Director Patty Jenkins has recently announced that the “Wonder Woman 3” script is officially finished. This means that the film’s production will probably be starting soon. With Jenkins’ “Star Wars: Rogue Squadron” being removed from Disney’s release schedule, we hope this leaves the director with more time to work on the DC property. While films like first “Wonder Woman” and “Wonder Woman 1984” told Diana’s stories through various periods in the past, it is believed that Jenkins’ next film in her planned trilogy for the character will take place in the present day. Possibly after the events of the theatrical version of the “Justice League” film, much like James Wan’s “Aquaman” films.
So far in the past two instalments. we’ve seen the Princess of Themyscira, Diana Prince, tackle some of her most popular foes in comics. This includes the cunning Maxwell Lord, the deadly Cheetah, the brilliant Doctor Poison and of course the God of War himself, Ares. Seeing that “Wonder Woman 3” is meant to round off Jenkins’ planned trilogy for the character, with possible plans for future films, we imagine the villain for the upcoming film will have to be someone pretty formidable. So with that in mind, we’re counting down the top candidates for which villain will appear in “Wonder Woman 3”.
1. Circe
Just as Superman has Lex Luthor and Batman has the Joker, Wonder Woman also has an arch-nemesis: the sorceress Circe. Legends say that she is the most beautiful woman to have ever walked the Earth and the daughter of the Sun, a gift to mankind. Until much like the Amazonians, she grew to distrust men and sought to use her magical powers for her own ends. That being said, her mastery of magic came at a great price. She was the vessel of power for an unspeakably powerful and cruel goddess, Hecate and at some point, she even sold her soul to acquire more power. At every turn and scheme though, Wonder Woman was there to foil Circe. All the while, Diana tried to show Circe the path to redemption.
If there was ever a perfect villain for Wonder Woman, it would be Circe. Her beauty and magical abilities rival that of the Amazonian but unlike her, she chooses to horde power instead of using it to better the world. Circe is essentially who Diana would have been if she had given in to her own selfish desires and hatred for men. She also holds a massive grudge against Wonder Woman’s mother, Queen Hippolyta for banishing her to Tartarus. If she does appear in the film, we could see some history of the bad blood between Circe and the Amazonians on screen. Fun fact: she also appeared in an episode of “Justice League: Unlimited” where she turned Diana into a pig!
2. Giganta
Okay, there’s a lot of convoluted history behind the character of Giganta. It involves a doctor with a rare blood disease named Doris Zuel trying to take over Wonder Woman’s body but then her plan fails and she ends up in the body of a gorilla named Giganta. Then she kidnaps some lady named Olga and takes over her body…but she kept the gorilla’s name? Look we’re just as confused as you are so we’ll just go with her latest origin story in which she’s a sickly lady who tries to cure herself through a radical procedure that has the side effect of granting her the ability to alter her size. Cool? Cool.
Weird backstory aside, Gigant is easily one of Wonder Woman’s most iconic villains. Not unlike the Hulk, whenever she grows in size and strength, her brilliant intellect is diminished and she becomes a force of utter destruction. In terms of sheer, brute force, she is more than a match for the Amazonian. While she isn’t exactly main antagonist material, Giganta could appear in “Wonder Woman 3” as a physical challenge to the heroin’s strength, as she did in 2019’s animated film “Wonder Woman: Bloodlines”.
3. Veronica Cale
Not all of Wonder Woman’s enemies are gods and monsters, some of them are just ordinary people with extraordinary ambition. For the longest time, Cale has despised Wonder Woman, seeing her ideals of peace and love as childish sentiments. Seeking to find a way into Themyscira and defeat the Greek Gods, Cale used all the resources of her tech company Empire Enterprises to locate the island. After some unfortunate business involving her daughter’s soul being forever bound to the island of Themyscira, Cale swore that she would find a way to have her vengeance on Wonder Woman and the Amazonians.
She also makes an appearance in “Wonder Woman: Bloodlines”. In the animated film, she seeks to find a way onto Themyscira in the hopes of profiting off Amazonian technology. Regardless of her motivations, Veronica Cale makes for a brilliant cynical Yin to the righteous Wonder Woman’s Yang. A conniving tech mogul capable of creating advanced systems and weapons. If “Wonder Woman 3” is set to take place after the events of “Justice League”, then Cale would be just the right character to fill the role of villain in the more modern, contemporary setting. A villain who will challenge her both ideologically and intellectually.
4. Hecate
While we know that Wonder Woman has faced her fair share of gods, sorcerers and supervillains within the DC Universe rarely does the warrior ever face a foe that genuinely scares her. This next villain on our list though…will have her shaking in her golden boots. You see when Diana was a child, she was innocently strolling through Themyscira on one spooky night. Suddenly, like in a horror film, a monstrous Witch Goddess seized her and burned a mark on her head. This traumatised Diana and marked her as a vessel for Hecate, the Goddess of Magic. And one day, the Witching Hour will come and Hecate will claim her mind, body and soul.
Hecate wasn’t always a wrathful deity. She was once a being of pure light and the embodiment of all the magic and creative powers of the DC Multiverse. She watched as the mortals dreamed and created various pantheons of gods. Many of the pantheons tried to court her but she eventually chose the Greek one. In time though, after years of abuse at the hands of mortal men and gods, she had enough. She planned to make them all pay for their crimes against her, with Wonder Woman as her tool. If Jenkins plans on concluding her trilogy for Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman with a bang, Hecate would prove a worthy enough foe for the Princess of Themyscira!
If you’re interested in learning more about Hecate, be sure to check her out in the spectacularly creepy graphic novel “Wonder Woman & the Justice League Dark: The Witching Hour” at your local bookstores today!
5. Grail
Diana is not just the daughter of the Queen of the Amazonians, she’s also the daughter of the King of the Greek Gods, Zeus. In the opening of “Wonder Woman”, we learned that he eventually succumbed to his wounds after defeating Ares and chose to sacrifice himself to create Themyscira. In the comics, there was also another demigod daughter conceived with an Amazonian, except the father of the child was no Greek god. Rather, it was the New God and Lord of Apokolips, Darkseid. Her name is Grail and she will prepare the way for her father’s arrival on this Earth and all others!
With the setting of “Wonder Woman 3” possibly taking place after the events of “Justice League”, it’s possible the Darkseid would try again after the disgraced Steppenwolf’s failure to conquer Earth. Perhaps, he’d send his daughter to find a way in which he can enter into the DC Extended Universe’s (DCEU) main Earth and destroy its heroes. It would be a great way to introduce an exciting new villain to the current DCEU while also further expanding on the lore of the New Gods. Something that Director Zack Snyder desired to do with his version of “Justice League”.
