WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Wonder Woman
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If there's one thing fans want in Wonder Woman 2, it's the return of Chris Pine - but now that it sounds like Steve Trevor will return in the sequel, the big question is: how? The death of Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman's final act is the kind of heartbreak that filmmakers can't simply "take back." And yet, recent evidence suggests Wonder Woman 2 will be set in the 1980s, with both Chris Pine and Gal Gadot reprising their roles. For the immortal demigod Diana, it's a simple enough leap. For Steve Trevor... well, the first reactions among the fans are less than confident, assuming that the tragedy which shaped Diana's entire life is going to be subverted and erased.
But is that really what's being planned for Wonder Woman 2? Yes, it seems director Patty Jenkins and DC's plan - or, at this point in development, one of their plans - is to bring Chris Pine's hero, someway, somehow, into the Cold War of the 1980s. Yet we can't help but think fans are missing the real answer here, and just how clever and obvious a solution writers Jenkins and Geoff Johns have come up with.
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Will Steve's death be undone: an act of heresy in the face of the raw, genuine emotion of Wonder Woman? Will Steve's return mean Diana's chance to be her own hero will be lost for the sake of a leading man? Or will Pine be playing a... different Steve?
The answer to bringing Steve Trevor back for Wonder Woman 2 is simple... and could result in a better movie, too.
No, The Sequel Shouldn't (& Won't) Undo Steve's Death
When most fans hear the suggestion that Chris Pine's Steve Trevor will return in Wonder Woman 2, the first reaction may be something close to disappointment. Not in the idea that Pine will return, since his and Gadot's chemistry was widely praised. And not because Diana should stand on her own, since that was never a problem the first time around. No, most apprehension will come from the assumption that to resurrect Steve Trevor is a fake-out, or a cheap undercutting of all the emotional weight of his death. A death that, as we know from Batman V Superman, left a lasting mark on Diana's entire character. Which is precisely why that's almost certainly NOT the path that will be taken.
Fans may weave some complicated theories on ancient gods or goddesses who could return Steve from beyond the grave, tied into the complicated expansions of mythology coming with Justice League. But as we've pointed out before, the idea of each and every individual film tying into some larger mythology is Marvel's strategy, not DC Films'. And when Jenkins was recently explaining her hesitation in telling another Wonder Woman story, she described the "epiphany" that fans should keep in mind:
"I was like, ‘Wait a minute. You have the greatest character of all time that you love dearly, with a cast that you love sitting at the palm of your hand at this day and age — you can do whatever you want with them — are you crazy?’ And then I suddenly realized, it’s not more, it’s another movie. It’s its own movie. And it’s got to be great."
It may be a foreign, outlandish idea for those adhering to set "rules" of modern shared universes: that superhero movies should stand on their own. Yet DC Films entrusted Jenkins to tell, largely, the same Wonder Woman origin story she always wanted to, regardless of the broader Justice League universe plan. The result was one of the DCEU's biggest hits to date, so it seems obvious that replicating that unrestricted environment, and making "another movie... its own movie" with "a cast that she loves" is the top priority.
Again, it's difficult for fans to shrug off the rules, restrictions, and addiction to speculation and theory-spinning (which can be entertaining in moderation). But strip away all the conjecture, and the solution seems simple enough. A Wonder Woman movie set against 1918 World War I proved a grand idea, and Chris Pine was the perfect compliment to Gal Gadot. Shift the setting to a Cold War adventure in the 1980s, and you're out that leading man even if he hadn't died stopping World War I.
So how would Wonder Woman 2 by Jenkins and Johns possibly find a way to keep that core cast intact?
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Steve Trevor's Grandson... The New Steve Trevor
Trust us, because this theory isn't anywhere near as far-fetched as you might think. For starters, let's focus in on the time between World War I and the Cold War setting rumored for Wonder Woman 2. The time difference is around seventy years... which equals two generations of thirty-something Steve Trevor descendants. Had Steve fathered a child prior to his entry into the war - let's say around 1915 - then that child would be thirty-five in 1950. And a child born in 1950 would not only be in their late thirties come the possible 1980s setting of Wonder Woman 2 (Pine's exact age), but raised in the cloud of paranoia, fear, and impending doom of the Cold War at large.
It's here where the skeptics may instantly claim that "Steve Trevor never had children!" And it's here where we'll remind fans that Chris Pine believes Steve had a family, before the war destroyed that life and forced him to, in his words, do "something" as opposed to "nothing":
"With Steve, I always viewed it that he probably had been in love before and he probably did have a lady, maybe even had a family, and lost that to this awful conflict. The thought of falling in love is so painful for him that he could not allow himself to do it. It had to be about a mission, it had to be God and country, but it could not be him and what he wanted."
The backstory makes sense, working to explain why Steve resists indulging in his feelings for Diana - throughout the film, their connection seems to strike a tragic, or somber note (not the 'happily ever after,' romanticized tone seen elsewhere). Whether or not Steve "canonically" fathered a child, or children as established so far, we know that the idea informed Chris Pine's characterization. So even if Jenkins's main priority is simply to write a Wonder Woman movie that sees Chris Pine return, a descendant of Steve's would enrich his existing character arc.
How much more heartbreaking would it be to realize that Steve didn't think himself an ill fit for a life spent with love, marriage, "having some babies" and "growing old together"... but that he had such a life once, and lost it? No matter how much Jenkins might choose to explore, the solution for a man who looks like Steve Trevor, and is keeping up the military tradition is as simple as it gets.
The Wonder Woman TV series swapped one generation of Steve Trevor for another and kept their star already, but the doors it opens up for Chris Pine, Gal Gadot, and their characters in the 1980s DCEU is the main reason fans should root for 'Steve Trevor III.'
Why A New Steve is Just What Wonder Woman 2 Needs
At this point, we still assume there are some who would roll their eyes or scoff at Chris Pine appearing on screen and proclaiming himself grandson of the WWI hero Steve Trevor. But again, we would urge fans to take a lesson from Jenkins: don't overthink it. If everyone wants Chris Pine to remain in the Wonder Woman series, Chris Pine wants to remain in the Wonder Woman series (we assume), and the previous Steve Trevor was re-cast as his original character's descendant... what's the problem here? The introduction of a new Steve Trevor (named for his grandfather) wouldn't just be another reason for the movie's audience to smile at their fortune - it would be a change to the formula so promising, it's hard to imagine Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns not taking the leap.
The first film is, at its core, the story of how Diana matured from an idealistic outsider to a composed, confident demigod who saw mankind for what it truly was. Through it all, Steve Trevor held her hand as a man familiar with the world she needed to navigate - until the final act, when Diana and Steve both lifted eachother up to be their best selves. Consider our theory for Wonder Woman 2, and that relationship could be inverted entirely, with Diana having lived a full seventy years of the 20th Century before meeting the new Steve Trevor.
Should the story for Wonder Woman 2 be one tied to Diana's realm, perhaps introducing Cheetah as a villain, or exploring the gods and goddesses of her origins, it would be Steve trying his best to keep up this time around.
Knowing that the winning chemistry of Wonder Woman was between Gadot, Pine, and Jenkins, and not just their characters, we have no doubt that this new power dynamic (in terms of knowledge or world experience, as opposed to physical strength) could be just as compelling. DCEU fans already know what an older, wiser Diana looks like thanks to Wonder Woman, so it's a credit to Pine that we also have no doubt he could rise to the occasion. Add in the fact that Diana's heart belongs to the original Steve - an element of Batman V Superman appreciated even more now - and Pine and Gadot have the chance to build a new kind of relationship on film.
Fans may still cry for more romance between the Wonder Woman leads, but the first scenes together prove it's not a requisite. Should Jenkins be one our proposed route already, paying tribute to Lynda Carter's TV series, while allowing Diana to be the older, wiser soldier in her second film... then the potential scene of Diana telling Steve who his grandfather really was is simply icing on the cake.
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So what do you fans think? Does the introduction of a Steve Trevor descendant solve every problem and bring the best parts of Wonder Woman back for more? Or do you (somehow?) hope Chris Pine's time in the series is up?
