With the immense critical and all-but-inevitable commercial dominance of Wonder Woman, isn't it only right for the DCEU's future to refocus onto Diana Prince? As many commentators have noted, Wonder Woman was going up against a track-record of poorly received female-led superhero movies, with the most recent previous examples being 2004's Catwoman and 2005's Elektra. Both were loose spinoffs of popular male heroes (Batman and Daredevil respectively) and both are notoriously bad, which led to there being what is evidently unfounded trepidation about further female-led superhero projects.

However, when it comes to dominating legacy, the other thing working against Wonder Woman was Batman and Superman. While DC Comics' roster is bursting at the seams with deep, varied heroes of all description (of which there's normally several noteworthy personality variants care of the Multiverse), when it came to adapting the graphic novels Warner Bros. have focused almost entirely on the two icons that made their name. Yes, Wonder Woman was the subject of the Lynda Carter live-action series and many more have been adapted in cartoon form over the years (the 1960s version of Aquaman is partly why he's been the butt of a joke for so long), but when it came to the big screen, Warner Bros. seemed to believe that only the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel held any collateral.

DC's Self-Destructive Obsession with Batman and Superman

Batman gaces Superman in Batman V. Superman

Superman quite convincingly flew into theaters in 1978 and spawned three sequels of diminishing returns (as well as a Supergirl spinoff that, fitting of the apparent curse of female superhero movies, was the worst of the run), with Batman following a similar trajectory between 1989 and 1997. In that time, the only other films based on any DC characters released were two cheapo Swamp Things and Shaq's better-forgotten Steel. Of course, this was a time before the comic book boom, when Marvel's single cinema release was Howard the Duck, but what's crazy is that even when spandex became cool this attitude persisted for the next decade and a half.

To capitalize on the success of X-Men and Spider-Man, DC set about rebooting Bats and Supes, with the only respite being Catwoman (a dud that was originally intended to spinoff from Batman Returns). It was only after these two series - throwback Superman Returns and the Dark Knight trilogy - that they started to cast a wider net. Several projects, such as George Miller's Justice League and Arrow: Escape from Super Max were floated and Green Lantern made its way to the screen, before the success of The Avengers eventually moved us to the DC Extended Universe.

All of this background is important because the approach taken with the early DCEU seemed to follow the exact same pervasive logic: the first film was a Superman reboot, the second a Batman reboot-cum-versus, and the third a standalone for Batman villain the Joker (only with all the Joker cut out). And while the plan has seemingly changed a lot going forward, the core elements are all the same - Justice League is concerned with Bruce Wayne uniting the team and the resurrection of Clark Kent (and thus completion of his Jesus arc), while the overall focus is still on Gotham; the film dependably making up the most internet ink is The Batman, and there are enough projects in development based off the Bat family that a rumor about four films set around the hive of scum and villany in the same year had a degree of plausibility.

People like Batman and Superman, so there is some business logic to this move. However, as you can't avoid, it hasn't gone too well so far. The DCEU's critical reception has been dependably vicious and, while box office receipts are more reasonable, the fact Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice missed out on $1 billion is taken as a major mar. By most conventional methods, it was three strikes down. The issues here are plentiful and complex, but one prevalent reason is a misunderstanding of the heroes at the core, leading to an overall lethargy.

So thank the gods (literal Greeks or those of Lex Luthor's endless metaphors) for Wonder Woman. In contrast to what's come before, this is a bona fide success that would seem to lend some credence to that "director-led" methodology. Its Rotten Tomatoes score will plateau from its early all-time high and it may not make as much as BvS or even Suicide Squad, but flying in the face of the female "curse" and costing a modest $120 million it's going to be more profitable - and worth much, much more when you consider the associated impact on the brand all this has had. And, especially in contrast to the glum feeling swirling around Dawn of Justice's release, it's for this and associated reasons why she's the perfect person to hand over the reins to.

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Justice League Trailer Aquaman Cyborg Wonder Woman

Why Wonder Woman Should Lead The DCEU Going Forward

To be clear, when we say "lead the DCEU" we don't mean that you scrap Batgirl and Nightwing and replace them with The Adventures of Sameer and At The Louvre with Diana Prince (although we'd definitely watch those), but that the overall focus shifts from the inaugural Superman trilogy and Batman ephemera in Diana's direction.

While a shared universe shouldn't have a "main" character (that's why Sony's Spider-verse could work), it can have a star, an MVP, a uniting icon who carries team-ups and stands at the center of the marketing. For Marvel that's Iron Man, for X-Men that's Wolverine, and while for the DCEU that's been presumed to be Batman, it should be Wonder Woman. Make her the core of Justice League 2, have her sequels come in at a faster rate and, through related movies like Aquaman, double-down on the god-side of the DCEU.

The distinction this gives the series would be phenomenal. Being able to have a franchise fronted by a female character shouldn't be as difficult as studios have treated it, and while Star Wars has technically made the move first, going in with Wonder Woman provides the DCEU with a distinguished hook. And, yes, some bragging rights against the MCU, although in that debate the wider direction is just as potent; if Marvel's going cosmic, it only makes sense for the Distinguished Competition to embrace its calling card of the mythic.

Representation politics aside, it's naturally going to be a breath of fresh air, giving audiences who've had a solid thirty years of various bat logos a new hero that they're not as worn with. While her eight-decade legacy is certainly strong, WB are at least right in their assumption Wonder Woman isn't at the same level of proliferation as Batman and Superman - whereas most people can readily cite Krypton or the events of Crime Alley, the mixture of myth and fantasy that makes up Diana's past is alien to most - and to explore her more now is actually a good thing. We've gone past the time when only the biggest heroes were allowed to front movies and so that reognizability argument no longer flies.

And then there's positivity. Wonder Woman's given the DCEU its first quantifiably well-reviewed film and the mood that begets is incredible. For many, the series was three strikes and out, but now excitement is high for not just the standalones that are following a similar level of creative freedom like Aquaman and The Batman, but also for Justice League, which is essentially a sequel to the early films. To not use the hero who saved the franchise is frankly ridiculous, and will work for both sides of the debate: for detractors, Wonder Woman feels like a new beginning, and even though Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent can have a place in the series going forward, putting them at the forefront is only going to remind of previous slip-ups; and for those on board, it's a new focal point for something they already like.

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Wonder Woman reaching for her sword

Why Wonder Woman Is The DCEU's Only Great Character

But beyond it being just a good choice, after seeing Wonder Woman (mild thematic spoilers only) it feels like the only viable move. Where the film really excels is in its characterization; Gal Gadot's part in Dawn of Justice has (somewhat retroactively) become one of the few positives to come out of that film but with this origin prequel she truly comes into her own, the Miss Universe entrant lost into the skin of the Princess of Themyscira. We see the hero develop from strong-willed child to idealistic fish-out-of-water to paragon of human virtue. Forget the film being good (although it is), Wonder Woman flies because in Diana we have the series' first truly great protagonist. People are genuinely going to want to see more of her, something you can't say that about any other hero in the DCEU.

Specifically, unlike her fellow Trinity members, we have a character who's explicitly stated ethos is one of protecting humanity and fighting for what is right; you know, a pure presentation of what she actually represents. From the very start, the DCEU's Superman and Batman have been intended to be deconstructions of their perennial icons: Superman doesn't just become the hero, he wrestles with what a god from another world with two conflicting father ideals should actually do; Batman doesn't just fight crime to avenge his parents, he becomes a sadistic brute driven by a cocktail of fear and rage. Putting aside how this was executed (although the general consensus is that neither through explicit characterisation or the movies they're in it worked) this leaves us with two main heroes who are a step apart from what they typically embody. That works in a standalone comic run like The Dark Knight Returns (on which the core conflict of Batman v Superman and the former's personality is heavily based) but for a long-running narrative that's a tough ask (just ask anyone who read Frank Miller's sequels). It can loop back, sure, but it feels disingenuous, especially now you have a third option with Diana.

We may actually be seeing the early stages of this shift already. Diana took a strong position in the first proper Justice League trailer, even getting the pre-title money-line ("Shall we?"), and from what we know of the story she's going to be the premier superpowered force for much of the runtime (especially if rumors of Superman's villainy come to pass). Even if this isn't the plan yet, WB should have cottoned onto the goldmine they're sitting on after the needlessly controversial marketing, which put almost all its focus on Diana and attempted to elevate the legend of Wonder Woman to a level comparable with her fellow Trinitians - something, based on the social media footprint of the film, it succeeded at.

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Patty Jenkins' smash-hit is the first straight non-Batman/Superman film since 2011 and the first good one since never. Wonder Woman isn't just a win for Diana Prince - it's a win for any DC superhero whose mother isn't called Martha. That should be celebrated and used, rather than being a respite before we return to business as usual. Her time has come, now let her lead the way.

Next: Wonder Woman's DCEU Movie Connections Explained

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