The Wonder Woman Personality Disconnect
I have come to realize there is generally a huge disconnect between Wonder Woman Fans which may be contributing to her problems getting a live Action gig.
Everybody knows she is an Amazon and comes from an all-female island. She has black hair blue eyes is every strong and wears one of the most recognized costumes in history. However nobody can really agree with what her personality is really like. I figured I would break down my thoughts on the major versions of Wonder Woman from a personality perspective so people can see some of the differences in Wonder Woman’s popular versions.
Lynda Carter TV Wonder Woman (Most Popular and widely known version)
Lynda Carter Wonder Woman is a kind sweet virtuous 3000 year old immortal amazon who enjoys being subordinate to Steve Trevor. She never really has an opinion about the world around her even though she is 3000 years old. She is quite happy working for the United Stated government and never ever loses her temper. She always smiles and is never upset.
Corruption and conflict do not exist in her world. She has no arch enemies and nobody can really challenge her or push her to her limits. All her choices are painfully easy choices to make. She is never put in a position that questions her ideals. Everything around her is either black or white.
She has no life outside of working for the government and being wonder woman in order to protect Steve’s interests. She is a perfect Woman from a perfect society prim and always proper and is never forced to make life and death decisions.
She will go out of her way to uphold the law. There is very little emphasis on her Greek mythological background. She is able to change into Wonder Woman by spinning around in circles she has an invisible jet and a magic lasso which makes people tell the truth.
She has NO friends or hobbies. She has no love interests. She rebuffs everyone who even remotely hits on her. She has no real personality. She has no reason for living other than to protect Steve Trevor and Work for the American government.
Her secret Identity is Diana Prince and as Diana Prince she is weak and pathetic. She loses all her strength and abilities which is strange since none of the other amazons seem to share this weakness. What’s the point of her de-powering herself? Also all the other Amazons are about the same strength as Wonder Woman herself. (By the way I liked this show growing up)
Comic book Wonder Woman (Second most popular version Comic Fans)
Wonder Woman is a 25ish year old compassionate caring, stubborn, opinionated, highly competitive immortal Amazon Warrior Woman with superhuman powers given to her by the GODs. She has no secret identity and the whole world knows who she is. She is extremely popular and well liked. She has an agent who schedules and handles all her media engagements. She authorized her likeness to be used in a line of Wonder Woman dolls and also made deals for a Wonder Woman comic about her life. She even approved the making of a Wonder Woman movie. Her main source of income is from her merchandising however she also collects paycheck from the Justice League of America as a member. She is for the most part indifferent about her popularity in the media. She has also worked in a fast food restaurant and done other odd jobs. She eventually became and ambassador to Theymiscara.
Comic Book Wonder Woman goes out of her way to help everyday people with everyday problems and actively tries to make the world a better place rather than simply reacting to the threat of the day. She funds charities around the world and is outspoken about her believes and hopes for the world. She tends to prefer teaching others to overcome obstacles themselves rather than outright solving for them.
Comic Book Wonder Woman is a warrior born. She is an expert with swords, staffs, Bows, Axes Shields. Spears you name it. She tries to avoid conflict but if pressed she will engage in battle and on occasion lose herself in the pleasure that she feels when she is free to let loss in a deadly battle.
Comic book Wonder woman will not hesitate to break the law if it’s for the greater good. She will not hide from her actions and always make herself available to face to consequences. She has killed people more than once when necessary. Comic Book Wonder Woman can FLY like superman, she has an unbreakable lasso which makes you tell the truth. She is in the same category as superman in strength and can pretty much block any projectile or energy weapon with her bracelets
Justice League Animated Version Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a compassionate caring, stubborn, opinionated, highly competitive, outgoing, immortal Amazon Woman who is secretly attracted to Bruce Wayne.
She lives on an all-female island but left after being summoned by Martian Man hunter to help fight a threat to the earth. She was forbidden by her mother to help “man’s world” but disobeyed her mother. Stole her armor and went to help anyway. She was eventually banned from her island and lived on the Watch Tower.
She has no secret identity and everyone knows who she is. She on occasion tries to develop a relationship with Batman.
For the most part she is tolerant to the world around her however she is capable of losing her cool and even injuring someone who happens to cross her path if she is in a bad mood. She also tends to hold grudges but only on the most serious of offenses.
She is a very highly skilled fighter. Her strength is in the same category as superman.
She will blatantly break laws for the greater good and go against a decision made by the justice league if it was for the greater good.
Wonder Woman 2009 Animated Movie
Wonder Woman is a 25ish year old compassionate caring, stubborn, opinionated, naïve, forgiving immortal Amazon Warrior. Wonder Woman just arrived in “man’s world” and is a bit upset about the way women let them be treated. She is naïve to the world but quickly gets up to speed.
She has just met her first man Steve Trevor. At first she is suspicious of him and his motives but eventually finds herself caring for him.
She is a warrior on a mission to stop Ares from initiating a war. She is fearless and focused on her objectives. She fights and she kills in order to succeed. Nothing short of her death will stop her in her mission.
In the end she kisses Steve Trevor and it is suggested that they are living together.
Kelley’s TV PILOT Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a 25ish old compassionate caring, stubborn, opinionated, passionate Amazon Woman, She is the most well-known person in the world. She formed a company which capitalized on her popularity in order to support her activities as Wonder Woman. She is billionaire but not a DIVA
Wonder Woman’s “approval rating” is an important crime fighting asset which allows her to bend and break certain laws which result in the quick capture of her suspects. She is a vigilante as all superheroes are however her approach is different. She does not hide in the shadows like Batman. Nor does she do her job and quickly leave the scene like Superman. Wonder Woman’s approach is to be completely transparent and open to the public about what she is trying to accomplish. She gives press conferences and makes her actions open to question and debate. By doing this she exposes herself to all sorts of litigation and prosecution however she is so popular and trusted that nobody really wants to be the one to prosecute her.
It is known that Wonder Woman is also Diana Theymiciara. However Diana chooses to use an alter ego at times named Diana Prince. Her reasons for using an alter ego is she simply wants to be alone and not deal with the pressure of being the most popular person on the planet.
Diana dated and lived with Steve Trevor. Diana broke up with him to become Wonder Woman. She still loves Steve and misses him. However Steve is now married.
The Drama unfolds when Wonder Woman’s only alternative to save the lives of innocent victims hidden in Veronica Cales secret lab. Is to charge in beat-up the Super Human criminals and save the captives. In the process she seriously injured Veronica Cales Super solider Hench men and killed an out of control security guard all of which was caught on tape.
In the next episode Wonder Woman would no doubt be dragged into court to defend her actions and we would even get further character development (based on Kelley’s script. However the show was cancelled because the script was leaked purposefully on the internet by NBC in-order to get out from paying the hefty Wonder Woman license Fee
Honestly, Wonder Woman is not a complicated character. She is just a character who has been placed on a very high pedestal and imprisoned in a static environment. She is now an ideal, a fantasy, a fond, and precious, cherished memory from a childhood long passed, in some situations that might be ok but there are so many conflicting ideals about who Wonder Woman is and stands for that it seems like any attempt to do a live action movie or TV show will result in automatic ridicule.
I personally think Kelley’s Wonder Woman if picked up could have given Wonder Woman a SOLID personality for the first time in LIVE ACTION history while keeping a lot of comic book functionality. Even if it was not perfect the fans could have really influenced and steered the show in a better direction.
Sigh
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