What’s Happening With The DCU’s Wonder Woman Now?
There's only one hero who could potentially save the franchise from yet another reboot.
It’s been 24 hours since James Gunn and Peter Safran stepped down as the creative co-chairs of DC Studios, sending the fate of their superhero reboot into limbo. Though it may take some time for the dust to settle — and for DC’s new president, Jeremy Latcham, to settle in — the brand is working against the clock. Fans have spent the past four years parsing out Gunn and Safran’s mystifying plans for the DCU; with the franchise now in a kind of freefall, everyone wants to know what the future holds.
For now, the key to DC’s next phase might lie with Man of Tomorrow, the third installment for Gunn’s Superman saga. Plot details remain scarce, but speculation pins the film as a step towards what many DC fans are eager to see: a second chance at a live-action Justice League. David Corenswet’s Man of Steel will be forced to team up with his archenemy, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), and a handful of other heroes to fight a new threat in Brainiac (Lars Eidinger). Milly Alcock will return as Supergirl, and this will also be the first time we see Aaron Pierre in real action as Earth’s Green Lantern.
Perhaps most crucially, though, Man of Tomorrow will introduce a yet-unnamed character played by Adria Arjona, and her mystery role could tell Skydance whether the DCU can survive on this scant foundation or already needs yet another reboot.
Is Adria Arjona the DCU’s Wonder Woman?
Adria Arjona’s mystery role could steer the DCU toward its next movie.
Before the shakeup in DC leadership, Arjona’s role in Man of Tomorrow was the buzziest question surrounding the DCU. Deadline first revealed that she was testing for a supporting villain role, the warrior queen Maxima. The Hollywood Reporter, however, wasn’t so sure that Arjona would be Maxima after all. The actress has been a top hopeful for the role of Wonder Woman for years, and given all the secrecy surrounding her casting, that possibility feels more likely by the day.
We won’t get outright confirmation until Man of Tomorrow hits theaters next summer, but if Arjona is Wonder Woman, and if Gunn’s next film is a success, what then? Gunn and Safran wasted four years ignoring DC’s most prominent female hero: though Warner Bros.’ former head, David Zaslav, claimed the studio was fast-tracking a Wonder Woman movie, those plans never materialized. The DCU even scrapped a prequel series set in the heroine’s home of Themyscira, Paradise Lost, setting progress back further.
Ironically, Wonder Woman could give the ailing DCU a major boost. Per Variety, it’d be “an easy win” if Wonder Woman debuted in Man of Tomorrow and promptly appeared in her own solo film. There’s a pretty big “if” here, but let’s hope DC’s new leadership will do what the last regime couldn’t and salvage the story threads with the most potential.
