So we've all heard the announcement. Wonder Woman is going to appear in the
Batman vs Superman film. It's gotten a mixed reaction. Needless to say, if the Batman Superman film is successful, Warner Bros. executives will get greedy and ask attempt to turn out a Wonder Woman film.
Personally this what I'd like to see in a WW film.
Special thanks goes to fellow CBM user DrDoom
for helping me to iron out the kinks and fails in my plot.
Plot: (Please bear with me, there are no pictures)
The film opens with a prologue during the opening credits. Centuries ago, the Amazons of the island of Themyscira faithfully served the gods of Olympus. One day, the tribe of women warriors held a tournament in which the victor would become the tribe’s new queen. The tournament wore down until only two warriors remained: Hippolyta and Circe. Hippolyta eventually won, becoming queen of the Amazons of Themyscira. Circe tried to take the crown using dark magic, but she was again defeated and banished from the island.
(The following is told through a series of flashbacks interwoven through the film’s main narrative)
During her exile, Circe was visited by Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft and the moon. Hecate wanted revenge against Olympus for what she felt was an injustice; despite being the daughter of titans, she was never considered one of the twelve Olympians. She was also once queen of the Underworld, married to Hades; however, he pushed her aside, demoting her to a mere servant, and married Persephone. Humiliated and angry, Hecate swore revenge but she knew she wasn’t powerful enough to achieve it. So, the goddess decides to transfer her soul and all of her powers to her most devoted follower—Circe. Circe becomes stronger, gains new powers, and becomes immortal. Before she dies, Hecate gives two final commands to the sorceress:
“Reap my revenge on the one thing the gods most covet, Zeus’ children.” (mankind)
“Beware she who bears the moon in her name. For it is she who will be your undoing.”
With her new powers, Circe attacks Themyscria again. Hippolyta and the Amazons defeat her, but find that she cannot be killed. Instead, they imprison her in a magically sealed tomb which they hide on the island.
As a reward for stopping Circe and the threat she posed, the gods grant immortality to the Amazons, but it comes at the cost of seclusion. They must live their lives in isolation away from the outside world around them. So Themyscira is moved away from Greece and isolated in the middle of the ocean.
(The flashbacks end here)
(This is the film’s main plot)
Hippolyta’s daughter, Diana has found herself searching for something that she can't quite grasp. She feels a yearning for more than what’s she’s been given. She wants more out of life. Diana’s desires leave at her odds with her sisters and causes contention mother who has come to prefer the seclusion and isolation of Themyscira. One night, Diana prays to the gods.
On Olympus, the gods hear her prayer. Zeus (making very cryptic hints that Diana is his daughter) decides to grant her wish.
The next day, a squadron of the US army is conducting test flights for a new kind of jet on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean. One of the test pilots is Captain Steve Trevor. During his flight, Trevor unknowingly flies over Themyscira. Zeus decides that he is how he’ll grant Diana’s wish. He throws a lightning bolt at Trevor which strikes his jet and makes him lose control. Trevor is forced to make an emergency crash landing on Themyscira. Coming out of the crash unhurt, Trevor leaves his jet and goes off to explore the island in search of help.
The camera then pans away from Trevor as he departs. Mere yards away from where he crashed is Circe’s hidden tomb. During the crash, a piece of debris flew off the Trevor’s plane and struck the tomb, leaving a crack in the magical seal that binds her there. Circe’s magic (in the form of pink mist) begins to seep out of the crack in the tomb and slowly begins to grow.
Steve comes upon the Amazon’s city, but he is captured after a short chase. Hippolyta interrogates him with the golden lasso of truth, given to her by Zeus, and realizes that he is not an enemy or any kind of threat. They agree to help him return home. Amazonian customs dictate that an emissary be assigned to escort guests back to their homes. Hippolyta decides that a tournament will be held to appoint the emissary. Diana tries to enter, but Hippolyta vehemently refuses to let her participate.
Discouraged, Diana watches the tournament from afar, when she finds a suit of armor appear in her room (a gift from Zeus). Disguising herself with the armor, Diana enters and wins the tournament. Hippolyta is shocked and appalled that her daughter defied her, but realizes that she cannot do anything about it. Hippolyta takes Diana to their temple where she gives her daughter a suit of armor and a sword and shield that have been blessed by the gods and will grant her superhuman abilities.
Once equipped and ready, Diana departs from Themyscira, taking Trevor back to his home in America. On Olympus, Hera talks with Zeus revealing that the armor isn’t really blessed—further hinting that Diana is a demigod.
Diana and Trevor arrive in Gateway City, Trevor’s home. With Trevor’s help, Diana takes on the alias “Diana Prince,” Trevor’s roommate. At first, Diana has trouble adjusting to the modern world, but Trevor helps her through. One night, Diana watches from Trevor’s apartment window as a man is mugged. Not standing for such a travesty, she quickly changes into her armor and goes after the thug, easily defeating him. As she continues to adjust to Trevor’s world, Diana works as a vigilante, being dubbed “Wonder Woman” by the media.
Back on Themyscira, the seal on Circe’s tomb is completely broken in half. Suddenly, the tomb bursts open and Circe steps out of her prison for the first time in centuries. On Olympus, Zeus attempts to intervene, but Hera stops him, telling him “It’s Diana’s destiny, not ours.” A flashback reveals that Zeus knew about Hecate’s lust for revenge and of her dying prophecy. To ensure that Circe would be permanently defeated, he seduced and bedded Hippolyta who bore his demigod daughter, Diana (which is also the name of the goddess of the moon—“Beware she who bears the moon in her name”).
Circe attacks Themyscira again, this time nearly defeating Hippolyta. But Hippolyta lets slip that she had a daughter during Circe’s imprisonment. Circe decides to kills Hippolyta’s daughter (whose name she has not yet learned by the way) as an act of revenge, and sets off for the modern world, not yet knowing what her name is.
That night, Zeus visits Diana in her dreams. He tells her that Circe has escaped her prison and she is coming to man’s world in order to kill Diana. Meanwhile, Circe arrives in Gateway City. She sees a story on the news about “Wonder Woman,” and Circe immediately recognizes the armor as the same armor from the temple in Themyscira. Using her magic, Circe summons demonic creatures to rampage through the city in a ploy to draw Diana out.
Diana awakes to the sounds of an attack going on outside. She finds a creature known as a chimera (a beast from Greek Mythology) rampaging through the streets. Diana suits up and confronts the monster, killing it. Seeing a fire in the distance, Diana flies up to survey the damage only to see several more demons rampaging through the city. Circe, watching from a distance, witnesses Diana fly off into the fray. Rather than flat out attacking her, Circe plays it smart and decides to observe her, looking for a weakness to exploit. Watching Diana fight her harpies, Circe recalls her other demons. After Diana defeats the harpies, Circe follows her to the apartment she shares with Steve and watches the two interact. A sinister smile plays on her face as Circe forms a plan.
The next day, Diana and Trevor are on the roof of their building engaged in a sparring match. The purpose of the scene is to show the developing relationship between Diana and Steve along with the growing romantic tension they have which has slowly been growing throughout the movie. But nothing happens. Diana and Steve do not get into a relationship at this point (or
-- spoilers-- in this movie). My plan for the build up to them ultimately hooking up is to have it develop over the course of multiple films.
That evening, while Diana is out again as Wonder Woman, Steve walks home when he’s attacked by demonic looking Greek soldiers. He manages to fight them off for a short time before he’s overwhelmed and captured by them. Meanwhile, Diana flies home to find the apartment complex she lives in with Steve is on fire. She flies into the blaze and rescues everyone in the building. While looking for Steve, Diana is attacked by another (mythological) creature, a manticore. Diana fights the beast in the burning, crumbling building. Diana manages to win by using the building to her advantage (she makes it collapse on top of it) and escapes the inferno in time.
The victory is cut short by Circe, holding Steve hostage in the air. Circe says that if she wants him back then she’ll have to confront her on Themyscira. Before she can fly after her, Zeus finally appears to Diana in person. He tells her that she is his daughter and that she is the only one that can stop her because of Hecate’s prophecy
(in as short an explanation as possible because we, as an audience, already have this information. Diana, however, does not which is why it’s being repeated). He presents her an enchanted sword, blessed by the gods. He tells her that with when she combines the sword with her own powers, Diana will be able to defeat Circe.
On the island, Steve and Hippolyta are held captive, being forced to watch what Circe believes will be Diana’s defeat. When Diana arrives, Circe summons her two most powerful monsters, a Minotaur and a hydra to attack her. The combined strength of the monsters almost overwhelms Diana, but she gains the upper hand and bests them both. Diana mocks Circe, claiming that as a former Amazon she should be honored to be a warrior and fight, and instead she hides behind monsters like a coward. The insult infuriates the sorceress who decides to fight Diana herself.
The two women engage in a vicious fight, trying to rip each other to shreds. The battle winds up continuing in the skies of Themyscira. Circe uses all of her power to gain the upper hand, savagely beating the crap out of Diana. Before she lands a killing blow, Circe demands to know the name of her opponent. Diana proudly states her name as a full moon rises. Circe realizes that Diana is the one Hecate warned her about. Diana takes advantage of the sorceress’s shock and turns the battle in her favor.
Diana stands over a defeated Circe who challenges her to try and kill her. She boasts how she carries Hecate’s soul in her which makes her immortal. Diana seemingly agrees that Circe cannot be killed, and then she plunges her sword through Circe’s stomach, stabbing it into the ground. Diana adds that her immortality doesn’t mean she can’t be imprisoned. Desperately trying (and failing) to remove the enchanted sword from her stomach, Circe slowly morphs into a tree wrapped tightly around the sword that impaled her.
Diana returns and frees Trevor, her mother and the amazons. Zeus and Hera, after the seal on her first prison was broken, they are taking more drastic measures to keep Circe’s prison safe. Should the sword be pulled out of the tree, Circe would awaken and be free again. To ensure that another accident (or intention) like that does not happen again, Zeus will be placing Themyscira in another dimension. The Amazons accept the god’s decree. However, Diana is given an ultimatum; she can either join her sisters on Themyscira, or she can return to the mortal world with Steve at the cost of her powers, making her mortal.
Diana contemplates both choices, but ultimately chooses to return to the mortal world. Zeus strips her of her powers and her armor vanishes and is replaced with civilian clothes. The film ends with Diana and Steve being teleported back to the mortal world, ready to live with and face the consequences of the choice she made.
A post-credits scene cuts to the Gateway City Community College at night. A man whose back is facing the camera walks down the halls of the abandoned school. He opens the door to his office and steps inside, taking a seat at his desk. Back still to the audience, he raises his hand and examines it. In his palm, a fireball forms which he shoots somewhere off screen. The chair turns around to reveal and old man. He stares at his hand again before he looks to the camera as his eyes begin to glow. The camera zooms away to outside of his office. The door closes in front of the camera. Then name on the window of the office door reads
“Felix Faust”
That came out longer than I expected it to. I'll try to be shorter in explaining the cast that I would like to see in this film.
Because I mentioned that Batman/Superman film, I kinda had to go with Godot for WW. I'm curious to see what she'll you do. You see, I've never seen her in anything, so I have no idea what she's capable of acting-wise. But I'm not gonna tear her apart as if it were a bad choice. Like I said, I really don't know what to expect because I had never heard of her prior to her being cast.
My original choice would have been Jennifer Morrison. I mean just look at her!
But what's done is done. Godot is Wonder Woman.
COSTUME
The costume design is something I think the design team has to be super careful with. Because the costume, as it was originally designed, could end up looking very corny on screen. Personally, I think the best representation of a WW costume was the one we got in the video game Injustice: Gods among us.
I think something based on that design would work best for a film.
A lot of people really want Lynda Carter (who played Wonder Woman on TV in the 60s) to play this role. I get it. But, to me, that's really just fan service. Also, in the last Wonder Woman fan cast I did, I cast an actress who was the same age as Carter (an actress in her 60s named Barbara Herhsey) and commentors told me she was "too old." The amazons don't age, they're immortal. So, I reached into a younger pool.
I WAS SO FREAKING NERVOUS ABOUT THIS CHOICE! You have no idea! Most of my nerves stem from the fact that last time Thurman ventured out into a CBM, the results were pretty diastrous (I will not name the film). However, Thurman is a beautiful and talented actress known for her roles as ass-kickers like in Kill Bill.
We haven't seen Hartnett in a while, have we? But I recently saw him in showtime's Penny Dreadful and he's still as good an actor as he ever was. To be honest, I don't know what drew me to cast him in this role, but I have to say I like it.
For the king of the gods, I wanted someone who could be commanding and imposing. This took quite a search. My original pick was Peter Stormare, but thankfully I kept looking. Then, I decided on Benicio Del Toro, but I said no because he's already playing the Collector in the MCU. Finally, I came across Head. And it was just an instant fit. Good actor with that commanding presence I was looking for.
My original Hera pick was Nicole Kidman. But recently, I've watched her and her performances just seem to get hammier and hammier. In my eyes, she's either doing too much or not enough. While looking at other choices, I came across Blanchett and she just seemed to fit. She has that sort of godly beauty to her.
Circe would be the film's main villain. A lot of comic purists might complain that I changed her character slightly. But really, I didn't do that much. I just changed her origin so that instead of just a sorceress, she was a fallen Amazon. And it was all for the purpose of character motivation.
I really like Rose McGowan. I think that she's a really good actress (not the best, but still really good). I never saw Conan the Barbarian (thank god), so that had nothing to do with my decision. However, I do think she could be a great villain... especially if it was a witch (because she's played like...3 different witches now).
Faust was originally going to be a supporting villain in my story. He was gonna be to Circe was Kurse was to Malektih in Thor: The Dark World. However, nothing I came up with seemed to work. I know Faust is generally an enemy of the Jusice League, but I think he could work really well in a solo Wonder Woman film. So, I added the post-credits scene, saving him as a villain for a future film.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my article. As always, I appreciate your reviews and thumbs up.
--Mcott
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