Wonder Woman 1984 is packed with surprises, action and emotion. There's a lot going on
in this neon fairy tale, so you might not catch it all on your first viewing.
Here's the full story, including the key elements of the ending.
Obviously, spoilers are ahead. You've been warned!
Some 70 years after the events of the first Wonder Woman, Diana lives in a luxurious condo in
Washington, D.C. She chooses to spend time alone after losing her one true love, Steve Trevor,
in World War I. Her home is decorated with pictures of Steve, and Diana chooses to eat
dinner by herself and avoid human connection while working at the Smithsonian by day.
"Diana, look at you. It's like not one day has passed."
But Diana still dons her armor and stands up for what's right, even if it's only by going
after small-time crooks. During a robbery at a D.C. mall, four would-be artifact thieves
are mystified when a stunning woman clad in red, blue, and gold swings from the ceiling with her
golden Lasso of Truth, dumping them onto a police cruiser before vanishing. However, she does allow
one person a few glimpses — a little girl who watches Diana vanquish the robbers in adoration,
with Diana giving the girl a quick wink before disappearing to keep her identity a secret.
Diana might prefer to be alone, but she ends up making a friend when the meek,
awkward Barbara Minerva joins the Smithsonian staff as a gemologist.
Constantly tripping over her own feet and too soft-spoken to stand up for herself,
Barbara immediately idealizes everything about Diana, who comes off as strong and confident.
After Barbara shows Diana some of the artifacts she's studying, including a mysterious citrine
stone, Diana agrees to go out for a drink after work. The two end up bonding, with Diana praising
Barbara's sweet personality and open nature, admitting that she prefers to close herself
off from the world. Later that evening, alone in a park, Barbara is assaulted by a drunk man,
but Diana comes to her rescue. Rather than raising questions about Diana's apparent super-strength,
the incident only makes Barbara aspire to be like Diana even more.
Down-on-his-luck would-be oil tycoon Maxwell Lord first appears on television screens in the
mall where Diana stops the robbery, as he tries to convince folks that they can improve their
lives with the help of his company, Black Gold Cooperative. Despite the glossy feel of his ads,
Maxwell is broke, and his top investor, Simon Stagg, is getting angry.
Desperate to make money — and support as well as impress his young son Alistair,
Maxwell seeks out a rather unorthodox fix. When he hears about the stone that Barbara and Diana
have discovered, the Dreamstone, he sees a way out of his predicament. He comes up with a plan to use
the Dreamstone for his own gains, seducing Barbara to gain access to the artifact for himself.
Before Max takes possession of the stone, both Diana and Barbara wish upon it,
though neither of them quite understand what they're doing.
Diana wishes that Steve could still be with her. The next day, at a Smithsonian gala, she's taken
aback when she discovers that Steve, living in someone else's body, has indeed returned.
Meanwhile, Barbara wishes for the confidence and power of her new friend Diana,
and begins to see a change almost immediately. She's suddenly striding around the Smithsonian
in slinky outfits and attracting attention from everyone around her.
At a Gala, Maxwell invites her into a room alone, but it's all a ruse to steal the Dreamstone.
Maxwell takes his wish a huge step further, too, becoming the stone himself
so he can grant anybody's wishes as well as his own. With this power, Maxwell can
manipulate the entire world, making deals with international figures and causing complete chaos.
All three wishers eventually realize there's a huge downside to the Dreamstone:
it steals your life essence when you make a wish. Diana might be happy with Steve by her side,
but her powers are fading. She's unable to harness her strength or properly wield the Lasso of
Truth. Barbara completely loses the humanity that drew Diana to her in the first place,
driven only by vengeance and a thirst for more strength and influence.
“You've always had everything, while people like me have had nothing."
To make matters worse, Barbara makes more wishes on the stone
through Maxwell, turning herself into the animalistic, hyper-strong Cheetah.
Maxwell fares worst of all. As he continues to grant wishes and emotionally manipulate
the world so he has power over everybody, even the president of the United States,
his body begins to break down. His nose and ears stream blood, his eyes are red.
His body is visibly wrecked. Despite these negative effects, everyone, even Diana,
is loath to let go of their wishes, even when they discover that the stone was created by
the God of Treachery and Mischief himself. But the only way to return to normal is to recant.
Diana and Steve realize there's only one thing she can do to regain her power and bring down
Maxwell and Barbara: recant her wish. After yet another emotional goodbye,
a sobbing Diana takes her wish back, and Steve shuffles off this mortal coil once again.
With her full powers returned, Diana discovers Maxwell's plan to use a U.S.
military broadcast system to speak to the entire world so he can grant wishes en masse.
Diana, in the full splendor of the ancient golden Amazonian armor of Asteria,
defeats Cheetah, electrocuting her to turn her back into Barbara. She then confronts Maxwell.
She wraps the Lasso of Truth around him and speaks to the world over the broadcast system, begging
everyone to recant their wishes. The do, stopping a nuclear war as a result. Diana also uses the
Lasso to show Maxwell a vision of his young son Alistair, convincing him to return to his family.
At the beginning of the movie, a much younger Diana competes in a hyper-athletic sporting event.
Though she's the youngest competitor by far, Diana immediately takes first
place — but when she's knocked off her horse at a crucial moment, all seems lost.
But Diana finds a secret shortcut, putting her firmly back in first place.
When she returns to the arena, her aunt Antiope disqualifies her, saying she
cheated. Diana protests, but Antiope tells her that victory can't be achieved by dishonesty,
stressing that truth is of the utmost importance. She tells Diana, "No true hero is born from lies."
"And remember, greatness is not what you think."
Diana is disappointed in the moment, but she takes those lessons about truth and honesty with her.
Antiope's message of honesty proves especially important by the end of Wonder Woman 1984.
Through all three characters and their Dreamstone wishes,
it's clear Diana, Barbara, and Maxwell are all pretending to be somebody they're not.
The Stone exposes their greatest flaws, even as it gives them their hearts' desire.
Though it seems to people like Barbara that Diana has zero problems in her perfect life,
Diana's unwillingness to engage with anybody in the wake of losing Steve is a front for her
loneliness and a craving for human connection. Barbara, rather than finding confidence within
herself, tries to steal Diana's. Meanwhile, Maxwell wants to appear powerful at any cost,
despite the fact that he's broke and his business is failing. In the end, whether they're giving up
true love, finding their own confidence, or reuniting with family, Diana, Barbara,
and Maxwell understand that the Stone, despite its seductive wish-granting abilities, can't actually
help them at all. Only honesty and clarity can lead to true greatness. You can't take shortcuts.
In the aftermath of Maxwell's hostile takeover and a narrowly averted nuclear war,
the world seems to return to normal by the holiday season.
Back in D.C. and alone once more, Diana watches families spend time together at
a Christmas village, and even without Steve in her life, she seems at peace.
However, the clearest example of Diana's personal progress comes when she finds herself face to face
with the man whose body Steve inhabited during his recent turn on Earth. Rather than closing herself
off, Diana lets herself open up to this stranger, complimenting the outfit we saw Steve try on
earlier and giving him a warm smile before they part ways. Whether they'll meet again isn't clear,
but what's important is that Diana, who was once so committed to being alone, is willing to make
human connections once again, letting Steve go once and for all and living life on her own terms.
She also harnesses some impressive superpowers, mastering flying through the clouds with ease.
In the aftermath of her experience with the Stone, she's even more powerful.
Throughout the film, the audience and Diana learn about Asteria, an ancient Amazonian who sacrificed
herself and her strength to protect Themyscira from the prying eyes of men. During the flashback
to Diana's childhood, her mother, Queen Hippolyta, soothes her distraught daughter by showing her the
golden statue of Asteria and telling the story of the brave warrior who saved the island.
When the audience gets a brief glimpse of Asteria herself,
the actor playing her looks familiar. And for good reason, as she's played by Lynda Carter,
who played Wonder Woman on the small screen in the 1970s. In a post-credits sequence,
it's revealed that Asteria, like Diana, secretly lives among humankind. Whether Carter appears in
a future Wonder Woman installment remains to be seen, but no matter what, it's fascinating to
learn that Diana isn't alone, and potentially has an incredibly powerful ally nearby.
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