Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Wonder Woman 1984.
Chris Pine makes a miraculous return as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman 1984, after sacrificing his life at the end of the first movie - but is he really alive again? After an origin story that mostly took place during the First World War, Gal Gadot returns as Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman in a sequel that jumps forward in time to the year 1984.
While working for the Smithsonian in Washington DC, Diana encounters a seemingly ordinary citrine stone that was saved (by her superhero alter ego) during a heist of rare antique artefacts. When the Latin inscription promises to grant one wish to whomever holds the stone, Diana silently makes a wish for Steve Trevor to be returned to her, as she never really got over his death. She doesn't expect the wish to come true, but it does - along with Barbara Minerva's wish to become more like Diana, and antagonist Maxwell Lord's far more dangerous wish to become the Dreamstone itself.
Diana is overjoyed when her wish is granted and she's reunited with Steve. However, they eventually learn that the Dreamstone was actually created by a god of lies and deception, and every wish made upon it has a price. Steve's resurrection has a specific cost for Diana, and even beyond that she didn't quite get exactly what she wished for - because he's returned in another man's body.
How Steve Trevor Returns In Wonder Woman 1984
Rather than crawling out of a grave or manifesting out of thin air, Steve returns by effectively possessing the body of another man (played by Kristoffer Polaha). Little is known about this man other than the fact that he's a bachelor, works as some kind of engineer, and likes to make bold fashion choices. Steve wakes up in the man's bed (or rather, on his futon) in 1984 with no memory of where he has been since dying, but a vague sense that he has been somewhere and that it was a good place. He finds Diana by first looking her up in the phone book and then following her to a work gala, where he persuades her of his identity by repeating his last words to her ("I wish we had more time") and placing his watch in her hand, just as he did before he died. Diana is so happy to see him again that it's not until after a passionate reunion that she reluctantly decides to try and figure out how a stone could have brought her boyfriend back from the dead.
Why Steve Trevor Still Looks Like Chris Pine
Chris Pine plays Steve Trevor throughout Wonder Woman 1984, but he doesn't actually look like Steve Trevor to everyone else. When he looks in the mirror, when Diana first sees him, and when other people look at him they all see the face of Polaha's character instead. His apparent transformation into Steve Trevor isn't literal, but is instead a representation of what Diana sees from the moment she recognizes the stranger at the gala as her long-lost first love. There's a line explaining this after Steve takes a look at his host body in the mirror and declares that he likes the look of the guy; Diana replies, "He's great, but I only see you."
This is a neat way of explaining Steve's return, but also an early warning sign that the Dreamstone doesn't quite deliver on its promises. An avenue that isn't really explored much in the movie, but will no doubt be flagged by audiences, is the fact that if Steve did decide to remain in his new body, he would effectively be stealing his host's life. It may be a life filled with parachute pants and cheese in a can, but it's still a life that Steve has no right to take away. Before Diana can deal with that problem, however, she's faced with a more immediate problem when the price she paid for her wish becomes apparent.
The Cost Of Steve Trevor's Return For Diana In Wonder Woman 1984
Superheroes are often faced with the dilemma of choosing between their heroics and the people they love, and Diana is no exception to this rule in Wonder Woman 1984. After she and Steve follow Max Lord to Egypt, where he uses his newfound powers to eliminate his main competition in the oil industry, Wonder Woman engages in a chase with Lord's convoy. However, instead of easily deflecting bullets like she usually does, a bullet grazes her shoulder and causes her to bleed. Later, while swinging from the Lasso of Truth to rescue two children playing in the road, she loses her grip on the lasso and falls into the road, sustaining injuries. The problems continue during a face-off with Cheetah at the White House, in which Wonder Woman is overpowered by Barbara Minerva's newfound strength.
The Dreamstone is effectively a monkey's paw: offering cursed wishes that come with a cost. Barbara's wish to become an apex predator comes at the cost of her humanity, and Wonder Woman's wish to have her human love returned to her comes at the cost of her Amazonian super-powers. With the world on the precipice of collapse, she needs her full strength in order to be able to stop Max Lord. Steve persuades her that she most make a heartbreaking choice: renounce her wish, which will mean losing him all over again, but regaining her powers. When Diana says that she can't bear to say goodbye to him, Steve replies that there's no need: "I'm already gone."
Can Steve Trevor Come Back Again In Wonder Woman 3?
As much as audiences love Chris Pine, it would probably be too much of a contrivance to have Steve Trevor return for a third Wonder Woman movie. Moreover, to do so would spoil the ending of Wonder Woman 1984, in which Diana finally accepts that it's time to let Steve go and open herself up to friendship and love with other people. She even has a chance encounter with Polaha's character - the man whose body Steve borrowed - and realizes that he has picked out for himself the same outfit that she tried (and failed) to get Steve to wear earlier in the movie. After she compliments his look, the two of them share a charged moment that conveys the possibility of a new romance.
One possibility, which was theorized by fans when the news first broke that Pine would be returning for Wonder Woman 1984, is that he could play a descendant of Steve Trevor. Again, though, this would be a stretch - especially since Wonder Woman never mentioned Steve having any children, and dating your old boyfriend's identical great-grandson doesn't really qualify as "moving on." Ultimately there are any number of ways that Steve Trevor could return, but for the sake of the story and Diana's character arc he probably shouldn't.