Wonder Woman
While James Gunn’s upcoming DCU is supposed to act as a fresh start after the Snyder-started DCEU, things are getting…weirdly complicated.
While in some instances, major heroes like Superman are being recast with new actors, as Henry Cavill was famously not asked to return, somehow, it appears Gal Gadot will be back for Wonder Woman 3 as Diana Prince.
How is this happening? The details are unclear, but this is the exact quote Gadot gave Comicbook.com:
“I love portraying Wonder Woman,” Gadot said. “It’s so close to and dear to my heart. From what I heard from James and from Peter is that we’re gonna develop a Wonder Woman 3 together.”
Wonder Woman 3 was reportedly scrapped after director Patty Jenkins revealed there was nothing she could do to “move anything forward.” She says she didn’t walk away from the movie, but there was nothing to be done on the studio side with a third film.
That appears to have changed, although Gadot’s statement comes with no additional information that Patty Jenkins may also return to direct. James Gunn also has not weighed in on the comments yet, which perhaps Gadot was not supposed to share. A Themyscira prequel that takes place before Diana was born was announced in Gunn’s shared DCU slate, but nothing about an actual new Wonder Woman movie with Gadot, clearly.
Wonder Woman 1984
The fundamental idea that Gadot would return as Wonder Woman in the DCU, past her time in the DCEU, raises a lot of questions about how Gunn’s universe is handling old characters. While Cavill’s Superman is recast/reworked with a younger actor, and Ben Affleck’s Batman looks like he will be with a separate actor from the spin-off “The Batman” universe with Robert Pattinson, everything else seems more nebulous.
Gunn has previously implied that actors like Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa could potentially reprise their Flash and Aquaman roles in future projects, but there has been no news at all as to how that might happen (and a Flash sequel starring Miller seems impossible, given that it’s WB’s biggest bomb ever). Momoa has previously said he would “always be Aquaman,” after rumors that he might shift DC positions to Lobo began to emerge. Aquaman 2, which was supposed to be the de facto DCEU finale, has yet to release and if The Flash is any indication, it may be headed toward turbulent box office waters.
An actual Wonder Woman 3, which apparently would continue a specific DCEU trilogy, is an entirely different kind of leap, and it’s hard to make sense of it. But Gunn has other unanswered questions about the DCEU. Will Margot Robbie return as Harley Quinn in future projects given that she just starred in his own Suicide Squad film? Gunn’s show Peacemaker, which has a second season on deck, is also directly spawned out of the DCEU.
You can see how this is a lot messier than the initial “clean slate” idea, and Gadot’s statement here is the most confusing yet. We’ll see if Gunn himself might make any sense of this.
Follow me on Twitter, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
