Wonder Woman (film)

**Wonder Woman** is a 2011 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. It was directed by Patty Jenkins and written by Allan Heinberg. It stars Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Alison Brie, Sebastian Stan, Karen Gillan, Gillian Anderson, Ben Barnes, and Mark Wahlberg. The film ran 154 minutes and was released on April 29, 2011.

## Plot

In the year 3000 B.C., Mount Olympus is at a state of panic after learning Zeus had mated with an Amazon, an all woman race, and created the first demi-god Amazon, also the first Amazon in thousands of years to be made naturally. Hippolyta, the mother, takes her child, Diana, from Mount Olympus back to Themyscira, the land of the Amazons. The Amazons make a deal with the gods to end the panic by shielding the island away from the public, also cutting ties and any ways of communication from human to god. In 1918, Diana is now a grown woman, due to Amazons aging much slower than any other race. However, suddenly a pilot crash lands on their island, the barrier have broken down after some years. The pilot, Steve Trevor, reveals of a war going on in the Land of Humans, that would tear the planet apart. Hippolyta agrees to send one of her warriors to fight and end the war. She forbids Diana from joining the contest, but she uses magic to disguise herself and wins the contest. She reveals herself to her mother, who allows her to join Trevor. Diana takes Amazonian armor, shield, and sword to fight. Steve leads her back to London to fight.

Diana meets the D.E.O., which will one day become A.R.G.U.S. Director Hank Henshaw, secretary Etta Candy, and Trevor's best friend and fellow agent, Sarge Steel. Diana wants to go straight to the war, but Trevor prevents her from fighting straight away, due to them needing a plan. However, they are soon attacked by the German Empire's top assassin, Barbara Ann Minerva, also known as Cheetah. Diana learns the Empire has been experimenting with dangerous minerals that can give certain people superpowers, Minerva one of them, who gained the powers of being fast, agile, and gained claws. However, it also permanently altered her skin to look like a cheetah. Diana and Minerva fight and the latter is arrested. Diana meets British soldier Harold Champion. Diana takes a liking to him and falls for him, angering Trevor who wants to date Diana. However, Harold does not return her feelings.

Diana, Trevor, Steel, Champion, and Henshaw go out into battle to fight and end the war. Diana sees Champion fighting a German soldier and the former punching the soldier and sending him flying miles away. Diana confronts him to ask if he is one of the enhanced humans, but he reveals himself to be Hercules, Zeus' son, in disguise. Diana asks why a god was sent to help her. Hercules reveals to her that she was not made out of clay, like she thought, that she was the product of Hippolyta and Zeus. Diana realizes Hercules is her half-brother and wants to return home. However, Trevor convinces her to not leave and the two admit their feelings for one another, spending the night together in a cramped tent outside of the battlefield.

The fight escalates, forcing the team to go straight to the Germans. However, Etta is attacked and killed by Cheetah, who escaped. Cheetah arrives at the battlefield and attacks the team. Diana saves Trevor from being killed and fights Cheetah in the middle of the woods. The two women fight until finally Diana stabs her with her sword. Cheetah is left to bleed out. The team makes it to Germany where they finally are able to get the Germans to sign an armistice, ending the war. The team returns to the D.E.O. where they have a funeral for Etta. Diana wants to return home, but realizes there is still much wrong with humanity and stays to help the D.E.O. end the other battles going on around the world. In a mid-credits scene, Cheetah is still barely alive. Henshaw picks her up and puts her in a cryo-chamber to prevent her from aging, saying they need her for later.1

1Although it was directly stated in the film, it was confirmed outside the film that the "we" Henshaw was speaking of was not the D.E.O. or even A.R.G.U.S.

## Cast

* Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
* Henry Cavill as Steve Trevor
* Alison Brie as Barbara Ann Minerva
* Sebastian Stan as Sarge Steel
* Karen Gillan as Etta Candy
* Gillian Anderson as Hippolyta
* Ben Barnes as Harold Champion
* Mark Wahlberg as Hank Henshaw

## Reception

### **Box office**

The film grossed $165.2 million in the United States and Canada, along with $500.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $665.7 million.

### **Critical reception**

On the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 167 reviews, and an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though *Wonder Woman* has a problem with it's pacing, the action, dialogue, and acting compensates." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on 31 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".