The Dark Knight and Man of Steel better hold on tight to their capes if they know what’s good for them, cause Wonder Woman is more than ready to blow them away with her presence. We’ve seen proof of this when she shows up unexpectedly in the “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” trailer, and saves the 2 man from danger.
The heroin clad in Amazonian knee-high boots is Gal Gadot. If you’re not too familiar with the 30-year-old actress, don’t worry you aren’t the only one. Some of you may remember the bombshell star for her role as Gisele Harrabo in “Fast & Furious”, “Fast Five”, and “Fast & Furious 6”, but outside the realm of street racing, Gadot is relatively unknown.
We decided to do a little digging and came up with a couple of fun facts about Gadot and her powerful female character, Wonder Woman.
1. The name Gal Gadot has special meaning
As simple as her name may sound, the name Gal Gadot actually has a specific meaning. Gal means wave in Hebrew while her surname Gadot means shore or riverbank. Together, her name means never ending wave. Perhaps, she should have been cast in “Aquaman”? Just kidding.
Born in Rosh Ha’Ayin in central Israel, the Israeli actress describe herself as ¼ Czech, ¼ Polish, ¼ Austrian, and ¼ German. She first rose to fame at the age of 19 when she won the Miss Israel 2004 competition and went on to represent her country in Miss Universe beauty pageant.
2. Gadot has a military background
By military background, we don’t mean that she has a relative in the army. She was actually an enlisted soldier. From beauty queen to military babe, Gadot isn’t afraid to toughen it out. She’s always had a huge admiration for strong women and that was what inspired her to sign up for the Israeli army.
There, she served 2 years in the Israel Defense Forces as a sports trainer. Her knowledge from military training and experience in weapons also help earn her a ticket to Hollywood when she got cast as Gisele Harrabo in the “Fast & Furious” franchise.
3. She thought she was auditioning for Catwoman
The model-turned-actress initially thought she would be playing Catwoman, in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” as opposed to the Amazonian warrior – can you imagine it? Due to the secrecy surrounding the project, Gadot didn’t know what to expect when she was called in to audition for Warner Bros as she was never told the details of her character. All she knew was that it was going to be a movie by Zack Snyder.
“I mean, I could have guessed. I thought it was going to be Selina (Kyle aka Catwoman), you know? I only knew what role it was when I flew in to test with Ben (Affleck). I was very excited. Anytime I had general meetings in LA, I always said that my dream role was to do an empowered, independent woman who doesn’t rely on men,” she told Empire.
Catwoman has always been a well-known female character from DC Comics, so it’s understandable that Gadot would assume it to be the acrobatic jewel thief first since it was movie involving the Caped Crusader. Besides, there was no mention of Wonder Woman when the movie was first announced. Selina Kyle was last played by Anne Hathaway in 2012’s “The Dark Knight Rises”, so perhaps we’ll see more of the feline fatale in the near future.
4. Gadot was previously offered to play a villain in “Man of Steel”
As it turns out, Wonder Woman isn’t the first role she was offered from the DC Comics. Gadot shared that she was nearly cast as Faora, Zod’s second-in-command. “When I was a month pregnant with (my daughter) Alma, I got an offer to be the evil Superman character. If I wasn’t pregnant I’d take the job, and there’s no way they would take me now to be Wonder Woman,” said the actress.
According to Cinema Blend, the Kryptonian general together with Faora and the rest of his followers “was banished to the Phantom Zone shortly before Krypton’s destruction, but when they were accidentally freed from the prison, they made their way to Earth years later to find Jor-El’s son, Kal-El, and retrieved the codex to create a new Krypton. She and the rest of Zod’s minions were later sent back to the Phantom Zone, thus leaving any future appearances from the character in question”.
The role eventually went to Antje Traue. Things definitely worked out better for Gadot, because whatever cosmic forces were at work in the universe, it led to the actress landing the role of Wonder Woman.
5. Wonder Woman is a demi-goddess
A 5,000-year-old Amazonian princess, Wonder Woman is the daughter of Zeus, the king of all deities in Greek mythology, and of the human Queen Hippolyta, the ruler of the Amazonians (portrayed by Connie Nielsen), in an illicit love affair, reported Screen Rant.
It’s also important to note that Wonder Woman’s origin story is very different from either Superman’s or Batman’s. So the fact that director Zack Snyder is willing to inject pure fantasy into a sci-fi landscape is very telling of what fans can expect from “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and subsequently the rest of the DC Extended Universe.
6. Zack Snyder on casting Gal as Wonder Woman
“We tested a bunch of actresses, as you can imagine,” said the director, adding that 6 other actress were up for the role. “But the thing with Gal is that she’s strong, she’s beautiful, and she’s a kind person, which is interesting, but fierce at the same time. It’s that combination of being fierce but kind at the same time that we were looking for. She can get serious, but she’s amazingly fun to be around.”
“And by the way, she really held her own with Ben in the screen test. Ben was like, ‘Whoa, that girl is something else!’ That was a good sign, because Ben is very tough in the scene, and he’s big and commanding. Anytime that you’re doing a test like that and you’re looking at the other person, you’re thinking, ‘Okay, that’s good stuff.’ That was part of the process, and over time as we got to know Gal, we found out how amazing she is,” Snyder told Film Ink.
7. Get a load of Wonder Woman’s superpowers
It’s almost here!! One more week!! Can’t wait to finally share this with you all!! #WonderWoman #WhoWillWin #BVS pic.twitter.com/NsJMqconUe
— Gal Gadot (@GalGadot) March 18, 2016
Gal Gadot recently tweeted an image of Diana Prince’s most iconic superhero accessories: her bracelets. Little is known about what powers (the movie version of) Wonder Woman will have, or how many weapons she’ll use. The armored bracelets featured in the picture is noticeably glowing as though they’ve just absorbed a great amount of energy.
The bracelets, which look more like full-blown gauntlets in the trailer, is a vital feature of Wonder Woman’s traditional costume and origin story.
According to Bob Chipman, Wonder Woman’s origin was “envisioned as a radically-revisionist feminist “answer” to the myth of Hercules conquering the Amazons, wherein the male demigod was portrayed as a boorish conqueror who turned the Amazons into slaves. Though they eventually rebelled from bondage and withdrew from the mortal world, DC’s Amazons continued to wear enchanted metallic cuffs on their wrists as a reminder of why man’s world was not to be trusted – and as a symbol of their submission to their patron goddess Aphrodite”.
Diana also had to earn the Wonder Woman mantle through trial-by-combat. The unique powers and limitations linked to the bracelets was largely a symbolism of sexuality and submission (see also: Wonder Woman’s magic lasso, which compels truth from anyone it ensnares).
8. Wonder Woman isn’t here to be anyone’s love interest
When speaking with Glamour, Gadot insisted that Wonder Woman isn’t relying on male testosterone but herself to get by in the tumultuous DC universe saying, “For BvS it was important for me that we show how independent she is. She is not relying on a man, and she’s not there because of a love story. She’s not there to serve someone else. She has so many strengths and powers, but at the end of the day she’s a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence. She’s loving.”
Many fans were skeptical at first, thinking that Diana Prince and her heroic alter ago were included in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” simply to create a romantic storyline and cause friction between the 2 alpha man. Thankfully for longtime fans, this is not the case.
Instead, the heroin is set to retain the fierce independence that has so often defined her persona. It’ll be interesting to see how this translates in a macho World War I-era America setting when Wonder Woman gets her solo film in 2017.
9. How Wonder Woman differs from BvS to her origin story
In addition to the origin story taking place in 1920s, Wonder Woman’s solo adventure will centre around 3 distinct settings: her homeland of Themyscira, World War I London, and the present day. Given that this was the era severely lacking in gender equality, it presents an intriguing culture clash in which Diana will have to overcome.
In a recent interview with Collider, producer Deborah Snyder also revealed that “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” will only give fans a small taste of Wonder Woman’s superpowers. “I think that (director) Zack Snyder and (DC Entertainment CCO) Geoff Johns sat down and outlined these stories,” said Deborah.
“We did a chart with what their powers were, like what Superman’s powers were, and I think you see a little bit of Wonder Woman. So we get a sense of her power but we didn’t want to do too much because obviously Patty (Jenkins)’s going to build up to that and we’re going to learn how she discovers her powers in that movie,” she added.
Here are some new photos of Gal Gadot and Lucy Davis who are currently filming #WonderWoman in Trafalgar Square. pic.twitter.com/9Mqo8pNuam
— GeekFeed (@GeekFeedDotCom) February 21, 2016
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” is currently showing in cinemas, while “Wonder Woman” is scheduled for release on 23rd June 2017.
Sources: Comic Book Resources, Screen Rant, Cinema Blend, Film School WTF, Batman News, Movie Web.
