Wonder Woman 1984 Official Trailer: Breakdown

Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman finally returns to the big screen, with director Patty Jenkins setting us up for an explosive ride into the era of wavy hair and outlandish sweatpants. Set to the beat of iconic '80s song ‘Blue Monday’, Diana Prince’s journey is clearly going a completely different direction to that of the original doom and gloom of its WW1 predecessor. And I for one have no problem with that.

‘Welcome to the future.’ — Maxwell Lord — Credit: Warner Bros.

Opening with a vivid reminder of Chris Pine’s charismatic role of Steve Trevor, iconised through the camera shot of the watch gifted to Diana before his sacrifice at the end of the first film, the sequel is not moving on from the past. And nor should it. As we later discover, Steve is alive and well, seemingly youthful as ever, and now the roles of naïve outsider have been flipped as he stares entranced at a bin before being informed ‘That’s just a trash can…’

But how is this possible? Well, the trailer doesn’t give much away, but I suspect the hand of new villain Maxwell Lord (played by The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal) and perhaps a fitting resurgence of the Old Gods.

‘I can save today. You can save the world.’ — Steve Trevor — Credit: Warner Bros.

And Maxwell Lord isn’t the only member of Wonder Woman’s antagonists twisting their neck to the limelight. In line with the comic books that inspired it, Kristen Wigg’s character of Barbara Minerva is enjoying a friendly conversation with Diana at the start of the trailer. But anyone familiar with Wonder Woman lore will know that she is on the path to become infamous villain Cheetah, spurred on by a desire for power and a jealousy of the Amazonian hero. The trailer only teases this to us, but reports have indicated a prominent use of prosthetics, so hopefully we will see the character realised fully instead of just slapping a print jacket on her and calling it a day.

Kristen Wigg as Barbara Minerva — Credit: Warner Bros.

Let’s also not ignore the potential appearance of the Invisible Jet as Steve and Diana fly through the multicoloured fireworks lighting up the sky. While this could just be any jet, it seems too coincidental to ignore. It is still not obvious whether Diana will be able to fly by herself, despite seemingly doing so at the end of her previous solo appearance, so this is highly plausible and a friendly wink towards fans of the character’s long history.

Could this be the famous invisible jet? — Credit: Warner Bros.

Revisiting Themyscira, it seems we won’t just be exploring the modern urban world of Washington DC. Diana’s younger actress can clearly be seen competing in a type of Amazonian Olympics. The context for this, I have no theories for, unfortunately. However, as a fan of the visual beauty of our hero’s native homeland, I cannot wait to dive back into its exotic vistas once again.

Themyscira makes its triumphant return — Credit: Warner Bros.

With action scenes aplenty in this first glimpse, we can expect a thrilling ride. The only question is, how does this fit into the established continuity of Batman Vs Superman? Diana did, after all, recount how she ‘walked away from mankind’ 100 years ago. Given the less-than-stellar reception to the greater extended universe, it’s not too much of a stretch to assume they may be completely ignoring this fact with a blatant retcon. Although she does destroy a security camera, so who knows really?

Diana in her 'Kingdom Come armour' — Credit: Warner Bros.

Ending with Diana donning the popularised Kingdom Come armour, made famous by the artwork of artist Alex Ross in the storyline of the same name, the film is evidently not shy about playing homage to the more outlandish aspects of its inspired comic book routes. And this is perfect for the atmosphere perpetuated by the '80s setting. And while not specifically taken from the comics, as far as I am aware, she swings on lightning using her lasso! It doesn’t get more comic book than that.