A little Nerdy Bird told me that Beyonce Knowles is the front runner to wear the tiara as Wonder Woman in a live-action feature film. This is a new mongering of an old rumor, but this time it apparently comes from Beyonce herself.
 
I don’t look forward to comic book movies for the casting, or for the Oscar-caliber performances and Shakespearean storytelling–I just want to see the heroes and villains of my childhood (and let’s face it, my adulthood) come to life. I want to see these characters who have decades of source material and legacies as pop cultural icons step off the comic book page in every detail. So whenever casting is announced and costumes are revealed, I hope for the best but brace myself for some serious compromise. I’m definitely a bit of a purist when it comes to comic book movie casting, but I’m willing to bend for a smart change.
 
Daredevil was a terrible movie, but it had nothing to do with Michael Clarke Duncan being cast as the white-in-the-comics Kingpin. It annoyed me to no end, when that movie first came out, that I wouldn’t get to see a giant bald Caucasian in a pimp suit going sumo on Ben Affleck’s ass…but considering how much else was wrong with that flick, Black Kingpin may have been the best part. And Halle Berry as Catwoman was not bad casting–it was just poor filmmaking. The movie was flat out dumb. Bad storytelling and a stupid costume were the flaws with that movie–not casting a black woman in what has usually been a white comic character. And, technically, Eartha Kitt already has the honors of racially diversifying the part as one of the many Catwomen. (I’d argue that casting Berry as Storm in the X-Men movies was the real crime of casting.)
 
Straying a bit from live action, I think it is worth pointing out that DC Animated made a very wise decision–thoughtful to an audience of many races and demographics all looking for their own heroes to identify with–when they cast the black Green Lantern, Jon Stewart, as the ring bearer for the big 7 team in Justice League: Unlimited. Comic books have been white-washed from the beginning, so it is smart business and culturally progressive to take the opportunity when possible (and when it makes sense) to contemporize these characters and move away from an all-white cast of characters. But again–it has to be done smartly. You can’t just erase decades of continuity and say Superman is Mexican…but you can most definitely create new characters, next-generation heroes of non-white origins who can play hero alongside the old guard. 
 
Race is clearly the point of controversy here, but it isn’t the only reason casting away from the source material can be a problem. Everyone seems to like or even love the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, but everyone (everyone I know at least) agrees that the casting of Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson has been that franchise’s biggest flaw. Why the filmmakers chose the straw-haired, angsty elf girl to play a character who has always been portrayed as a red-headed supermodel sex bomb, I don’t know–and it takes me out of those films every time she’s on screen. Some purists purer than me might even gripe about how someone taller than 5′6″ was cast as Wolverine, but the difference between Hugh Jackman and Dunst is that height is the only area where Jackman doesn’t perfectly embody the comic book source material, while casting Dunst has led to movie-MJ being an entirely different character than any MJ in the comics.
 
So, black or white, African Princess or Greek Goddess, is Beyonce really the right choice for the most iconic female superhero of all time? Good writing and screenplay acrobatics can potentially do wonders for addressing the race issue, especially considering how much work will need to be done to also sell audiences on an invisible jet, a superhero costume comprising lingerie and go-go boots, and the fact that DC Amazons have both breasts. But can any amount of script work, direction, or marketing sell the geek nation on the bootylicious singer as Diana Prince? She’s a mediocre acting talent at best AND she’s a huge star–a bad combination (just ask Madonna), because she lacks the acting chops to make up for her celebrity persona overshadowing any character she is asked to play. Anyone with eyes knows Beyonce could wear the hell out of a Wonder Woman costume. Photoshop away and you will see that this lady can look the part. But can she act it?
 
We’ll have to wait and see if there is a lasso of truth to this rumor. But if you like it, then you’ve gotta put a magical bullet-deflecting bracelet on it.