Heroine Abuse! Wonder Woman In Other Media
HEROINE ABUSE!
WONDER WOMAN IN OTHER MEDIA
Wonder Woman is one of the greatest (in my opinion THE greatest) superheroes of all time of any gender and she is unquestionably the greatest superheroines ever. Created around the same time as the other 2 members of the big 3 (Superman and Batman) Wonder Woman was unique and revolutionary in a way her male counterparts were not.
A feminist warrior from a matriarchal society who erred on the side of compassion and submission but was able and superior in the art of war she was created by the same psychologist who co-created the lie detector to not only be equal to any man but to be superior.
(The Wonder Woman of the 1940's talked much sense)
Wonder Woman (along with Superman and Batman) was also one of the few comic book superheroes who was able to maintain her relevance and popularity from the comic book rich 1940’s through the Fredrick Werthem censorship seduction of the innocent 1950’s and even the powerless Mod IChing era of the 1960’s the world’s most popular superheroine has always been Wonder Woman.
Despite her iconic popularity you would never know it based on the characters presence (or lack thereof) in other media especially movies and TV. While Superman has had 3 successful live action depictions (not to mention the cult classic Superboy show from the late 80’s ) 3 solo cartoons (not to mention The Super friends which was pretty much a Superman cartoon) and 6 live action films. He has also had radio shows and Broadway plays not to mention 15 minute black and white movie serials. Batman as well has had literally dozens of depictions in various live action animated movies, dvd’s and television shows.
(The S stands for Sausagefest)
Wonder Woman on the other hand has not been given nearly the love in the world of movies or television. For instance there have been 8 different cartoons called Batman from 1966 until today. There have also been 8 different Batman live action films from the 1960’s Adam West cash grab till the Christopher Nolan trilogies of the 21st century. There has never been an animated series called Wonder Woman. There has never been a live action film called Wonder Woman. Not a one.
The few times Wonder Woman did manage to make it to the small screen it was usually as a part of the Justice League or as a guest star on another characters show.
After a never aired promo pilot and a failed TV Movie pilot Wonder Woman finally got her own show in the form of ABC’s 1976 entry Wonder Woman.
The success of the Lynda Carter version of the Amazing Amazon owes everything to the casting of Lynda Carter and the campy nature of the piece set in the 1940’s. Truly a comic book come to life the show even featured a comic strip opening and many of the tropes from the comic book including the invisible jet the amazons even Wonder Girl!
That show while popular and a pop culture touchstone only lasted 13 episodes on ABC as they tended to air it irregularly It resurfaced in the fall on Friday nights on CBS with an updated costume and time period.
Unfortunately Carters authentic portrayal could not save a show plagued by horrible writing inconsistent effects and incredibly lame villains. The writers and producers were watching waaay to much Charlie’s Angels and The Bionic Woman and Diana’s challenges ranged from silly looking robots to Martin Mull as a rock star who uses a special flute to hypnotize Jan Brady (Eve Plumb) into robbing his own concerts. Seriously.
"Why yes I could probably throw a football hard and fast enough to not only break Marcia's nose but take her whole head clean off Jan. Why do you ask?
Wonder Woman shared a frame with Jan before 1977 on The Brady Kids cartoon in the early 70's.
Without comic book villians or supporting charatcers (Steve Trevor was there but by the third season he was reduced to pretty much cameos) and with seemingly no direction or focus the CBS Wonder Woman flailed its way through two mediocre at best seasons before being cancelled in 1979 (freakin Dukes Of Hazzard took her viewers!)
I ain't never seen this bitch block a arrow Luke. I recon it's worth a try
And that was that for Wonder Woman as the solo star on the small or big or any screen for 30 freaking years. There was a failed attempt at a She- Rah like animated series called Wonder Woman and The Star Riders but that never made it beyond some demo art and dolls.
While Superman and Batman appeared in various forms all through the 80’s 90’s and 2000’s Diana only appeared as a part of The Justice League in all its incarnations and as a special guest star such as her on episode stint on 1988’s Superman cartoon on CBS.
And while Wonder Woman at times thrived in her team oriented animated appearances on The Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice she was also at times depicted as weak or downright helpless for 10 years of The Superfriends.
She fared much better in DC’s direct to video DVD’s such as Justice League Crisis on 2 worlds and guest starred on Superman Batman Apocalypse as a mentor to Supergirl and partner to Big Barda but a show/movie of her own still alluded her.
The Amazing Amazon finally got her shot in the 2009 animated Wonder Woman direct to dvd film from Warner brothers. The film was inconsistent at best with some interesting depictions of Wonder Woman’s supporting cast and some cool action sequences but a theme that suggested the writers didn’t understand Wonder Woman.
It was Steve Trevor who taught the man hating amazon the error of her ways a depiction in direct opposition to Diana’s (and the amazons) nature of being a teacher a leader and a healer. The moral of a Wonder Woman movie should not be Diana learning a lesson from some man. No ma’am. Oh he also almost kind of held his own against her in a fight. On freaking Paradise Island? No Ma'am.
And that’s it. At least so far as solo Wonder Woman projects go. There was a failed pilot by Ally Mcbeal creator starring Adrienne Paliki that never was completed. If you watch the footage online you can see why this mess never aired.
Diana continued to appear as a member of the Justice League in such shows as Young Justice and animated movies like Justice League Flashpoint (where she cuts Aquaman’s wives head off and Justice League War where her sword and ponytail brings to mind Marvels heroine Valkyrie
And what’s next for our amazing amazon as far as movies and TV goes? Well after all these years the worlds greatest superheroine will debut in a movie called..Superman V.S. Batman. FUCK!
Seriously?
I made this so...
