I think her popularity as WW is exaggerated by far too many people.
Long post incoming:
I think the problem with these kinda statements on here is that us as internet dwellers have our opinion skewed because most of the chatter we see regarding movies is online which makes up a small portion of the GA. For instance if you went online and spoke about The Suicide Squad you would think it's one of the most beloved superhero movies in recent memory and would assume it got all the money (well relative to COVID time grosses) in the world. But when you look at the other more widespread metrics like Cinescore, online chatter measuring sites...it's reception is pretty lukewarm amongst the GA.
That being said and that bias in mind...I do think I agree that her popularity as WW is exaggerated. But again, that's 99% of what we do online
To be clear:
She is popular and liked as Wondy. I think it would be silly to say otherwise and I don't even like her as Wonder Woman. I'm not saying "no one likes her" or she has a mixed reception. I think if you ask 1000 people on the street if they like Gadot as Wonder Woman, a vast majority would be overall positive.
However, and this is not an insult, she's not like RDJ as Stark, Boseman as T'Challa, or Reynolds as Deadpool. Hell I don't even think she's up there as say Evans as Cap or Hemsworth as Thor in terms of being beloved by the audience.
The fact is, there are a lot of heroes who are well liked but they aren't beloved to the point where if they're recast, not due to death, that it would be a big freaking deal to the GA. People online, maybe. But people scream bloody murder over something like a Mario movie. We aren't to be taken that seriously.
For another example, people like Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange. His movies do well, no real major complaints about the portrayal. However if for whatever reason he were replaced in the role, I really don't see it moving the needle for most people pre-release. Post-release if the next portrayal is worse then yeah you'd get a lot of "Bring Cumberbatch back"
I just don't see much chatter about this iteration of Wonder Woman (or non Batman related DC characters in general) amongst my friends, family, and coworkers who are all GA members who only consume superhero content through movies and some shows. Honestly even amongst women I hear Black Widow, Scarlet Witch (women loooooove her) and Harley Quinn a lot more than I hear about Gadot as Wonder Woman if they're name dropping a woman superhero. And I get that's anecdotal but that's just what I've seen.
Even on here, I get this place is mostly male based, I have not heard much hype over the next Wonder Woman film adventure. Like if it wasn't for this news, most people wouldn't even being talking about this film iteration of Wonder Woman on here and you can search as see how little she was discussed on here or even the non DC subreddits. And again I get that these spaces are male dominated but still.
Hell I didn't even see Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins, or Gadot trending this week even with this news. But you could bet that if Ryan Reynolds wasn't gonna be Deadpool or Taika was dropped from Thor 4 after Ragnarok that that would've been a major trending topic
I think the scenarios that would make it a big deal to the masses are this:
a) They scrap Gadot but keep things like Peacemaker and maybe even Momoa as Aquaman? That wouldn't look good. Especially keeping Peacemaker. With Momoa at least you can hide behind that he's more of a money maker
b) if they scrap Gadot's Wonder Woman and they don't announce a new Wonder Woman movie or at least iteration for like 3-5 years. I think people would be really mad about that especially considering the small about a women led SH movies
c) They bring back Henry Cavill and scrap Gadot even though none of his portrayals made the money Gadot did as the lead in 2017
I say all this to say, I think the smartest move for WB/DC would to be start from scratch. Sometimes the recipe or the house is too far gone to try and continue on a bad base. And that would mean getting rid of Gadot (and Momoa, and Peacemaker, etc.)
TL; DR: Gal Gadot is liked and popular as Wonder Woman. But she's not "irreplaceable" on the levels of a small handful of modern superhero portrayals. And I'd say that about most superhero portrayals. The best thing from DC would to be to start from scratch and that would mean getting rid of Gadot. And I don't see any evidence for why that would be a bad idea just on principle.
