The Wonder Woman 75th anniversary Comic-Con panel
Wonder Woman turns 75 this year and for the very first time, we’re going to see her on the big screen. We got to attend the Wonder Woman 75th anniversary panel at San Diego Comic-Con with artist Nicola Scott, artist Jim Lee, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and the lady herself, Gal Gadot.
Before the second two came out. Scott talked about what an honor it is to be able to draw Wonder Woman and to be a part of something that’s meant so much to so many. She spoke about her origins, right before the country entered WWII. She said that seeing a woman dressed in the American flag telling people, “Let’s go to war,” was a huge moment in comics. She spoke about what an important icon Wonder Woman was in the seventies and second wave feminism, and how Gloria Steinem put her on the cover of Ms. Magazine saying, “Wonder Woman for President.” She said that, coasting through third wave feminism can be “quite decisive,” but that Wonder Woman is an “inclusive superhero,” something the rest of the panel echoed. They all mentioned the importance that she has as a role model to young girls, but to men as well.
Lee spoke about her more current history and how she lost her powers for a time in the sixties and was more of an Emma Peel type, popular because of the “Avengers” TV show, and how the eighties, with the work of George Perez, had more of a Game of Thrones feel before there was a Game of Thrones.
RELATED: The Wonder Woman Trailer is Here!
Jenkins spoke about how Wonder Woman was a huge influence on her and how sitting in the editing room late at night isn’t that bad because even after a long day, she said still exclaims, “I love Wonder Woman!” She and Gadot talked about the serendipitous feeling on set. Gadot even said, that, though she isn’t really a spiritual person, she really felt like the universe was giving them signs that this was going well. Jenkins praised Gadot for never complaining and said that the cast and crew were blown away by her willingness to do anything, no matter how hard. Jenkins told a story of how she’s in a giant parka that people actually wear to climb Mount Everest (which you can see in the press shots) while Gadot was in very little clothing. Gadot added, “In the freezing cold, wearing not much, but that’s okay. I love her. I wish I could bring you all back in time to the set so you could experience what we’ve been through. It was such a special uniques experience.”
Jenkins spoke about the feeling she had when the ’70s TV series starring Lynda Carter was on and the kids were all “obsessed with the show and everyone on the playground was saying who they’re going to be and saying I want to be Wonder Woman… she was everything. I wasn’t becoming one of the boys. It was every fantasy come true. That’s my memory…knowing you could be Wonder Woman.”
Gadot said she was very popular where she grew up in Israel and that she was a household name along with Batman and Superman. “I remember always knowing she’s the most powerful female superhero,” she said, calling her a “shero.” She recalled getting the call about her casting while she was sitting on a plane on the runway in Los Angeles. She said her agent got everyone in the office on the phone and told her. She said she screamed on the plane, but that they then told her she couldn’t tell anyone.
Gadot said that this is the story of a girl becoming a woman and Jenkins agreed saying it was a “classic coming-of-age story arc. she wants to save the world.” She said Wonder Woman is god coming to mankind, and “seeing what mankind is capable of. You come in wanting to save the world and to be great, but how do you learn to be a loving and powerful hero?”
Jenkins talked about wanting to do a female superhero film for a long time, but that people were always afraid to take it on, especially Wonder Woman. She said that there was an “apologist attitude and that there were discussions about trying to make her hard and tough, because of the “universal” version of a superhero was a man. “Why do only white men get to be universal? I feel like my job was the opposite of what people think. She’s vulnerable. She falls in love,” she said, explaining that they did that for Superman, so why not Wonder Woman. She wanted to make this “everybody’s movie.”
What did you think of the trailer? Let us know in the comments and stay tuned to ComingSoon.net for more coverage from San Diego Comic-Con throughout the weekend. Wonder Woman will hit theaters on June 2, 2017.
