With Wonder Woman 1984 did not do well with audiences and critics, Wonder Woman was handled perfectly in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The new DCU headed by James Gunn and Peter Safran, however, has chosen to start from scratch rather than build on what was previously set up in the DCEU.
This decision includes canceling the Wonder Woman 3 film. While there is still a possibility that Gal Gadot will return as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman in the DCU, the cancelation of her third film makes further focus on her version of the superheroine unlikely. This would be a big loss for DC as the casting of DCEU’s Wonder Woman was one thing most audiences could agree was a great choice and the DCU should keep Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman in some capacity. However, If Gal Gadot’s version of Wonder Woman is truly done, there are several storylines that were set up in the DCEU and her own two films that will never be resolved or touched upon.
WW3 Could've Given Diana And Steve A Happy Ending
Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince and Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor are one of the best superhero couples to grace the screen and their relationship was a highlight in Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984. Steve Trevor originally sacrificed himself at the end of Wonder Woman. In Wonder Woman 1984, Diana uses the wishing stone to bring Steve back, but the price was her losing her powers, and so she had to sacrifice him again. The two share a tearful goodbye declaring that no matter where they are they will always love one another. While this gave Diana the strength to start letting people in her life, it also set up a possible DCEU ending for Diana.
Whether Steve was brought back to life through magical means or as a counterpart from the multiverse, his return in Wonder Woman 3 would have allowed Diana to live happily with the person she loved the most. Similar to Captain America reuniting with Peggy Carter in Avengers: Endgame, Diana could have reunited with Steve. This would also have set Wonder Woman apart from other female superheroes as most have their love interests taken away from them like in the Supergirl series or do not have one at all like Captain Marvel. While Wonder Woman is more than her romance, her journey ending with her living happily ever after with her true love would have been perfect.
Wonder Woman Could Have Explored Diana's Bisexuality
Another option for Diana would have been to address the DCEU’s biggest failure with Wonder Woman and address her bisexuality. In the comics, Diana was confirmed to be bisexual in 2016 after having several subtextual relationships with different Amazonian women and most recently was in a relationship with Princess Zala, the sister of Superman, in 2021's Dark Knights of Steel #2. Both Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman 1984 blatantly ignored Diana’s bisexuality, and it was a missed opportunity to make this more progressive update a part of the live-action version of the character.
Diana’s journey in Wonder Woman 3 could have addressed this. If the filmmakers were against bringing Steve back for a second time, it would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce a female character whom Diana falls in love with. Gadot wanted Halle Berry as a love interest at one point, so it would not have been unreasonable to go in this direction. If done in a well-written manner, not only would this have brought an important part of Diana’s character into the mainstream, but it would also be a huge step for positive LGBTQ+ representation.
Diana Needed More Human Connections
Outside of romance, the DCEU Wonder Woman did not get enough time to fully create meaningful relationships with human characters. In Zack Snyder’s Justice League Diana tells Cyborg that she is still working on letting people in. While working with the Justice League is a step in the right direction, Diana still hasn’t made the steps to creating friendships and Wonder Woman 3 would have been the best place to make this happen. Small hints in Wonder Woman 1984 insinuate that she kept in touch with the team from Wonder Woman until they ed away, but there hasn’t been much progress on this storyline.
The Return Of The Cheetah
Cheetah’s plot in Wonder Woman 1984 started as a possible friendship but ultimately dived into a villain arc that as of yet is not resolved. At the end of the second film, Diana encourages the world to renounce their wishes for the greater good. While everyone is shown to do so, Barbara does not. Even when Maxwell Lord renounces his wish, which would automatically take away anyone’s wishes that he granted, it would not affect Barbara’s wish to become more like Diana as she made it before Maxwell wished to become the stone. This means that Barbara is still alive and well, with Diana’s powers.
If Cheetah’s ending was included in Wonder Woman 3 along with the previous suggestion of Diana making friends, it would have served the plot even better showing the difference between toxicity and true loyalty. Since Cheetah is arguably one of Wonder Woman’s biggest villains, what Wonder Woman 3 needed to do was close out this storyline properly. Without a third film, it’s unlikely that Barbara will ever be addressed. If Cheetah were to be put into a different film in the DCU, there wouldn’t be enough time to truly focus on her arc and her friendship turned enemies relationship with Diana.
What Happened To Lynda Carter's Asteria?
Another character whose story was set up in Wonder Woman 1984 and now will likely never be finished is Lynda Carter’s Asteria. Throughout the second film, the story of Asteria is told, an Amazon who wore gold armor and fought off the armies of men single-handedly to let the rest of the Amazons escape to Themyscira. In the Wonder Woman 1984 post-credits scene, Asteria appears in a marketplace and reveals she has been helping people for a long time. While this reveal could have only been a cameo for the original Wonder Woman, that would be a wasted opportunity.
Confirming that Asteria was still alive and played by Lynda Carter, opened up the door to Asteria’s journey and a possible meeting with Gal Gadot’s Diana. This is something that a lot of audiences would want to see explored. Perhaps, if Asteria was included in Wonder Woman 3, she could have acted as a mentor figure for Diana, helping her navigate the world of man and showing her that she also lived by the philosophy that while humanity may not deserve their help, it's about what they as heroes believe to be the right thing to do. Asteria’s story being intertwined with Diana’s also would have helped evolve another unresolved storyline.
WW3 Could've Shown Why Diana Walked Away From Humanity
In Zack Snyder’s DCEU plan for Wonder Woman, Diana walked away from mankind 100 years before the events of Batman v Superman which Diana confirms to Bruce Wayne telling him that “men made a world where standing together is impossible.” Many audiences assumed the answer to why Diana walked away from humanity would be in Wonder Woman but instead, Diana is ultimately inspired by Steve Trevor to fight for humanity. Wonder Woman 1984 failed to follow up on this storyline as well, instead showing Diana helping out people in trouble, though she did it in secret and would destroy evidence that she was there.
Narratively, this progression does not make sense, unless there was an event that occurred 100 years before the present day that audiences have not seen yet. The cancellation of Wonder Woman 3 prevents this storyline from having closure and clarity. If the film was still being made, it could have addressed this by having Diana finally confide in someone or show in a flashback why she walked away from mankind and what that entailed. Seeing as Diana was first introduced with this backstory and it plays heavily into her arc of returning to being Wonder Woman, this is a storyline that should not go unresolved.
Diana's Return To Themyscira
The biggest hint given to where Diana’s storyline may go in the future was given in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Throughout the film, Steppenwolf taunts Diana about the massacre he inflicted upon the Amazons when retrieving the Mother Box, making the moment when she gets the final blow and beheads Steppenwolf all the more powerful. The last shot of Diana in the four-hour epic is her mourning the loss of her sisters while staring at the sunset. The Snyder Cut set up Wonder Woman 3’s most emotional possible storyline of returning to Themyscira with this moment.
If Wonder Woman 3 was still being made, it would be the perfect time for Diana to return to Themyscira and be reunited with her people and her mother. Diana’s relationship with her mother is vital to her character development. She could have shared what happened with Steve and the Great War, her human life, and her takedown of Steppenwolf with the help of the world’s heroes. Diana’s return to Themyscira seemed to be an inevitable plot point for her character, and considering Snyder’s original plan was to have Diana assume the throne by the end of his third Justice League film, this would have been a crucial moment to include in Diana’s journey.
While Wonder Woman 1984 was not a good sequel to Wonder Woman, it doesn’t have to mean that Diana’s journey should end. Wonder Woman will probably be included in the new DCU in some way, but with the loss of Wonder Woman 3, there is still so much story left to tell about this character. It would be a shame to let Gal Gadot’s version of the character go before she has the chance to properly complete her journey in the live-action DC universe.
