Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman or Brie Larson as Captain Marvel ?

[Batmannerism]

Hi folks. I'm off to see Captain Marvel on Sunday. My prediction is that overall it will be a better film than WW but that Larson won't be quite as outstanding in the lead role. However, I'm going in with an open mind and looking forward to being surprised.


However given that these are probably the gold standard for female led superhero films the lead performances are definitely going to have lots of talking points for comparison.

For those of you who have seen both:

Who was better ? Better performance? Better characterisation?
Better ass kicker ?
Who was more relatable?

( and for those of us who can't resist, who would win in a fight?)

ALL points of comparison are open, so let rip !

 

[EnDz0n3]

You should have a "Neither" option

 

[Mandon Knight]

Oh good, just the kind of 'pitting women against each other' thread we need....

 

[Batmannerism]

Oh good, just the kind of 'pitting women against each other' thread we need....

Give me a break ! I hope you're not being serious.

Are we not able to compare actress performances now ? What is the world coming to.

Do you feel discriminatory if you say " Gosh Brie Larson was more believable and really made me care about the character " ?

When Serena Williams beats or gets beaten by Sharapova do you wring your hands because 2 women are pitted against each other ! What about Best Actress at the Oscars ?

I deliberately avoided mentioning any comparison on looks -and the sheer number of " who was the best Batman " threads suggest we can do this with male actors without any angst.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Give me a break ! I hope you're not being serious.

Are we not able to compare actress performances now ? What is the world coming to.

Do you feel discriminatory if you say " Gosh Brie Larson was more believable and really made me care about the character " ?

When Serena Williams beats or gets beaten by Sharapova do you wring your hands because 2 women are pitted against each other ! What about Best Actress at the Oscars ?

I deliberately avoided mentioning any comparison on looks -and the sheer number of " who was the best Batman " threads suggest we can do this with male actors without any angst.

Why on earth did you like my post then ?

My point being, this is a DC v Marvel covert thread, which adds woman v woman, lets just embrace the fact we have female characters at the fore of both 'brands' and say well done all round, instead of 'which one's best / which makes more money / which topples the other' ? In other words, lets not make a competion within gender when one doesn't need to exist.

 

[Enriquespy]

Bless them both.

 

[Mandon Knight]

Nothing covert about this thread. I liked your comment out of politeness to recognise that you had taken the time to respond.

Generally I make it a rule that I respect the opinions of others whether I agree or not. With yours I'm struggling.

Given the sheer number of comparative threads on this forum your "let's not make a competition within gender when one doesn't need to exist" comment is......well I can't say without being rude or sarcastic towards you, so I won't.

Actually, I doubt anything I say will alleviate the terrible offence you have taken to my thread, so I will say no more.

Sarcastic away if you want too, that's not a problem.

 

[Batmannerism]

Why on earth did you like my post then ?

My point being, this is a DC v Marvel covert thread, which adds woman v woman, lets just embrace the fact we have female characters at the fore of both 'brands' and say well done all round, instead of 'which one's best / which makes more money / which topples the other' ? In other words, lets not make a competion within gender when one doesn't need to exist.

I liked your comment out of politeness to recognise that you had taken the time to respond.

I also make it a rule that I respect the opinions of others whether I agree or not. With yours I'm struggling, but I will leave it at that.

 

[Batmannerism]

Sarcastic away if you want too, that's not a problem.

No. I reserve that for special circumstances. You're merely expressing a opinion that I disagree with - sarcasm is uncalled for.

 

[Mandon Knight]

No. I reserve that for special circumstances. You're merely expressing a opinion that I disagree with - sarcasm is uncalled for.

Fair enough. All the best, Jim

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

I don't think there's anything wrong with comparing two actresses. We do it with male actors and women aren't any worse so they don't need us to treat them differently.

In this comparison I prefer Brie Larson as she showed in Captain Marvel that she's a much better actor. She has so much more nuance and detail to her performance which makes the character seem that much more believable. It's not my favorite of the current female superhero characters, but it's well performed.

Gal Gadot was better than I thought she'd be in Wonder Woman but she also has some real low points in terms of acting in the role. Particularly in Justice League. She works in the role but I think that she is the least good actor out of the ones playing big superheroes today, so it doesn't quite hold up when she's compared to Brie. I'm sure she'll keep improving though.

 

[Batmannerism]

I don't think there's anything wrong with comparing two actresses. We do it with male actors and women aren't any worse so they don't need us to treat them differently.

In this comparison I prefer Brie Larson as she showed in Captain Marvel that she's a much better actor. She has so much more nuance and detail to her performance which makes the character seem that much more believable. It's not my favorite of the current female superhero characters, but it's well performed.

Gal Gadot was better than I thought she'd be in Wonder Woman but she also has some real low points in terms of acting in the role. Particularly in Justice League. She works in the role but I think that she is the least good actor out of the ones playing big superheroes today, so it doesn't quite hold up when she's compared to Brie. I'm sure she'll keep improving though.

Thank you Sir ! At last gender politics are put aside.

Whom is your favorite of the current female superhero characters?

 

[metaphysician]

My own vote is "Trying to make this call before the movie is *actually out* is stupid". *cough*

 

[Batmannerism]

My own vote is "Trying to make this call before the movie is *actually out* is stupid". *cough*

Captain Marvel came out yesterday, before I posted the thread. I bought my tickets for Sunday because last night's sessions were sold out.

Don't worry. I won't call you stupid for ignoring the fact that I live in a country with early release dates, because that would be ignorant and rude.

 

[jmc]

Not even a contest. Diana is hands down the better character, and I'm not even saying that as a WW fan, objectively there is a significantly better connection you develop with Diana than you do with Carol. CM is continuously at an arms length to its audience, WW wears 100% of its heart on its sleeve.

 

[The Batman]

Give me a break ! I hope you're not being serious.

Are we not able to compare actress performances now ? What is the world coming to.

Do you feel discriminatory if you say " Gosh Brie Larson was more believable and really made me care about the character " ?

When Serena Williams beats or gets beaten by Sharapova do you wring your hands because 2 women are pitted against each other ! What about Best Actress at the Oscars ?

I deliberately avoided mentioning any comparison on looks -and the sheer number of " who was the best Batman " threads suggest we can do this with male actors without any angst.

As someone who got flak for starting a "Black Panther vs. Wonder Woman" thread, I feel your pain.

 

[The Batman]

Oh, and Gal's Wonder Woman is better. Brie is obviously the better actress, but this just goes to show that being a better actor isn't enough sometimes.

Gal was the highlight of her solo movie, while Brie was constantly overshadowed in hers. Like JMC said, there is more of a connection with WW than there is with CM.

 

[Batmannerism]

As someone who got flak for starting a "Black Panther vs. Wonder Woman" thread, I feel your pain.

Thanks mate.

Wow, BP v WW that would have drawn out both gender and race politics, double whammy....ouch, that must have hurt.

 

[Batmannerism]

Not even a contest. Diana is hands down the better character, and I'm not even saying that as a WW fan, objectively there is a significantly better connection you develop with Diana than you do with Carol. CM is continuously at an arms length to its audience, WW wears 100% of its heart on its sleeve.

Now that's what I'm talking about! - thanks for looking at the characters with all the politics aside.

 

[Batmannerism]

Oh, and Gal's Wonder Woman is better. Brie is obviously the better actress, but this just goes to show that being a better actor isn't enough sometimes.

Gal was the highlight of her solo movie, while Brie was constantly overshadowed in hers. Like JMC said, there is more of a connection with WW than there is with CM.

Interesting ! I haven't seen a lot of BL but I know she's highly acclaimed. GG is an okay actress, but WW seems to be the role she was born to play.

I slagged her casting big time - but when I saw the film was stunned at how she captured the essence of the character by managing to be tough but gentle and strong but also warm and likeable. She really carried the movie.

Still I'm very keen to see what Larson can do with Carol Danvers who has a huge amount of potential.

Pretty massive supporting cast in CM though, Mendelson, Law, Banning and SLJ that is a tough crowd, much more so than WW - I felt that only Robyn Wright carried off her character well, even Chris Pine was kind of mediocre.

Thanks for putting all the politics aside !

 

[Jh7058622]

Diana is just an actual character vs being someone who is stoic and incapable of letting their guard down. Also WW would whoop her ass.

 

[jmc]

Now that's what I'm talking about! - thanks for looking at the characters with all the politics aside.

I despise politics. That said, CM is clearly the one waving the feminism flag. It's girl power moments are laughably obvious to the point of almost addressing the audience, lol. Wonder Woman did girl power in the right way, it never paid attention to it. There was a line in No-Mans land where Diana could have easily retorted with 'I am no man', and yet Jenkins smartly pulled away from such a moment and allowed the focus to be put in Diana's actions. She didn't need to put down men in order to build her up, and this is why Wonder Woman is the better character without a shadow of a doubt. Diana is the type of woman most men want to be with, and most women want as their best friend. Carol is too distant a character to connect with in the same way.

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

Thank you Sir ! At last gender politics are put aside.

Whom is your favorite of the current female superhero characters?

My favorite is probably Scarlet Witch. She's feminine and vulnerable but also extremely powerful.

Gal was the highlight of her solo movie, while Brie was constantly overshadowed in hers. Like JMC said, there is more of a connection with WW than there is with CM.

I think Chris Pine was the strongest part of WW, character-wise. He acted circles around Gal and was always believable and engaging.

Gal is also dragged down by the sometimes really bad performance she gave in Justice League, as this is a comparison of the two actresses portraying specific characters, not between two films. Possibly unfair as Brie has only been in one film yet, but I highly doubt she'll have any acting issues in Endgame.

 

[Mjolnir Reborn]

I despise politics. That said, CM is clearly the one waving the feminism flag. It's girl power moments are laughably obvious to the point of almost addressing the audience, lol. Wonder Woman did girl power in the right way, it never paid attention to it. There was a line in No-Mans land where Diana could have easily retorted with 'I am no man', and yet Jenkins smartly pulled away from such a moment and allowed the focus to be put in Diana's actions. She didn't need to put down men in order to build her up, and this is why Wonder Woman is the better character without a shadow of a doubt. Diana is the type of woman most men want to be with, and most women want as their best friend. Carol is too distant a character to connect with in the same way.

I'm not so sure I agree here. WW is a film that literally takes a strong woman to put her up against the patriarchal human society to show them all how wrong they are. The men in control put her down and dismiss her for being a woman, so she can rise to be the strong woman who saves them all. They also had the only nice place in the film be the one with only women. If you want to find "politics" (one can argue whether diversity etc is really a political issue at it's core) you'll find lots of it in WW in the core story.

 

[Flint Marko]

WW is the better movie overall.

Brie’s better in the role, which is kind of unfair considering Brie is a trained actress. That’s not to say Gal didn’t do a good job, but Brie just seemed more confident and comfortable.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I voted for the “equal” option because I loved both films, and I thought both performances were great. Brie is the better actress of the two, sure, but Gal embodied Wonder Woman so well in her film that it made up for any shortcomings. I guess I can understand the criticisms of Carol being kept at arms length from the audience in her film, but I think it feels that way because it starts out with her already fighting with the Kree and we learn more about her as she does. I don’t agree that she was overshadowed by her supporting cast; they were great for sure but I felt Brie held her own and still stood out.

On that note, if I were to compare either performance or either film to say, Aquaman, WW or CM would win in just about every category except (maybe) pure spectacle (and even that really comes down to personal preference more than anything else). Both WW and CM not only featured a standout lead performance, but also strong performances from the supporting cast and a good blend of heart and humor that worked. Aquaman, in contrast, was solid but I didn’t find any of the performances more than competent (and some were downright awful), while a lot of the attempts at heart fell flat and the humor was often hacky and corny. Compare, for example, the chemistry that Gadot and Pine had to Momoa and Heard. There is no question that Gadot and Pine were better together and their love story felt much more organic, whereas the Momoa/Heard pairing felt forced. And even Larson and Jackson made for a better pairing; it’s wasn’t a romantic one, but they still had great chemistry together and they’re very enjoyable to watch.

The reason I bring it up is because I kept seeing people rank Aquaman higher than Wonder Woman on this board, and that honestly baffles me. I know it made more money but I seriously can’t see why anyone would think it was a better movie, if they’re looking at it objectively.