In 2016, we got our first taste of the new Wonder Woman. Over the years, we have plenty of movies about Batman and Superman. But has there been a live-action Wonder Woman movie since her 1941 debut? Nope. Not until 2017! It is a shame that we waited so long to get a full taste of the best Justice League member, but she was well worth the wait. With Gal Gadot playing Diana, Princess of the Themyscira, we couldn’t ask for anyone better. It was like she was born to play this hero!
Since her debut in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we’ve gotten to know all the reasons why Wonder Woman is the best. She is a critical part of the team by playing the voice of reason. In superhero teams, egos can get pretty inflated and cloud judgment, but not Diana’s. She knows when to call people out for being egotistical and illogical. She is guided by her morals and she uses love to defeat evil. Those are just a few of the many reasons that we love this superhero so much.
Mild spoilers for Justice League below, read with your own caution!
1. She’s a straight up goddess.
It isn’t too often we get to see gods in battle. In Wonder Woman’s world, gods are a thing of the past. They are part of a story she was told as a child about the War of the Gods. In the story, Ares, the God of War, wants to kill all of the humans, but the other gods do not agree and they all fight to stop him, thus losing their lives. Diana believes her entire life that she is an Amazon, but that isn’t all. She is the daughter of Hippolyta… but also the daughter of Zeus, ruler of the Olympian Gods. This means that Diana is a demigoddess. Not just that, she is the God Killer.
2. But she is also royalty.
Because she is the daughter of Hippolyta, this means Diana is a princess. Hippolyta is Queen of the Amazons and their leader. Diana’s royalty makes her regal, but she also desires to be an elite Amazon warrior. As a child, she struggled with her desire to be a warrior. You can see how she carries herself, that as an adult, it is no longer a struggle. Diana is poised. She is strong. She is a warrior.
3. She can stop a speeding bullet with the flick of her wrist.
Wonder Woman’s Amazon and demigoddess status make her super strong, super fast, and super agile. Because of this, she can get in front of a bullet in milliseconds. In Justice League, she’s able to protect innocent hostages as a terrorist fires a machine gun at them. And she does it all by using her Bracelets of Submission. She can deflect the bullets with the flick of her wrist and keep moving like it is nothing.
4. She comes from a land of strong, powerful women.
Wonder Woman hails from Themyscira, an island full of Amazons. The Amazons are an all-female race of warriors. They were created by Zeus to be the first line of defense against Ares. After the War of Gods, the Amazons had to remain on Themyscira and train while anticipating the day Ares would return. Diana grew up admiring the Amazons, especially their most elite warrior and general of the Amazons, her aunt Antiope.
5. Her alter ego even lives to save others.
In Wonder Woman, Diana is ready to tell off a man asking who she is and goes to say she is “Diana, Princess of the Themyscira” but Steve Trevor stops her and corrects her by saying Diana Prince, thus giving us her alter ego. As Diana Prince, she challenges the superiors in charge about their careless attitude about the lives that would be lost in war. She called out their cowardice for hiding behind their decisions. Without even stepping into battle yet, she is ready to save lives.
6. She will always call men out on their BS.
When she overhears Steve Trevor talking to his superior British Intelligence officers, Diana immediately jumps into the conversation. She is disgusted by their tactics and disregard for their own soldiers’ lives. She believes they should be ashamed of the fact they aren’t fighting in the war side-by-side their warriors. She believes they are cowards and has no problem voicing that exact thought. Preach it, Diana!
7. She was able to help Superman and Batman get along and work together.
Diana had been in a near 100-year exile after the death of Steve Trevor. The fight between her and Ares had changed her, but when Lex Luthor drew her out by learning her identity, she realized there was something bad coming. With the birth of Doomsday, she knew she couldn’t stand idly by. But Superman and Batman were not allies yet. In fact, they were ready to kill each other. The three of them are able to take on Doomsday and work together to kill the monster, even though it resulted in the death of Superman.
8. She is willing to die for the ones she loves and innocent lives.
Diana isn’t the kind of person who can sit back when she knows she can do something. When she learns of the impending war of men, she goes against her mother’s wishes in order to leave Themyscira and save everyone. When she realizes what a threat Doomsday is, she comes out of her own self-imposed exile to help. When Steppenwolf threatens the world, she is willing to battle a newly-regenerated Superman to get him back on the team.
9…And she will literally walk across a battlefield to protect those people.
Wonder Woman’s selflessness knows no bounds. While many members of her team are willing to run into battle, she literally is willing to walk into a fight that seems impossible to win. She walked across the battlefield in No Man’s Land because it needed to be done to save the innocent lives of those living in the town there. She was fired on by machine guns, but that didn’t stop her, not even for a second. She had her mission and she was willing to die for it.
10. She is a voice of reason.
Egos can run wild among superheroes. When a group of them get together, everyone seems to want to be a leader. But not every idea is a good idea. Wonder Woman has no problem telling her friends and teammates when she thinks their ideas are bad. Primarily, she is ready to tell Bruce that his plan to bring Superman back to life is wrong. She doesn’t think it is the right move to do.
11. Almost no one is stronger than her.
In her time alive, Wonder Woman has met no one stronger than her, except for Superman. She feared that Ares was too big a match for her, but once she embraced all of her abilities, he was the one who was no match for her. Steppenwolf could not take her in a hand-to-hand combat, she is too fast and agile for him. Only Superman’s Kryptonian abilities have proved to be a real match to her own.
12. Not only does she fight for justice, she fights for the truth.
Wonder Woman isn’t the type of hero to punch first and ask questions later. Some heroes never even ask questions to begin with. Diana wants to know why people are doing the terrible things that they do. When she is fighting off terrorists, she uses the Lasso of Hestia to find out their master plan. The Lasso of Hestia compels people to tell the truth. If it is used against them, they cannot fight its power and will submit into telling the truth.
13. She uses love to win her battles.
“It’s not about deserve; it’s about what you believe. And I believe in love.” While many superheroes use anger or righteousness to get them through a battle, Wonder Womanuses love. After Steve sacrificed his life, knowing that Diana was the one who could save the world, she used that to defeat Ares. And she’s kept it with her ever since. It’s her strongest and most cherished belief.
14. Her power doesn’t come from lightning, money, or an alien planet.
The Flash was struck by lightning. Batman is the winged vigilante because he is rich. Superman is an alien from another planet. Cyborg was made in a lab. Only Aquaman is like Wonder Woman in any way. But even then, he’s no god. Diana’s power is nearly unmatched by her colleagues. She is a master in combat having learned from the greatest of the Amazons. She is a master swordsman. She’s fast, agile, strong, and determined and it’s completely her own.
15. She is a natural born leader.
In Justice League, Bruce knows that Diana would be the best leader of the bunch. He knows she has it in her to lead them all. She is able to compel to Cyborg’s human side to get him to join them. When working with Steve Trevor and the Wonder Men, she is able to appeal to them and have them follow her onto the battlefield at No Man’s Land. Her fearless, yet compassionate attitude tends to win everyone over.
16. She’s a woman and she’s breaking every stereotype she can.
Here’s the obvious one. We don’t have enough strong women leading films. She uses being a woman as one of her strengths, not a weakness. She inspires little girls around the world. She proves time and time again that she’s stronger than heroes like Batman and the Flash. When preparing to go incognito, she tries to find something to wear to blend in. She thinks all of the heavy petticoats and dresses are ridiculous for women, and we can’t help but agree!