Joss Whedon was asked about his now-infamous Wonder Woman script at the premiere of The Avengers: Infinity War, and the hotly debated pop culture icon stuck by his script.
Patty Jenkins brilliantly directed the 2017 smash hit, Wonder Woman, but the film we’ve all come to love with a screenplay penned by Allan Heinberg was almost something very different. It was revealed in 2017 that Joss Whedon had written his own Wonder Woman script back in 2006. When the entire thing was leaked online, fans were not only thankful that he was ultimately not the one in charge of the movie, but were pretty angry at what turned out to be quite the sexist script.
Related: Why Joss Whedon’s Wonder Woman script has us worried about Batgirl (Update: Joss exits project)
Of course, you could argue that we’ve all grown and evolved our ways of thinking since the early aughts and Joss Whedon’s character today shouldn’t be judged by thinking he might have evolved away from in the years since penning the script. However, at the premiere of The Avengers: Infinity War, Whedon decided to stand by his script.
When Variety asked Whedon his thoughts on the script, he went as far as to call the script “great.” He said he went back to read the script after the backlash surfaced, and while he agrees he wasn’t the most “woke” individual at that time, he argued that the script as a whole was good.
“I don’t know which parts people didn’t like, but I went and reread the script after I heard there was a backlash. I think it’s great. People say that it’s not woke enough, but they’re not looking at the whole picture. I was in there swinging and the movie has integrity and the characters have integrity and I stand by it.”
Since the script was leaked, many have unpacked their problems with the script, and explained why the entire thing was sexist, but suffice it to say that all of the things we love about Jenkin’s Wonder Woman are completely the opposite in Whedon’s.
Whedon’s script spent outrageous amounts of time describing and ogling over the bodies of Diana and the Amazons. Diana’s first big encounter with the film’s enemy, the god Bacchus, happens as she’s doing a sexy dance for him in a nightclub. The male characters consistently disrespect and undermind Diana–Steve Trevor even takes on more of a lead role in the film than Wonder Woman herself.
For Whedon to come out swinging for his version of the script is pretty frustrating, as it shows a complete lack of understanding of the criticisms levied at his version of the movie. While Jenkins’ Wonder Woman was the first film of its kind, you’d think that comparing his script to the 2017 film would highlight the problems fans had with his script. It’s too bad that Joss Whedon hasn’t seemed to have learned anything from his original script, but we’re just thankful that his version of Wonder Woman was not the one brought to the big screen.