After numerous release date changes and delays, Wonder Woman 1984 was arguably one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time, superhero film or otherwise. In the 1980s set flick, Diana Prince is forced to battle multiple villains, all while dealing with her own deeply personal crisis and conflicts.
The jury might still be out on whether the film lives up to the incredible legacy of its predecessor, 2017's Wonder Woman, but it's clear that Wonder Woman 1984 has a deeply meaningful storyline with plenty words of wisdom worth remembering. Whether hero or villain, all characters are given their moments to shine, and their parting words to live by.
"No true hero is born from lies."
In the film's introductory Themyscira sequence, a young Diana receives a hard lesson in life and competition from her aunt and instructor, Antiope. After taking a shortcut to try and win the Themysciran games, Diana is stopped at the finish line by Antiope, and as a result loses the contest.
Despite Diana's protests that she played the game fair and square through her own innovative measures, Antiope holds her ground and tells Diana the hard truth of the world: nothing can be gained rightfully through deception, and "No true hero is born from lies" - a theme that will resonate throughout the film.
"All I see is you."
The circumstances under which Steve Trevor returns to be among the living are dubious and somewhat unresolved. But when Steve arrives, he does so in the host body of another unknown man. Though Diana initially sees this man's appearance, both she and the audience alike are guided to the reveal that it is, in fact, Steve.
As Steve and Diana begin to talk and reconnect, Steve questions Diana's claims that she's had no real romantic interests in all these years. And though Diana notes that the host is great and all, she can't help but see nothing but Steve right now.
"This world is not yet ready for all that you will do."
After Diana receives a verbal scolding from Antiope, she is understandably upset and in need of comforting. That's where her mother, the always regal and comforting Queen Hippolyta, intervenes.
In assuring Diana that her time will come one day where she will be a champion and leader for all, Hippolyta reminds Diana to act in the image of the legendary Asteria, and to do so with "patience, diligence, and the courage to face the truth." When Hippolyta tells Diana "This world is not yet ready for all that you will do," it's clear that she (and the audience alike) know this to be true.
"You're the only joy I've had or even asked for."
Diana Prince doesn't ask for much. She gives all of herself in name of the greater good, and never truly gets anything in return for all of her sacrifice. She never indulges in a social life of any kind, seldom making connection or even finding the most mundane of pleasures.
So when she tells Steve "You're the only joy I've had or even asked for," it's a truly sincere and sad line. Diana has spent decades living in isolation, self-inflicted but also unavoidable, and the one happiness she has always wanted has been out of reach for just as long.
"What do you wish for?"
The central villain of Wonder Woman 1984 is smooth talking businessman Maxwell Lord, a man who peddles wishes and desires thanks to his wish to become one with the mythic Dreamstone. As a result, he develops a sort of routine and tagline, one he utters whenever he wishes to get his own wish fulfilled in return.
"What do you wish for?" is what Lord asks of countless unsuspecting individuals within the movie's universe, and though he makes their wishes come true, he takes a repayment of either equal or greater value every time.
"Why, for once, can't I just have this one thing, Steve? This one thing?"
Wonder Woman 1984 might be a superhero movie, but at its core, the film is a story about love, longing, and loss. This is most convincingly depicted through the once again ill-fated romance between Diana Prince and Steve Trevor.
In particular, the film offers a uniquely moving perspective on this, through the lens of a superhero who gives up everything in the name of the greater good, but is never allowed to have her own happiness or needs placed first and foremost. It's also a deeply poignant story from the feminine focus, as it shows not even the true Amazonian goddess can easily have it all.
"I'll always love you, Diana. No matter where I am."
Diana is forced to do the unthinkable once more in the name of saving the world, when she makes the pain decision to lose Steve again in order to regain her powers and save the day.
But as the two say their final pained goodbye once more, Steve offers a parting passionate plea with Diana that the film makes all the more resonant: "I'll always love you, Diana. No matter where I am." And after all these two have been through, across time and maybe even space, viewers know that is the truth.
"This world was a beautiful place just as it was, and you cannot have it all. You can only have the truth, and the truth is enough. The truth is the beautiful."
And speaking of the truth: the film's climax centers around the sometimes painful, sometimes sublime, and sometimes even beautiful nature of having to accept the truth, no matter what it means.
As Diana pleas not just with Maxwell Lord, but with the world, to give up their selfishness and embrace the truth of reality by renouncing their wishes, she makes a powerful argument for the necessity of truth, of acceptance, and of taking the world on just as it is.
"You don't ever have to make a wish for me to love you."
Maxwell Lord is a man who can make everyone's greatest wishes come true, even his own. But apparently, that only holds true so far as matters of business are concerned, because Maxwell has never been able to truly make his young son, Alistair, happy.
Alistair has two simple wishes in the movie: for his father's success, and for his father to come home when he is scared and misses him. Yet when a tearful, finally remorseful Maxwell returns home to Alistair in the film's closing act, there is one wish he promises Alistair he will never have to make - and it's one of the film's most successful emotional beats.
"I've been doing this a long time."
Hidden within a mid-credits scene was one of the best reveals Wonder Woman 1984 had to offer: the identity of the famed legend Asteria, who is apparently living secretly among modern society just like Diana herself.
Of course, what makes the Asteria reveal all the more important and satisfying is the casting of the beloved Lynda Carter, former Wonder Woman herself, for the brief cameo. As Asteria gives cheeky, cagey answers about her strength, reminiscent of Diana's own earlier dialogue, she assures the woman she just helped that, "I've been doing this a long time," something true for Asteria and Carter alike.