DC: Was Canceling Wonder Woman The Right Move?

Big news out of Warner Bros/Discovery coming out of their DC Universe. News broke yesterday that DC won’t bring back Wonder Woman for a third film. Patty Jenkins and crew won’t get their chance to end their story. DCU is moving in a new direction and while Wonder Woman ’84 was met with mixed reviews, is canceling the movie the right move?

While DC is looking to move away from the “Snyderverse”, they’ve already revealed the return of Henry Cavill’s Superman. With that being said, where does this leave Gal Gadot? Where does it leave the character of Wonder Woman altogether? Gadot’s portrayal was nothing short of fantastic as she brought the character to life from the pages of the comic book. Does this mean she’s out? If she is, does that mean the character is also out after taking such a big part in their success? A recast will surely set them back and further their dysfunction in the eyes of audiences.

More Entertainment: Where Superman Failed in The DCEU

That’s the main problem with Wonder Woman and the previous regime at DC/Warner Bros/Discovery or whatever you want to call them over the years. They’ve cast to perfection. Henry Cavill as Superman was absolutely fantastic. Gal Gadot brought the character to a whole new generation of fans. Jason Momoa made Aquaman cool again. Margot Robbie was as fun as Harley Quinn as the character needed. Even Ben Affleck as Batman was a good balance between Bruce Wayne/Batman. The problem wasn’t the characters or the actors, it was the scripts. To that point, you can’t even blame the directors or writers. Studio interference and pressure was the villain in these movies.

While James Gunn and Peter Safran need to distance themselves from the prior DCEU, they still need to tiptoe around to get it just right. Studio interference ruins creative freedom. It took an online campaign to “Release the Snyder Cut” to bring to life Zach Snyder’s Justice League, which was arguably the better of the two. There’s still one for David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, a movie that catalyst for James Gunn’s Success with DC. In both movies, the heads stepped in and said to change the movies. Which began the downward spiral in the DC movies.

We don’t need to cancel these characters and movies, the DCU needs better direction and better universe-building. Warner Bros/Discovery needs to stop micromanaging and let creators create. Someone at the top needs to have direction on where these movies are going, but they also need to stand on their own with creative freedom for the cast and crew. Wonder Woman faced some hiccups, but most of the blame falls on the studio.