Wonder Woman 1984 Ending Explained

Movie fans were met with a pleasant surprise on Christmas Day, when Wonder Woman 1984 made its debut on HBO Max. The highly-anticipated DC film has been giving viewers a lot to take in, continuing the story of Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) into a previously-unseen era of her onscreen story. There's definitely a lot to take in with the film, as it introduces multiple iconic villains from Diana's rogues' gallery onto the big screen. If you're still trying to process the film's ending -- we're here to help. Major spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 below! Only look if you want to know!

In addition to following Diana's new life as a museum curator in Washington DC, the film introduces both Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig) and Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal). At the center of the trio's meeting is a stone, which was rescued from a mall heist that Wonder Woman stopped early in the film. Over the course of the film, the characters learn that the stone - called the Dreamstone - has the ability to grant the wishes of those who hold it. Diana unintentionally uses her wish to bring back Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), but begins to lose her powers as a result. Barbara uses hers to be more confident like Diana, which sets her on the path to becoming Cheetah, and she loses her soul and humanity along the way. Lord, meanwhile, uses his wish to become the Dreamstone himself, giving him the ability to grant people's wishes -- a power he quickly uses to gain power and influence across the United States, but at the cost of his physical health. Lord wants global power, however, and finds his way to a secret military base with the ability to transmit video to viewers throughout the world.

Diana learns that the only way to reverse the effects of the Dreamstone is to have each person renounce their wish, or to destroy the Dreamstone itself. Wearing her Golden Eagle armor, Diana makes her way to the military base and engages in a physical fight with Barbara, which ends with her subduing her by briefly electrocuting her, but not killing her. She then makes her way to Lord, who is in the middle of his worldwide broadcast, and is influencing people to make their wishes regardless of the consequences. Diana manages to get her Lasso of Truth around Lord, using his worldwide reach to inspire people to renounce their wishes.

From there, the film begins to wrap things up -- Lord has an emotional reunion with his young son, and Diana crosses paths with the "Handsome Man" who Steve embodied while back on Earth. By the end, Diana uses her newfound power of flight to take to the skies, helping the people of the world who need her.

While the ending wraps things up in a pretty sentimental bow, it also raises a whole slew of new questions. The nature of both Barbara and Maxwell Lord's futures are left up in the air, especially as they both have renounced their wishes and given up their powers. There also is the question of how Diana "walked away" from mankind for the decades that she established in 2016 in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, even as WW84 shows the contrary. Whether or not any of these questions will be answered - either in Wonder Woman 3 or in some other DCEU installment - remains to be seen.

What did you think of Wonder Woman 1984? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!