Next year, Chris Pine finally joins the superhero movie world as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman. While the majority of this genre features men as the lead characters, this will be the first time in over a decade that a woman is the primary hero. Pine has previously expressed his satisfaction with being part of the project in a supporting capacity, and now he’s offered his take on why female-led superhero movies are a refreshing change of pace.
During his visit to Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, Chris Pine admitted to the host that while all the “big, tent pole action films” are fun and action-packed, having a woman as the lead character this time around takes away the typical formula these blockbusters usually follow. Pine said:
With men at the helm it’s always a revenge cycle thing – we’re gonna go get the bad guys and the bad guys are defeated… What I think is really lovely having a woman at the helm of something like this is just by virtue of this a great deal more compassion and love at the center of the story, which for something as big a film as this is going be, it’s wonderful the little bit we can do to hopefully inch this universe towards something less aggressive.
Wonder Woman fans know that although Diana of Themyscira does battle the bad guys on a regular basis, she is also a peacekeeper and diplomat. She wants her influence and actions to help bring peace to the outside world, and fighting is usually only a last option. Taking Pine’s comments to heart, it sounds like Diana will make efforts to take a more civilized approach to problems while she’s in “man’s world” during World War I…and if that doesn’t work, then out come the sword and shield, as we’ve already seen in the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice previews and the Wonder Woman footage.
Aside from Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, there are currently no other female-led solo superhero movies in development (though Evangeline Lilly is sharing lead status with Paul Rudd in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp). While it is great to see characters like Supergirl, Jessica Jones, and Peggy Carter leading their own adventures on TV, ideally we’ll start to see more heroines headline their own movies in the coming years, especially since the superhero movie craze isn’t going to be dying down anytime soon.
As for Wonder Woman, she has a bright future ahead of her in the DCEU, not just through Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and her solo movie, but also the Justice League movies. That said, it’s doubtful her love and compassion will be effective against the likes of Darkseid and other world-threatening antagonists.
You can hear Pine’s full comments about Wonder Woman in the clip below, including learning about her invisible plane for the first time.
Wonder Woman hits theaters on June 23, 2017.
