WARNING: This post contains Wonder Woman 1984 spoilers.
Wonder Woman 1984 wisely avoids repeating a Man of Steel controversy by not adapting Maxwell Lord's comic book death. Set decades after the first Wonder Woman movie, Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman 1984 sees Diana Prince living a relatively normal life in Washington, D.C. working as an anthropologist at the Smithsonian. It's there she meets the film's two eventual villains: Barbara Minerva aka Cheetah and Maxwell Lord, who both become villains by using the Dreamstone.
Barbara is enamored with Diana's beauty and courage, so she wishes to be just like her - and in doing so, she not only becomes everything she dreamed of but also more. Because Diana is an Amazon with godlike powers, Barbara also gains super strength. Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord takes things not one but several steps further by literally becoming the Dreamstone. He then uses his newfound abilities to gain ultimate power and bring down civilization as people know it. Considering how much power he obtains, the only way to reverse everything is to stop him.
Diana uses her lasso to reveal the truth to Maxwell Lord and the world, which convinces him and everyone else to renounce their wishes. It's a much more personal ending than the first movie had and it presents a message of hope to audiences - but it could've ended entirely differently. In the comics, Wonder Woman kills Maxwell Lord by snapping his neck, which saves the other heroes but also forces Batman and Superman to turn against her and shun her from the Justice League.
Maxwell Lord's death in the comics took place in the "Sacrifice" story arc, in which Lord used his psionic powers to convince Superman that his fellow Justice League heroes were his arch enemies. Wonder Woman couldn't stop him, except by killing him. It was a controversial moment among comic book fans, and while Wonder Woman killing Lord in Wonder Woman 1984 would've drawn comparison to that story arc (despite not being the same story with the Dreamstone), it would've actually been compared more to Man of Steel.
As many people already know, Zack Snyder and Man of Steel drew ire for Superman snapping Zod's neck. Given Superman, like Batman, is meant to be anti-killing, Zod's death in the 2013 movie was surprising, to say the least. There were reasons behind the decision to have Superman kill Zod and it even established Clark Kent's anti-killing philosophy in the DCEU, but it was still controversial. Having Wonder Woman kill Maxwell Lord would've been comic accurate, but it also would've been heavily controversial, so it was smart on Jenkins and DC's parts to avoid that. Instead, Wonder Woman 1984 ends in a better way with a much more optimistic message.