One of the most highly anticipated DC feature films is Wonder Woman 1984.
Since director Patty Jenkins released a handful of stills from their production, and even
a rough cut of a scene at last years San Diego Comic Con, there has been a whole lot of hype
- and a whole lot of questions - pertaining to what exactly the plot of the film will
be.
And honestly, aside from whose starring in the movie, we don’t know much about it.
It takes place in 1984.
Steve Trevor is seemingly alive.
And Wonder Woman is still a total bad ass.
So with that in mind, today, we’re counting down some of our favourite speculations for
the film, with our list of the top 10 wonder woman 1984 fan theories.
10 Steve is a projection One of the biggest questions fans have pertaining
to the film is how the hell is Steve Trevor back and alive?
At the end of Wonder Woman, we saw the loveable mortal sacrifice himself, leaving a Chris
Pine shaped hole in Diana’s heart.
But when the promo materials for the film were first released, surprise surprise, there
was Steve Trevor, decked out in 80s threads, looking like he hadn’t aged a day past World
War 2.
So how exactly could this be?
One theory is that he’s a projection, or rather, a figment of Diana’s mind.
The theory suggests that Diana has been going around for the past 40 or so years, imagining
that Steve is with her.
Not in a ‘she believes he’s really there’ kind of way, but in a way that the memory
of Steve is always with her, always keeping her company, and always inspiring her to keep
up the good fight.
It would explain why she declined Bruce’s advances, that’s for sure.
And many who believe in this theory suggest that’s where Steve’s adorable little outfit
in the film’s promo films came from; Diana knows how to dress her men.
9 Multiple Villains Generally, most superhero movies these days
feature more than one villain.
There’s usually the big bad, and then some other smaller antagonist, one who usually
appears earlier on in the film as threatening misdirection to the larger issue at hand.
That’s the basis behind this theory - that the film’s villain won’t just be Cheetah,
but rather, another larger Wonder Woman villain that’s yet to be announced, but likely portrayed
by Pedro Pascal, whose character details are mysterious at best right now (some people
think he might be Justice League villain Maxwell Lord).
Other rumours think it might be an entirely different villain based on the working title
of the movie, which was Magic Hour.
That villain is Circe, a wonder woman villain who first debuted in 1949 in the comics, a
character based off of greek mythology who imprisoned Odyssessus, and makes use of sorcery
in battle.
She also has a thing for turning humans into animals.
8 Spa Day Back on that Steve Trevor train for this number.
Another popular theory concerning the character is that he bathed in the magical waters on
Themyscira which not only healed him, but may have given him amnesia.
This is assuming that he managed to jump out of his plane right before the explosion that
we witnessed in the first Wonder Woman movie.
But how would he get back to Themyscira?
It seemed like Diana thought he was dead, and she definitely didn’t go to the crash
site to investigate, because we would’ve seen that.
We’re not the only ones questioning why this doesn’t add up, which makes us feel
a whole lot better that this theory was debunked by director Patty Jenkins, so don’t expect
to see Steve get his spa day after all.
7 Chernobyl We don’t know much about the plot of Wonder
Woman 1984 yet, but we do know that it’s set during the Cold War.
And based off of how important historical context was in the first film, it wouldn’t
be surprising to see Wonder Woman finding herself in the midst of world events yet again.
This theory riffs off of that.
So let’s backtrack for a second.
Back when the Justice League movie was about to come out, there was a popular theory that
the final battle took place in Chernobyl, with that acting as an alternate history of
sorts as to why the tragedy occurred there.
That speculation proved incorrect, but now, based on the time that Wonder Woman 1984 is
set, that the hero may inadvertently be the cause of the nuclear reactor’s meltdown.
And some fans think that this might connect back to the Justice League.
(cause they ain’t letting up on this theory I suppose!)
Thing is, the Chernobyl disaster occurred in 1986, two years after this sequel is set.
And in addition to that, it’s been announced that moving forward, the DCEU isn’t necessarily
concerned with connecting their stories, but rather, just trying to tell good ones.
At least they’re making a solid attempt nowadays, right?
And besides, Wonder Woman doesn’t need to branch off from the Justice League, especially
considering how much that film crashed and burned.
Sorry everyone, it’s true.
6 Hades As we mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of
speculation concerning who Pedro Pascal is playing in the film.
Many believe that, similar to the first Wonder woman movie, he might be playing a god in
disguise - a theory that’s been highly debated, since, well, would they really do the same
thing that they did in the last film?
Or maybe he’s outright a god to Diana from the get go, but acts as a mortal in public,
and Diana finds herself engaged in a different kind of conflict with him that doesn’t rely
on whooping ass.
Many have suggested that Pascal is playing the god Hades, and in order to mess with Diana
or get her on his side, he brings Steve Trevor back to life.
Another possible explanation for Pascal being tied to Steve trevor’s return is that he’s
playing Maxwell Lord, who in the comics is known for collecting magical artifacts, one
of which could bring Steve back in the film.
He’s also known for getting his neck snapped by Wonder Woman, but for some reason, we think
DC probably won’t go down that route again.
5 Martian Manhunter One interesting theory that’s popped up
online thanks to Kevin Smith is that perhaps this isn’t Steve Trevor at all.
The character we’re seeing has zero relation to Steve.
He’s actually a shape shifter, specifically, one of the OG Justice League members who can
shape shift.
We’re talking Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz.
While J’onn has gotten a live action adaptation in the world of the DC CW television series
(he’s one of the main cast in Supergirl), he’s yet to get a DCEU appearance, and there’s
been talk of the character popping up since 2017.
Having Chris Pine play the character and give Diana an emotional tornado to deal with while
fighting off the likes of Cheetah would definitely be intriguing.
But would DC go there?
4 Steve Jr Another popular ‘how is Steve alive?’
theory at this number.
And if the title didn’t give it away already, it’s that the Steve Trevor we’re seeing
in that promo picture released by director Patty Jenkins actually isn’t the Steve Trevor
we got to know in the first Wonder Woman movie.
He’s Steve Trevor’s son, who, for the purpose of this theory, we’re calling Steve
Jr.
So why do fans think this could pan out?
Well, there’s been a lot of online debate as to whether Steve had any family before
he died, and Chris Pine has actually stated that he thinks Steve might’ve.
In addition to this, there’s precedent for a Wonder Woman story to use a tactic like
this; the Wonder Woman tv series that starred Linda Carter featured an episode in which
Diana went into the future and met Steve’s son, Steve Jr.
The timelines almost add up here in terms of how old Steve Jr would be in 1984, so this
one at least stands a better chance than other Steve Trevor theories.
3 A Vessel for Urzkartaga Kristen Wiig is playing Barbara Minerva, otherwise
known as Cheetah.
In the comics, Barbara becomes Cheetah through the guidance of a plant god called Urzkartaga.
In the comics, initially, Urzkartaga needed a vessel in order to transform into a human
form, who was, drum roll please, Steve Trevor.
Diana manages to save him from that fate in the comics, luckily.
Enter our next fan theory - that Steve will be a vessel for Urzkartaga, and that’s why
he’s been brought back to life.
A plot point like that tying into Cheetah’s narrative (especially if the Cheetah wonder
Woman friend dynamic is explored) could make for a really interesting story.
And if Pedro Pascal is playing Maxwell Lord, he could very well be a benefactor of Urzkartaga’s
of sorts, working to make the god’s transformation into a human possible, all thanks to a resurrected
Steve.
2 George Orwell This one is pretty neat.
So some fans couldn’t help but connect the title of this sequel, Wonder woman 1984, with
the title of another famous work of fiction; George Orwell’s 1984.
It’s a literary classic, and one whose themes are still rather telling of the age we’re
currently in.
Aside from the film being set in 1984, no one knows why that year was chosen, or why
it’s the subtitle for the film, but naturally, there’s speculation that it ties into the
novel, especially thanks to the promo photo released of Diana looking over a slew of television
screens.
In case you need to brush up, Orwell’s 1984 is the story of a dystopian future where citizens
are controlled by a government who sees and knows all, a surveillance system called Big
Brother who watches everything everyone does.
The theory suggests that Wonder Woman 1984 will share similar themes as the novel, hence
why it’s adopted its title into its own.
1 The Severomorsk Disaster This theory comes from a redditor named Will-Himbi.
Based off of a little research into what happened during the year 1984, they suggest that perhaps
Wonder Woman 1984 will have something to do with the Severomorsk Disaster.
What’s that?
In May of 1984, the main munitions depot for the Soviet Northern fleet caught fire and
exploded.
It was located in Severomorsk, and it destroyed two thirds of the fleet’s weapon supplies,
facilities, and specialized technicians, all pertaining to missiles.
I quote, “Western military experts called it the worst naval disaster the Soviet Navy
has suffered since WW2.”
The photos of the disaster share a lot of resemblance with the scenes from the first
Wonder Woman movie where she’s fighting during the war.
The redditor also pointed out that there was a Soviet cruise missile that crashed into
a lake in Finland in 1984 as well, and that perhaps that, in this story world, could be
a cover for Wonder woman knocking an incoming missile out of the sky.
All in all, since the sequel takes place during the cold war, it wouldn’t be a long shot
to imagine that Soviet missiles might play some sort of role in the movie, especially
since the history of that year backs up a lot in terms of context.
There we have it friends!
What other theories do you have about Wonder Woman 1984?
Share them with us in those comments below!