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Wonder Woman 1984 has finally arrived, and everyone's talking about Diana Prince's return to screens. Whether you've watched in the cinema or on streaming, there's no denying that the Wonder Woman sequel is a spectacular return for the superhero.
As with all these things, you probably have a few questions. The Wonder Woman 1984 ending leaves things open-ended – and saying anything more would be a spoiler. So, let's dive into what you just witnessed...
Still here? Then you have seen the Wonder Woman 1984 ending play out – and it's quite a complicated journey to that point. To summarise: Maxwell Lord uses the Dreamstone to become... the Dreamstone. He makes everyone else wish for things that he wants to happen – but there's a catch. The Dreamstone works like a Monkey's Paw; if you wish for something, then whatever you hold nearest and dearest will be taken from you.
In Diana's case, she wishes for Steve Trevor to return, but her powers are sapped from her. Steve does come back, sort of. His spirit takes over another man, but Diana looks past his outer-body and only sees Steve on the inside.
As the movie progresses, Wonders struggles fighting bad guys due to her powers waning, and – after some tearful reflection – she realises she must rescind her wish to get back to full power. As a result, Steve goes back to wherever he came from, and Wonder Woman flies (and by that, we mean she literally flies by lassoing onto lightening) to Maxwell Lord.
Lord has, in the meantime, been busy. He's taken over most of the world and made himself President of the United States. He then discovers that there's an emergency power that allows the President to take over every screen on the planet. This new technology also physically "touches" people thanks to some strange airwave technology, meaning that Lord can grant everyone their wish – and take away everything they hold dear.
The villain starts a broadcast to everyone in the world and asks them to wish for whatever they want. This causes worldwide chaos. Diana shows up in the golden armour once worn by the legendary Amazonian warrior Asteria, but she's met by Kristen Wiig's Cheetah, who has transformed into an apex predator. They fight and Wonder Woman wins, though Cheetah survives.
Diana then defeats Lord and uses her Lasso of Truth on him, making him communicate with the world and Wonder Woman, via Lord, convinces everyone to give up their wish. Lord then sees a vision of his own son wondering around in the chaos that he's caused, and Lord rescinds his own wish.
World peace ensues and we skip ahead to Christmas. Diana is looking at a tree when a nicely dressed man pops up: it's the man Steve's spirit inhabited. The chemistry is palpable. And that's not all – in a post-credits scene, it's revealed that Asteria, played by original Wonder Woman actor Lynda Carter, has been protecting mankind from the shadows for many, many years, just like Wonder Woman.
What happens to Wonder Woman now?
We know, thanks to Batman vs. Superman, that Wonder Woman will eventually team-up with the Justice League to help defend the Earth from an alien terror. In the meantime, we can probably assume that Wonder Woman will be quietly protecting the people of Earth from the shadows, just like Asteria. Maybe she will even have a fling with the man-who-was-formerly Steve Trevor.
What happened to Steve Trevor? And what happened to the man Steve Trevor took over?
When Wonder Woman gave up her wish to resurrect Steve Trevor, the pilot died, again, somehow. It would appear that the spirit of Trevor inhabited a random, handsome man, and that random, handsome man is now back in his own body.
The big question, then, is what happened to the random, handsome man when Trevor was in his body? Perhaps he went to the soul plane; maybe, now he's back, he simply believes he blacked out for months; or, we're going dark here, he actually died for a few weeks and now knows about the afterlife. There's no knowing for sure – but he doesn't remember his time with Wonder Woman, otherwise he would have recognised her during that Christmas scene.
What happens to Barbara Minerva / Cheetah?
Following Wonder Woman and Cheetah's fight, the "apex predator" is seen getting out of the water where she was electrocuted. From there, we can presume she ran off to live as a cat out in the wilderness.
Actually, not quite. Kristen Wiig's character lost her wish, along with the rest of the world. She shed her cat skin and returned to normal, as we see her looking over a cliff edge. Let's hope she brought along a spare set of clothes – or that cat skin turned into a catsuit.
Wonder Woman can fly now? And turn things invisible?
Yes, Wonder Woman can now literally ride the lightning using her Lasso of Truth. Not only that, but after letting go of Steve Trevor she does a massive jump that then turns into flight. Wonder Woman can fly!
But how, exactly, does this fit into DC continuity? Wonder Woman does not fly in either Batman v Superman or Justice League. Maybe there's just not the opportunity to? Or maybe Warner Bros. simply let director Patty Jenkins have a little more free rein over where to take the story without having to arduously stick to the canon of those movies?
Either way, Wonder Woman 1984 actually doesn't go against continuity when it comes to a certain line in Batman v Superman. During that movie, Bruce Wayne says that Diana "walked away from mankind" a century ago, which seems at odds with Wonder Woman saving the day in the '80s. However, like Asteria, she's been protecting people without giving her identity away, hence why Bruce is none-the-wiser to her superhero antics.
Meanwhile, on the invisible jet that Wonder Woman creates: looks like she can turn things invisible by the time those sequels come about, she apparently just doesn't show off that ability. Perhaps Wonders misplaced that invisible jet like she did the invisible coffee cup? It's hard to keep track of things you can't see...
How does the Dreamstone work?
The Dreamstone, which was originally created by the God of Lies, works like a Monkey's Paw; if you wish for something, you get that wish, but whatever you hold nearest and dearest will be taken from you. For Diana, she gets Steve (in another man's body) and loses her powers. For Maxwell Lord, he gets world domination, but loses his son.
When Lord becomes the Dreamstone, he requires people to physically touch him as they make a wish. When it comes to the final act, Lord communicates with everyone via television screens. While the people of the world don't have their hands on Lord, the signal that is being sent out has some physical traces, which means Lord can grant their wishes.
People wish for all the money in the world, for other people to die, and all sorts of other stuff. Does everyone rescind their wish? Apparently so. And when Lord loses his powers after giving up his own wish, everything turns back to normal. All those nuclear warheads wishes for by the Americans disappear.
The biggest question is, can the world really return to normal that quickly? The main events of the movie happen around July 4, while the ending happens at Christmas. It's surprising to see the world in such good order following such climactic events, but that's just the power of Wonder Woman telling the world to be better.
What will happen in Wonder Woman 3?
Patty Jenkins told Total Film earlier this year that she hopes to direct Wonder Woman 3, though her schedule is now a little busier thanks to being announced as helming a new Star Wars movie. She also said that, due to the pandemic, she had hit pause on the story.
“Because the truth is, where that plotline was coming from was our state of being [before the pandemic," she said. "And so I want to make sure that I’m totally absorbing whatever the result of this pandemic is."
"We’re not starting to work on that movie right away. I’m hoping to do this Amazon movie before we do the third Wonder Woman. And I may not do either of them. You never know what will happen in this world, you know? But yes, I think the plotline will stay very similar, probably. But I want to make sure it’s influenced by all of this.”
So, what plotline will Wonder Woman 3 follow? The Wonder Woman 1984 ending gives no real clues. However, Jenkins has previously implied that we could get a modern-day look at Wonder Woman. And, after the events of 1984, it makes sense to return to modern times rather than the '90s or '00s. Then again, it could be fn to go even further back and see Lynda Carter's Asteria kicking ass in Medieval England. Hopefully, the Amazons spin-off will see her return.
While we wait for Wonder Woman 3, be sure to check out the best movies of 2020.
