If only Hollywood listened to me 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/53 "2014-03-23T04:17:26Z")
> [@Vashbul](#): > > Well, Batman and Superman had TV series in the 50s and 60s and, as far as I know, they just jumped right in and trusted that the audience - including those who’d never heard of the characters - would get it, and they did. > > It was the Christopher Reeve movie that set the current trend: we’re gonna bring Superman to the big screen and spend lots of money and explore the whole legend from soup to nuts. That was, how many decades ago? Time for a new angle, I say. (Exception: remember that guy who did that outer space movie like it was an old serial, and just plunged you into Chapter 4? I seem to recall it did well.) > > Anyway, no matter what you do and how successful it is, in ten years the fans will consider it outdated and start clamoring for a remake, “only this time, do it right!”. Not only Star Wars, but a certain Star…something…TV series just dived right in also. But those weren’t mythological characters, at the time. But I could certainly get behind another Star Trek series that didn’t belabor us with crappy growing pain seasons. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/54 "2014-03-23T06:05:50Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Homer started the Iliad like that because everyone already knew the story. It’d be like starting a story about US troops during WWII with the invasion of Normandy instead of Pearl Harbor because the audience already knows how we got to that point. Homer also ends the Iliad before the end of the war but it doesn’t matter because the audience knows how it’s going to end. > > If they don’t want to explain how WW came to be WW that’s okay. But they’re going to have to at least give us a hint as to why she’s suddenly appearing out of nowhere. I will bet you that, because of her association with feminism, that Wonder Woman is the best known superhero other than Superman and Batman. Maybe the best known superhero, period. Remember, there was a TV show about her in the 80s. She’s not an unknown quantity at all. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/55 "2014-03-23T08:05:22Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > I will bet you that, because of her association with feminism, that Wonder Woman is the best known superhero other than Superman and Batman. Maybe the best known superhero, period. Remember, there was a TV show about her in the 80s. She’s not an unknown quantity at all. Uhm no. She couldn’t even carry one comic series in the 70’s. They killed her boyfriend, stripped her powers and turned her into Kung-Fu. Meanwhile Supes and Bats were carrying 3-4 series each. Ask 100 people on the street her origin and I doubt one could tell it. MAYBE one would tell_a_ version of her origin. Maybe 4 would know her secret identity. 2 might be able to name one of her super-villains. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/56 "2014-03-23T12:36:13Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > So…take one of the most well-known and iconic superheroes in DC and make her a knock-off of Superman by eliminating anything different about her origin? I’m suggesting this only be something we find out right at the end, though - what a surprise this would be. And her origin would still be different - she’d be a human infused with the powers of (let’s face it) a “real” alien who is practically a demigod. Look, one thing the Marvel Universe has got right is in _tying stuff together_ - the Red Skull uses the Tesseract, Loki’s after it, it is one of the Infinity Gems and so is the Aether, which is now with the Collector…this ties everything from Capt’n Yankee to GotG together. Ditto tying Hulk to the Super Soldier serum which is tied to Iron Man through his dad. Everything is in the same Universe, and real Gods don’t exist because even the Asgardians acknowledge their own mortality and superior tech. Instead, DC has Superman from Krypton co-existing with the Oans, which is cool, they’re all superpowered aliens…and then lets throw in the _actual_ Greek Gods in there? That’s not going to work very well. The recent DC heroes have been very tech-SciFi, even _Man of Steel_ with the Kryptonian armour and ships. You can’t really just chuck “Ooh, Magic!” into that, it’ll seem off somehow. The alternative is to go the “They’re not Gods, just super-powered aliens” route, which post-_Thor_ is going to seem a little…dreivative, wouldn’t you say? I realise that’s par for the course in the comics but in the movies, that kind of perception of lame copying could be damaging. > [@](#): > > Hey, Cap’s Super-Soldier serum is descended from Asgard! Nope, but they’re both super-science (I mean, c’mon, “Z-rays”? And \*Thor II \*has that wonderful scene when the Asgardians are all “This is the Loom of Fate” or whatever and Portman is all “Cool, a Defragged Molecular Discombobulator!”) I’m not saying it’s all _hard_ science, but it’s all relatable to each other. Real Gods, not so much. Also, Wonder Woman’s origins really aren’t going to matter to most people who will watch her movie. Tying it to something they already know isn’t going to piss them off, it will help them accept the whole story, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/57 "2014-03-23T13:00:25Z")
DC seems to me to be all about the locations. It’s all Metropolis, Smallville, and Gotham City. What city does the majority of Wonder Woman’s adventures take place in? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/58 "2014-03-23T14:11:52Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > There **is no** compelling arc for Wonder Woman. That is why there will never be a successful movie with her as the star. Supporting character maybe, although I doubt that as well. I can think of reasons why this could be true, but I’m curious to hear yours. If nothing else, if they were shameless and wanted maximum dosh wouldn’t the strategy be a love triangle with Batman and Superman? One brooding bad boy who brushes you off, one a bland boy scout you could take home to mother. Worked for the Hunger Games. Katniss is a self insert for teenage girls. Dunno if WW would have the same effect. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/59 "2014-03-23T15:03:55Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > DC seems to me to be all about the locations. It’s all Metropolis, Smallville, and Gotham City. > > What city does the majority of Wonder Woman’s adventures take place in? Some puny burg called NYC. Outside of Paradise Island of course. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/60 "2014-03-23T15:44:57Z")
She was based in some jerkwater called Washingburg, or something, for a while. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206.md?page=4)