After various release date delays, Wonder Woman 1984 is now in theaters where available and streaming on HBO Max and while viewers are sharply divided in their reactions to the Patty Jenkins-directed, Gal Gadot-starring film, the film record numbers of viewers have watched the film and have been spotting a number of Easter Eggs and cameos tucked into the film. While some are pretty obvious — including that mid-credits scene — others are little harder to catch, especially one that references a significant location in the DC Universe.
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Warning: Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 below. Quit reading now if you don’t want to see those spoilers!
In Wonder Woman 1984, Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) is a conman/failed businessman trying desperately to make the business empire he’s shilling truly a success. Critical to that is, of course, his having the Dreamstone, but also having control of oil. Lord specifically wants the oil of Emir Said Bin Abydos (Amir Waked) and after becoming essentially the living embodiment of the Dreamstone, Lord heads to Cairo, Egypt intent on using it to gain the Emir’s oil.
Critical to gaining said oil is the Emir making a wish — the Dreamstone exacts a high price when granting a wish, something that allows Lord to make a demand of what he’s taking from the person whose wish he grants — and the Emir does have a major wish. He tells Lord that he wishes for his ancestral lands of the Bialyian dynasty to be returned. The wish is granted instantly with a massive wall suddenly rising and creating its own set of problems.
For DC fans, that reference to the “Bialyian dynasty” isn’t a throwaway thing. In comics, Bialya isn’t a dynasty but a Middle Eastern location. First introduced in Justice League #2 in 1987, Bialya is a militaristic state that has seen its residents suffer under various ruthless leaders, including Queen Bee who literally used an implant to “addict” residents to living there. Perhaps most notably, however, is Bialya’s connection to Black Adam. In comics, Black Adam attacked Bialya in pursuit of the man who murdered his wife and brother-in-law, ultimately leading to Black Adam slaughtering millions in the process.
What’s interesting about the Black Adam connection is the upcoming Black Adam film starring Dwayne Johnson. It’s not clear just yet what the focus of the Black Adam story is going to be, but with the mention of Bialya in Wonder Woman 1984, the door is open for a potential connection between Wonder Woman’s part of the DC Universe and Black Adam’s.
Wonder Woman 1984 is now streaming on HBO Max and playing in theaters.
Did you catch the Bialya reference in Wonder Woman 1984? Let us know in the comments.
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Image Courtesy of Max
