As with last week, most excitement for our Amazon Queen stemmed from movie news. But fashion got a look in, too, funnily enough.
We started by getting our first glimpse of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in Wonder Woman, courtesy of Gadot herself.
The observant will note the presence of Big Ben in the background. Whether that’s simply because that’s where Wonder Woman will be fighting a wartime menace (Ares, the Nazis, AN Other baddie) or because this is the incorporation of the nu52 orthodoxy that Diana lives in London in modern times, I can’t say – I suspect we’ll have to wait until the movie is released.
We also got a press release, too.
Principal photography is underway on Warner Bros. Pictures’ Wonder Woman feature film, the highly anticipated action adventure from director Patty Jenkins (“Monster,” AMC’s “The Killing”), starring Gal Gadot (the “Fast & Furious” movies) in the role of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman. The character will make her big screen debut this spring in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” but the new film will mark her first time headlining a feature.
The film also stars Chris Pine (the “Star Trek” films) as Captain Steve Trevor, Robin Wright (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Netflix’s “House of Cards”), Danny Huston (“Clash of the Titans,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), David Thewlis (the “Harry Potter” films, “The Theory of Everything”), Ewen Bremner (“Exodus: Gods and Kings,” “Snowpiercer”), Saïd Taghmaoui (“American Hustle”), Elena Anaya (“The Skin I Live In”) and Lucy Davis (“Shaun of the Dead”).
The film is being produced by Charles Roven, Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder, with Richard Suckle, Stephen Jones, Wesley Coller, Geoff Johns and Rebecca Roven serving as executive producers.
Joining Jenkins behind the camera are director of photography Matthew Jensen (“Chronicle,” “Fantastic Four,” HBO’s “Game of Thrones”), Oscar-nominated production designer Aline Bonetto (“Amélie,” “A Very Long Engagement,” “Pan”), and Oscar-winning editor Martin Walsh (“Chicago,” “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” “V for Vendetta”), and Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (“The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Topsy-Turvy”).
Principal photography will take place on location in the UK, France and Italy.
Set to open in 2017, the Wonder Woman feature film is based on characters created by William Moulton Marston, appearing in comic books published by DC Entertainment. It will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.
How wonderful.
Of course, this isn’t the first effort to get Wonder Woman onto the big screen, although it’s certainly the most successful. One previous effort was George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal, which was to feature Megan Gale as Wonder Woman. And it’s been revealed this week that she would have looked like this:
Of course, there was also an earlier attempt by one Mr Joss Whedon to develop a Wonder Woman movie. That got as far as a script and if you happen to be in Manhattan Beach, California, on December 5, you can watch the whole thing performed in costume. Maybe.
And if all that weren’t enough, Gwyneth Paltrow and Valentino are teaming up to develop their own Wonder Woman clothing line:
But back in the comic book world, last week, things were looking a little better for our Wondy with two appearances, which we’ll be perusing after the jump: DC Bombshells #18 and The Legend of Wonder Woman #2.
DC Bombshells #18
Plot
Normally, at this point, I’d say what the plot was of the issue. The sub-heading is a clue to this aim. However, this issue was basically a ‘News team, Assemble!‘ moment for the Bombshells, with Supergirl and Star Girl getting their uniforms, Zatanna and bunny Constantine heading off into Berlin together, and Mera getting randomly insulted for being silly by Amanda Waller.
Wonder Woman, who was, of course, trying to save Germans when last we left her, has been behind bars. Now Steve Trevor’s come visiting.
Apparently, though, she’s just been waiting for this moment, since what are bars to Wonder Woman?
Cue David Bowie to the lyrics of ‘Bombshells assemble‘.
Rating: Too brief really to rate in terms of plot (artwork: 4/7)
The Legend of Wonder Woman #2
Plot
As we remember from last week, The Legend of Wonder Woman is an amalgamated origin story for our heroine. Well, a Wonder Woman, since it doesn’t fit into any previous continuity, but as a sort of completely unoffensive, greatest hits origin, taking in almost all previous origins, and that you can happily show your daughter, it was actually pretty sweet. Not very original, but it did the trick.
Issue #2 improved things in the originality stakes. The first is that the Amazons, Harry Potter/Divergent-style, all belong to different houses, each dedicated to a different god or goddess. And rather than be epic dicks, those who follow Ares are the only ones who are Amazon warriors.
Meanwhile, young Wonder Girl is bored with her training in languages and the arts, and would rather be off fighting.
She senses something’s wrong at the heart of the island. And, for those with eyes, it’s clear the gods want her to find out – and presumably find her destiny.
All of which sits quite nicely next to Diana’s near-atheism – or at least dislike of the gods at the start of the issue.
How Diana got her epiphany? How she learnt to love the gods? The opportunities are endless (and very Volume 2). The artwork’s gorgeous and despite it being all a bit ‘children and young people’-oriented, there’s a part of me that would have liked this to be canon in some volume somewhere.
Rating: 5/7 (artwork: 7/7)
