We’ll cut to the chase. The extremely 1980s first trailer for “Wonder Woman 1984” just dropped, and you can watch it above right now.
In the clip, which by the way makes fantastic use of New Order’s “Blue Monday,” we see a bit of where Diana Prince/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) is nearly 70 years after defeating Ares during World War 1. Via an interview being conducted by Kristen Wiig’s Barbara Minerva, we learn she’s a publicly known superhero and a celebrity — pretty much confirming Warner Bros. is ignoring “Batman v Superman” and “Justice League” moving forward — but very lonely having never filled the void left behind by the death of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) all those years ago.
From there we get a glimpse of America at the height of the Reagan era; huge malls, flashy celebrity stuff, successful businessmen who are basically jumped up con artists, and a truly eye-popping color scheme (and did we mention the excellent use of “Blue Monday”?). Then we get to what sure feels like the main thrust of the film — somehow, Diana has wished Steve Trevor back to life. Presumably thanks to Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), who ominously mutters “now I take what I want in return.”
Cut to some delightfully over-the-top action beats literally underscored by “Blue Monday” (seriously, good work on the use of that song). Wonder Woman deflects bullets with her magic lasso. The extremely rigorous training Amazon warriors go through as kids. Maxwell Lord doing… something magically sinister. A battle in what looks like the white house. A sick desert car chase. Wonder Woman Tarzan swinging through the sky using her lasso to grapple lightning (slow clap for that one). Plus a fun joke at the end, where Wonder Woman seems to be bringing Steve Trevor up to speed on the modern world, explaining to him that everything he’s seeing is “all art.” Except for a trash can.
And a very telling bit of narration by Diana: “Nothing good is born from lies.”
The trailer was unveiled by director Patty Jenkins and star Gal Gadot at Comic Con Experience Brazil in Sao Paulo on Sunday. Predictably for events like this, concrete details were few and far between, but Jenkins and Gadot did provide some hints during the panel. About the villain, Max Lord (played by Pedro Pascal), Jenkins said he’s a quintessential 80s bad guy who is “selling a dream to the public — sometimes when you get what you want, it comes with a price, and that’s Maxwell Lord.” We get it, he’s a living monkey’s paw.
Jenkins later said the film’s setting at “arguably the peak of ‘western civilization’” allows them to examine themes that resonate into the current era. And of course, all of that capitalist excess is pretty hard to miss in the trailer.
Directed by Jenkins, who co-wrote the script with Geoff Johns and David Callaham, “Wonder Woman 1984” stars Gadot once again as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Chris Pine as the seemingly dead Steve Trevor, Connie Nielsen as Hippolyta, queen of Themyscira and Diana’s mother, and Robin Wright as Antiope. They’re joined by Wiig as Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah, and Pascal as Maxwell Lord.