After the double whammy of disappointment that was Halle Berry’s Catwoman in 2004 and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra a year later, the major studios gave up on the idea of female-led superhero movies for well over a decade. Things were so dire, in fact, that Berry’s solo outing tanked at the box office and was savaged by critics, but still remained the highest-grossing comic book film with a woman in the lead role until Wonder Woman came along.
Luckily, the massive success of Patty Jenkins’ DCEU blockbuster and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain Marvel have made the idea of female-driven actioners a much more viable proposition, even if Birds of Prey ended up as a huge disappointment. While there are currently no further entries in Warner Bros.’ shared universe with a female protagonist on the slate outside of Wonder Woman 1984, the MCU has Black Widow arriving next year, Captain Marvel 2 releasing in 2022 and She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye in the works for Disney Plus.
Avengers: Endgame‘s A-Force moment may have divided opinion, but at least Marvel are forging ahead with their plans to elevate the ladies to similar status as the men. And it seems Warner Bros. will be following suit, as insider Daniel Richtman claims that Amber Heard is pushing for her Aquaman character Mera to team up with Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in a future DCEU project.
Gadot’s Diana Prince is a beloved figure in the world of superhero movies, of course, but it would be fair to say that Heard’s Mera is not. The actress’ performance in her first DC Comics flick was more than a little wooden, and she’s also one of the most unpopular names on the planet at the moment. Pushing for a collaboration with Wonder Woman sounds like wishful thinking designed to deflect away some of the negativity surrounding her, but then again, Mera has been rumored as a potential candidate for the next iteration of the Justice League, so who knows what’ll happen in the future?
