I know Batman Begins is “old”, but lots of people (young people most notably) haven’t seen it yet. Not that you shouldn’t have said what you said because it was indeed relevant to Wonder Woman, just… a small spoiler alert for twist endings of other movies would be nice 🙂

Anyway thanks for the video !

It is big business, but it has always been seen as something for kids and teens, here. Even at the height of the comic books bubble, when there was a ton of speculative activity. Since that bubble burst, things haven’t been quite the same. It’s definitely not like it is in Japan. Good points on the film audience, and Marvel vs. DC. I would definitely fall into the “non-comic book” part of the audience that Marvel and DC are aiming for. Marvel comics translate better to the big screen than DC, IMHO. Not sure if I’m going to see this movie, but one review I read said that it was a fun film to see, in spite of its’ meandering plot. They felt that it was great that WW had a film of her own, and that the star of the film pulled off the title role quite well.

Some of the stories in comics are really great and very few people know about them because the comics industry whored itself out by releasing endless installments of every title, making it impossible to view it all, so very few bother.

There’s no respect for comics by those that create comics, its just milk it to infinity with no end, endless spinoffs, endless crossovers, false ends, no real deaths, no real stakes, infinite timelines, infinite dimensions, clones for every dead person, etc.

With movies, there’s usually only a handful of installments and then they can actually remake it later with another handful, so there is always an end.
With movies you can actually experience the whole story; that’s not possible with comics.
Comics fucking suck.

I don’t get the sense that comics are seen as very mainstream in the West. Going to see the latest blockbuster is though, so movies are a way to reach out to that audience. Also, even comic book fans probably like the idea of seeing their favourite heros on the big screen. Whether they think it works in execution however, is something else entirely and I think Marvel has probably fared better than DC in that regard. I’m intrigued now that reviews are in and WW is well received, even by James, which is shocking since it was easily the film I was the most iffy about. I’ll definitely see it now though.

Reason why Hollywood makes so many comic books movies is because it’s their cash cow. Basically, it’s all that sells for them. Well… that and animated movies. They are going to milk that cow ’till the cow runs dry.

In reference to the SPOILER about the villain being a decoy, that was an essential point to Diane’s character growth.

She thought she was better than the imperfect humans because they all (even her beloved Steve) have committed atrocities (mass murders via their allegiance to country), but when she kills the war-criminal (who she thought was Ares), and the war doesn’t magically end, she begins to realize that she is no better than the humans.

She killed under false prejudices due to her religion (lies told to her growing up) as do all of mankind.

When Steve makes the ultimate sacrifice to stop the war, Diane becomes enraged and begins to slaughter everyone (embarking on destroying mankind alongside Ares), that’s when she fully realizes that she’s just like the humans: easily emotional and willing to commit mass murder to avenge the wrongs against her.

So this ‘decoy’ cliche (which I am in general agreement with you, James) was actually essential to this film and works beautifully when you realize its importance.