Wonder Woman: First footage of Gal Gadot teases origin story of feminist icon

"Wonder Woman is one of the greatest superheroes out there. But people don't know her origin like they know Superman's origin and Batman's origin."

DC have opened the floodgates on their cinematic slate. Premiered alongside the highly-anticipated Suicide Squad trailer as part of their Dawn of the Justice League special on The CW, the first footage from 2017's Wonder Woman has now been revealed; alongside details on what we can expect from the Amazonian warrior.

King of nerds, Kevin Smith, spoke to DC's Chief Officer Geoff Johns on the special; with Johns revealing the film will essentially consist of a standard origin story. Yet, though Wonder Woman's existed in the cultural milieu for 75 years now, Gal Gadot's iteration is the very first to enter the big screen; so her backstory's simply not well known enough to come off as tired or well trodden as the rest (looking at you, Spider-Man).

"Wonder Woman is one of the greatest superheroes out there," he tells Smith. "But people don't know her origin like they know Superman's origin and Batman's origin; and so what we want to do in the film is really tell people who she is, where she comes from, and why she does what she does. We've never seen her on film before."

"She comes from Greek a mythology. She was born on this island of Amazons called Themyscira. These Amazons were once created to protect man's world, but they've since abandoned it. And Diana's asking constantly, 'why don't we go do what we were created to do and protect man', and they say, 'because they're not worth it'. And this takes her on a journey into our world."

This first look also delved into the appeal of DC's most iconic female hero. "She's an Amazon warrior. She's the best fighter in the DC universe," Johns explains. "She has strength and speed, and she's been training her whole life for war." The film's director, Patty Jenkins, offered her own perspective; "The greatest thing about Wonder Woman is how good, and kind, and loving she is; yet none of that negates any of her power."

It's a promising take, which will hopefully see the evolution of the female hero onscreen beyond emotionless badass and towards the territory of true, old-fashioned heroism. Wonder Woman is so special, and a feminist icon to so many, partially due to the fact she's one of DC's true believers in justice. "She stands for equality, and I think that's really important," Johns agrees. "I think that's why people love the character."

The accompanying footage reveals little on how Wonder Woman will differ tonally from Zack Snyder's own DC contributions (Man of Steel, Batman v Superman); we're seeing the same washed-out colours, the same start-stop speeds on the fights. That said, the film's throwback to WWI offers promising territory for Jenkins to explore, so here's hoping the film develops its own mark and voice as distinctive as what we're seeing from David Ayer's Suicide Squad.

Wonder Woman is set for a June 2017 release.