Welcome to the first ever NERDERDOME! Nerderdome will be a month long conversation with FOUR prompts for ONE topic. The Nerdery Public will gather together nerds for a conversation about a hot nerd topic, and you’re invited to join in on the conversation!
This first Nerder. Death. Kill. is about WONDER WOMAN. Our collaborators are:
Jessica, aka @charmingred, Mother. Comic reader. Sci-Fi watcher. Raised a lady, chosen to be geek. Theoretically reading comics.
Rick, aka @EvolvedRick, I’m not that other guy, I’m the one you mistake him for. Potato wrangler, monkey with a laptop, creator of hand-crafted sentences, and award-winning liar.
AND
Sam, aka @Ravingnerd, Small time blogger, with big dreams, and bigger opinions. I rant and rave about all things nerdy.
Without further ado … ENTER, THE NERDERDOM…
FINAL PROMPT (4)
What do you think is the ideal venue for Wonder Woman to break out and make a bigger impact? Is it time for a film? A TV series? Solo, or as part of the Justice League?
JESSICA: I think film is the perfect outlet. Television is also perfect, just look what Smallville did for Supes. But, you know what’s even better? READING THE COMIC! *throws down the gauntlet* Next QUESTION!
RICK: Oh, please no more “Dawson’s Creek with superpowers” shows! Get her out there fighting crime, not mooning about like Clark Kent after Lana.
JESSICA: No matter what, I do think the comics need to create a stronger personal character for readers and eventually film viewers to relate to. Even with the relationships forming in the New 52 and her Olympus family, she needs personal quirks that can continuously be picked up on and expanded upon. It’s these little inside jokes and recognitions that make a character endearing and loved. Her warrior status is taking her to new levels, but not necessarily loved.
RICK: Yeah, if you can focus on what works in the comics and put that on the screen, it’ll work. That’s been the key to Marvel’s recent successes. Introducing her in a Justice League film would be easiest, because if it’s successful then every character gets a spinoff film, like Avengers in reverse.
SAM: Ideally she’d make a cameo first. Show up and be awesome for a minute or so in something like Man of Steel. Generate buzz for the character, then have her go missing from the next movie. This would help to generate demand from an audience that had already been teased her. Then make her movie, declare that it was set before the events in whatever movie she made her cameo in. Then make one final project with yet another cameo before Justice League.
RICK: That could work too. Tease it, again like the Marvel movies. I’m just worried about the portrayal though, because a Batman Begins story for her would be too dull and a Green Lantern-style film would be shallow. Strangely, I believe they should look at the animated film as a template for a live-action production. It worked on every level, as both origin story and action movie, without a hitch. It had all those little beats and quirks that you were talking about, Jess.
JESSICA: It’s Jessica or Jessie. I really do hate and despise being called Jess.
RICK: Aren’t hate and despise the same thing? That’s pretty redundant. I’m just saying, that’s the template you want.
SAM: While I’d love another WW tv show, the last proposed series was a disaster and many people know that. The credibility of a television show is at a low at the moment, thus I believe the above planned suggestion would be the best. Man of Steel (Cameo One), GL 2 (hey, it could happen. Ghost Rider got a sequel), Wonder Woman movie (set before the previous two movies, tie in at the end), Flash (final cameo most of team uniting). On a side note, Batman SHOULD NOT have another movie until after Justice League. We need the world time to recover….. errrr….. get over the loss of Nolan.
RICK: I never lost Nolan, I keep him in my back pocket at all times! So who’s up for pizza and beer? This bottle of tequila has seen better days…
JESSICA: FLAG ON THE PLAY! Foul for mentioning Nolan and previous Batman movie series in a Wonder Woman based article with no sufficient reason. Penalty: Automatic loss of battle!
IF YOU MISSED PART 3 – PLEASE FIND IT HERE.
IF YOU MISSED PART 2 – PLEASE FIND IT HERE.
IF YOU MISSED PART 1 PLEASE FIND IT HERE.
I’m sorry…were you guys still talking? I kind of tuned out after the Linda Carter picture.
But, seeing as how I’m here…
1) WW’s new origin story basically makes her sound like Hercules in a corset. They were better off having her come from the warrior woman/Amazon culture. It made her the middle ground in DC’s trinity. Batman (of this world & of this culture), Superman (not of this world & not of this culture) and Wonder Woman (of this world but not of this culture). When you make her the daughter of a god you instantly throw that end of the trinity off with two folk who ain’t really from around here in all senses of the phrase. The trinity, in theory, works because all three are odd man (or woman) out in some way or another, be it powers, background, genetics or whatever you want to throw at it. Well, save for ethnicity…but I’m not going there. End of the story: Her origin story was more interesting before the reboot.
2) She’s never caught on because, in a lot of ways, she’s the female analog to Superman. There ain’t much that can stop her and she’s got a personality that makes dryer lint look like Bill Hicks. There is no quirk to who she is or what she does and that’s where she’s odd (wo)man out in the trinity. Superman is a man from a distant planet. Batman is on a rampage to avenge the death of his parents. Wonder Woman is…filling out a corset. Where is the compelling story? Where’s the drama that makes us care? What can we say is relatable about her? Lemme answer that for you: It ain’t there. But then this is the bane (no pun intended) of 95% of DC’s lineup. They look good on paper but what the hell is there to connect to? (For the record, I’m a Marvel guy. Then again, if you read the craptastic piece I did on geek movies you’d know that.)
3) Rick, I completely agree with you about the “Dawson Creek” version of the super heroes. “Smallville” never caught on with me. They tried to give him personality and human connection but it all felt so flat. “Arrow” is okay but I don’t see it having a long haul/staying power engine behind it…unless he does the whole thing shirtless then they’ll probably get four or five seasons out of it.
4) Jessica, I completely agree that if they want to have her “break out” and start cashing in with “Avengers” sized bank they need to strengthen the source material. How do they do that? Creat villains that you actually fear and can go toe to toe with her. Batman has the largest rouges gallery in comics. Superman has the third largest hall of villains. (Spiderman is just under Batman as far as I’m concerned.) Who does Wonder Woman have? Give me her top five ICONIC rivals that AREN’T crossovers with the Justice League. That’s a pretty weak list when you start to think about it. They might be able to do something with the Olympian crossover but, again, that’s bee done to death. Give her villains that are icons in and of themselves and then we can talk about having her really break on through to the other side. (Cue Doors style keyboard.)
5) Sam, I hate to be the one to tell you this but the Batman reboot is already up on IMDB. Now, granted, they don’t have anything listed yet other than that Bob Crane created it but the fact is the reboot is on the board. Now it’s just a matter of time. That being said, I agree and disagree with your idea for launching the Justice League. I agree with the players and I think the idea of having there be crossovers is fantastic (if not done already with the Marvel movies) but this hinges on a lot of things that I believe will make it all impossible. Marvel had to get “lesser” stars to basically play second banana to Downey Jr. So where does that leave us with a similar DC joint? None of the trinity have the amazing personalities to demand being the focus. So what then? Oh, let’s make it really about the Green Lantern or the Flash (both characters with good personalities for DC). BUZZ! Oh sorry, not gonna work. Thanks for playing and we have some lovely parting gifts for you. We can’t have the trinity playing second fiddle to the lesser heroes. That leaves you with the need to hire top notch talent to carry the heart of the group and that’s gonna cost top notch money. In the end the budget would probably cost what the Avengers made (over $1.5 Billion last I checked) and would make a hell of a lot less. DC should stick to cartoons and be happy Disney doesn’t decide to buy them out and bring back the Amalgam Universe.
All that being said, I loved Nerder, Death, Kill. You three need to do this again. You made me laugh out loud and, if you couldn’t tell from my babblings, really made me think about a character I probably never thought of more than twice…and both times were innapropriate.