Wonder Woman

Long before Queen Hippolyta breathed life into Wonder Woman, she had a son with Ares the God of War. Together father & son waged war on the Amazons until Hippolyta ended it by chopping her son’s head off. But before she could do the same to Ares, Zeus intervened and demanded he be spared. Ares’ powers were summarily stripped and he became the not-so-eternal prisoner of the Amazons.

Centuries later when Air Force pilot Col. Steve Trevor crashes lands on Themyscira, it seems the Amazons still haven’t gotten over the whole being almost being wipe out by men thing. It doesn’t help that Steve (appropriately played by Nathan Fillion) is a total… well, man as revealed by an awkward interrogation with the Lasso of Truth, which Steve initially thinks is “kinky.” To determine who shall return him (read: get rid of) a contest is held, guess who wins. But while the rest of the island is preoccupied, Ares makes his escape. Now it’s up to Wonder Woman to stop the God of War before he harnesses the evil nature of man… for evil!!!

Why am I not surprised writer Gail Simone had a hand in this misandry disguised as misogyny. But that’s alright, us men are immature enough to enjoy all those cliche fanservice moments at our expense. And in that vein, I’ve put together yet another Official L7world.com Unofficial trailer (deleted because Megavideo lawsuit). Eventually this super-battle of the sexes does even out. Steve manages to stop drooling, but his continually calling Wonder Woman ‘angel’ is a little off-putting. And she learns to tolerate him (mostly).

The animation’s great but I did notice Wonder Woman sporting quite the schnoz in a couple of scenes that makes her a bit mannish. Although it’s bloodless for the most part, there’s plenty of violence. One scene that stands out for me is when they sneak into Ares’ hideout. While Wonder Woman uses the kid-friendly method of judo chop to back to knock the guards harmlessly unconscious, Steve casually snaps their necks. Even though it’s over in an instant, this has gotta be one of the most disturbing acts of violence I’ve seen in the animated DC Universe since an alternate universe’s Superman lobotomized Doomsday in the Justice League episode A Better World and at least Doomsday could recover.

All things considered, Wonder Woman is the perfect date movie. For the guys there’s lots of T&A, by which of course I mean Tartarus & Ares. And for the ladies there plenty of man-hating (just make sure you nod along for those parts).

It’s too bad Bruce Timm has stopped drawing but as a producer he on a roll. And I can’t wait to review his next sure to be success Green Lantern: First Flight.