When you've experienced the neon delights of Wonder Woman 1984 in theaters or on HBO maxYou may be wondering about this ending. Let's dive into the ninth movie in the DC Extended Universe and hopefully answer your burning questions.
For those who haven't seen the director yet Patty Jenkins'Film, beware of SPOILERS before you.
Continue reading: How to watch Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max this Christmas
The monkey's paw
Excellent suit wearing villain Max Lord (Pedro Pascal) has absorbed the power of the dream stone and given it the opportunity to fulfill people's desires and in return to fulfill its own desires. However, the dream stone is a monkey's paw - it creates chaos when the Lord gives people what they want.
The Lord's body also begins to fail because of the power of the stone, but it deprives people of life force in order to keep themselves healthy. So it's clearly a bad situation that is only going to escalate, but he's too selfish and power-mad to see it.
Continue reading: Wonder Woman 1984 Review: Gal Gadot Returns is a wild, neon-injected thrill ride
Being the good guys, Diana and the resurrected Steve Trevor (Gal Gadot and Chris Pine) find out that the stone was created by the god of betrayal and mischief (which sounds a lot like) Marvel's Loki), and it takes people's most precious possessions when it fulfills their desires. Steve was restored through the stone - his soul inhabits a man's body - after Diana wanted him back, but it exhausts her demigod powers in exchange.
However, Diana's buddy Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) also wished to be powerful and stylish like her friend. So she has a cute '80s wardrobe, a newfound balance, and superhuman strength: the most dangerous combination of them all.
Give up everything or not
Diana and Steve realize that the only way to undo the chaos of the Stone is to forego their desires, and he convinces them to let him go so that their strength may be restored. At least they could go on a great 80s adventure together, and Diana could move on emotionally.
But Barbara will not give up her strength or her sense of dress to regain her empathy, and she allies with Lord. Neither of them realizes that they are leading the world to the apocalypse because it is a superhero film and the stakes have to be so high.
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Escalation in the 80s
In a meeting with the US President, Lord finds out that he can communicate with anyone on the planet via a super-secret satellite transmission system in order to grant all of his wishes and gain absolute power in return. (Presumably he would have just made a YouTube livestream or Facebook Live if he had developed this scheme in 2020.)
Since this is the Cold War era, the unintended aftermath of Lord's Wish Feast brings the US and Russia into nuclear war.
Diana dons the bling gold armor of the legendary Amazonian warrior Asteria and then uses her newly discovered ability to fly to reach the broadcast system. She fights against Barbara, who wanted to become an "apex predator" and turned into a cheetah person. I don't think humans become cheetahs when they get really strong, but that's exactly what happened to their character in the comics, and we have to pay homage to the source material.
It turns out Diana is still the Apex predator anyway, and she takes Barbara down hard.
Mass renunciation
The world falls apart as the Lord, who sends worldwide, fulfills all wishes. Diana uses her lasso of truth to communicate with everyone about him. She convinces everyone to accept reality and to renounce their wishes, to avert nuclear disasters and basically to bring everyone to relax.
Lord also sees his son wandering alone in the chaos and realizes that he is a bad father. Therefore, he renounces his own desires and needs in order to reunite with the young boy. Barbara also renounces her wish and returns to normal.
In the episode, we jump to Diana, who is roaming a celebratory market - making this film a future holiday favorite - and run to the man whose body Steve has taken over.
Midcredits Stinger
This was edited from the version of the film that was shown to the media for review because it was Patty Jenkins determined to control spoilersSo I haven't seen it firsthand. It's like I went out clueless when the credits rolled in despite 12 years of Marvel Cinematic Universe films (and something DC Extended Universe Movies) to have did not condition me. This will be updated as soon as I can see this scene.
Unanswered questions
- Has Lord had any consequences for his actions? It seems like the magical nature of desires made the whole situation disappear from people's minds like a dream, so that the US and Russia may have forgotten how close they have come to mutual destruction.
- Who remembers what? It seems likely that Diana and Lord remember everything that has happened since they were at the center of the events caused by the Dream Stone and retained their agency, but everyone else seemed to be under the Stone's influence and in a trance-like state to be located.
- What happened to barbara? Did she go back to her work at the museum after her furry shape faded? Has your memory of style, balance and superpower faded?
- Has the dream stone been destroyed? It turns to dust when the Lord receives his power, but we do not see it reform after he rejects his power.
- When did Diana get her gold armor? This was probably cut out for time constraints, but one minute it discovers its flight power and the next it is armored and arrives at the transmitter. It feels strange that she would return to her apartment in Washington DC in between, even though she looks super cool in fancy gear.
Since magic plays a big part in all of this, it's easy to use it to explain everything. It's magical don't worry
