DC icon Wonder Woman has faced many obstacles throughout her lifetime, but it only took one viral pandemic to throw her latest movie into disarray. Fortunately, Wonder Woman 1984 is, after several delays, on course to arrive on the big screen this October.
Patty Jenkins returns to the helm following her 2017 Wonder Woman movie, which was praised as a fun and progressive step forward for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). Much of the film's charm owed itself to Gal Gadot who embodied both the noble Amazonian side of the title character, and also the bumbling fish-out-of-water presence in World War I.
Now, the first trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 has taken its bow at the DC FanDome event. Several decades after the Great War came to an end, Diana is adjusting to the era of big hair, MTV and leg-warmers, while still 'Pine-ing' for Chris Pine's deceased pilot Steve Trevor.
But first thing's first: she's got two villains to deal with: Kristen Wiig's Barbara archaeologist Minnerva/Cheetah, and Pedro Pascal's mysterious entrepreneur Maxwell Lord, who extends his sinister influence through that quintessential 1980s commodity, the TV set.
As we know, Steve is resurrected for the movie, apparently via Maxwell's ability to grant people anything they want. These abilities also invest the jealous Barbara with "apex predator" skills. (This is the first time we've seen the character in action in the trailers.) Shame they don't teach Steve about the modern-day invention of radar, but it's nice to have the humour from the first movie present and correct.
There are glimpses of the young Diana's Themysciran training, which promises to lend more grandiose weight to her journey. Off-setting that is the sweet-natured romance between her and Steve, which proved so appealing in the first film.
Wonder Woman 1984 is released on 2nd October 2020.
