After a 76-year wait, a lot is riding on whether a Wonder Woman movie soars

It's not to say Hollywood hasn'ttried. There's been a decades long pushto get Wonder Woman on the big screen, as the star of her own film.

The highly-anticipated result, out Friday,comes more than 76 years after her comic book debut. And with the wave of anticipation comes a lot of expectation that the Amazonianheroine played by Israeli actress Gal Gadotsoars.

Sam Maggs, who has writtenbooks about fan girls, inspirationalwomen and Star Trek, said it was about time Wonder Woman got her own film.

"We haven't seen a female solo superhero film since Catwoman, which is ages ago," she said. "The fact that we have this real dearth of female representation in superhero films is a real shame.Everyone deserves to see themselves represented as a superhero."

'We haven't been able to tell our own stories'

The pressure's riding on Wonder Woman partially because past attempts at making female superhero blockbusters have fared so poorly. Both 2004'sCatwoman(starring HalleBerry) and 2005'sElektra(with Jennifer Garner) bombed at the box office and were panned by critics.

Maggscounters that, saying an "astounding" number of poor male-ledsuperhero films have been made too and continue to get made.

"Afemale superhero film fails, they use that as a justification why all female superhero films won't work, which is very unfair," she said.

"I think the reason we've had a lot of trouble with female superhero films in the past is we haven't been able to tell our own stories. You don't get a lot of female writers or directors in Hollywood helming these female lead films so they end up coming from this male gaze-y perspective that doesn't really do the characters or their stories justice."

Patty Jenkins is the director, making this the most expensive film ever directed by a femalewith itsestimated budget of around $150 million U.S. So far, the movie hasbeen getting very positive reviews, including from the CBC's Eli Glasner.

"I'm really hoping with the critical success of Wonder Woman, which will lead into the box office success, it will convince studios to diversify their portfolio to make movies that do star women, that do have women behind the camera," Maggs said.

"You can be yourown superheroes too."

'There's a lot riding on this'

It's the character Rogue Benjamin has been waiting her whole life for.

She wasdecked out head-to-toe in Wonder Woman gear while waiting in line to see the movie at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre on Thursday, sporting a knitted red and blue dress, boots and matching Wonder Womanearrings.

"[It's] a female driven superhero film that is about her being a strong female warrior and Amazon princess, that isn't just a princess in a tower, but she's the one who's going to help turn the war around," she said.

'It's literally the movie Ive spent my entire life waiting for'

7 years ago

Duration 0:56

Wonder Woman superfan Rogue Benjamin shares her expectations before the film begins

"I'm very excited, I'm hesitant and nervous, but I think that's just (because)the bar isso high. It's the first real major female superhero film that we're getting."

Meredith Woerner, theeditor of the Los Angeles Times' Hero Complex, has already seen the movie. Shesaid she hasn't seen a woman portrayed in film quite like how they filmedGadot.

"She's crashing through the windows. She's punching bad guys in the face. She's running across rooftops," Woerner said. "It is thrilling and I didn't even know how much I was missing it as a woman who has grown up watching action films until it was given to me and then I was like 'Wow,like where has this been?'"

Woernerhas noticed a shift in how Hollywood is responding and cateringto female movie-goers. And there are a number of other female-directedblockbusterfilms on the horizon, including Ava DuVernay's take on the sci-finovelA Wrinkle in Timeand Silver AndBlack, the Spider-Man spin-offdirected by Gina Prince-Bythewood.

Though people might like Wonder Woman, Woerner admits that itssuccess andfuture female-led superherofilms largely rideon how it does at the box office.

"It's so unfair and ridiculous. But that is what happens here," she said. "There's a lot riding on this. Gal has really big shoes to fill."