Wonder Woman Is Hands Down the Best Part of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

Don't be deterred by the fact that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is earning such bad reviews that even Ben Affleck is bummed out, for there is one big reason to see the movie: Wonder Woman. The (actually) fascinating Gal Gadot makes her big debut as the Amazon warrior in the film, and she is the superhero equivalent of fire. She makes her grand entrance as Diana Prince, her human alter ego, at a party that Lex Luthor is throwing, and Batman (Affleck) has a hard time keeping his eyes off her. Yes, she's gorgeous, but she's also arguably the smartest, most level-headed hero in the movie. She — minor spoiler alert — ends up stealing something right from under his nose in her first scene.

While she's not a title character in Batman v Superman (wait until her stand-alone movie is released next year), she manages to steal the spotlight from two very charismatic, square-jawed men — with just a quarter of the screen time. Imagine that! A woman who is more interesting than a man. Of course, it also has something to do with the fact that both Batman and Superman (Henry Cavill) are dull, one-dimensional figures in this franchise installment.

Here come more spoilers, though it's really nothing new if you've seen the trailer. Her big moment comes near the end of the film, when she's about to fly out of town (riding in first class, of course). She sees on the news that an emergency situation has broken out downtown, and before the flight attendant can set her up with a nice flute of Champagne, she's hustling out the door. She's really just minding her own business when she has to abandon her plans because — eyeroll — the boys got into a fight and unleashed a megabeast named Doomsday upon Gotham, and now she has to save them. She provides major help in defeating Doomsday, and her skills really have nothing to do with the fact that she's now scantily clad in her official Wonder Woman getup.

We don't find out much about Wonder Woman in the film, but what we do know is that she's been alive for at least a century, she's not in a huge hurry to get to know Batman, and she kicks ass. Having a woman in a supporting role who doesn't feel the need to sleep with one of the men is great, but having one who is arguably smarter and less driven by her primal urges than, say, two men needlessly battling each other and is a complete badass? That's progress.