It’s finally here, at long last, the first new blockbuster movie release since the COVID-19 shut everything down back in March. “Wonder Woman 1984” is leaping into theaters and HBO Max to try to give us a bit of a distraction during this extra depressing holiday season.
“Wonder Woman 1984” is the fourth film in the DC Extended Universe franchise since the disastrous “Justice League” forced Warner Bros and DC Comics to scrap their plans for this shared universe and try out a looser approach. “Aquaman,” “Shazam” and “Birds of Prey” each bore a connection to the greater franchise, but they still mostly stood alone.
Surely, though, these franchises will someday team up for another crossover movie. It’s only a question of when. Could “Wonder Woman 1984” start moving us in that direction? Could it follow in the footsteps of so many comic book movies by teasing the future of the DCEU with a mid-credits or post-credits bonus scene?
Maybe. Yes, “Wonder Woman 1984” does have one extra scene once the credits begin to roll. It comes midway through the credits, and it follows up on a story that Wonder Woman herself (Gal Gadot) told Steve Trevor (Chris Pine).
There’s nothing at the very end of the credits.
If all you’re interested in from this article is that answer, then you should get out now. We’re going to describe the scene below.
MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Here’s a photo to act as a buffer. If you don’t want any spoilers, stop scrolling.
So in the middle of “Wonder Woman 1984,” Diana tells Steve about the backstory for a cool golden suit of armor that she’s got in her office. She says it was worn by an ancient Amazon named Asteria, who held off an army of men while the rest of the Amazons escaped enslavement. This armor is special, because it was made from smelting all the Amazons’ armor into a single suit.
Asteria, Diana says, died during her stand. But they never found the body. Just the empty suit of armor.
That last bit, naturally, will send up red flags for most viewers. If there’s no body, that usually means the character in question is still alive.
And that is also the case here, as we learn during this mid-credits bonus scene. Asteria is alive, and she’s played by Lynda Carter — who played Wonder Woman on TV way back in the 1970s.
Is this just a fun little Easter Egg for fans, or something more? Are we gonna see Lynda Carter’s Asteria in the next “Wonder Woman” movie?
It doesn’t seem too terribly likely. Carter doesn’t do a whole lot of screen acting these days, showing up more often as a voice actor for video games while occasionally making guest appearances on television.
On the other hand, why not? At 69 years old, Carter may not be up for crazy action scenes or whatever (though with movie magic anything is possible), but it’s not at all difficult to imagine Asteria functioning as a sort of mentor for Diana’s Wonder Woman in the future. They are, after all, the only two Amazons that we know of outside of the island of Themyscira.
Whatever is going to happen, this mid-credits scene doesn’t really serve as a tease since it doesn’t give any indication that it’s anything more than just a fun bonus. But it certainly would not be shocking if she popped up again later, if the fans like her cameo in “Wonder Woman 1984,” and if Patty Jenkins and co. can think of a good way to use her.