In 1984, Wonder Woman gave Diana clarity over the death of Steve Trevor. Still, she left viewers with other concerns about her fate in the universe and in the DCEU.
By filling in blanks about Diana Prince’s tenure on Earth since 1918, Wonder Woman 1984 fixed some loose ends in the DC Expanded Universe. However, it still left fans with a myriad of concerns about potential heroes, allies, and superpowers. In Wonder Woman 1984, the emergence of Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), Cheetah (Kristin Wiig), and Asteria (Lynda Carter) posed concerns about their skills. However, the end of the movie left the door open for all three characters to reappear. In the series, Wonder Woman also gains some new abilities, the uses of which are unknown.
Wonder Woman 1984 continues with Diana working at the Smithsonian as an anthropologist and still trying to get over the love of her life, Steve Trevor, 66 years after his death in World War I. Diana unintentionally brings Steve back from the dead when a magical artefact that can grant wishes appear at the Smithsonian.
The Dreamstone also provides the powers of an Amazon to her coworker, Barbara. Chaos would ensue as power-hungry businessman Maxwell Lord sets his sights on the Dreamstone and proceeds to grant wishes en masse. Diana begins weakening her powers, and Barbara turns villainous. It’s discovered that the wishes come with a price. To save them, Diana must give up her greatest hope.
Wonder Woman 1984 is a solo film, following Wonder Woman’s legacy but being able to stand independently of the DCEU. While it poses concerns about the DC franchise’s potential (mostly about its sound and narrative style), the bulk of lingering questions are about how the next two Wonder Woman films will be influenced by new ideas presented in the movie. The open end of the film leaves many loose threads regarding the characters’ potential and abilities.
What’s going on with Barbara Minerva?
Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) turns into the famed villain Cheetah, an animal-human mutant, in the final scenes of Wonder Woman 1984, only to see her abilities taken away a few minutes later. Unlike everyone else in the film, Barbara achieves her powers from two impulses to become much more like Diana, granting her Amazonian speed and strength, and the next to become an’ alpha predator,’ giving her a catlike look along with claws, fangs, and an animalistic side.
Barbara appears to be lacking her animal upgrades as Diana beats Maxwell Lord. She is seen alone on the edge of a cliff with an appearance that is fully human. However, since Barbara has never abdicated her original wish, the central question is what superpowers she might still have.
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When it comes to fighting, is Barbara still a match for Diana? Will she have the same beauty, faith, and poise, anyway? With her original wish, it seems possible that Barbara would maintain the powers given to her, including those that the viewer might not have seen in Wonder Woman 1984.
Those powers were explicitly offered to her via the Dreamstone, while the transformation of Barbara’s Cheetah was “granted” by the Lord. Cheetah might also make a reappearance in Wonder Woman 3 and 4 as the villain has such a long association with Wonder Woman in the comics.
In The DCEU, Can Asteria Reappear?
When Lynda Carter, famed for her part as Wonder Woman in the 1970s TV show, made appearances as pagan Amazonian queen Asteria in the Wonder Woman 1984 post-credit scene, the DC Cinematic Universe made waves.
Asteria has held off men’s forces while her sisters fled to Themyscira, her uncertain fate. It is discovered in the post-credit scene that Asteria is alive, still roaming the world’s streets, and easily saving people in her daily life. Can Carter’s Asteria feature in Wonder Woman’s future films?
Although the post-credit scene of Wonder Woman 1984 could be a way to incorporate Asteria as a more important character in the DCEU, it could also merely be an excellent standalone scene that remembers Wonder Woman’s past. In Wonder Woman 1984, explanations of Asteria’s character are ambiguous, and her backstory explanations are brief. If she’s going to execute a cameo in Wonder Woman 3 or 4 is hard to tell.
Carter will be a welcome addition to a franchise that strives to showcase female protagonists and friendships, for sure.
What’s the Invisible Plane (and the Armor) going on?
In Wonder Woman 1984, as Diana practices her newfound power to make things vanish, Wonder Woman’s unseen plane makes a somewhat incongruous appearance. Diana succeeds in holding the plane under the radar in a beautifully spectacular scene and making it invisible to the eye. However, it may be the plane’s first and last appearance. In Wonder Woman 1984, the jet comes in handy, but will Diana use it in future movies? Her flight capacity, acquired by the end of the film, makes the jet somewhat irrelevant. Plus, it has got to be tough to search.
If the Justice League wants it, will Diana know where Steve parking it, or will it get misplaced like the invisible mug?
In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana’s Golden Eagle armor is another enhancement to her tool belt. Still, if DCEU adheres to the canon, it can only be taken out during the most brutal fights. After getting battered by Cheetah in the movie’s last fight, it still needs some repair work (Maybe Asteria might help)? The real question is, where does Diana store all her machinery? During Wonder Woman 1984, she’s working out of her small Washington, DC Apartment, packed up in the corner of Golden Eagle armor.
How can her latest superpowers be used by Diana?
In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana develops an array of new superpowers, including flying and turning objects to disappear. In a scene vital to the movie’s conclusion, she also discovers a further use for the Lasso of Reality. In the future, how can Diana use these new abilities? In the movie, Diana’s ability to fly is described as the ability to catch and ride the wind currents, influenced by Steve Trevor.
Diana also uses her lasso to drive herself into the sky and capture clouds and stars to accelerate her forward momentum. In the future, Diana could use her flight to avoid enemies, trap enemies, or fly to conflicts across the globe quickly.
Diana’s ability to travel is seen only briefly, as her ability to conceal objects. Many of the issues about the new abilities remain unexplored. Her additional powers may have limitless uses.
Similarly, in the DCEU movies, the Lasso of Reality also has many applications not yet used. The lasso has infinite reach and power in the comics, allowing Wonder Woman to use it to do so more than just entrap bad guys. The lasso was also used to shift and force persons to obey the commands of Diana. Future uses of the lasso only rely on the wishes of Diana and the creativity of the screenwriter.
On the right moral course, can Maxwell Lord remain?
After Diana can overcome him by showing him the reality of the Dreamstone and persuading people worldwide to renounce their desires, Wonder Woman 1984 ends with villain Maxwell Lord reaching salvation and reuniting with his son. She does not in any way destroy him or contain the strength of the Dreamstone.
Still, it is obviously the suggestion that the Lord has renounced his wish, but that also leaves a few options open. First of all, in its original form, the Dreamstone may be re-manifested to be used by someone else, which would obviously be a challenge. Most importantly, it does not entirely fix the tale of the Lord.
When Diana strikes him with the Lasso of Truth, the Lord understands the dangers of his power, but what is to tell that he will not be tempted again to nefarious deeds in the future? Overall, he was tempted by something inside him – maybe even by his father’s unwitting conditioning. While by the end of the movie, Lord reconnected with his son and vowed to restore their relationship. He may still struggle to be a victim to the same causes that led him to first pursue the forces represented in the Dreamstone by the Duke of Deceit.
