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The Fast and the Furious’s Gal Godot has been cast as Wonder Woman in Batman vs Superman.

Okay, you can breathe now. After all the years of being tricky and problematic and spanking too many men, this is happening.

“Wonder Woman is arguably one of the most powerful female characters of all time and a fan favorite in the DC Universe. Not only is Gal an amazing actress, but she also has that magical quality that makes her perfect for the role. We look forward to audiences discovering Gal in the first feature film incarnation of this beloved character,” said director Zack Snyder.

Godot, who had a background in modeling as well as acting, is 28 and was Miss Israel in the 2004 Miss Universe Pageant. She did spend two years in the Israeli Army, however, as is mandatory for all Israeli citizens.

Putting Wonder Woman in BvS was a must-do for Warner Bros if they were to have any hope for launching their third iconic character. Given the amount of money that Disney makes on its girl-themed entertainment, launching a heroine for the girlie set could be a cash cow for the studio.

While not one to skinny-shame, I would have liked a fitter, more athletic WW, a type Snyder has been comfortable with in the past. However, WB seems to like these tall, skinny brunettes, so it’s all according to type.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. I think this is great. My only quibble is that she’s a side character in someone else’s film rather than having her own. In my opinion she’s on par with Batman and Superman. But y’know…. I’ll take whatever I can get if this gets the ball rolling. I say congrats and goddess speed.

  2. Good choice. She’s got acting talent that fellow Fast 6 star Gina Carano, another name bandied about by fanboys — far more often than Gadot was, in fact. Carano is a terrible actress. All Gadot needs to do is put on about 20 pounds. She’s just waaay too think in most of these pictures.

    Also, Warner needs to get Affleck to quit the movie so that somebody who can actually play Batman can take on that role. Like, say, Tim Olyphant.

  3. Ugh. Me hate no ability to edit posts! That first paragraph of my post should read:

    Good choice. She’s got far more acting talent that fellow Fast 6 star Gina Carano, another name bandied about by fanboy. Carano was mentioned by overly-hormonal fanboys far more often than Gadot was, in fact, but come on! So far, Carano is a *terrible* actress. All Gadot needs to do is put on about 20 pounds. She’s just waaay too thin in most of these pictures.

  4. I haven’t seen any movie she’s in, so I can’t judge her acting abilities. She does look skinnier than I’d like WW to be, but we’ll see if that’s what they are going for, or if they’ll have her gain a few pounds for the role (though I doubt that’s the case). I also wanted Jaimie Alexander for the role, but I guess that was unrealistic, even if other actors have crossed over the Marvel/DC camps. At least I hope they get something more interesting for Jaimie to do as Sif in the next Thor movie!

  5. Hey, Marvel, DC?
    The top two movies of the Thanksgiving weekend?
    Both featured strong female characters in action movies.
    Both passed the Bechdel Test.

    Together, they pulled in $141.57 Million over the weekend.
    $203.52 Million during the five-day holiday weekend.

    So, you think you could make a superhero movie with a strong female character?

  6. Rob have you not seen Haywire? That’s the reason why people were throwing around Carano’s name. I still think WW should just have a stand alone film first than trying to shoe horn her in to accelerate a JL movie.

  7. I like this idea that WW is in BvS. Wonder Woman is a tough character to get right, and this gives Warner Bros. a way to try ‘something’ and see if it works. If it does, then WW will get her own flick. If it doesn’t, then they can try something else without ruining WW or spending a lot of cash. It’ll also get more boys to see WW on the big screen, which may have been a roadblock to giving WW her own movie. Smart move on their part.

  8. Ok, she looked too skinny to match the Darwyn Cooke WW (let alone the Mike Sekowsky one–the best ever). But this video from the Fast & Furious series shows that she indeed has some swagger and cool.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X_m8QxQGeE

    Her Sabra look & style are kind of reminiscent of Miller’s DK2 portrayal.

    I have no hope for the neck-snapping, lame-Pa-Kent vision of these characters at all, but can’t help caring about this. A little bit.

    If they cast a stringbean as Big Barda THEN I’ll get emotional and start online petitions and everything.

  9. Military service is obligatory for most Jewish and Druze Israeli citizens. Christian and Muslim Arab citizens are exempt, as are ultra-Orthodox Jews.

  10. Okay, it looks like it falls to me to be the bad cop here:

    Wonder Woman could support her own movie, so it’s a flatly stupid choice to dump her in as a side character in somebody else’s flick. Furthermore, Ms. Godot is a horrid choice for the part, as she looks like she’d snap in half if she were hit by a light breeze and Wonder Woman is an Amazon warrior.

    Why not just look to someone from Shimmer Women Athletes or MMA to fill the part? You can’t tell me that there isn’t a single female professional athlete out there who can act.

  11. Nothing more amusing that watching fanboys/girls getting their panties in a bunch over the casting in a comic book movie. Thanks for the entertainment, folks!

  12. Serhend: I haven’t seen Haywire, but I’ve seen The Fast and the Furious 6 (RIP, the real Captain America, Paul Walker!) and Carano’s lifeless performance in that instantly all-but killed my interest in Haywire. But I like Soderbergh, so I figure that I’ll see it eventually. Sure, Carano can do stunts — but that’s all she can do, so just about the only part that Carano is good for would be to be the Lou Ferrigno to Angie Harmon’s Jennifer Walters in a She-Hulk movie. But with Harmon’s face CGI’d onto Carano’s body for the Shulkie scenes.

  13. @ Jeff P – I think it’s more amusing when someone goes to a site that talks about comic book movies and then insult other people for… talking about comic book movies. Thanks for the entertainment, Jeff P!

  14. I’m with you. I’m not skinny hater, but she’s not even the tiniest bit physically imposing.
    I mean, you know… superhuman strength… within that logic, she could be an 8 year old girl and still be superhumanly strong…
    but like any hint of shoulders might have added something.

    Aw well… should be fun.
    Maybe she’s going to hit the gym?

  15. There isn’t a single female professional athlete out there who can act.

    Gabrielle Reece, a former pro volleyball player, has worked in films. Alex Morgan, the pro soccer player, wowed readers when she posed in body paint in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, but she’s busy with soccer.

    As for Wonder Woman, a major consideration in doing a film would be deciding what demographics to target. The word feminism means different things to people of different ages and genders. She couldn’t be a feminism symbol in an “all ages” movie without offending people who wanted the movie to deliver a strong message.

    SRS

  16. @Synsidar – I was mostly just taking his dare that I couldn’t say that.

    Although I also would point out that Nick suggests that she is an Amazon Warrior, but based on the comics, DC Comics version of Amazons have not consistently been tall or muscular. There’s a lot of magic to their strength.

  17. Yes WB casts a model to play WW in a movie where she doesn’t even rate having her name on the marquis. I am sure in Snyder’s capable hands she will portrayed with the same level Silk Specter received. Another astounding triumph for women on comics bravo.

  18. No matter how good an actor she is, given the way Man of Steel portrayed Superman, and the way DC is depicting Wonder Woman in their current continuity, I have no faith that WW will be done well in this movie. They couldn’t even give us a non-killing Superman, so why should Wonder Woman be any better?

  19. I dunno, personally the female kryptoninan whose name escapes me (Faora?) was the best part of that movie, maybe they’ll be able to channel some of that into Wonder Woman’s character.

    I’m more than happy to wait for Godot to prove herself in this role.

  20. “I’m more than happy to wait for Godot to prove herself in this role.”

    I see what you did there.

  21. “I’m more than happy to wait for Godot to prove herself in this role.”
    Good luck with that. Based on the director involved and Affleck’s stunt-casting, I’m willing to suspect that WW only has to look like somebody’s arm candy in this flick.

  22. @Whatever: Gadot’s acting style and persona isn’t even *remotely* like Malin Akerman’s. Moreover, I think that Snyder’s casting of Akerman as Silk Spectre was a stroke of genius. Snyder’s second major departure from the comics after rightly ditching the Telepathic Squid Monster Thing was to interpret Silk Spectre as a celebutante, nothing more than a non-gypsy Kardashian-type in tights until she falls for Dan and starts living for herself rather than for her mother or for Dr. Manhattan.

    Moreover, I liked Snyder’s Sucker Punch, which was Alice On The Brown Acid In Wonderland. It seems to me that Snyder is generally even more on the ball with casting women’s roles than he is with men’s roles. Lena Heady as Queen Gorgo in 300, too.

    Henry Cavill was a good choice for Superman, too. That’s why the obvious misstep of casting Affleck as Batman — a stroke of miscasting of the level of casting Jennifer Garner as Elektra, which is, to say, disastrous miscasting — sticks out to me even as I applaud his choice of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

  23. Not sure why everyone is concerned about her slight frame. Every male actor who plays a superhero trains intensely for months beforehand to bulk up, I don’t see why she wouldn’t do the same. I’m more concerned at the fact that WB has decided to throw the proverbial DC kitchen sink into the sequel instead of concentrating on giving us a great Superman film (which MoS was not, in my opinion).

  24. @RobJ I had no idea what you were talking about until you said Afleck was a terrible casting choice. Snyder makes terrible movies, period. His “reimagining” of Watchmen was an affront to the work, in fact I have never met a person who thought this movie was watchable and virtually every credible reviewer panned that POS. Let me help you, a story about old retired superheroes “reimagined” as young superheroes makes no sense. I also have no idea what you are talking about since his treatment of Akerman was essentially a sex symbol in a softcore porn movie. If he treats WW anything like Silk Specter….Enjoy her Leonard Cohen soundtracked sex scene. Other than that I have no strong feelings about it.
    Oh congratulations on a big win for women, a model is cast to play WonderWoman in a movie were she isn’t even billed in the title.

  25. So all those people who were whining about Henry Cavill being too skinny for Superman now whining about Gal being too skinny for WW? Oh, humanity…

  26. “in fact I have never met a person who thought this movie was watchable and virtually every credible reviewer panned that POS.”

    Actually, Watchmen has 64% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.6 on IMDB, so it’s safe to say there are plenty critics and audience who think it’s kinda watchable. I’m not one of them but I’m not pretending that this movie is universally hated.

  27. I know nothing about her acting ability as I’ve never heard of her before. But if she puts on 20 pounds of muscle, I suppose she might look the part. Honestly, it’s disappointing that freaking Wonder Woman is going to make her big-screen debut as a supporting or bit player in a Batman/Superman movie.

  28. Hey Ty, I love comic books. I just don’t get into the casting of a superhero movie like it’s a matter of life and death.

  29. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen cosplayers who look more like WW that this young actor. Time for the studio to call in “Very Special Services”. With enough pharmaceutical grade anabolic steroids, and using extreme female bodybuilders like Lenda Murray for coaches, Ms. Godot should amazon up in no time. Of course she may talk deeper than Henry Carvill or Ben Afflick, but they can fix that in post production.

  30. Why are they casting Olive Oyl as Wonder Woman? To be fair, Bale was skinny as hell for a role before donning the cowl and he bulked up. Yet I can’t help but worry that modern Hollywood sensibilities about gender and power are fine with a more Michael Turner heroin chic skinny Wonder Woman.

    Considering what an absolute mess Man Of Steel was, I should not expect anything intelligent coming from Warners Brothers. They turned Superman into a Rolland Emmerich Michael Bay disaster movie. Even the damn Avengers did better damage control than the ultimate superhero Superman. And the tone was totally off. Heck, I don’t mind Affleck as Batman, but I would rather he was behind the camera instead of these two goons.

    Considering Wonder Woman’s long history of the higher ups not getting her and even many of her writers, I am worried with this casting. I saw how they felt they needed to fix Superman. I can’t imagine the ways these idiots want to fix Wonder Woman.

    Really, I don’t have an issue with the actress as much as the people who cast her.

    And when people say we shouldn’t get upset over the casting of a superhero movie.. screw that. It is important. These characters are icons. They don’t just represent some nostalgia for something we read as a kid, they are being sold as the modern messengers of morals and heroism to our children now. So if Warners makes a grim violent Superman or a skinny frail framed runway model Wonder Woman , what message does that send young boys and girls about masculinity and femininity? They are engineering messages to children today within the form of these characters. It is far more important than you realize.

  31. Yeah Carlos? Really the shill at ain’t it cool news gave Watchmen a good review? Shocking. Watchmen is an abomination and if you liked it you are either stupid or lying. You know how this is true? You made sure to clearly distance yourself from endorsing the film in your comment. I can only assume you did this so your opinion would somehow be credible to anyone who can marginally read (me). Snyder is an adolescent man who’s films lack the substance to stand the test of time, they are however filled with “style”.

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