1. Wonder Woman
The single most iconic female sci-fi, action or fantasy character of the 20th century, it's a real surprise that Wonder Woman has never appeared in a big screen feature, not even as a supporting character. Comics fans have been waiting generations for a film about Princess Diana, the Amazon warrior hero from Themyscira. In that time there's been the much loved Lynda Carter starring 1970s TV series, an animated straight to video movie and an aborted new TV series in 2011. Joss Whedon was attached to write and direct a feature version, but left in 2007 after creative differences with studio Warner Brothers. Sure, some of the Wonder Woman mythology is a bit silly (invisible plane, anyone?), but no more so than Thor. It's about time she was given the same opportunities as some of the much less well known male heroes who already have movies.
How likely is it? Just this week, Warner Brothers CEO Kevin Tsujihara said: "We need to get Wonder Woman on the big screen or TV". Assuming that upcoming Man of Steel sequel Batman vs. Superman (or whatever it's eventually called) does well enough to justify further adventures, and judging by all of the Dark Knight's previous screen capers it's pretty much guaranteed, then a Justice League movie will shortly follow. As the third member of the Justice League's central trio this would be the opportunity finally to see Wonder Woman on the big screen. Only if and after Justice League is a hit is there a chance that we might get a solo Diana of Themyscira film. Meanwhile, however, a young Wonder Woman prequel series, Amazon, styled after the success of Smallville and Arrow, is also in the early stages of development. One way or another there will be a Wonder Woman on screen in the next few years.
Who should star? The list of rumoured, desired and possible leads in an eventual Wonder Woman movie is practically endless. You just need to look at some of the previous entries on this very site to see the wide variety of candidates and how hotly debated their suitability for the role has been. Whedon's work on the project inevitably resulted in rumours of his previous stars being at the front of the queue, in particular Firefly's Morena Baccarin. Baccarin always seemed a little willowy for an Amazonian warrior, with co-star Gina Torres (Zoe) a more appropriately physical action performer. Still with the Whedon theme, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Cobie Smulders will soon become the first big screen Wonder Woman when she voices the tiny plastic version of the character in the Lego Movie. For many this is just a further indication of their already held opinion that Smulders would make a perfect Diana. What do you think? Are any of these franchises that you would actually watch? And who would you like to see in the cast?