Thor (2011): WONDER WOMAN
Hero: Diana of Themyscira, Wonder Woman
Villain: Circe
Cameo roles: Donna Troy
Plot:
This may be contestable, given that even Marvel has yet to put out a superhero movie with a female lead. But there’s no denying Wonder Woman’s place as one of DC’s Big Three superheroes, not to mention as an icon of female super-heroism.
Thor is a pretty good benchmark for what you could do with Wonder Woman. The use of the mythological is the obvious one, given that Diana is Princess of the Amazons and blessed by the gods of the Greek Pantheon. Circe, a long-time antagonist to Diana’s mother Queen Hippolyta, could transfer her enmity to Diana and threaten the world she has come to love.
Granted, Thor is complicated by the fact that Asgard is technically a realm of aliens, and there’s a bit of space-Viking-soap-opera in there that doesn’t really apply to Wonder Woman. But Themyscira, the island nation of the Amazons, is on Earth, and is thus easier to ground into a film world (unless a warrior society of women is even harder to believe than a planet of godlike aliens accessible by Rainbow Bridge).
Like Thor, Diana is a royal with little understanding of the world outside of her own. There’s some compelling character development to be had of a Princess of an elite warrior society learning about the rest of the world and coming to her own as a hero, battling elements seek to subjugate Themyscira. And if Jane Foster can be realized onscreen as well as she has been, then so can Steve Trevor.
(Post-Credits Scene: Amanda Waller visits Themyscira without Diana knowing. She talks to Queen Hippolyta about how the world is changing, and how she would like the Amazon’s participation. Hippolyta warns that they are not to be threatened, and that they have no desire to shape the world. Waller tries to say that they, especially Diana, are going to change the world whether they like it or not, but Hippolyta tells her to get out of Themyscira and to not meddle in the affairs of the gods.
As Waller leaves, she notes that it went a lot better than the talk with Atlantis. When asked by General Eiling if she isn’t worried, because now they have magic as well as aliens to worry about, Waller mentions that they won’t have much to worry about if they can play the two against each other; and, as always, they have an ace: the scene ends showing CADMUS scientists having Hawkgirl’s Nth metal mace in their possession.)