WMG / Wonder Woman 1984

Pre-Release

Plot

This movie will tie up loose ends and show the moment Diana becomes the jaded Broken Bird in Dawn of Justice.

It'll be a big Trauma Conga Line for her even more so than World War I was. She'll be forced to intervene in political matters, she had a small chance to finally move on from Steve by meeting Barbara Ann Minerva but his return reopened wounds, Steve returns to being dead after whatever it is that brought him back is destroyed, and finally she's forced to kill Maxwell Lord (Neck Snap obviously). This drives her to fully retire and hide among humans. The movie however ends on a "Ray of Hope" Ending where we revisit her meeting Bruce Wayne, assuring us the audience that as awful as an experience 1984 was, Diana will return to help usher in a new age of heroes (and also to assure Snyder fans that the events of Dawn of Justice and Justice League are not thrown under the bus and retconned).

How Diana became completely unknown to the world, including Bruce, until Dawn of Justice gets revealed.

One of Maxwell Lord's storylines in the comics involved him erasing his own existence from everyone's memories throughout the world, becoming a "ghost", as heroes can't find or stop an enemy they don't know or remember. Something similar comes into play with Lord in the film, and then Diana ends up getting erased from all memory and historical record, except for in Themyscira (and the old war photo). She re-establishes a new identity and life for herself easily, but the Trauma Conga Line she has in the film is what makes her hang up her hero life permanently until the events in Dawn.

The thing that brings Steve back is a Mother Box, which somehow ended up in Maxwell's hands.

It was shown to have resurrectionary powers in Justice League, and it is incredibly powerful. Who's to say it couldn't bring back a man who's been dead for seventy years?

• Specifically the very Mother Box that Steve's wartime team was sent to recover in the home video stinger and which Silas Stone used on Victor.
  • Additionally, the object Maxwell Lord is shown contemplating at his desk (and is displayed as a background image behind him as he speaks on television) is a variation of a certain mystical artifact. Combining that object with the Box creates the film's drama.

Diana

Diana will get a new sword and a new shield in this film.

She lost them in the first film ("Godkiller" got destroyed), and she got new ones before the time of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Steve Trevor

Steve is an illusion/imposter created by Circe.

Steve is an illusion/imposter created by Doctor Psycho.

The latter has decided to break Wonder Woman from the inside through her memories. He may not know what she's seeing.

Steve is actually Back from the Dead by Maxwell Lord through magical means.

He brought Steve back in an attempt to control Wonder Woman, which will eventually lead to a later dilemma where if she does stop Maxwell, Steve will cease to exist.

• Confirmed. Thanks to Maxwell's wishing stone, Steve's soul possesses some guy and he reunites with Diana, but it comes at the cost of Diana becoming weaker the longer Steve sticks around.

Time Warp

When Steve shot the canisters full of Dr. Poison's toxins and triggered an explosion, it sent him into the fucking future.

Bardock: Of all the STUPID! ASININE! SHARK-JUMPING BULLSHIT! (Turns Super Saiyan)

Steve's survival will connect to the Big Bad of Wonder Woman 3

And it will be Hades.

Villains

"Maxwell Lord" is a fake identity.

• He's Doctor Psycho, or an adaptation of him.
• Lord is actually Godfrey from Apokolips.
  • He was with Steppenwolf's original invasion and deserted after it failed. Going against him in this film would explain how Diana was fully knowledgeable of Steppenwolf and the Mother Boxes in Batman v Superman, but so under-knowledgable about herself and other things back in 1918.
• Maxwell Lord is actually Urzkartaga.
  • Discovering that Wonder Woman is a Demi-Goddess who could interrupt his plans to rule over humanity, he brought back Steve in an attempt to either trick Diana into believing he is benevolent, or to subdue her from fighting him else Steve could be taken away again. And when that fails, he will turn Barbara - who is smitten with him and growing jealous of Wonder Woman - into the Cheetah as revenge, which will irrevocably damage Barbara and Diana's friendship forever.
• Confimed: But not in the way you'd expect. His real name in the film is Maxwell Lorenzano, with "Maxwell Lord" being a stage name he uses on TV.

Cheetah will be LGBTQ and in love with Wonder Woman.

But Wonder Woman won't reciprocate her feelings

Cheetah will get an appearance similar to that of Justice League.

She will have a mutation in a hybrid of half human half cat, naked and sexy.

• Confirmed.

Barbara Minerva will have two pet cheetahs similar to the comic Justice.

In Justice, Priscilla Rich (The First Cheetah) had two pet cheetahs and she killed one of them and used her skin as her Cheetah costume.

Cheetah will be part of The Legion of Doom in the Future.

After she is defeated by Wonder Woman, in the future, she unites with Lex Luthor and the other enemies of the Justice League, to form "The Legion of Doom".

• Instead of Lex Luthor she's visited by Lena Luthor (Tina Fey), Catwoman (Maya Rudolph), Giganta (Leslie Jones), Vulcana (Kate Mckinnon) and Egg Shen (Bowen Yang).

Maxwell Lord will have his neck broken

But not by Diana and he'll come back in future films with a neck brace.

• Unlikely, since he performed a Heel–Face Turn at the end.

Misc.

There could be songs from The Terminator in the film.

Namely, Tahnee Cain's "Photoplay" and/or "Burning in the Third Degree". Patty Jenkins could have a great opportunity to add both more 1984 references and a Take That! to James Cameron after his infamous rants against the first Wonder Woman film.

The All Myths Are True notion of the DC Universe will be addressed

Between the Greek Gods and Napi, there's yet to be much acknowledgment of the fact that multiple pantheons from various cultures seem to coexist in this universe. Considering the New Gods, this movie will hopefully address the "Death of the Old Gods" by establishing things like how Diana and the Amazons (and maybe the Atlanteans) are the last living remnants of Greek Mythology while Cheetah is one for African mythology. Along with the above tying of loose ends, 84 will also likely firmly establish how the events of this movie cements the era of the Fourth World and open the door for Ava DuVernay's New Gods movie.

Post-Release

Misc.

The baby that Astria saved was....

....Doris Zeul, aka Giganta.

The Man

The man that Steve possessed (and later shares a moment with Diana at the end), is the DCEU Tom Tresser.

• Or it was Hal Jordan's father, as a reference to how some people wanted Chris Pine to play Hal so Diana could point out how similar they look in-universe.
• Or he's Rex Mason, since we've already seen Simon Stagg. WW will be involved in his origin story in a future film.

Asteria's armor will be used by a non-Amazonian in a future film

And she'll call herself Hawkwoman. I mean, LOOK at that thing. It's got wings! And a beak!

A frustrated commuter wished for a futuristic Metro system

• The changes were implemented ahead of time, which is why Diana and Steve see a modern, 2010's Metro.

Along with all traces of everything the Dreamstone granted...

...also the entire world's memories of what happened has or will vanish completely as if it never happened. (Maybe even a backward reset of time before the stone started everything.) Diana, Maxwell, and Barbara will be the only ones who remember everything because they were the only ones aware of the stone from start to finish.

The president got his office through the Dreamstone's wishing

In Real Life 1984, Ronald Reagan was president and won re-election. In the movie, the president we see is not Ronald Reagan. He could have used the Dreamstone to become president. That would mean wishing for nukes would be his second wish, but Barbara was also granted two wishes (being like Diana and later being an apex predator). The President may have had to use the Dreamstone before Maxwell wished to be it. The wishes always come with a cost, and becoming the president may have cost him his goodness, similar to Barbara. That would explain why he wished for nukes, worsening the international crisis.

Young Bruce Wayne saw Maxwell Lord's televised message to the world.

Naturally, he wished for his parents back, who had obviously been murdered only three years prior. The horrific twist to his wish? Alfred suddenly died in their stead. Upon hearing Diana's message, he renounced his wish, and was inspired to use his grief constructively to help others.

• Alternatively, Bruce didn't wish for them back because his innocence was too far gone to believe in anything like wishes anymore. In the words of another Batman, it would be "too damned easy".
• Either way, later on in life, he would come to the realization that the dead could be brought back under the right circumstances, kickstarting his crusade to bring Superman back to life.

Not everyone renounced their wishes out of free will.

We only see everyone saying "I renounce my wish" after Maxwell does that. Out of billions of people, it's not reasonable to think that every single one was willing to give back his or her wish. However, when Maxwell renounced his wish, i.e. to become the Wish Stone, the consequences of his wish, i.e. everyone else's wishes, were also reversed by anyone who hadn't renounced his or her wish yet doing that.

The Wish Stone will be responsible for Rex Mason becoming Metamorpho.

Not directly. The events of the movie destroyed Simon Stagg's disbelief in the supernatural and will prompt him into financing the search for the object that'll grant Rex his powers.

The Duke of Deception faked his death.

He knew he was no match for Ares so it was the only way to avoid being killed for real.

Steve Trevor

Steve Trevor was never really back from the dead.

Why did the dreamstone bring Steve back in the body of some rando? Simple: it didn't. It couldn't actually retrieve Steve's soul from the afterlife; so it brainwashed some poor guy into acting like Steve.

• Possibly might explain why he can fly a jet- the guy had those skills beforehand, or any other inconsistencies. The reason the stone used him is because he appeared to show interest in Diana before.

Villains

Cheetah will be returning in Wonder Woman 3

It was hinted at by Patty Jenkins which might heavily imply that Cheetah will return in Wonder Woman 3.

Giganga will appear in Wonder Woman 3

Since she hasn't appeared in any of the two Wonder Woman films yet, she will likely appear in Wonder Woman 3 as one of Wonder Woman’s enemies.

Cheetah will have a Redemption Arc in Wonder Woman 3

Well, despite having a Redemption Rejection on Diana’s offer of renouncing her wish, Diana knows that she still has a heart of good in herself, since Barbara did apologize to Diana during their battle, and her hearing her speech while resting. this might foreshadow her Redemption Arc in Wonder Woman 3.

Villains that might appear in Wonder Woman 3

Since the DCEU Wonder Woman films have had villains such as Ares and Doctor Poison in Wonder Woman, Maxwell Lord, and Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984, there are some possibilities for any of Wonder Woman’s enemies to appear in Wonder Woman 3, including in the future.

• Giganta
• Circe
• Queen of Fables
• Eviless
• Doctor Psycho
• Silver Swan
• Veronica Cale
• Priscilla Rich
• Deborah Domaine
• Morgaine Le Fay
• Queen of Hearts

Diana

The Double Standard Rape Scifi elements and Diana losing her powers can be explained in-universe...

...because the true cost of the wish wasn't merely the loss of her powers, but the entire essence of who she is as Wonder Woman, including any compassion and moral compass, in her desire to be reunited with Steve.