Wondering About Wonder Woman

As one of the cornerstones of the DC Comics stable of characters, just why is it difficult for Wonder Woman to land another television series and or more importantly, a live action movie as well?

Unfortunately earlier this year, the Wonder Woman television pilot was not picked up by any network.  This seems puzzling considering the current climate of comic-book characters and profitability (Green Lantern aside). Given the success of the former long running Superman-based "Smallville" series, why wouldn't the Wonder Woman television show work? It did before and given today's crop of special effects and cinematic techniques, it would have been enjoyable to see what the studios could have done with her amazing repertoire. Imagine if you will, ILM behind the reins of bringing to life, the invisible jet! Wouldn't that have been something and a sight to see it soaring through the air with our heroine indeed! Incidentally, the picture of Megan Fox as Wonder Woman floating around the internet is only a rendition (read: fake). It has been suggested that Ms. Fox has no intention of playing the character either.

Do some female-lead action movies, based on comic-books, spell box office doom? Certainly we can be reminded of the failures such as "Elektra" and "Catwoman" but these were just plain awful films. Video-game vixen Lara Croft lasted for two movies.  Although on the smaller screen, television shows such as "Alias", "Xena: Warrior Princess", "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" and "Relic Hunter" have had success and endured thanks to devoted fans. The audience is there just give it the right creative team, the right cast of actresses and actors, a decent marketing strategy and ultimately, corporate support. Hour-long presentations at Comic-Con may not even be necessary but the super-heroine genre is here to stay.

Wonder Woman has a rich character background and deep storylines from the comic-books, that transcend the previous Linda Carter series and campy elements such as her "invisible jet", "lasso of truth" and "bullet-proof bracelets". Amazing villains such as Cheetah and the Silver Swan add to the greek mythology aspect of her character. This should relate and tie in to previous mythology-based shows like "Hercules" and "Xena". Although popular, DVD cartoon movies and costume changes (pants!) aren't enough and shouldn't serve as a test for the character's popularity either. Superman gets another reboot for the big screen soon. Wonder Woman deserves another chance, even if it's back on syndication. We'll be waiting.

Images Copyright DC Comics