New DCEU villain Cheetah's transformation in the second Wonder Woman 1984 trailer secretly reveals that the DCEU hero’s nemesis may have the same weakness as her original comic counterpart. While the film Cheetah won't be an exact copy of the comic edition, their backstories do at least appear to be linked, and that could offer the secret to Cheetah's defeat.
Wonder Woman and Cheetah have long been regarded as rivals in the DC universe, ever since Barbara Ann Minerva was introduced in 1987 with Wonder Woman Vol. 2 #7 as the third iteration of the character. Minerva's Cheetah would prove the most successful despite changing her powers from being an alternate personality she repressed, to being the product of making a pact with an ancient god. An heiress with considerable wealth behind her, Minerva would become an archaeologist, just as Kristen Wiig's film version is, who was fascinated with recovering ancient artifacts. After traveling to Africa, she learned of a ritual carried out under the full moon that would allow her immortality and to become a cheetah god and immediately decided to carry it out, resulting in the popularised version of Cheetah that is most commonly used today - although details have changed throughout DC's various reboots.
One of the interesting things to note about this is that the ritual was actually technically a failure, as it required the person involved to be a virgin, which Barbara was not. As such, Barbara could initially only take full Cheetah form on the night of the full moon, although she still retained a lesser version of her powers outside of this time frame. The latest trailer to be released showed Barbara in her complete Cheetah transformation, but notably only in a scene that takes place at night, suggesting this original backstory may be the one being adapted for Wonder Woman 1984, and that this weakness comes along with it.
Of course, it seems profoundly unlikely that Barbara will briefly disappear from the events of the film to quickly do a ritual in Africa, so there are no doubt substantial changes to be made in the film's version of Cheetah's origin story, even if the full moon transformation aspect remains the same. However, given Maxwell Lord is shown making nebulous offers of power in the trailer, it stands to reason Barbara may gain her villainous upgrade through some dark agreement with him, with her full inhuman transformation perhaps not being a form she wishes to take but rather the price she pays for the deal. With the movie potentially being a criticism of consumerism, this could prove a powerful metaphor - as Barbara, fixated on obtaining more in her life, slowly becomes unrecognizable because of her obsession.
Though not a massive detail, it would be a great idea for Wonder Woman 1984 to flesh out the figure of Cheetah past her being a physically strong foil to Wonder Woman herself. Giving her a weakness tied to her obsessive desires certainly adds complexity and ties into the idea that Diana getting Steve Trevor back also comes with a huge caveat. Similarly, the fact that the comics had Cheetah's weakness fixed by the interference of Circe could potentially provide the perfect opportunity for the post-credits scene - even if Maxwell Lord is the more major villain of the DCEU movie - as this could set up for the sequel that will inevitably follow Wonder Woman 1984 by offering the hero a reason to face off against another more mythological enemy.