# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/61 "2014-03-23T16:39:41Z")
> [@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. No, the _Adventures of Superman_ show in the '50s did a step-by-step origin story in the first episode: a scientist in Flash-Gordon-style garb on the doomed planet Krypton rockets his child to Earth, where the kindly Kents raise that kid on the farm before he heads off to the big city and gets hired as a newspaper reporter by typing up the breaking story of what he just now did with his powers while in costume. (For bonus points, remember that the opening narration is built to cover the basics: he’s faster than a speeding bullet – and more powerful than a locomotive, as well as able to leap tall buildings in a single bound – because he’s a strange visitor from another planet, who came to Earth with powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men; speaking of which, he’s often disguised as Clark Kent: mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper. And on tonight’s episode…) ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/62 "2014-03-23T17:02:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 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. Shooting eye lasers and other superpowers make perfect sense but magic is somehow hard to accept? You know, the Batman movies that everyone is far more familiar with didn’t use any superpowers. Maybe Superman should just be powered by technology from his suit, like Iron Man. He could have thrusters in his boots and hydraulic muscles. In fact, dump Superman all together and bring in John Henry Irons instead. That would be SO much better. > [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > She was based in some jerkwater called Washingburg, or something, for a while. Oh, I hardly think that’s something that would fit in the D.C. universe. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/63 "2014-03-23T17:30:23Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Shooting eye lasers and other superpowers make perfect sense but magic is somehow hard to accept? > > You know, the Batman movies that everyone is far more familiar with didn’t use any superpowers. Maybe Superman should just be powered by technology from his suit, like Iron Man. He could have thrusters in his boots and hydraulic muscles. In fact, dump Superman all together and bring in John Henry Irons instead. That would be SO much better. > Oh, I hardly think that’s something that would fit in the D.C. universe. Science fiction is generally easier to accept, though, because science is real. Advanced science is conceivable. The universe is huge so aliens are conceivable. It takes a leap of imagination, but not a huge leap of imagination. Magic and miracles and gods? Only the most devout believe those exist. If the world of the movie is a magical world, fine. People buy into that. But these superhero movies all take place in the ‘real’ world. It takes a bigger leap to accept, ‘Oh and there’s magic, too,’ without some pseudoscience-y explanation. Not saying it can’t be done. But it’s gonna take some convincing. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/64 "2014-03-23T17:33:56Z")
Nonsense. Super powers are every bit as off the wall as magic. One of Supermans biggest problems is that he is vulnerable to magic. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/65 "2014-03-23T17:48:40Z")
> [@planetcory](#): > > Science fiction is generally easier to accept, though, because science is real. Advanced science is conceivable. The universe is huge so aliens are conceivable. It takes a leap of imagination, but not a huge leap of imagination. > > Magic and miracles and gods? Only the most devout believe those exist. > > If the world of the movie is a magical world, fine. People buy into that. But these superhero movies all take place in the ‘real’ world. It takes a bigger leap to accept, ‘Oh and there’s magic, too,’ without some pseudoscience-y explanation. > > Not saying it can’t be done. But it’s gonna take some convincing. Magic makes a lot more sense than Superman does. An alien race that evolves superpowers despite those powers literally being useless until they come to Earth? It’s like if we discovered that humans had X-ray vision, but only when in microgravity. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/66 "2014-03-23T18:42:49Z")
> [@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. Well, the suggestion that she is the BEST KNOWN superhero is asinine. There is absolutely no chance whatsoever that that is true. She’s not close to Superman and Batman. And while she might once have been a solid #3, there’s no way that is true anymore, and I’d bet good money on it. Yeah, she had a show 35 years ago. (the show wasn’t in the 80s; it was cancelled in 1979.) That was 35 years ago. Spider-Man is most definitely far more famous now. Arguments could be made for Iron Man. Most people get their superhero fix from movies. The total revenue from all comic book sales in North America in 2014 will be substantially less than the box office take of “The Avengers,” and Wonder Woman is a small part of the comic book industry. As recently as 2011, monthly sales of Wonder Woman were around 31,000, meaning that fewer people buy Wonder Woman comics in a month than watch one of the “Iron Man” movies on Blu-Ray or on-demand in a week. Wonder Woman’s been off the screen for almost two generations; half the market has never seen her and knows next to nothing about her. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/67 "2014-03-23T21:54:14Z")
Damn, RickJay just dropped the mic. Also, I agree. Wonder Woman’s Q rating is at an all time low. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/68 "2014-03-23T22:15:10Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > No, the _Adventures of Superman_ show in the '50s did a step-by-step origin story in the first episode: a scientist in Flash-Gordon-style garb on the doomed planet Krypton rockets his child to Earth, where the kindly Kents raise that kid on the farm before he heads off to the big city and gets hired as a newspaper reporter by typing up the breaking story of what he just now did with his powers while in costume.(snip) But the 1951 big screen movie, “Superman and the Mole-Men” that the series was based on never had an origin storiy, it jumped directly into action. The film was released into theaters and later edited into a two part episode of the series. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/69 "2014-03-23T22:35:30Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > But the 1951 big screen movie, “Superman and the Mole-Men” that the series was based on never had an origin storiy, it jumped directly into action. The film was released into theaters and later edited into a two part episode of the series. Well, [here’s](http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VT-2uG_s14Q) the opening; judge for yourself whether it jumps directly into the action or instead spends time at the start making sure everyone is up to speed on how Clark Kent appears to be a regular guy but is actually a mighty superman sent here from outer space in general and Krypton in particular. ---
**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, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/70 "2014-03-23T23:15:44Z")
I think adding Magic would work just fine. If anything it would help differentiate the DC and Marvel Movie universes as Marvel to date seems to be turning any Magic they have shown so far into advanced technology (specifically Thor and Asgard). Saying audiences won’t accept Magic is hard to believe given Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have literally made tens of Billions of dollars. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/71 "2014-03-23T23:17:12Z")
I just had an idea that may collapse when examined closely, but here 'tis anyway: Six months or a year before a JLA movie (with Wonder Woman) comes out, do a Wonder Woman TV movie or mini-series. The purpose of this is to introduce WW to the world-at-large today. It would be basically her origin story, and end in modern times with her in Man’s World. The end could have Batman approach her, asking for help because he knows she’ll be useful in fighting the upcoming (but not yet shown) Big Bad of the JLA movie. It should be Batman asking her, with his mindset being that he’d use her as a tool. I can think of several things wrong or unworkable with my own idea. One, wouldn’t a TV movie or mini-series cost enough that you might as well go straight to the silver screen anyway? Two, how would Time-Warner get it shown? Negotiate with one of the mains (ABC, CBS, NBC, whoever) to air it on their channel? Three, my proposed ending might need to have Ben Affleck cameo in costume, and my given reason for Batman to approach her might be counter to what DC might try to do, relationships-between-heroes-wise. I’m sure there are other strikes against my idea that don’t immediately spring to mind. The gist of my idea is to (re)introduce modern audiences to Wonder Woman so that a stand-alone in-theaters movie for her before she shows up in JLA won’t be necessary, and then her appearance in the aforementioned JLA film won’t have movie-goers scratching their collective heads, saying to themselves and each other, “What was her deal, again?” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/72 "2014-03-23T23:18:02Z")
_Superman and the Mole Men_ also followed closely on the heels of the Kirk Alyn serials in 1948 and 1950. So Superman’s origin story was still fresh in the public’s memories. For a Wonder Woman movie, I would give an origin story, but try to keep it brief, 20 or 30 minutes, then have her fight Ares for the rest of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/73 "2014-03-24T00:04:09Z")
> [@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. That’s the way they did it with the Batman movie from the 80s. Batman’s around for awhile and it jumps into the middle of an adventure and Vickie Vale in her investigations winds up revealing more of his backstory, but it doesn’t take up much of the movie. It’s far more of an origin story for the Joker. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/74 "2014-03-24T00:09:53Z")
> [@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? The new one started in Boston, Byrne took her to Gateway City (I think that’s the equivalent of San Francisco) and last time I think Rucka took her to NY, closer to the UN headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/75 "2014-03-24T00:14:18Z")
You know… in looking at all these responses it kind strikes me that despite the call from some quarters to have a Wonder Woman movie made per my OP I’m not sure there is really a compelling rationale to spend a few hundred million dollars doing a stand alone movie based on her character. She is an interesting character but in looking at the posters here struggle to put together an interesting and commercially successful storyline I’m beginning to appreciate why WB is struggling with how to approach having her character carry a movie that has wide appeal. Episodic TV might be the best solution for her after all. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/76 "2014-03-24T00:38:29Z")
I think you could use magic and leave it undefined, and have the characters themselves react to the undefined-ness of the magic. For example, if Batman were there, demanding to know how she did X and she said magic and he was scoffing at the existence of magic, etc. It can be a thing which is never completely explained/resolved but that they obviously show as being in tension with “reality.” ---
**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 24, 2014, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/77 "2014-03-24T04:19:49Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I think you could use magic and leave it undefined, and have the characters themselves react to the undefined-ness of the magic. For example, if Batman were there, demanding to know how she did X and she said magic and he was scoffing at the existence of magic, etc. It can be a thing which is never completely explained/resolved but that they obviously show as being in tension with “reality.” WW doesn’t do magic. She may have magical items, but they might also look like hard science. She’s not Zatanna. ---
**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 24, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/78 "2014-03-24T04:58:39Z")
> [@Aquadementia](#): > > Shooting eye lasers and other superpowers make perfect sense but magic is somehow hard to accept? In a universe where\*\* all other explanations\*\* for powers are couched in (pseudo)scientific terms, yes, it is. ---
**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 24, 2014, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/79 "2014-03-24T07:30:42Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > In a universe where\*\* all other explanations\*\* for powers are couched in (pseudo)scientific terms, yes, it is. And the scientific explanation for Odin putting the ‘Only he who is worthy can lift this hammer’ bit? Or for Mjoliner (sic) at all? A hammer that can pull a 250 pound man by throwing attached to your wrist? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2014, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-so-how-would-you-lay-out-a-compelling-wonder-woman-storyline-for-a-movie/684206/80 "2014-03-24T08:18:32Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > 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. The first Star Wars trilogy wasn’t Luke’s origin story? [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=3) [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=5)