Long before Gal Gadot marked the superhero’s cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe, a 1974 Wonder Woman TV movie already attempted to bring the Amazonian warrior into live-action, albeit with quite an unexpected makeover. Ever since psychologist William Marston and illustrator H.G. Peter created the iconic DC Comics character, Wonder Woman has always displayed cinematic potential. While her peers like Superman and Batman got the TV and cinematic treatment early on, Wonder Woman’s legacy endured in the 1970s with Lynda Carter playing her in three popular seasons of the Warner Bros. and ABC production Wonder Woman.
With its later seasons also broadcast as The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, the series was a hit and paved the way for the superheroine’s reinterpretation and evolution in the DCEU movies several decades later. But before even Lynda Carter stepped into Wonder Woman’s shiny red boots in 1975, ABC had aired a 75-minute-long TV movie intended as a pilot for a series that eventually went nowhere. Directed by Star Trek: The Original Series contributor Vincent McEveety and featuring pro-tennis player-turned-actress Cathy Lee Crosby in the titular role, the first Wonder Woman movie eventually faded away in the echelons of DC TV history.
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Wonder Woman (1974) Movie Proved The Necessity Of Comics Accuracy
After the pilot’s airing in 1974, any plans for the series were immediately scrapped by ABC as it failed to generate much interest in Wonder Woman. In retrospect, a fatal flaw of the TV movie was its sheer lack of comic accuracy. Ignoring the Greek mythological origins from the source material, the Cathy Lee Crosby-starrer reimagined Wonder Woman as a secret agent who takes on missions similar to spies like James Bond. So, Steve Trevor becomes a government agent and the heroine’s boss as he instructs her to obtain a set of stolen codes from a formulaic villain.
Ignoring the fact that Wonder Woman ranks among DC’s most powerful characters, this version was stripped of all superpowers. The original Wonder Woman costume hasn’t aged well over the years, but the 1974 movie didn’t even attempt to tweak it. Instead, the movie replaced the costume entirely with a red zipper jacket (complete with star-covered sleeves). Even if she adopts the Wonder Woman moniker for her secret agent persona, her other identity, Diana Price, is mentioned but not fully fleshed out. With the end product being a fairly standard spy thriller, it’s not hard to see why comic book readers would have received it with a pinch of salt.
The Wonder Woman Movie’s Failure Resulted In Lynda Carter’s Iconic TV series
If there’s one thing that 1974’s Wonder Woman movie did right, it was opening up the space for ABC to develop another project based on the DC character. And this time, with Lynda Carter taking on the lead role and the writers following a more comic-book-accurate approach, the Wonder Woman show emerged as a cult hit for future generations. Carter’s Wonder Woman donned the original costume and displayed feats of superhuman strength, with the first season also exploring her origins on Themyscira. Set in the World War II era, the season focused on Diana’s war against the Nazis alongside American pilot Steve Trevor.
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Jumping over three decades, future seasons dealt with solo missions that Wonder Woman undertook in the 1970s. Carter’s version essayed the heroine’s charismatic personality and retained most of her powers, like superflight and exceptional brute force. The show also offered some of the best Wonder Woman costumes, thanks to the hybrid of Bronze Age and Golden Age suits that she wore most of the time, along with a range of specialized costumes for particular missions. All in all, Carter’s Wonder Woman series aged better than the 1974 movie with its respect for the source material and the character’s trademark elements.
Wonder Woman (1974) Is A Lesson For All Comic Book Movies
The first Wonder Woman movie/TV pilot was a failed experiment, but it proved to be an early lesson for future comic book movies. For the live-action debut of a DC staple, 1974’s Wonder Woman movie should have stuck to a more faithful approach to win over comic book readers. Despite featuring her superpowers, both Lynda Carter and Gal Gadot’s performances as Wonder Woman have still managed to humanize the character. But by majorly altering her origins and taking away her powers, Cathy Lee Crosby didn’t get the opportunity to capture the duality of Wonder Woman and Diana Prince.
DC dealt with similar misfires in the future, like Batman & Robin and Catwoman. Apart from majorly deviating from each of the featured characters’ personality trademarks, both movies also received backlash for their absurd costume details. Much like how 1974’s Wonder Woman replaced the heroine’s quintessential eagle emblem costume with a more standard wardrobe choice, Batman & Robin gave its titular heroes the infamous “Bat Nips” on rubber suits and Catwoman replaced the full bodysuit with a less practical leather outfit. It’s not that subsequent comic book movies didn’t take creative liberties, but most of them at least stuck to the original visuals and history – unlike 1974’s Wonder Woman.
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