Superhero Flicks Are Hotter Than Ever, But Wonder Woman Gets No Love

Ever seen a Spider-Man movie? How many Batman flicks? Avengers? What about Wonder Woman? As Entertainment Weekly‘s Goeff Boucher points out: “Superman and Batman will have 16 movies between them by the end of this summer and Wonder Woman can’t lasso a movie deal.”

Boucher interviews filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan, whose documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines is airing on PBS April 15. She says:

Hollywood seems to be hesitant to bank on a movie with a woman as the lead. Hopefully something like Hunger Games will change the perception that movies about women don’t make money. There’s also a challenge find a director that will be true to the material but still bring it to life in a way that will appeal to a broad audience. Joss Whedon did a good job with that on The Avengers. Since a lot of people have a hard time defining who Wonder Woman is beyond the costume — that presents a challenge.

As a kid, I had a Wonder Woman bathing suit and the idea of a female super hero seemed totally normal. It seems sad to think that there have been 4 Spider-Man movies and one Spider-Man Broadway play in the last 10 years but nothing about Wonder Woman. Katniss is cool and all, but little girls should be able to dream about having powers, an invisible jet, and bullet-deflecting bracelets. Why not?

Watch Coming Soon to Independent Lens: Wonder Women! on PBS. See more from Independent Lens.