Wonder Woman 2: Why Kristen Wiig is Perfect For Cheetah

Kristen Wiig playing the villain in Wonder Woman 2 may be a surprise, but it would be hard to find a better choice for Cheetah. The reasons fans have to be thrown are obvious: Wiig is best known as a comedy star, which is as far from a superhero blockbuster villain as an actor can get. But not long after the first rumors of Wiig being director Patty Jenkins's top choice, the casting became official. Cheetah will be the villain of Wonder Woman 2, and a Saturday Night Live alum will be bringing her to life.

The casting, as shocking as it may be at first, is one of the first official details concerning Wonder Woman's sequel. Beyond Jenkins promising that Wonder Woman 2 will be totally different from Diana's origin story, development has been kept under wraps. Now that star Gal Gadot will officially be doing battle against a superstrong cheetah/human hybrid played by the star of Bridesmaids, fans know just HOW different. But believe us, there is reason to be even more excited than fans were the first time around.

Questions still remain beyond Wiig being cast as Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva a.k.a. Cheetah (assuming the film will be adapting the actual Cheetah, not a jealous thief who frames Diana for robbery). It's definitely possible that Cheetah won't be Wonder Woman 2's only villain, considering the mystical forces at play in turning a woman into a were-cheetah. But in recruiting Wiig to a DC villain role that could have gone in a troubling direction, the filmmakers have added a promising piece to this project.

Are you one of the skeptics doubting that this is the right pick for Cheetah? Then allow us to tell you Why Kristen Wiig's Cheetah Casting Is Perfect.

This Page: How Cheetah Can Fix Wonder Woman's Villain Problem

Kristen Wiig's Cheetah Can Fix Wonder Woman's Biggest Problem

Wonder Woman battling Cheetah in DC comics

The most promising aspect of Kristen Wiig's casting may actually be in the human side of her character, but for now, let's deal with the obvious. From a "big picture" standpoint, the first reports that Wonder Woman 2 would use a villain like Cheetah seemed a step in the right direction. Where most critics and audiences left Diana's origin movie satisfied, the most common criticism focused on the disappointing ending fight with Ares. It checked the boxes for a standard, CG-fueled superhero finale - but seemed a strange conclusion, given how different the rest of the film tried to be.

Since then Patty Jenkins explained the Ares fight, but the problem remains. For a heroine and story focused so intently on family bonds, compassion, and a belief in the best of mankind, capping it all off with a battle between demigods lost something along the way. With a villain like Cheetah, however, the love given so freely by Wonder Woman to the men and women she calls friends might actually lead to the ultimate showdown.

That's assuming that Patty Jenkins and her team go with the modern, current version of Cheetah's story, in which Barbara Ann Minerva is not a cruel, jealous monster, but a victim of a crueler god than any Diana honored. Cheetah was a woman and friend in distress, lending greater thematic weight to Diana's mission of healing the wounds inflicted by the cruelty of man. Fear not, fans of the classic versions of Cheetah: this one was still a fur-covered, ferocious cross between femme fatale and a wild animal.

How Will Wonder Woman 2 Realize Cheetah?

It didn't take long for the first artwork of Kristen Wiig as Cheetah to surface (BossLogic's design seen below), showing what the Bridesmaids star could look like with fur and feline features. Of course, the truth is... nobody has any idea what the movie version of Cheetah will look like. It goes without saying given the rise in superhero movie spectacle (and Black Panther's troubling special effects fresh in our minds) that the character's designs will rely heavily on digital effects, practical or digital prosthetics, and likely completely-digital character models. Fight choreography and stunt doubles can go a long way, but a cheetah-speed human is still mainly fantasy.

Yet the casting of Kristen Wiig has churned up a familiar wave of conversations concerning her physical qualifications for the role (fans have already forgotten how wrong they were about Gal Gadot's body, apparently). It's as good a time as any to remind fans that everyone cast in a superhero or supervillain role seems destined for a training or fitness regime ahead of shooting, and Wiig may be no different. Or the costume could make Cheetah appear exactly as Jenkins wishes, and demand only that Wiig bring the energy and endurance needed for the work.

Just because Gal Gadot is stepping up her Wonder Woman workouts, that doesn't mean Wiig - or whoever else might have been in the running - also needs to pack on pounds of muscle. Practically speaking, Cheetah won't be flexing Diana to death, or going twelve rounds in a boxing ring. She is fast, agile, fierce, and famous for her snarling facial features. If watching Kristen Wiig's film and TV appearances didn't prove her physicality is one of her strongest traits, then Google her interpretive dance to Sia's "Chandelier" that stunned those watching The 2015 Grammys.

They were stunned because Wiig's dancing... wasn't funny. Her comedy chops are what made her famous, not giving an emotional performance alongside Dance Moms prodigy Maddie Ziegler (we can only assume Jenkins caught it as well). Although it can't be called a formal "audition" since the first Wonder Woman hadn't even been made by then, it's all the evidence those on the fence will need.

Kristen Wiig's roster of SNL characters - and a career best turn in dramedy The Skeleton Twins - proves creating a tortured cat-human hybrid is well within her abilities. But what will truly prove she's the perfect casting choice is the other half of her role. The heart of the villain, perfectly tailored to be defeated (saved?) by Diana without sacrificing the film's story to do it.

Why Kristen Wiig is The Perfect Cheetah

To explain why Kristen Wiig can shine as more than just a CG-aided villain, it's important to know who's beneath the beast: Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva. On the surface, especially for those seeking out character details only after she was confirmed for Wonder Woman 2, the villain seems straightforward. Long story short, she's a British archeologist who stumbles on a curse, transforming her into a humanoid cheetah (or a were-cheetah, from time to time). But that was the original. The most recent version of the character has a lot more to offer.

Introduced by acclaimed Wonder Woman writer Greg Rucka as part of DC's Rebirth, the new take on Barbara Ann was specifically designed to give the "villain" a story of her own. One that did away with the notion that Cheetah was a freeing force - allowing the inner treacherous vixen of to emerge from a normal human or socialite. Rebirth made it perfectly clear that Barbara Ann was a strong character before she ever encountered a curse.

Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva was the character's primary identity, shaped by her own trauma, wants, desires, and needs. Cheetah was the curse that drove her to become a villain - but only after audiences came to understand, if not outright like her.

The success of Indian Jones inspired a few tomb-raiding heroines, but few true archeological adventurers who were in the job for the academic thrills of confirmed research and historical enlightenment. In the newest version of her story, Barbara Ann was passionate in her belief that the Amazons and their home of Themyscira were a real, historical group. Her (predominantly male) colleagues dismissed it as a fairy tale, but Barbara Ann was used to that. Her father was the first to advise her to embrace cold, hard facts, and give up the dream of gods, goddesses, and warriors of myth and legend.

The resulting blend of academic and dreamer is actually a close description of Wiig's role in 2016's Ghostbusters reboot. That film had a list of problems, but Wiig's believability as an intelligent academic in pursuit of the impossible wasn't one of them. But more than any one 'ability' Wiig can use to convincingly play the part, the tone and sense of humor seen in Wonder Woman places incredible potential in Dr. Minerva's part in the story.

On paper, Barbara Ann follows the same broad character sketch as Lois Lane, Jurassic Park's Ellie Sattler, or The Mummy's Evie Carnahan. Intelligent, well-read, and shrewd... without being cold, wooden, or antisocial. Someone the audience actually roots for, hoping to see her childlike excitement and willingness to appear foolish rewarded. The same description one might give of Wiig herself, exemplified on Saturday Night Live before even beginning her variety of film and TV roles.

In the end, Barbara Ann Minerva needs to be two things to make the part truly sing: be compelling and genuine enough to convince audiences that her story begins long before Wonder Woman enters it, and relatable, or just likable enough that the audience will actually care when she becomes the antagonist. Her ambition and undaunted quest to find the Amazons is why we admire her, but it's also what brings about her end... and brings the Cheetah to life.

We're confident that the Rebirth incarnation of Dr. Minerva/Cheetah was made for someone like Kristen Wiig, and it would appear Patty Jenkins feels the same. It's raised our hopes for Wonder Woman 2, but what about yours?