Wonder Woman 1984 takes place well before the introduction of the other heroes of the DCEU and largely exists as a standalone film. However, there are still plenty of references to Diana Prince’s own history across the comics, small screen, and previous films. We’ve used all the wisdom of Athena to chronicle as many Easter eggs as we can spot, but as always, if we’ve missed anything, do let us know in the comments. Let’s get into it.
Kid Diana is dressed similar to adult Diana back before she knew about her history – strappy sandals, arm gauntlets, and tan clothing she can easily move around in. Here, instead of just the partial tiara from Antiope that she’ll one day wear, she has a child-size version that matches Antiope’s exactly. It looks like everyone competing is more or less in a uniform, which includes that tiara with chin straps, which is also a reference to the helmet on the Asteria/golden eagle armor Diana will wear toward the end of the film.
Lindy Hemming, the film’s costume designer, told a group of reporters including Den of Geek that, “They’re in their triathletes suits, 2000 or however many years ago version of their Speedos really. We’re saying, design-wise, that they’re made of leather and that, in honor of the golden-ness of the games, and this golden theme really in this film.” Hemming wanted some continuity with this setup flashback and Diana’s gold armor later on in the movie: “There’s a link between the end of the film and the beginning of the film, in a way. The gold and the gold, the beginning and the end of the film.” – more on that below! When can we go back to Themyscira in the present? At the end, when Diana is flying and the air clears, I briefly thought Diana was headed back and yes please!
Wonder Woman’s apartment/life in DC
This isn’t the first time a version of Diana Prince has lived in the Washington, DC area. Back in the 1940s, she even ran for president in an issue set 1,000 years in the future! We’ll be referencing Greg Rucka’s Rebirth run frequently since Patty Jenkins likely drew quite a bit of inspiration from it. During that run, Diana lived in Arlington, Virginia while working for Director Etta Candy at ARGUS, squaring off with Cheetah and reuniting with Steve Trevor. Diana also operated out of DC at various other points throughout her 80 year comics history.
We see lots of little incognito rescues by Diana here, alluding to how she’s escaped notice for so long. Her big public return in the present day was depicted in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and then Justice League, so it’s assumed that she operated in secret during all the ensuing years, as well.
The opening sequence, at least until Diana gets to the real action at the mall, feels a little bit like the opening credits of Richard Lester’s otherwise maligned Superman III, where the credits unfold over a series of mishaps on a Metropolis street forcing the Man of Steel to get involved.
Diana works in cultural anthropology and archeology at the Museum of Natural History in the Smithsonian – a far cry from her long-running job as a secretary in the comics. As the last movie joked, “where [Diana’s] from, that’s called slavery.”
Diana can read Latin, which surprised Barbara. She can read hundreds of languages, as she told Steve in the previous movie, but messing up and letting it show in front of someone who doesn’t know her secret is a hat tip to her being a demi-goddess, a classic move from the comics.
There’s a newspaper article that says “The Great War Ends” next to a photo of “the gang” from the first movie (sans Steve) all dressed up with flowers – maybe they were at a wedding or celebrating the end of the war? It is not the same photo Bruce Wayne will send her in the 21st century, as depicted in the first Wonder Woman movie.
Elsewhere in Diana’s apartment we see a newspaper clipping referring to Steve as a “local hero,” a shot of Steve with his plane, Steve’s watch, and a photo of Diana in front of a sign that says “Trevor Ranch,” which we’re guessing is some kind of charity ranch in honor of Steve (possibly founded/funded by Diana?). Steve’s watch will come up again later, but at the end of the previous movie he gave it to her before he sacrificed himself.
Where’s Etta Candy?
There’s a photo in Diana’s apartment that shows her liberating a concentration camp during World War II with Etta Candy, so while Diana seems to be staying out of the limelight, she’s not sitting on the sidelines. In addition to their great relationship in the previous movie, in the comics, Etta and Diana worked together frequently, including at ARGUS, so this kind of team-up is a natural fit. Another photo shows Diana with an older version of Etta in New York. Etta would likely be in her late 80s or early 90s in 1984, so it’s likely that she’s no longer with us. Pour one out for a real one.
There’s a fun little moment of foreshadowing when Barbara compliments Diana’s animal print heels. Costume designer Lindy Hemming shared during a set visit that at one point they debated having Barbara wear a bit of cheetah flair earlier on, but ended up saving it all for her transformation. This little shout-out feels more fun, and brings in the added layer that later on, Barbara walks well in heels.
In a sign of Diana’s very specific brand of feminism, Barbara makes a comment about scientists not wearing heels and Diana responds that in fact, they do, since she’s a scientist and she’s in heels. In the 1980s as women entered and stayed in the workplace at unprecedented levels and reached new heights in their careers, most workwear trends like big padded shoulder blazers were focused on blending into what was presumed to be men’s spaces, rather than standing out or taking over the space. Since she grew up on Themyscira, Diana has less of that cultural baggage.
Barbara ends the movie in human form now – probably. She isn’t necessarily all gone and vanquished. We never saw her renounce her wish and, unlike most of the wish-makers in the film, she was modified with layers of wishes. We wrote more about what this ending means here.
Let’s go to the mall!
Diana uses her tiara to take out security cameras, with surprising precision. This was one of Diana’s original skills in the 1940s comics, and at some points the tiara had telepathic capabilities. Whatever the reason, Diana does it because she’s still trying to fly (ahem) under the radar, likely to accommodate the fact that her “big entrance” comes in Batman v. Superman. The tiara is, of course, Antiope’s. After her beloved mentor was killed on the beach of Themyscira, Diana now proudly wears it. Oddly enough, the film’s ONLY real nod to wider DCEU continuity is the fact that Diana is staying the heck out of it.
Director Patty Jenkins has referenced this mall scene as wanting Diana to have a Spider-Man-style scene swinging through the mall:
“The way we’re telling these Wonder Woman films, she’s got emotional stakes pretty quickly so the thing I kept saying to the studio and everybody was, after ending the first movie, I’m craving that Spider-Man-like moment where you’re just delighting in your superhero at their best. A lot of superhero movies have those moments at the three-quarter point because they don’t have big emotional stakes, so how they beat the villain is how you get that.” She continued “I needed there to be that badass, flying around [sequence] – I always loved that part of the Spider-Man movies.”
The jewelry store is called “Koslov Jewels.” This may be a coincidence, but it shares a name with a couple of very minor DC Comics characters, both of whom appeared in 1970.
The first (and perhaps most likely of these two unlikely connections) is a Colonel Koslov, who took on Superman and Batman in the pages of World’s Finest in 1970. This Koslov was the military leader of a fictional Eastern European country called Lubania. The other is a former boxing opponent of Ted “Wildcat” Grant who appeared in a single issue of The Brave and the Bold when Wildcat teamed up with Batman.
The mall scene is reminiscent of a similar one in Greg Rucka’s Rebirth run when Diana takes Barbara to go shopping (after Cheetah has reformed) and Diana is mobbed by the press.
Steve Trevor returns!
Steve’s watch starts working again when he’s brought back to life by the moonstone — ahem sorry, Dreamstone. In a nice nod to the first movie, he puts a very ’80s Casio watch in Diana’s hand to let her know it’s really him, since he basically unwittingly body-snatched some poor guy.
Ironically, in the comics Steve was once meant to be used as a vessel to bring back someone else’s spirit, the malevolent plant god Urzkartaga who bestowed Cheetah’s powers upon her. Luckily, Wonder Woman helped Cheetah see the light and they stopped Urzkartaga from sacrificing Steve and taking over his body.
Steve has been killed and brought back to life on several occasions throughout his comic history. He has been resurrected by Aphrodite and even brought back as a double and then merged with his original self, which feels spiritually similar to what happened here.
Steve mentions not knowing where he was, but he knew it was somewhere nice, so that implies he could be brought back again, right? Here’s hoping.
In this movie, Steve gets to be the fish out of water instead of Diana. While she was delighted by ice cream, Steve lights up at the Smithsonian air and space museum (of course – he’s a pilot!) and he mistakes a trash can for art when Diana shows him some modern outdoor pieces, a nod to her future work at the Louvre.
I love the ’80s!
Aerobics! Pay phones! Stationary bike! Watching the wall of TVs in a store window! There are plenty of nods to 1980s culture throughout this film.
Steve continues to be the damsel, doing a period-appropriate montage usually reserved for the leading lady. We can’t get enough of these fanny packs! And of course: “Does everyone parachute now?”
Sadly Steve’s navy outfit is not a jumpsuit but possibly a Members Only jacket and swishy pants, which is very 80s and we stan.
Steve Trevor eating pop tarts and “cheese on demand” is living his best 1980s life.
Maxwell Lord has “a great relationship with Sears,” offering to hook Diana up with a, gasp, 19-inch TV.
The unnamed President in this film bears a passing resemblance to Ronald Reagan, who was, of course, President of the United States in 1984. If you squint, he might look a little like E.G. Marshall, who portrayed a similarly Reagan-esque President in 1980’s Superman II.
At one point we can spot a poster for a Minor Threat gig on a brick wall, and it’s great to see the legendary hardcore band get a shout here. The only problem? They broke up in September of 1983. This movie takes place in July of 1984. Ah, well. Go listen to some Minor Threat anyway.
Rock the Casbah, I guess
Egypt actually made a go of pan-Arabism from 1958-1961, bringing together Syria and Iraq under the name the United Arab Republic. There have been other attempts at pan-Arabism, but this is the most relevant to this context. Really, shouldn’t the attempt to reclaim ancestral lands be about Israel, like it is in real life?
As always, it is DEEPLY uncomfortable to watch Gal Gadot in any Arab and/or Middle Eastern context – put down those kids Gal!
Diana dragging herself under the truck feels like an homage to a stunt Indiana Jones pulled off in Raiders of the Lost Ark, itself an homage to stuntman Yakima Canutt, who did the same thing in 1939’s Stagecoach. Funny enough, at least one of the punches Steve lands seems to use the same sound effect that we often hear when Indy throws one.
Asteria and the Golden Eagle Armor
Diana tried to find Asteria but could only find her armor.
We never see Diana’s standard sword (the Sword of Athena, not the destroyed God Killer sword from the first movie) and shield here, nor the axe that goes with the golden eagle armor in the comics – perhaps part of her stance on nonviolence and deescalation? Costume designer Lindy Hemming viewed the wings on the suit as shields, so perhaps that’s why the standard shield was considered unnecessary.
During a set visit, Hemming said of the wings, “They become like Roman shields. So she’s protected. I won’t give away the story of why that’s the kind of protection she needs. But basically her fighting style is with the shields. So I’m really pleased now because I think that there was no logic to being a pair of wings, really. But there is a logic to being something she can glide in on.” Agree to disagree on the logic of nonfunctional magnificent gold wings, Lindy, but fair point. Diana used to wear this armor when she was vulnerable, or facing a particularly strong enemy – ironic that she uses it once she regains her full strength. Although, Barbara is meant to be equally powerful, at least after the first wish, and then gets more, so maybe she still needed it. She was definitely on the defensive for a while there.
Invisible Jet
The invisible plane is nearly synonymous with Wonder Woman. Whether you watched the old Lynda Carter show or grew up reading the comics, the invisible plane has been around since 1942 and had the same creator, good old William Moulton Marston. The invisible aircraft was a necessity because like the Diana of the big screen, comic book Wondy couldn’t fly until the mid-80s (Crisis on Infinite Earths). While Diana’s plane in WW84 seems to be normal in every way except invisibility, in the comics it could fly 2,000 miles an hour when it was first created. The jet only got faster as the decades went on, up to 40 miles per second, which is 144,000 mph. In the old William Moulton Marston days it was equipped with a “mental radio” so Wondy could receive telepathic distress calls (or send them) from Paradise Island. Here we see Diana use her own will to make the plane invisible, which is quite similar to the original origin story of the plane in the comics, rather than the more recent one. The comics version of the plane could send out rainbow rays to penetrate the mist around Themyscira and allow Wondy to fly back home. The fireworks may have been a nod to that in addition to a great visual device for the invisible jet (rather than the adorably hoaky image of Lynda Carter sitting in a plane outline while clouds scroll by). It could certainly be a possible route home for her in the future.
Wonder Woman can fly!
Yes, Wonder Woman can fly! In one of the more emotional arcs, we see Diana develop her ability to fly in this movie, picking up where her hovering in the last film left off. She starts with extended leaps and riding air currents and lightning bolts to stay in the air far longer than anyone else could, and after she and Steve talked about flying while in (where else?) the invisible jet, she learned to fly freely on her own.
This is another one where the image of Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman has imprinted itself so thoroughly on the collective consciousness that people who have never seen the show have still seen her fly through the air.
Meanwhile, on the comics side of things, Diana Prince first learned to “manipulate air currents” (AKA Buzz Lightyear “falling with style”) in the late 1950s. It wasn’t until the 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot, which changed up a lot of her powers, that she was able to fly for real. Since then the origins of her flight have differed a bit, but Hermes is usually mentioned. Sometimes it’s like recipe given in the Wonder Woman movie – “…beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, stronger than Hercules…” with Hermes contributing flight. Other times, his feather touches her thigh and suddenly she’s got the gift.
Wonder Woman harnesses lightning
Before we see Diana fly, we see her use her lasso to harness lightning and ride it through the sky, swinging from bolt to bolt. This feels like a natural progression since in the first film we saw her redirect Ares’s lightning and later on in WW84 she flies completely of her own power.
This visually arresting new power is likely derived from the fact that Zeus, god of lightning, is her father in some tellings of her origin. In the New 52 era of the comics, Diana gained the ability to manipulate lightning, expel it, and use it as a weapon, with help from her bracelets. Since they were made from the Aegis, an Olympian artifact will get into below, they were both indestructible and helped her harness something of the divine.
The shockwave and the Bracelets of Submission
We haven’t spent much time discussing the provenance of the various items Diana took from the armory on Themyscira, but in the comics the bracelets are indestructible, which was reflected in the previous movie when they repeatedly stopped bullets. Sometimes they dampen her strength, but others they direct or even amplify it. They were forged from the remains of the goddess Athena’s shield, which itself was made from the Aegis, the indestructible hide of a goat named Amalthea who nursed Zeus when he was just a baby god. Uh, wow, gods are weird. Anyway.
And in case you were wondering, her gauntlets are officially called “the bracelets of submission” and wow, creator William Moulton Marston wasn’t really hiding that kink, huh? (If you have no clue what I’m talking about, check out Jill Lepore’s book The Secret History of Wonder Woman or the movie Professor Marston and The Wonder Women, to learn about the kinky poly Tufts professor who invented the lie detector and created Wonder Woman, with significant help from his partners.)
Losing her powers
Wonder Woman’s powers waning throughout the movie seems like a nod to an oft-used superhero movie sequel trope. Both Superman II and Spider-Man 2 featured their title characters losing their powers, but the story logic in Wonder Woman 1984 has far more to do with the former.
In Superman II, the Man of Steel gave up his powers entirely in order to be with Lois Lane…making this decision just as three villains from Krypton made their presence known on Earth. Oops. But Diana losing her powers for her love of Steve here echoes Clark’s choice, and like Clark, she ultimately renounces her love in order to save the day. Meanwhile, Ms. flew off shelves and a new generation was excited about Wonder Woman. DC gave Diana back her powers. According to DC Comics archivist and librarian Benjamin LeClear, we have Gloria Steinem to thank.
New uses for the Lasso of Truth
Diana uses her lasso of truth, sometimes called the Lasso of Hestia, to show Steve Trevor the truth. Ares sort of did this in the last movie except the vision he showed Diana wasn’t so much the truth as it was his version of it. The lasso has been used for this purpose in the comics, and Diana has even used it on herself when she doubted her own memories.
In the White House, we also see Wondy whirl the lasso like the a giant propeller on an airboat, one of the coolest and most visually appealing of her abilities yet. We haven’t found any prior references to this, so hit us up if you know of any! And if not, props to Patty Jenkins and her team for inventing a new move for a character that’s almost 80 years old.
Max Lord
Max Lord also appeared on Supergirl for a hot minute! Remember when Alex was straight? Remember when Alex “was” “straight”? But the Supergirl version of Max was far more a traditional “corporate villain” than how he originally began life in the comics.
Max’s bravado and eagerness is very reminiscent of how the character was first introduced in the Justice League International comics in 1987, when he was the man who re-formed the Justice League, albeit with lesser known characters than Superman and Wonder Woman. Could we possibly see Pascal return as Max in a future DCEU movie, where in his ongoing quest to redeem himself from his actions in this film, he puts together a team of second-string heroes to try and save the world? Probably not, but we can dream.
Max did have some low level metahuman abilities in the comics, where he could implant mental suggestions in others to “push” them to do something. Usually when he would do this, he would end up with a small nosebleed. While Max’s health problems here are far worse than a nosebleed, the eyes, nose, and ear bleeding is certainly a nod to his comics power set.
In the comics, Max’s biggest run-in with Wonder Woman didn’t um…it didn’t end well for him.
Simon Stagg
The investor who Max ends up on the wrong side of (and who then ends up on the wrong side of Max) is Simon Stagg. Stagg has been kicking around DC Comics since 1965. Despite his long history, Stagg has never quite made it to A-list status in DC Comics, and is primarily known as the main antagonist of Metamorpho, the Element Man, although he did appear briefly in the first season of The Flash, played by William Sadler.
The Dreamstone
While this particular version of the Dreamstone doesn’t have a direct DC Comics parallel, there are a few points worth noting about it…
There are certain similarities to the Dreamstone worn by the protagonist of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Morpheus. There, the Dreamstone was also known as the Materioptikon, and while it looked more like a finely cut ruby than the unhewn stone we see here in the film, it could still make dreams into a reality, although it wasn’t quite as literal as the way we see Max wield it here. It’s probably not really intended to be the same thing, but it’s still cool.
Anyway, it can’t be the same as The Sandman Dreamstone because that one was created by Morpheus himself, while this one was crafted by someone Diana refers to alternately as the God of Lies, Dolos Mendacius, and the Duke of Deception. The name Dolos does indeed coincide with a minor figure from Greek mythology, whose name literally translates as “Deception.” But that “Duke of Deception” name has some historical significance for comics fans, as he was one of the first foes Wonder Woman ever faced in the comics, way back in 1942 and who has bedeviled her in various adventures through the years. Want more info on the Dreamstone? We broke down all the ways it may or may not actually work right here.
Asteria and the Post-Credits Scene
As we see in that mid-credits scene, Asteria is indeed still wandering the world…and she’s played by none other than original TV Wonder Woman Lynda Carter. What a cool tribute.
There’s a very minor existing DC Comics character named Asteria (who, as far we can tell made her first and only and exceedingly brief appearance in Elseworlds’ Finest: Supergirl and Batgirl #1 in the ’90s), however she bears little resemblance to this version of Asteria, who has us extremely excited. This all fits quite nicely with the idea that Asteria was already “in the world of men” if you take that as a riff on the idea that Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman TV show was a metaphorical early foray into our world. We wrote much more about the comic book and mythological significance of Asteria and Lynda Carter right here.
Other Random Stuff…
Diana in the clouds hearing the wishes of the world feels a little bit like the scene in Superman: The Movie where Supes is cautioned by the spirit/memory of his father not to try and bring Lois Lane back to life. He disobeys, of course.
The idea of a villain strolling into the Oval Office to get the President to do his bidding, and then an all out battle in the White House, feels very much like another nod to Superman II, where Kryptonian villains Zod, Non, and Ursa take the White House by force.
On Diana’s shelf is a book called “The Natural Life of the Gorilla.” Is it possible that in her travels Diana has heard of or even stumbled upon Gorilla City, home of noted Flash villain Grodd and Flash ally King Solovar?
