When the Roles Are Reversed: Steve Trevor & the Wonder Woman Movie

Hey, gang! We just wanted to let everyone know that we’re going on a long break for Labor Day Weekend—but don’t worry, we’ll be back on the 10th! Before we go on break, though, let’s talk about Steve Trevor.

Every time another superhero movie is released in theaters, we at Lady Geek Girl and Friends start to worry a little bit. Often the only female characters involved in superhero movies are the love interest to the hero, and while today those characters are usually given more to do, they still end up falling into the role of damsel in distress or are just portrayed as a simple love interest with not much else going on for them. Heck, even female superheroes are not safe from this treatment, considering what the last Avengers movie did to Black Widow. But now DC Comics is attempting to step up to the plate and really build their own universe to rival Marvel’s. Understanding how that’s gone in the past, many people are skeptical. But some upcoming movies look like they have a lot of potential, especially when it comes to female characters. Other than maybe Suicide Squad, the one DC movie I am most looking forward to is Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is the female superhero. Yeah, you may personally like other female superheroes better, but there is no denying Wonder Woman’s cultural impact, both in the world of comics and feminism.

For the upcoming movie, there has been some speculation to how Wonder Woman’s romantic life will play out on the big screen. Because, you know, she is a woman, and so she has to have some sort of romantic entanglement. I suppose to be fair, if a Superman movie came out and didn’t feature Lois Lane, people would think it was weird. So, Wonder Woman has had several lovers over the years. In the current run of DC Comics, Wonder Woman and Superman are dating. In previous versions, Wonder Woman and Batman have hooked up, and then of course, there is her original love interest, Steve Trevor. Well, the news is finally out; Chris Pine has been cast to play none other than Steve Trevor. But I have noticed that when the script is flipped and we have a female superhero and a normal male love interest, then The Powers That Be tend to talk about things very differently.

Industry InJustice

You know what was great? Teen Titans. While I don’t need to make a list of reasons why Teen Titans was great, I could throw a couple at you. Starfire wasn’t a walking sex toy. A skilled writing staff managed to write jokes that made me laugh without wanting to put my head into a desk. Cyborg was clearly Black, but not an Erkel or a thug. Then there was Terra, who presented complicated notions of heroism, loyalty, and betrayal for a young audience. There was also the Puffy Am—shut up!—Puffy Amiyumi theme song. All of these things and others made for a great show. But it went the way of the dinosaur. If you ask Wil Wheaton, that was because the season 6 pitch didn’t go over favorably with the execs.

That’s the way it is with television shows. Many great shows are here today, gone tomorrow. Despite the efforts of many a Kickstarter or online petition, it takes much more than a vocal and obsessive fanbase to convince a company to reverse the decision to terminate a show. See: Firefly (which, by the way, was a decade ago, so maybe we should just let that wound heal). So many different things go into the cancellation of a show because it takes the cooperation of actors, animators if a show is animated, the owners of the creative property, production companies, etc., and I recognize that these things happen, but the cancellation of Young Justice genuinely broke my heart. There aren’t that many DC properties that I’ve ever really been into, so it was sad to see a critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning, mature, and compelling show disappear. That’s all right; I will learn to love again.

But the other day I was listening to Kevin Smith’s Fat Man on Batman podcast, which is a goldmine, and he was interviewing Paul Dini. Dini is a writer with a long career and a longer resume, and he has written for a show you like, no question. Dini gave a rather troubling answer as to why Young Justice was cancelled, along with other shows like Tower Prep. Apparently, those shows are too mature. They appeal to audiences that prefer complexity, and apparently those audiences don’t buy toys. Now, I acknowledge that televisions often live and die on advertising and merchandising. But there’s something much more disturbing in his answer. There’s a transcript here, and if you read far enough down you’ll encounter this comment about studio executives: