When news broke that Gal Gadot would be the next Wonder Woman in the DCEU, I was very skeptical, mostly because I had no idea who she was and had only seen one not-so-flattering picture of her from the Fast and Furious movies, which I never watched. But despite the actress’s rather tone-deaf comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict, I’ll still say she was a fantastic Diana Prince.
Unlike Kevin Feige and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Zack Snyder and the rest of the DC Extended Universe had pretty poor planning. Instead of introducing Wonder Woman in her own standalone film, she surprisingly showed up in Batman v Superman, which was already way too early for that kind of story. She was impressive, but not enough to win me over during that particular film.
It was the 2017 Wonder Woman film that really knocked it out of the park for her and her story. As alluded to in Batman v Superman, she was once heavily involved in World War I, and that’s what this movie explores. I liked that angle since World War II has always felt so overdone, and Patty Jenkins, alongside Gal Gadot, put together a genuinely wonderful film.
Wonder Woman’s exact parentage always shifts a bit depending on the comic or universe, but this version settled on her being the daughter of the Greek god Zeus, with an Amazonian mother. That lineage forces her into an epic battle against her renegade uncle Ares, the God of War.
She’s probably the most prolific character in the DCEU, since unlike Henry Cavill or Ben Affleck, she seemed genuinely on board with showing up wherever the studio wanted her. She was clearly the main female presence in Justice League, and definitely easy on the eyes.
That said, it’s not Gal Gadot’s fault that Patty Jenkins dropped the ball with Wonder Woman 1984. It looked beautiful on screen, but the story and script just didn’t flow well. It should have been scrapped and rewritten before they ever started filming. Not that it’s a terrible movie, it just doesn’t come close to the caliber of the original.
As far as I know, her last role was in the second Shazam movie, Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Apparently, she was the last being on Earth still holding the powers of the Greek gods, and she’s able to resurrect Billy Batson after he sacrifices himself to stop an out-of-control, vengeful Greek goddess. And I love that Billy’s reaction to her was pretty much exactly what you’d expect from any guy in that situation. Except probably more like that Ron Burgundy scene where he talks about the “pants store.”