Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) is a superhero film adapted from DC Comics, directed by Patty Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. The film is part of the DCEU and was released by Warner Bros.. Runtime: 2h 31m. Rated PG-13. Audience rating: 5.4/10.
What is Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) about?
Diana faces two new foes in the 1980s: the charismatic Max Lord, who gains the power to grant any wish at a terrible price, and her colleague Barbara Minerva who becomes Cheetah.
Released in 2020, Wonder Woman 1984 was directed by Patty Jenkins and produced under the Warner Bros. banner. The film occupies a significant place within the DCEU — contributing to the ongoing narrative and mythology of that cinematic universe.
The film features lead performances from Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, among others, anchoring a story that adapts characters first brought to life in DC Comics. Its source material gives the film a foundation rooted in decades of published storytelling, which Jenkins and the creative team interpret through a cinematic lens.
The film's 5.4 audience rating indicates a mixed response. Even so, it holds interest as part of the broader DCEU catalogue and for how it fits into the lineage of DC Comics-based cinema.
What happens in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)? — Full Plot
We open with a flashback. Young Diana competes in an Olympic-style Themysciran competition. She cheats by taking a shortcut. Her aunt Antiope pulls her out of the race. 'No true hero is born from lies.' The thematic premise of the entire film: the cost of getting what you want without earning it.
Cut to: 1984. Diana works at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. as Diana Prince, expert in ancient artifacts. The world has moved on; her superhero days have been quiet since World War I. She still secretly operates as Wonder Woman — saving the occasional civilian in mall-robberies and pickpocketing chases. She has been alone for almost seventy years.
A new colleague, geologist Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), arrives at the Smithsonian. Diana befriends her warmly. Barbara is socially awkward, professionally underestimated, lonely. Among artifacts confiscated from a recent mall-robbery is a wishing stone — a 4,000-year-old Mayan-Toltec artifact embedded with the spirit of an ancient wish-granting trickster god named Dolos.
Diana, holding the stone, wishes Steve Trevor (Chris Pine, returning from Wonder Woman (2017)) was alive again. Steve appears — but in another man's body. Barbara, holding the stone separately, wishes to be like Diana. Barbara's wish grants her Diana's superhuman strength and elegance — slowly transforming her into Cheetah. Maxwell Lord, a desperate failing oilman, finds the stone and wishes to become the stone itself. He gains the power to grant wishes — every wish — at a cost to the wisher's most-precious quality.
The film's middle act has Diana and Steve catching up in 1980s Washington. Steve adapts to the era. Their reunion is the film's most-celebrated emotional sequence. But Diana realizes — too late — that Steve's resurrection cost her her superpowers. She has been weakening throughout the film.
Maxwell Lord, using the wish-granting power, becomes increasingly powerful and increasingly cosmically dangerous. He goes on global television and starts granting wishes to thousands of people simultaneously. The world begins to collapse. Wars start. Resources vanish. The destabilization is the film's apocalyptic third-act stakes.
Diana, having released Steve back into death (he reverts to his original body), accesses her full Amazonian-divine power. She confronts Maxwell Lord at the global broadcast center. She convinces him to renounce the stone's power through a heart-to-heart appeal to his estranged son. Maxwell renounces. The stone's wishes are undone worldwide. Diana, restored, faces Cheetah / Barbara on a Bahaman cliff in the film's underwhelming final action sequence.
Wonder Woman 1984 grossed $169 million theatrically — a steep drop from the original. Critics were divided; many cited the wish-granting plot as too convoluted, the Steve Trevor body-possession premise as ethically uncomfortable, and the CGI Cheetah as visually weak. The film's poor reception contributed to Patty Jenkins's eventual departure from a planned third Wonder Woman film. Gal Gadot has reprised the role in The Flash (2023).
Who stars in Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)?
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What are some facts about Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)?
Wonder Woman 1984 released in 2020, placing it within the 2020s era of comic book cinema — a decade that saw superhero films become the dominant force at the global box office.
Directed by Patty Jenkins, the film was produced by Warner Bros. and adapts source material from DC Comics.
The principal cast features Gal Gadot and Chris Pine, with key supporting roles played by Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal.
The film belongs to DCEU — the DC Extended Universe, Warner Bros' connected superhero continuity.
Wonder Woman 1984 carries an audience rating of 5.4 — a mixed reception that highlights the divisive nature of superhero film adaptations.
The DC Comics source material for Wonder Woman 1984 has been in continuous publication for decades, giving filmmakers a rich well of storylines, character arcs, and iconography to draw upon.
Modern superhero films like this one use a mix of practical effects and digital VFX, with entire sequences often shot against volume walls or LED stages pioneered by shows like The Mandalorian.
Wonder Woman 1984 is catalogued on Movies on Comics among our collection of 162 comic book films spanning 48 years of cinema — from Richard Donner's 1978 Superman to the present day.
