Wonder Woman dropped last week and made $100.5 million domestic in its opening frame, putting to bed any lingering doubts about female-led superhero blockbusters. The movie is unquestionably the most warmly received in Warner Bros.’ DC Extended Universe and even though we’ll see Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince later this year in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, WB should already be thinking about a direct follow up to her solo adventure.
But what will that movie look like?
1900s-Present
The Princess of Themiscyria is introduced to audiences at the tail end of World War I and then reintroduced in the present day in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. We know that Diana has built a prestigious international artifact business in the ensuing century, but is that all she did? Audiences would undoubtedly enjoy seeing her continuing to assimilate to our world as she carves out a life for herself. Exploring this time in her life would be a great character study and potentially extend the themes touched on in her conversation with Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor about the worthiness of humanity. Given that no one knows about her in BvS, it’s possible she carried out secret superhero missions over the years which would a sequel could weave into real life historical events.
Who’s to say Wonder Woman never popped up in Vietnam or helped save Apollo 13?
Ares
The (admittedly wonky) climax of Wonder Woman saw our heroine seemingly defeat Ares once and for all. If so, killings gods seems like it’s kind of…easy. And with World War II looming on the horizon, it’s not as if his influence was easily shaken off. Though Ares wasn’t a great movie villain, it could be interesting to keep him or his story around in a smaller capacity to help the franchise with its mythological feel. Ares is also the only other living god we’ve seen besides Diana, making him a link to her origins.
Dr. Poison
Again, Wonder Woman didn’t have the best villains, but the movie failed to give a concrete picture of the fate of Dr. Poison. Diana chose not to kill her despite the urgings of Ares and his mustache, so where is the good doctor? Did she escape? Was she captured by allied forces? Will she play a role in WWII? In the comics, Poison had an evil granddaughter that had a run in with Wonder Woman.
Also, didn’t the gas she gave to Ludendorff kind of remind you of Bane’s inhalations from the source material? It would be cool is Dr. Poison played a role in Bane’s rise given that this is a separate continuity from The Dark Knight trilogy.
Themiscyria
Diana’s mother made it pretty clear that she could never return if she chose to leave. But, like, really? If a WWI plane could break that barrier, I have a feeling so can Wonder Woman. And if the Queen meant this as more a metaphorical banishment, script writers can always think of reasons to break ultimatums. Perhaps Diana recruits the Amazonians to combat a new world threat. Either way, mother-daughter family drama usually makes for good viewing. I hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Paradise Island.
