Nobody owes Gal Gadot another Wonder Woman sequel – DC fans need to get out of that mindset
Wunder woman 3 is no longer. Call it what you will — DOA, kaput, trapped in the Phantom Zone maybe — but Gal Gadot’s superhero franchise isn’t coming back for a third outing. At least that’s the current report diversity suggests and contradicts Gadot’s own claims that DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran were keen to give their Amazonian crime-fighter another chance. Gadot has hosted two Wonder Woman films – the film was very positively received wonder woman (2017) and its manipulated 2020 successor Wonder Woman 1984 — and has appeared in several other DC films as the character. So what exactly are we missing here?
The incident has reignited old grievances among DC fans – most notably the dismissal of Henry Cavill as Superman. When Gunn and Safran took over as co-chairs and co-CEOs of DC Studios last year, the expectation was that they would impose a degree of authorship and direction on the franchise, much as producer Kevin Feige did with Disney’s Marvel Universe. Many fans hoped that this would finally give Cavill the quality vehicle he deserved. But while Gunn and Safran have chosen to take on a few remnants of the old regime – Margot Robbie’s flamboyant anti-heroine Harley Quinn, for example – they’ve put an end to most of them, including, somewhat controversially, Cavill’s Superman. For the coming Superman: LegacyIn the Gunn-directed film, the character is played house of cards“David Corenswet. The announcement drew the ire of many comics fans, who had defended Cavill’s performance through thick and thin (let’s be honest, mostly thin – from justice league To Batman vs Superman, Cavill was inundated with truly awful material to work with. Cavill, it’s said, deserves a shot at a “good” Superman movie. But here’s the thing. Nobody owes him or Gadot anything.
When it comes to franchise films, there’s growing demand from fans these days — the idea that an actor who puts in hours and dutifully plods through a bombastic franchise should be rewarded with a showcase of their own. Sometimes, of course, that’s exactly how it works. Black widow (2021) was considered a kind of inevitability after Scarlett Johansson’s decades-long servitude as a Marvel supporting actor. Margot Robbie was the only bright spot in the 2016 Excrable suicide squadso she got her own vehicle in the form of the Bang-Average birds of prey. Spider-Man: No Way Home was seen as a chance to give Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield the closure their Spider-Man arcs never received. But the work is the work: these roles are jobs, not handouts. Film studios are not charities. If Andrew Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man movies underperform – and god knows it did – that doesn’t mean he’s entitled to a reboot. If anything, it’s the opposite. Plate after plate of cold porridge is served to the moviegoers, yet they keep ordering more and more, hoping in vain that next time it might taste like lobster.
This complex of claims reached a climax in 2021 with the publication of the so-called SNyder cut from justice league. An intricate black and white reimagining of DC Studios’ 2017 dud. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was produced at great expense after a long and optimistic fan campaign (“#ReleaseTheSnyderCut”). It was an act of appeasement for Snyder, who was unable to execute on his original vision in 2017, and for his loyal fanbase. But two years later, the Snyder cut has remained little more than a curiosity – an enjoyable four-hour testament to… what exactly? The Power of a Petition. It may actually be better than the bland original, but it hasn’t been embraced by either the critical establishment or mainstream audiences.
The reported task of wonder woman 3 is perhaps a disgrace to Patty Jenkins, the director she is working on wonder woman made her one of Hollywood’s best-known blockbuster filmmakers. But she will be fine. If anything, the prospect of her having the freedom to pursue a non-franchise venture could be a fruitful development. A third Wonder Woman wasn’t a righteous passion project wiped out as an embryo: we’re talking a cynical commercial product. They – Gadot, Cavill, most of them – are not entitled to more than one paycheck.
