Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer Breakdown & New Story Reveals

DC Films unveiled a new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 at the DC FanDome event - and here's our full breakdown. 2020 has been a disappointing year for lovers of the superhero genre, with the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdowns leading to the closure of cinemas worldwide. Wonder Woman 1984 was originally scheduled to come out in June 2020, before being pushed back (twice now). Still, Warner Bros. appear to be hoping they can get things moving on, holding a dedicated DC FanDome event at which they celebrate all their upcoming superhero movies.

The first DC FanDome virtual panel was for Wonder Woman 1984, featuring director Patty Jenkins and a number of stars from the film, and it concluded with a brand new Wonder Woman 1984 trailer. This focused significantly on Cheetah and Maxwell Lord, the two villains of Wonder Woman 1984, and it showcased Cheetah as a physical match for Diana and Maxwell Lord as a philosophical foe. Patty Jenkins' original Wonder Woman movie was as much a story of contrasting ideologies as it was a traditional superhero action flick, and the sequel promises to be in a similar vein.

Here's our full breakdown of FanDome's Wonder Woman 1984 trailer, putting the scenes in context and exploring what they tell us about the film's plot.

10. The Amazonian Games

The Wonder Woman 1984 FanDome trailer begins with a flashback to the Amazonian Games, with the young Diana participating and competing against her sister Amazons. As shown in the first movie, as a child Diana was always eager to prove herself, and the Amazonian Games are the perfect opportunity to do so. While the other Amazons have several distinct advantages over Diana - they are taller, their muscles are more well-developed, and they have taken part in the Games countless times - Diana still hopes to perform well.

The arena clearly tests a range of attributes, including agility and balance, and Diana's smaller size may well mean she is able to compete effectively. The scenes of her running in the arena are deliberately paralleled with her racing through the streets of Washington, DC. There's a voice-over from Robin Wright's Antiope, who served as Diana's childhood mentor. "This world is not yet ready for all that you do," Antiope advises. "Your time will come, Diana. And everything will be different." Those words sound distinctly ominous.

9. Wonder Woman Rides The Lightning

Wonder Woman 1984 Trailer Diana Rides the Lightning

Wonder Woman doesn't appear to be able to fly under her own power, but she does something much more impressive; she rides lightning through the skies, hooking her lasso upon it. This is very different to the comics, where flight is traditionally part of Diana's powerset, but visually it's far more impressive. It calls back to the fact the DCEU's Wonder Woman is actually the daughter of Zeus, and suggests she has inherited some of her father's powers. Diana is seen doing something like this a number of times throughout the trailer, although interestingly on some occasions the skies seem clear.

8. Maxwell Lord Delivers A Message To The World

Much of the trailer is actually drawn from Wonder Woman 1984's third act, in which Maxwell Lord's power threatens the entire globe. He has been granted the power of the Dreamstone, allowing him to grant the wishes of anyone who sees his face. Unfortunately, because the Dreamstone was created by the God of Lies, this power is in fact a trap; every wish granted has a catch. In Maxwell Lord's case, he appears to be compelled to grant as many wishes as possible, and in this scene he takes advantage of the cameras at the White House to transmit a message to the entire world. "Citizens of the world," Maxwell Lord declares, "I'm here to change your lives." The Wonder Woman 1984 trailer carefully avoids showing the chaos unleashed by this, instead focusing on characters whose wishes have already been granted.

7. Barbara Minerva Wants To Be An Apex Predator

A lot of the earlier footage of Barbara Minerva has been seen before, in the first Wonder Woman 1984 trailer, but that makes sense; it chronicles Minerva's journey from a work colleague of Diana's to a fearsome opponent. The clothing and costume designs are deliberately evocative of Catwoman's transformation in 1992's Batman Returns, with clothing styles in this shot and a dress in a later scene that are evocative of Selina Kyle's arc. This time round, though, the shots are accompanied by a voice-over from Kristen Wiig's Barbara Minerva, in which she reveals her wish. "I don't wanna be like anyone," Minerva decides. "I wanna be an apex predator." Her wish is granted, and that is precisely what she becomes.

6. Cheetah Versus Wonder Woman - Round 1

Previous Wonder Woman 1984 trailers and TV spots have shown Diana taking on the guards at the White House, but the action takes an unexpected turn when Cheetah arrives. Barbara Minerva's transformation is still in its earliest stages at this point, and she's able to knock Diana off her feet. No doubt this will be an extremely personal fight for Diana, as she had come to think of Barbara as a friend. Notice the White House guards appear uncertain what to do while these two women face off against one another, confirming Barbara isn't yet working with Maxwell Lord.

5. Steve Trevor Isn't Flying An Invisible Jet

Steve Trevor may have been gone for decades, but he's still an ace pilot, and he quickly figures out how to fly a new jet. There's been some speculation this would be Wonder Woman's famous invisible jet, the superhero's primary mode of transportation in the early days of DC Comics. The jet made its debut all the way back in 1942, and was built by Diana herself for speed and stealth. It seems that theory can officially be debunked by the new Wonder Woman 1984 trailer, though, because Diana tells Steve there's now something called radar.

Although experiments had been conducted with radar as far back as the 1880s, the technology wasn't really developed on any major scale until the 1930s, years after Steve Trevor's death in Wonder Woman. It makes sense he would be blissfully unaware a jet like this could be detected. Still, the fact the jet shows up on radar doesn't seem to slow Diana and Steve down at all, and soon they're flying through the night sky over America - and straight through Independence Day celebrations.

4. Maxwell Lord's Power Flares

Speaking from the podium at the White House, Maxwell Lord unleashes the power of the Dreamstone - offering to grant the wish of everyone who sees his image on the screen. This is visually represented as a wave of power that brings chaos to the room Maxwell Lord is standing in, and no doubt to the world itself, as so many conflicting and contradictory wishes are granted at once - all with their own twisted flaws. It looks as though Wonder Woman is too late.

3. Wonder Woman Versus Cheetah - Round 2

There are more scenes from the first battle between Wonder Woman and Barbara Minerva, but the Wonder Woman 1984 trailer then moves to a third-act confrontation between the two. Barbara's transformation has continued, and the comparisons with Catwoman's in Batman Returns are now hardly flattering to her. She has become exactly what she wished to be, an apex predator, a quasi-human creature with the strength and agility to match Diana.

Interestingly, it looks as though Cheetah isn't actually trying to attack Wonder Woman in this sequence; rather, she appears to be trying to get past her, presumably hunting someone else. Needless to say, Diana isn't willing to let Cheetah achieve her goal. The location of this battle is unclear, but the lighting is reminiscent to previous shots of a mysterious broadcast tower. It's possible the final battle takes place there, not at the White House.

2. First Look At Cheetah

Warner Bros. has deliberately held back shots of the fully transformed Cheetah, and as a result until one recent Wonder Woman 1984 poster there had been speculation Barbara Minerva may not become the ruthless, animalistic villain seen in the comics at all - perhaps with that saved for Wonder Woman 3. Even now, though, the studio is still only giving viewers a brief glimpse of Cheetah in all her savage glory - and then in a series of quick action shots, with low lighting to conceal rather than reveal. It's a smart way of building up hype.

1. Wonder Woman's Golden Eagle Armor

Diana Prince wears new Golden Eagle Armor in Wonder Woman 1984 trailer

The Wonder Woman 1984 trailer ends with a stunning glimpse of Diana's Golden Eagle armor, which she clearly wears for her final battle with Cheetah in the third act. Speaking at a Wonder Woman 1984 set visit, Patty Jenkins suggested the wings - which are discarded in this scene - are an essential part of the design.

"Then the other thing about this suit is, there was this whole conversation about how in all of these illustrations there are some sort of wings. In the comic books there's always some sort of wings. So there's been miles and miles of debate that wings don't really go with this. So in the end, the wings have become her shields. They're my favorite things, where the wings are almost like paragliding wings. So at a clunk and a clunk, they become like Roman shields so she's protected. I won't give away the story of why that's the kind of protection she needs, but her fighting style is with the shields. I'm really pleased now because I think that there was no logic to it being a pair of wings, really. But there is a logic to gliding, to being something she can glide in on."

The wings make sense if Diana can't fly under her own power, and it's possible she used them to shield herself from gunfire as she glided in to this mysterious location. If she has previously been using them in her fight against Cheetah, then Wonder Woman's discarding them may mean she's decided to commit wholeheartedly to the fight.

More: Wonder Woman 1984 Theory: The Problem With The New Steve Trevor