Why Wonder Woman's Origins Matter

It's a long standing question that has been asked for quite some time now. How is Hollywood going to approach that most iconic female superhero known as Wonder Woman?

Wading through all the heresay and fluff surrounding a very long gestating build for the amazon princess's silver screen debut, the common point of contention seems to lie in her origin story. Various movie news sites seem to be torn on the ideas of how Wonder Woman will eventually (hopefully) debut in theaters.

The biggest question more often asked is should her supernatural origin be told and include the Greek Gods or does a more "realistic" approach to her character warrant a better introduction? Depending on who you ask debate on the subject can get pretty heated. The buzz word these days seems to be how can we ground the character in "reality"? We've already seen a fairly disastrous attempt at bringing Wonder Woman back to television with David E. Kelley's largely panned and never aired pilot episode which starred Adrianne Palicki. It was the first experiment in a "reality" grounded version of Wonder Woman which fans loudly pronounced they weren't interested in seeing.

I will flag myself as a purist. Growing up reading her comics as well as seeing the famous TV show that starred Lynda Carter I see absolutely nothing wrong with doing an origin story for a superhero heavily steeped in mythology and mysticism. Studios seem to have embraced the Nolan form of story telling for DC characters because the Dark Knight trilogy was so well received. On the exact opposite Man of Steel embraced everything otherworldly about Clark Kent/K'al El/Superman and it has worked marvelously in rebooting Superman's image on the silver screen for a new generation. Two characters on completely opposite spectrums of "reality" yet for each the style in which their stories were told served the essences of their characters well.

Why is Wonder Woman so hard to figure out? It could be due largely in part to how and when she started. Since her creation by artist/writer William Moulton, Wonder Woman has seen various iterations to her origin story. It also could be because her character was created at a time when the idea of women being superheros was still a very new and extreme idea. No foundation was really built for her because she was such a novel character. Looking back at her earliest comics she was quite the charicature of herself.

As complicated as Hollywood has made the whole enterprise out to be, there's a simple solution to bringing a definitive version of Wonder Woman to the big screen. To effectively tell the story her character needs to be embraced from her original concept until now. Take the most consistent elements of her character and build a new story from those pieces. Let's go down the list shall we?

1) She's Greek and an Amazon
It's pretty black and white who and what she is so the best thing to do is embrace that and work with it!

2) She's was born supernaturally run with it! Whether you're a young reader today just recently becoming familiar with the character or an old school fan there's a couple avenues to choose from in crafting how she was born while still satisfying fans new and old. If Warner Bros chooses to use the New 52 version of her origin (where she is the illegitimate daughter of Zeus) or the original story (where her mother Hippolyta crafted her from clay and had the Greek gods and goddesses bless her with powers and gifts) one thing is clear, she was born out of something magical in some form. Pick one or create an amalgamation of the two but don't be afraid to use those elements! It's important people grasp that she is a magical being and should thusly be portrayed as one!

4) She comes from an island inhabited solely by women warriors. Her exposure to regular human society makes for a perfect contrast to what she has known from birth to adulthood. Why is that important? It makes her stand out because she's not like the rest of us and THAT shouldn't be played down or written out. Trying to create a "realistic" version of her where none of that exists detracts from everything that makes her who she is. There are so many deep and thoughtful conflicts that can be weaved into a story because of her inherent sensibilities as an Amazon warrior and a woman from, technically, another world. The possibilities for excellent story twists, drama elements, comic relief are boundless if implemented well! It also reminds us that she's not from around here.

5) Her powers are gifts of her origin. It would be hard to re-write Wonder Woman from the ground up as a "realistic" character without effectively negating everything most people already know about who and where she comes from. Why is this important? Consistency. We don't want to see a version of her as an "Amazon" who left her homeland and completely accepted the humans way of every day life never minding that she isn't like any of us. If audiences are to accept her and her abilities it must be defined clearly and consistently how those abilities have been gained. Whether the story writers are using familiar territory or a slight variation borrowed from new and old, people need that plot element to have belief in her as a character. Not to mention the material for how and where she gets her strength and abilities lends itself to a big special effects laiden Hollywood production. USE IT!

It seems very plain to me that adapting Wonder Woman to the big screen shouldn't be a difficult task. Her already established origins alone are rife with opportunties to make a really grand production. If there is any doubt as to how or why it's so important that Hollywood try to stay as close to her origins one only needs to look at where she comes from. Straying away from or changing it completely would be a disappointment to fans everywhere and a disservice to what makes her character so iconic and unique.