"Wonder Woman," the latest installment to the DC Extended Universe by Warner Brothers Pictures and DC Films, is by now well on its way to completing its first week on North American cinemas. And already it’s made waves and set a few records, for being a big-budget superhero film with a super-heroine lead and directed by a woman to boot. The Amazon Princess Diana of Themyscira, the titular Wonder Woman, was famed in the comics for her primary means of overcoming enemies with a bit of love.
And who cannot love her, doubly so when she’s played by Gal Gadot? The love for “Wonder Woman” is so strong that it even – for a little while – reduced the competitive spirit between Warner/DC and their rivals, Disney/Marvel.
Amazon vs. Asgardian
That last part needs a little clarification. It seems that the utter popularity of the “Wonder Woman” film has spurred a sort of “warming interaction” between the stars of Warner/DC’s DCEU and Disney/Marvel Studio’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. This perhaps was most encapsulated in the humorous Twitter exchange between Gal Gadot and Chris Hemsworth, who plays the Norse God of Thunder Thor in two solo films, two “Avengers” films and one more for him in “Thor: Ragnarok””.
That would be rather appropriate considering the Israeli actress and the Australian actor are portraying comic book superheroes based on different real-world mythologies.
Last Friday June 2, Gadot was first to throw down the gauntlet, as it were, when she was featured in an interview with Yahoo! that included a question comic book fans have once asked one another: “Who would win I a fight: Wonder Woman or Thor?” Gadot of course replied that her character will win, followed by an aside, “Am I right, Chris?” referring to Hemsworth. The video snippet was put on Twitter where it made the rounds until Hemsworth himself made a shocking statement, agreeing that the Amazon will beat the God of Thunder.
Crossing borders
Interestingly, such a discussion of power between the two characters was brought up back in the 90s when Marvel and DC comics jointly published a limited series crossover, “Marvel vs. DC”. Both Thor and Wonder Woman were featured in the storyline, with the DC Amazon actually managing to acquire Thor’s hammer Mjolnir. She forgoes it when she was set to battle the X-Man Storm (losing as a result). Anyway, Gal Gadot replied to Chris Hemsworth’s concession, calling him a “smart guy”, but also expressing interest in the fight happening anyway.
Other actors and actresses who worked on the MCU also made glowing appraisals of Gadot and “Wonder Woman” director Patty Jenkins, including Chris Evans (Captain America) and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk). Joss Whedon, who has been on the MCU films before pinch-hitting for Zack Snyder on the DCEU’s upcoming “Justice League”, was also highly impressed by the film.