Wonder Woman 1984 Image Reveals Kristen Wiig as the Villain

Screen Rant

Wonder Woman 1984 First Look: Kristen Wiig in Pre-Cheetah Form

By Sandy Schaefer

Published Jun 27, 2018

Director Patty Jenkins reveals the first image of Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva (pre-Cheetah transformation) in Wonder Woman 1984.

Patty Jenkins has revealed the first image of Kristen Wiig as Barbara Minerva in Wonder Woman 1984. The Wonder Woman sequel is now officially in production and, as its title indicates, picks up with Diana (Gal Gadot) in the '80s. Chris Pine is also back in the film as Steve Trevor (though how he's come back remains to be seen), while Wiig costars as Miss Minerva - a character who eventually transforms into the sequel's villain, Cheetah.

In her traditional comic book origin story, Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva was an ambitious British archaeologist who gained her Cheetah abilities after she discovered (or, rather, happened upon) a ritual in the lost, ancient, city of Urzkartaga. Other characters have become Cheetah over the years in the world of DC Comics, but Barbara has served as the villain since the New 52 reboot back in 2011. Now, she's making her way to the big screen at long last in Jenkins' upcoming sequel to her own hit DC Extended Universe film, Wonder Woman.

Jenkins posted the first image of Wiig in Wonder Woman 1984 to her Twitter account, much like she did with the first images of Gadot and Pine in the film. You can check out the photo, below!

In addition to showcasing Wiig's '80s fashion sense in the film, this Wonder Woman 1984 image alludes to Barabara's eventual transformation into an animalistic supervillain. However, it's not clear just yet how, exactly, the Wonder Woman sequel will go about having her do that. Jenkins' first DCEU movie wasn't afraid of embracing the pulpier supernatural and fantasy aspects of the Wonder Woman comic book mythology, so it stands to reason that Wonder Woman 1984 won't be, either. At the same time, the film could make some key changes to Barbara's backstory, in order to fit the '80s Cold War thriller tone that it appears to be going for.

According to a previous report, Wonder Woman 1984's Cheetah will start out emulating Diana (presumably, when she's still Barbara), before she turns to evil. Such a tragic arc would be in keeping with most previous comic book iterations of the character and present Diana with a very different threat to defeat than Ares and the cartoonish human villains in the first Wonder Woman movie. Fingers crossed, Jenkins will reveal the first official image of Wiig transformed into Cheetah when (possibly) Wonder Woman 1984 makes its way to San Diego Comic-Con next month.