The origins of Wonder Woman are fascinating, and for reasons that have nothing to do with how she got her superpowers. As detailed in Jill Lepore’s excellent book “The Secret History Of Wonder Woman” (this New Yorker article by the author gives a potted version), creator William Marston, who also helped to invent the polygraph, was partially raised by suffragettes, firmly believed that the world should be ruled by women, and used his popular heroine to show female strength and power in a way that’s more progressively feminist than most comics creators now.
Not every person who’s written “Wonder Woman” over the years agrees, and according to comics legend Grant Morrison, who’s tackling Diana Prince in a new graphic novel, the makers of “Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice” are among them.
Morrison’s “Wonder Woman: Earth One” will be released later in the year, and the writer told Nerdist “I sat down and I thought ‘I don’t want to do this warrior woman thing. I can understand why [Zack Snyder & co] are doing it, I get all that, but that’s not what William Marston wanted, that’s not what he wanted at all! His original concept for Wonder Woman was an answer to comics that he thought were filled with images of blood-curdling masculinity, and you see the latest shots of Gal Gadot in the costume, and it’s all sword and shield and her snarling at the camera. Marston’s Diana was a doctor, a healer, a scientist. So I went back to those roots and just built it up again.”
It’s an interesting take, and while it might be a little early to judge Snyder’s film, given that his are the hands behind “Sucker Punch,” we wouldn’t be expecting a particularly Marston-esque take on the character from him. Maybe Patty Jenkins‘ solo movie starring Gadot will deliver more along those lines. We’re looking forward to both that, and also to Morrison’s book, which will be released later in 2015: for the meantime, you can scratch your Wonder Woman itch with this clever trailer cut by Nelson Carvajal that reframes the character as a character in a John Cassavetes movie. Niche!
WONDER WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Trailer for John Cassavetes from Nelson Carvajal on Vimeo.
