Wonder Woman 1984 concept art provides an early design for Cheetah. Played by Kristen Wiig, Barbara Ann Minerva is one of the two villains of the Patty Jenkins' sequel. She joined Maxwell Lord, who is a powerful businessman in the comic books who makes dreams come true through an ancient citrine stone.
After several delays due to varying reasons including the coronavirus pandemic, the DCEU film finally released on HBO Max and in theaters on December 25 after Warner Bros.' controversial hybrid HBO Max roll-out scheme. Wonder Woman 1984 saw the return of Diana Prince as she fought two new adversaries in the '80s. While Max is the cerebral villain, Minerva's role in the film is more complicated as she started as the Amazonian Goddess' friend. Given this, she's more empathetic as her motivations are rooted in her desire to be confident and self-sufficient. At the end of the sequel, she transformed into her Cheetah form after wishing to be an apex predator.
Shared on Instagram by artist Maciej Kuciara is his original concept art for Cheetah. According to him, Jenkins reached out to him early in the process of making Wonder Woman 1984 and asked if he can come up with some designs for the villain. Check it out below:
Marketing for Wonder Woman 1984 didn't straightforwardly reveal Wiig's Cheetah's look for the movie, but it did feature short snippets of the character's final fight with Diana in the film, offering fans their first glimpse of her Cheetah form. Prior to this, however, several leaked promotional items and tie-in merchandise hinted at the villain's transformed appearance. Looking at Kuciara's concept art, there's not much difference between the early designs and what ultimately ended up on the big screen. It's worth mentioning that one of the most challenging elements in Wonder Woman 1984 is bringing Cheetah to life in a way that doesn't look tacky. Jenkins has previously been vocal about this, calling it "harrowing." Fortunately, they were able to deliver on this.
Despite Wonder Woman 1984 bringing a relatively good-looking live-action Cheetah on the screen, it's a shame that the film didn't use her longer. Minerva's final form wasn't debuted until the third act of the movie and considering how dark the setting of the fight was, it's difficult to see the finer details of her character design. In any case, since she didn't die in the sequel, there's a chance that Cheetah will make her way back into the DCEU in future films. In fact, Jenkins was coy about the matter when asked about this, fanning flames of speculation.
Source: Maciej Kuciara
