Star Of Wonder

Into Hollywood’s major leagues breaks a new phenom: a female superhero cooler than any of the guys. All this time, we’ve been waiting for Gadot.

- Holly Millea​

 FROM A MERE MORTAL’S PERSPECTIVE, IT looks like the best gig in a gig economy: superpowers, supergadgets, and a supersecret lifestyle. Caught up in all the sexy superlatives, it’s easy to overlook the downsides of the job: constant death threats, battling evil 24/7…and the dress code? A onesie in latex or stretch polyester, which means zero carbs. And unless your superpower is bladder control—hey, have fun going to the bathroom.

These are the burdens the Justice League must bear, and with them comes an array of mental health issues, ranging from PTSD (Batman) to depression (Superman) to ADHD (The Flash) to anxiety (Cyborg) to identity crisis (Aquaman). Add an addiction (plus box-office–induced anxiety—the new Justice League film is out this month) and you’d have a codependent’s dream team.

Then there’s Wonder Woman—Diana, princess of the Amazons, she of Themyscira, an island of women living in a bliss bubble unseen by the modern warring world, which may or may not explain why she’s the only super who doesn’t need a psychiatrist.

“There’s been a fear for years of her being ‘clean’ and yet still tough,” says Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who, threequarters of a century after Wonder Woman made her DC Comics debut, brought the superheroine’s story to big-screen life last year, starring Gal Gadot. “So many people’s assumptions about what would make a tough woman is actually a damaged woman. People were confusing strength with defensiveness, and I was like, ‘Why would she be defensive? She totally trusts people! Why would she be angry? She assumes that she’s going to be treated well. She has no chip on her shoulder!’ ”

Wait until she finds out she’s getting paid 80 cents on the dollar.