How The Original Superman Movie Will Inspire Wonder Woman

wonder woman superman

The Hollywood landscape seems to finally be changing for the better. After last year's #OscarsSoWhite controversy, the subject of visibility and representation in TV and film has become one that filmmakers and fans seem to be more open to discussing. Additionally, we've seen how major franchises have begun to finally diversify. Star Wars: The Force Awakens featured a trio of new leading characters made up of two men of color and a woman, and the MCU is finally featuring more diverse casts. Soon the DCEU will make history with Wonder Woman, bringing the DC royalty to the silver screen for the first time. And it appears that classic superhero films like 1978's Superman actually helped inform the filmmaking process of Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins recently sat down with Time Magazine, which was chronicling the film's long journey to the silver screen. She eventually revealed that Superman affected the film as a whole, as well as the way she approached the character of Wonder Woman. Jenkins wanted her to be someone audiences looked up to, saying the following:

We've spent years treating male heroes in certain ways. I just applied those same tropes to her, and all these incredible radical moments suddenly appear to an audience.

It looks like Wonder Woman will be as strong, independent, and badass as previous DC heroes like Superman. We'll just have to see how many similarities Patty Jenkin's movie has to the Christopher Reeves movie.

Superman's influence on Wonder Woman can actually already be seen, despite the movie not being released until June. In the first trailer, there was a particular moment when Gal Gadot's Diana shields Chris Pine's Steve Trevor from a bullet, while they're in street clothes. This same scene happened in Superman, with Clark Kent saving Lois from a bullet, unbeknownst to her. The choreography used in this sequence is almost identical, and they're even wearing similar costumes. Check out the comparison below.

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Clearly, Patty Jenkins knows her crap- and is ready to put Wonder Woman on the same level as everyone's favorite Krytonian. And considering that Diana Prince got off a plane to save innocent people in Batman v Superman makes it clear that she deserves our respect and adoration.

Wonder Woman will fly into theaters on June 2nd, 2017.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.