Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 (also stylized as WW84) is a 2020 American superhero film based on the DC character Wonder Woman. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Atlas Entertainment, and The Stone Quarry, and distributed by Warner Bros., it is a sequel to the 2017 film Wonder Woman and the ninth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by Patty Jenkins from a screenplay she co-wrote with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham, based on a story by Jenkins and Johns. It stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, alongside Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, and Connie Nielsen. Set in 1984 during the Cold War, the film follows Diana and her past love Steve Trevor as they face off against Maxwell Lord and Cheetah.

Discussion of a sequel began shortly after the release of the first film in June 2017 and the decision to proceed was confirmed the following month. Principal photography began on June 13, 2018, with filming taking place at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden in England, as well as the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia in the U.S., London and Duxford in England, Tenerife and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands and Almería. Production wrapped on December 22, 2018, after a six-month shoot, with additional filming in July 2019.

Following multiple delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Wonder Woman 1984 eventually premiered on December 15, 2020, via the DC FanDome virtual platform, and was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on December 25, 2020. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $169 million worldwide, failing to break even against its $200 million budget. Its underperformance at the box office was attributed to factors such as most theaters being closed during the pandemic and the film's simultaneous release on HBO Max, where it became the top streaming film of 2020. Plans for a third film were canceled after DC Films was restructured into DC Studios in 2022. A new series, Paradise Lost, (set in the DCU) focusing on the Amazons of Themyscira, is in development.

Plot

As a child, Diana participates in an athletic competition on Themyscira against adult Amazons. After being knocked off her horse, she takes a shortcut and remounts, but misses a checkpoint. Antiope removes her from the race for cheating, explaining that anything worthwhile must be obtained honestly, while her mother Hippolyta advises her to be patient in her pursuit of glory and honor.

In 1984, over sixty years after her battle with Ares during World War I, Diana is working at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., while secretly performing heroic deeds as Wonder Woman. New museum employee Barbara Minerva, a shy geologist and cryptozoologist, has trouble getting noticed by her co-workers, but quickly finds a friend in Diana.

The FBI asks the museum to identify stolen antiquities from a robbery that Wonder Woman recently foiled; Barbara and Diana notice a Latin inscription on one artifact (the Dreamstone) claiming to grant the holder one wish. Neither one openly takes the inscription seriously, but after Diana saves Barbara from an assailant by secretly using her powers, Barbara wishes she were strong, sexy, and cool "like" Diana and thus unintentionally acquires the same superpowers. Because Diana yearns for Steve Trevor, her lover who died heroically, he is resurrected in another man's body, and they are reunited.

Failing businessman Maxwell "Max Lord" Lorenzano recognizes the Dreamstone and hopes to use its power to save his nearly bankrupt oil company. His wish is to "become" the stone and gain its powers: whenever he grants someone else's desire, he can take what he wants from the wisher. This soon results in worldwide chaos, destruction, and instability. Diana discovers that the Dreamstone was created by Dolos/Mendacius, God of Lies, also known as the Duke of Deception. It grants a user's wish, but exacts an equally strong toll unless they renounce the wish or destroy the stone. Although Diana's powers and Barbara's humanity begin to diminish, neither is willing to renounce her wish. Max visits the U.S. president, who wishes for more nuclear missiles as protection against the Soviets, but these are detected, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. Max also learns of a new and secret satellite system that can broadcast to everyone in the world simultaneously. Since his powers are causing his body to deteriorate, he plans to grant wishes globally to steal strength and life force from the viewers and regain his health. Diana and Steve confront him, but Barbara sides with Max, overpowering Diana and escaping with him on Marine One.

Steve convinces Diana to renounce her wish and let him go, restoring her to full strength. Donning the armor of Asteria, the greatest of all Amazon warriors, Diana flies to the satellite headquarters and again battles Barbara, who has transformed into a humanoid cheetah after wishing to become an apex predator. After a brutal fight that ends in a lake, Diana overcomes Barbara with an electric shock, then pulls her out of the water. Diana confronts Max and uses her Lasso of Truth to communicate with the world through him, persuading everyone to renounce their wish. She then shows him visions of his unhappy childhood and of his son, Alistair, who is frantically searching for his father amid the chaos. Realizing the error of his ways, Max renounces his wish and reunites with Alistair, simultaneously renouncing everyone else's wishes and turning Barbara back to normal. In the present day, it is winter, and Diana meets the man whose body Steve possessed.

In one mid-credits scene, Asteria is revealed to still be alive, living among humans, and also secretly heroic.

Cast

• Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman:
  An immortal demigoddess, Amazon princess and warrior. The daughter of Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen of Themyscira, and Zeus, the king of the Olympian Gods. Gadot spoke about the character's evolution, saying in the first film "[Diana] really is a fish out of water, coming from Themyscira into man's world and learning about the complexities of human life, really. In Wonder Woman 1984, she's been around. She's wiser and she's more mature. She's guarded and lost all of her friends throughout the years, but she's still doing the right thing, yet she is different from when we last saw her." Gadot added, "In the first movie, we really explored the journey of the coming-of-age, of how Diana Prince became Wonder Woman and owned her full strengths and powers."
  • Lilly Aspell as a young Diana.
• Chris Pine as Steve Trevor: An WWI pilot and spy and Diana's lover who died in the first film. His soul possesses another man in which only Diana sees him as Trevor.
• Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva / Cheetah: A highly insecure geologist and gemologist who is befriended by Diana. She gradually transforms throughout the film by use of the Dreamstone.
• Pedro Pascal as Maxwell "Max Lord" Lorenzano:
  A struggling yet charismatic businessman, famous for TV infomercials and the founder of Black Gold Cooperative. Lord's character, according to Director Patty Jenkins, is modeled on Bernie Madoff and Donald Trump. Jenkins has stated Pascal's performance as Lord was inspired by Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's Wall Street and by Gene Hackman's portrayal of Lex Luthor in Richard Donner's 1978 Superman film, with Jenkins describing Lord as "a villain with potential to be dangerous and scary".
• Robin Wright as Antiope: Hippolyta's sister, general of the Amazon army and Diana's aunt.
• Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta: The queen of Themyscira and Diana's mother.

Also appearing in the film are: Amr Waked as Emir Said Bin Abydos, the ruler of the fictional oil-rich Middle Eastern nation of Bialya who Lord encounters; Kristoffer Polaha as the man whose body Steve Trevor appropriates, credited as "Handsome Man"; Natasha Rothwell as Carol, Barbara's boss at the Smithsonian; Ravi Patel as Babajide, a man who provides Diana and Barbara documents of the Dreamstone's history; Oliver Cotton as Simon Stagg, a dissatisfied investor in Lord's company; Lucian Perez as Alistair, Lord's son; Gabriella Wilde as Raquel, Lord's assistant; Kelvin Yu as Jake, Diana and Barbara's co-worker; and Stuart Milligan as the president of the United States, based on Ronald Reagan, with Lewis Schaffer playing his delegate in an uncredited cameo role. Doutzen Kroes reprises her DCEU role as the Amazon Venelia.

Lynda Carter, who portrayed Wonder Woman in the 1970s series, makes a cameo appearance in the mid-credits scene as Asteria, a legendary Amazon warrior who wore the powerful winged suit of armor. Gadot's husband Yaron Varsano and their two daughters, Alma and Maya, make brief appearances near the end of the film. Saïd Taghmaoui, Ewen Bremner, Eugene Brave Rock, and Lucy Davis make a photographic cameo appearance, reprising their roles from Wonder Woman as Sameer, Charlie, Chief, and Etta Candy respectively.