After having the new costume for Wonder Woman teased last month, at Comic-Con on Saturday Zack Snyder unveiled the first look for his cinematic version of the character, and it’s not bad. It’s still pretty T&A for a character who is supposed to be a warrior first and foremost, but let’s be real—it could have been much worse. First, Wonder Woman is no longer wearing panties. We have now graduated to a crotch handkerchief. This is, to me, the most disappointing design element. I was into the idea of Wonder Woman in a skirt because it sounded like they were going for something along the lines of an Ancient Greek hoplite, which would’ve been perfect for this character. But instead we’ve got Sexy Halloween Hoplite.
However, the body armor is GREAT. This is way better than Wonder Woman’s traditional corset. I especially love the W element on her bust that echoes a Roman eagle—it’s a nice nod to her mythological roots. I also love that they bypassed any kind of belt, instead doing another W motif and giving her a harness on which to hang her shield. The arm guards are good, too, and the tiara looks a lot less stupid than I was imagining, so we’ll call that a win as well.
The boots are causing some strife as they have ridiculous wedge heels that no actual warrior would ever wear, but every female superhero so far has had boots like that. Black Widow, Maria Hill and Lady Sif all run around in impractical wedged boots and I don’t like it on any of them, so I’m not going to act like it’s somehow worse on Wonder Woman. Just stop putting heels on lady heroes in general. They do look an awful lot like Lady Sif’s boots, though. So much so, I actually checked to see if the Thor movies and Batman vs. Superman share a costume designer (they don’t). But all in all, the boots are good.
Another aspect causing some nerd angst is the color scheme. This is not Wonder Woman’s classic red, gold and blue. It’s darker, drabber and less vital—basically exactly what you’d expect out of Snyder’s color-drained palette. The earth tones do, though, fit with the idea of an Amazonian warrior, someone whose gear is made from natural textiles and hand-forged metal and not subjected to dyes or treatment.
Overall, this is a really good look for Wonder Woman, and Gal Gadot looks pretty badass. Do I wish it wasn’t exploitative? Yes. Lady Sif continues to set the bar for awesome and non-exploitative lady heroes. But can I live with this? Of course. In fact, after that lame-ass rainy teaser with Batman and Superman, I’m now officially more excited by Wonder Woman than either of those damp bread crusts.
