It’s been almost a week now since Wonder Woman 1984 hit theaters and HBO Max, and that’s a week of breaking down what worked in the film and what didn’t. It has also been a week in which fans officially learned that director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot are committed to a third film, which is currently in development. There’s going to be a lot of poking and prodding of Wonder Woman 1984, since even those who liked it didn’t fall wildly in love with it the way they did Jenkins’s first Wonder Woman…but at this point it’s probably more fruitful to look forward to what’s next than to look back.
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To that end, we tried to think: what would we want out of a potential third movie with Jenkins and Gadot? Some elements of it, we know are likely to happen — like a reappearance of Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). Most of the rest of it remains pretty mysterious.
There are certain things you always like to see in superhero movies, and certain things that become part and parcel of a successful franchise like Jenkins has built with Wonder Woman. We tried to assemble a list that’s a little of both, with enough leeway that it doesn’t feel like we’re making crazy demands by saying “you know what would be cool…?”
Check ’em out below, let us know what you think, and tell us in the comments what you would like to see from the next Wonder Woman.
More Amazons
The Amazonian contest of champions at the start of Wonder Woman 1984 was one of the best parts of the movie, and echoed much of what worked about the original film. The lack of Amazons through most of the movie was understandable — after all, it took place in the U.S. and we don’t really have any reason to believe that the Amazons are especially tuned into world events outside Themyscira — but in their diminished role, they were missed. Yeah, there’s a planned spinoff coming, but either way, it would be nice for at least one or two — maybe Artemis or Nubia? — to have a bigger role in a third film.
With a rumored spinoff centering on Paradise Island (and the tantalizing possibility that it could center on Lynda Carter’s Asteria, the goddess whose golden armor Diana wore during the big, climactic battle in the second movie, it would only make sense to build characters into Wonder Woman 3 that might be able to trade back and forth between it and the Amazons series, regardless of which comes first.
A New Supporting Cast
While we loved seeing Steve Trevor back, and Gadot’s chemistry with Chris Pine remains untouchable — it’s probably time to find somebody else to fill her life. The implication that she has had nobody new become her friend since her first wave of friends from World War I leaves Diana feeling solitary and brooding in a way that’s more suited to Batman than Wonder Woman.
Whether it’s co-workers at the museum, other superheroes, or something else, it would be nice to see Diana develop a whole new set of relationships in Wonder Woman 3. So far, whether in Batman v Superman or in Wonder Woman, Gadot has adapted her take on Diana well to bouncing off other actors. Getting some new relationships could shake things up while giving fans somebody new to root for in a post-Steve world.
Some Political Intrigue
Setting Wonder Woman 1984 in Washington, D.C., but giving us nothing to work with in terms of Diana’s time as a spy, was an understandable decision. Still, now that we have her DC home and cast established, it could be fun to explore that side of her. That doesn’t mean we need to go full-on white catsuit Wonder Woman — that’s probably a bad call right after Black Widow anyway — but having the setting inform things a little more could be interesting, even if it’s just doing it Captain America-style and exploring what it means for Diana to disagree with the government of her adopted home.
Another Distinct “Period”
The look and feel of the ’80s informed Wonder Woman 1984 as much as the look and feel of World War I permeated the first film. That’s something that would be a shame to lose in the third film.
With Cheetah reportedly coming back, that likely nails us down to the ’80s or later, which means it might feel a little less “period”-y than the first film (or even the second, since we’ve now seen what the ’80s looked like for Diana), but it would still be cool to see how she navigates a new decade and what she will do to get out of it without having fully blown up the continuity of her Batman v Superman introduction.
New villains
While it’s cool to hear that Cheetah — Diana’s archenemy from the comics — is coming back in the future (and while we don’t dislike Pedro Pascal by any stretch of the imagination), it’s probably better that Max Lord stay in 1984 and give somebody else a shot. Cheetah and Doctor Poison were both terrific takes on the characters, incorporating elements from the comics but still coming away feeling very much something of Jenkins’s own. More of that, please.
Superman
Look, we’re going to get to the whole superhero thing in a minute, but the idea of having Superman — as seen post-revival, with a real sense of what he wants to do as the Man of Steel — and Wonder Woman together onscreen for more than a few seconds at a time would be great. We got to see plenty of how Wonder Woman played off Batman on the Whedon cut of Justice League, and it’s possible the Snyder Cut might explore some of the other relationships more fully…
…but between the way Wonder Woman 1984 paid tribute to the Richard Donner movies and the fact that Shazam! has established a world where Superman is not only a role model to other heroes, but willing to step into that role and hang out a bit, it would be cool to see him in a part where he is exuding that confidence…but doing so with Diana, who is his equal and who respects but does not idolize him.
The Justice League (or Society)
With an oblique nod to Black Adam in Wonder Woman 1984 and a history being established in his movie that there was likely a super-team of some kind during Diana’s lost years, it seems like a great opportunity to tie Wonder Woman in with the upcoming, Dwayne Johnson-fronted antihero epic.
Of course, failing that — or especially if Wonder Woman 3 comes first and Jenkins feels like she wants the Black Adam team to introduce the characters on their own terms rather than having to take whatever she gives them — it could be fun to see her reconnect with the Justice League in a way that isn’t so much a group of people thrown together and finding their way.
Taking a great director and a beloved character, and using that to help establish just what the relationships are between various heroes in the DC Films universe, seems like a no-brainer strategically…but more than that, it sounds like it would be entertaining to watch.
