Director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot showed off the first trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 during a presentation at the Comic-Con Experience in Brazil on December 8. The trailer did what every good trailer should do – it got us excited about the movie while making us try to predict what’s going to happen. So let’s break down some highlights and talk about what they might mean.
The Music
From the very first shot, we get the soundtrack of Blue Monday by New Order playing in the background. That song continues to be the backdrop for the entire trailer. As a child of the ’80s, I was thrilled when I heard that melody. It makes me very hopeful to see and hear a lot more of the time period in the movie.
What’s Diana Up To These Days?
In the first film, modern-day Diana Prince was working at the Lourve doing something that isn’t explained. But based on the footage in the trailer, she appears to be in Washington D.C. Is she working in some sort of government role, maybe doing some work tied to The Justice League? I think it’s entirely possible.
Flying Through Fireworks
At one point we see Diana and Steve flying in a plane that appears to have no roof through a bunch of fireworks. Diana is looking around appreciatively at the view, but Steve seems to be in complete awe of what’s happening. Could this be Wonder Woman’s iconic Invisible Jet? I think it is. There’s some chatter online about how it couldn’t be because Steve is flying it, but I could easily see Diana, knowing how much he loves to fly, letting him take the controls for a minute.
The Villains
Wonder Woman 1984 is set up to have two villains: Wonder Woman’s arch-nemesis, Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. Cheetah’s everyday identity is Barbara Ann Minerva and we see her in the trailer a couple of times, but we don’t ever see her as Cheetah. A photo of her was revealed during the Brazilian Comic-Con, but it still wasn’t a full get-up, as Patty Jenkins admitted onstage that there had to be a little bit of CG used to complete Cheetah’s look. She’s being played by comedian Kristin Wiig, who expertly pulls off awkward and goofy in this trailer, but I’m really curious to see how she can pull off the darker side of the character. I expect we’ll get a glimpse of her in a future trailer.
Maxwell Lord doesn’t have a secret identity, so what we see in the trailer is likely the full deal, though that weird crystal he pulls out has to mean something. In many of his comic book iterations, he uses televisions to inflict mind control and that could very well be the case here. Lord is being played by Pedro Pascal who got his head popped by The Mountain and is currently playing babysitter to the world’s favorite green baby alien.
Return to Themyscira
In what was one of the most exciting moments in the trailer, we see a return to Themyscira, the home of the Amazons. In those shots we see a competition of sorts happening in a big arena. This may harken back to the original Wonder Woman comics where a contest is held to determine which Amazon will accompany Steve Trevor back to the outside world.
Diana is forbidden from entering the contest by her mother, but disguises herself and wins anyway. So why are we going back to Themyscira? My bet is on the new golden armor with wings that we see at the very end of the trailer. Wonder Woman’s current armor and lasso came from the enchanted island. Her new golden armor doesn’t look like anything that could be forged by normal humans. I think Diana has to go back to get that new armor. And speaking of that…
Dressed in Gold
As mentioned above, we see Wonder Woman in some pretty cool new armor at the end of the trailer. It includes a helmet and wings. The question is: why does she need new armor with wings? Will she need to fly? Will she need a helmet to offset Lord’s mind control? I think both of those are very possible.
What the Hell Is Up with Steve Trevor?
This is the biggest question everyone is asking. How is it possible that Steve Trevor is in this film when he very obviously died in the first film? But even if he had miraculously lived, he would be older – way older. Patty Jenkins said that his appearance is very integral to the story and that they didn’t just throw him in there on a lark. So how is he there?
I think it’s possible that this Steve Trevor might be a clone of the original. I don’t think it would be unreasonable to assume that bits of his DNA had been saved since he was such an important covert agent in the first film. If he is a clone, then he must have come to life recently because we see in the trailer that he has no clue about the world when he can’t tell a trash can from a sculpture. Also if he is a clone, who cloned him and why? Could it have been one of the film’s villains as a way to attack Diana? I also think that’s entirely plausible.
Just Plain Awesome
All of those story questions aside, the trailer included a lot of shots that are just plain awesome – smashing guns with her bare hands, using her headpiece to take out security cameras, and smacking away more bullets with her gauntlets. But there are two shots that really wowed me. One is where a cargo truck flips over and we see Wonder Woman flying up above it. The other is when she uses her lasso to swing from bolts of lightning. That one left my mouth hanging open for a very long time.
Wonder Woman 1984 is set to hit theaters on June 5, 2020.
