Wonder Woman 1984: Every DC Reference And Easter Egg You Missed

Wonder Woman 1984: Every DC Reference And Easter Egg You Missed – GameSpot

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By Mason Downey on December 25, 2020 at 5:30PM PST

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WW84 is now available on HBO Max, but did you catch every little detail as you streamed?

Wonder Woman 1984 has finally arrived and, as anyone may have guessed, brought with it plenty of Easter Eggs and references both to DC Comics history and the real-life history of the 1980s. And while the wait may have been agonizing for Wonder Woman fans, the timing couldn’t be better.

In our review, we singled out the much-needed feel good message of the film. “Wonder Woman 1984 features some cheesy-looking CGI effects and some even cheesier messages. But it’s also an improvement on the original in some key ways–where the first movie concluded with Wonder Woman literally punching the anthropomorphized concept of War in the face, WW84’s climactic showdown is much more nuanced. The message–that every individual person on the planet has a shared responsibility for the common good–gets slightly muddled in the end, but it’s also the exact one we need right now. And Wonder Woman 1984 is the exact film you’ll want to sit down and watch with family, friends, and loved ones this holiday–even if you’re doing so over Zoom.”

So whether you’re settling in for a holiday viewing party with some long distance family and friends, or you’re spending the day solo and looking for some good old fashioned escapism, here are all the little details in WW84 you may have missed. Naturally, plenty of spoilers to follow so proceed with caution.

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The photos

Diana’s history has been framed with old black-and-white photos from her debut in Batman v Superman, and we get plenty of callbacks here, including plenty of old war photos.

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Etta Candy

Diana’s best friend, Etta, naturally passed away at some point between World War I and 1984, but Diana still memorializes her with a photo of Etta as an old woman. It’s definitely very sad but at least we know Etta had a long life.

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Trevor Ranch

Steve may not have survived WWI but his legacy lives on in a photo of Diana at “Trevor Ranch,” which we can assume was owned by his family. The ranch is an invention of the DCEU and never existed in the comics.

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The watch

Diana still has Steve’s watch, her one physical reminder of him after his death that we saw back in the first movie.

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Diana’s Smithsonian job

Believe it or not, Diana really did work at the Smisthonian in the comics–sort of. The name “Smithsonian” was never formally used, but Diana held a position at the Gateway City Museum in the mid ’90s using her Diana Prince civilian alter-ego.

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Alister Lorenzano

Max’s son Alister doesn’t exist in DC Comics but he does create an interesting parallel to Max Lord’s comic book origins. As a child, Max was raised by his father who had an obsession with setting a good and righteous example for his child, but ultimately couldn’t stand up under the weight of his own expectations and standards when he learned his company was manufacturing a lethal chemical that was costing people their lives. Max’s father eventually committed suicide, leaving Max all but orphaned–a fate that Alister thankfully escapes.

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Simon Stagg

Max’s investor Simon Stagg is a character from DC history, and the CEO of Stagg Enterprises. In the comics, Simon is typically seen as a villain against some lesser known heroes like Metamorpho, but has been known to crop up whenever shady business dealings are a necessity.

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Maxwell Lord/Lorenzano

Max Lord’s story and identity have been largely reinvented for the movie but there are still thematic nods to his comic book past. Originally introduced as part of the late ’80s reboot of the Justice League, Justice League International, Max Lord was at first just a kind-hearted and philanthropic financier for the League. It was later revealed that he was in fact a ruthless puppet being controlled by one of the New Gods (or, later, a psychotic computer program thanks to a retcon) in a bid for world domination.

This doesn’t actually pan out in the movie, but Max’s duplicitous nature and secret motives are definitely a major part of his story regardless.

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Dreamstone

The dreamstone is a real thing that has existed in DC Comics since the ’60s. It’s typically linked to either Dream of the Endless or a supervillain known as Doctor Destiny.

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Radar

Steve is taken off guard by the use of radar to detect planes, which makes sense considering the technology was first used in aircraft in the ’30s and made standard in the ’60s.

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Invisible Jet

Diana uses a spell to cloak the jet she and Steve steal with invisibility, giving us a fun new version of her iconic invisible jet.

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Bialya

The imaginary country of Bialya was invented for the same Justice League reboot that gave us Maxwell Lord in the late ’80s. It has since become a go-to location for DC characters similar to any of the invented cities in America.

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Duke of Deception

The name “Duke of Deception” gets tossed out rather casually during Diana’s explanation of the dreamstone’s origins, but it actually points to a character who exists in DC Comics history. The Duke is a relatively minor villain who has historically worked with evil gods like Ares and Circe against Diana and her teammates. He has nothing to do with Max Lord in the books, but we’ll give them the reference anyway.

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Brother Eye

Alright, you’ll need to bear with us on this one. In the comics, one of Max Lord’s biggest storylines involves him hijacking a satellite-based supercomputer (turned sentient and evil) called Brother Eye. Brother Eye was actually originally created by Batman–think a similar situation to Ultron and Hank Pym (or Tony and Bruce in the MCU).

Now, Lord was eventually caught by Diana who, with use of her lasso, learned that the only way to stop Lord’s insane scheme was to kill him. She wound up snapping his neck–which was just as brutal as it sounded–but this turned out to be part of a greater and more hidden scheme where the sentient Brother Eye was able to tape and broadcast Diana murdering Lord (in what, to outsiders, looked like cold blood) to everyone on the planet, effectively turning the world on Diana in an instant.

Obviously that’s not what happens here in WW84, but the bones of the story are still the same–Diana and Lord have a final showdown in what amounts to a Brother Eye-style broadcast room connected to every person on Earth where, instead of beaming out an image of Diana ruthlessly beating Lord to a pulp, she’s able to connect with everyone and ask them to recant their wishes.

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Asteria

The legendary Amazon Asteria doesn’t exist in DC Comics but in the movie, she’s a very meta reference to Wonder Woman history. In the post-credits stinger, we see that Asteria is not only alive in the world of men, but she’s actually Lynda Carter who famously played Diana in the live action Wonder Woman TV show.

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Adagio in D Minor

The song playing while Diana heads toward her final confrontation with Lord might sound familiar–it’s the Adagio in D Minor, first heard in the movie Sunshine but since used in movies, TV shows, and even commercials.

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Golden armor

In the movie the golden armor was an Amazonian heirloom, but it actually comes directly from the comics, where it was tailor made for Diana by fellow Amazon Pallas. It was first seen in the Elseworlds story Kingdom Come in the ’90s but eventually crossed over to main DC continuity as well.

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Cheetah

Barbara’s transformation into Cheetah has had a lot of versions in the comics, and the movie borrows loosely from several of them. Her massive inferiority complex belongs to the first incarnation of the villain, Priscilla Rich, but her job and archeological leanings come directly from Barbara’s own comic book origins. However, in the comics becoming a cat person had nothing to do with the dreamstone or Max Lord and instead involved a curse (by an ancient plant god–no, really) that not only made her a were-cat, but also gave her an insatiable craving for human flesh. Just trust us on this one, it was a whole situation–the version you get on screen is much more streamlined.

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Disclosure: ViacomCBS is GameSpot’s parent company

Nintendo Switch eShop Is Down for Some Players on Christmas

If you just received a new Nintendo Switch for the holidays and can’t connect to the eShop to download new games, you aren’t alone. Nintendo has announced that it is “aware that players are experiencing errors accessing Nintendo eShop, and are working to address the issue as soon as possible.”

Nintendo took to Twitter to give the news and also said “Thank you for your understanding, and please see our Network Status page for the latest updates.” You can click here to check the status of the Nintendo eShop, and we will update this article when services appear to be working again.

As of this writing, when you go to Nintendo’s Network Maintenance Information page, it has a notice that players could be receiving when trying to access the eShop that says, “Unable to connect to the network service. Please try again later. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Considering today is Christmas, the cause of these network issues could very well be the many new Nintendo Switch consoles that were opened today or those with gift cards trying to purchase new games.

As previously mentioned, we will update this article as soon as we hear the problems are fixed. Until then, be sure to check out our list of the top 25 Switch games to give you an idea what you can play this holiday season and beyond.

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Wonder Woman 1984: How Did Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor Come Back?

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Wonder Woman 1984 has been the return of Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor, a character who heroically sacrificed his life back in the first Wonder Woman film, set during World War I. In the trailers, however, we’ve been able to clearly see that Steve is back and seemingly completely fine here in the ’80s, with Diana showing him around and cracking all sorts of jokes about everything that’s changed for him.

In our review, we singled out the much-needed feel good message of the film–which of course, includes Steve’s arc in the movie. “Wonder Woman 1984 features some cheesy-looking CGI effects and some even cheesier messages. But it’s also an improvement on the original in some key ways–where the first movie concluded with Wonder Woman literally punching the anthropomorphized concept of War in the face, WW84’s climactic showdown is much more nuanced. The message–that every individual person on the planet has a shared responsibility for the common good–gets slightly muddled in the end, but it’s also the exact one we need right now. And Wonder Woman 1984 is the exact film you’ll want to sit down and watch with family, friends, and loved ones this holiday–even if you’re doing so over Zoom.”

Now, comic book stories are no stranger to resurrection plots and death defying schemes, so Steve’s return isn’t completely out of left field given the source material–but the question remained: How, exactly, did he do it? And, more importantly, why did it happen?

The good news is we now have those answers. Wonder Woman 1984 has hit select theaters and HBO Max. So let’s break down exactly what happened to return Steve Trevor from beyond the grave–major WW84 spoilers ahead, obviously.

As it turns out, Steve’s resurrection came from the movie’s big McGuffin–the Dream Stone–which, like the name suggests, grants people’s wishes if they touch it, for a price. The Dream Stone causes all sorts of chaos once it’s absorbed by Max Lord, but before that happens, Diana gets her chance with it and–somewhat accidentally–wishes for Steve back.

This actually happens, of course–but Steve doesn’t literally materialize from beyond the grave. He possesses the body of a living man, meaning that when he finds Diana, she doesn’t actually recognize him at first. This problem is quickly solved when he proves it’s him and she (and we, the viewers) begin to see him for who he actually is. But this is just a trick of the eye, or the camera as it were, because everyone else surrounding Diana still sees this random stranger.

Resurrected Steve even has access to the stranger’s apartment–he “woke up” there, despite knowing he was “somewhere else” for a while before Diana’s wish, which could potentially allude to one of DC’s many versions of heaven or an afterlife existing in the DCEU. The implications here are a little dark–the man Steve’s spirit is inhabiting clearly had a whole life all his own that Steve basically hijacked, but that’s not the most pressing issue at hand. Diana’s wish cost her her Amazonian abilities, meaning she spends every day with Steve progressively getting weaker and more human, which is a real problem considering the threat that people like Max Lord begin to pose.

Ultimately, Steve’s resurrection proves to be too selfish for either of them and he winds up begging Diana to rescind her wish, undoing his miraculous revival and returning her powers–it’s the same sort of tragic final moments we had back in the first movie all over again, with the two of them having just enough time to really say goodbye before coming to the mutual understanding that this just isn’t going to work out for anyone.

But at least the man Steve took over gets to go back to his own life–it doesn’t make the situation any less sad, but at least it is a little bit of a silver lining.

Wonder Woman 1984 is currently streaming on HBO Max.

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IGN UK Podcast #572: The Sandwich Special

Merry Christmas! What better way to get festive than getting under your tree and listening to multiple stories about sandwiches. We’ve got huge sandwiches, disgusting sandwiches and beef-sweat inducing sandwiches. Basically a lot of sandwiches. Enjoy!

Remember, if you want to get in touch with the podcast, please do: [email protected].

IGN UK Podcast #572: The Sandwich Special

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Netflix’s We Can Be Heroes Review

We Can Be Heroes is now streaming on Netflix.

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There have been plenty of movies released this year that feel eerily topical, from the zombie movie #Alive to the legal drama The Trial of the Chicago 7. Robert Rodriguez’s new superhero movie, We Can Be Heroes, doesn’t feel like it’s (unintentionally) about 2020, but rather the future as his film declares that those who will truly be able to save the world are the kids — and everyone else should just shut up and let them work. Despite this being a colorful superhero spectacle, We Can Be Heroes nevertheless feels like Rodriguez’s most personal project in years.

We Can Be Heroes takes place in a world full of superheroes, who work together under the banner “The Heroics.” But when an army of aliens kidnaps all the superheroes on Earth, it is up to their superpowered children to do something about it. The film has been heavily marketed as the return of Rodriguez’s previous superhero duo, Sharkboy and Lavagirl, but this is not their movie. Sure, they show up — and there’s even a joke about Sharkboy liking to sing, probably in reference to the pop classic “Sharkboy’s Lullaby” — but original Sharkboy actor Taylor Lautner has been replaced by stunt actor JJ Dashnaw and that dynamic duo is not the focus of this film.

Instead, we follow Missy Moreno (Yaya Gosselin), the daughter of the Heroics’ leader, Marcus (Pedro Pascal). Though she has no superpowers, and is generally a shy girl who spends her morning deciding which outfit is more likely to get other kids to leave her alone, she alone can get a group of 11 mismatched superkids to work together. Though the script mostly follows the same story beats you’d expect, Rodriguez executes those beats to a T, crafting a kid-friendly response to The Avengers that nevertheless feels like its own thing.

One of the ways the film does that is by showcasing inventive superpowers we don’t often see in such films. Though the adults are your typical superhero team that includes a Superman stand-in (Boyd Holbrook), a guy with superspeed (Sung Kang), and a Cyborg-like tech guy (Christian Slater), the tweens’ powers are lesser versions of what their parents can do. The son of the movie’s answer to Flash only runs in slow-motion, the son of the tech guy who can do everything has every power in the book, but can never control them. A pair of twins have total control of time but only when they work together, otherwise they can only fast-forward or rewind a couple of minutes. The pseudo-Superman’s son is a wheelchair-user whose “legs are too strong to be supported by his bones.” Through them, the film conveys its main theme of kids actually being more powerful and capable of saving the world than their parents. It’s just that they’re conditioned to think otherwise.

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Rodriguez’s family-friendly output has always dealt with kids saving the day while rescuing their parents, but We Can Be Heroes feels like the first time he is actually saying something with these movies. It’s not just that the adults are too self-absorbed and would rather argue and fight among themselves than get things done, but that the younger generations should be trusted to fix the many problems their parents left them. With We Can Be Heroes, Rodriguez is confronting the world he is leaving behind for his kids, and making sure he encourages them to do better than his generation did.

It’s no coincidence then that We Can Be Heroes is not presented as a Troublemaker Studios film, but a Double R Production, referring to the production company Rodriguez formed with his sons Racer and Rebel. Indeed, the Rebel Without a Crew author is renowned for taking on multiple roles in his films and employing most of his family to help make them. While Rodriguez directed, wrote, produced, shot, and edited this film, his son Racer co-produced it, Rebel composed the score, and major elements of the film’s production design were made by Rogue and Rhiannon Rodriguez.

We Can Be Heroes has a unique aesthetic that feels like the logical step forward from Spy Kids and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. It’s still very colorful and cartoonish, especially the set designs introduced in the third act, but now they don’t just feel like they’re aimed at youths, but rather are made by youths. This movie is the closest thing we’ve got to the spirit of classic Nickelodeon from the late ’80s and early ’90s.

At a time when superhero movies dominate both the box office and the pop culture conversation, there are surprisingly few of them aimed squarely at kids, the main intended audience that comic books were originally created for. Robert Rodriguez’s We Can Be Heroes aspires to fill that void with a cheerful, optimistic story for children that inspires them to be better than their parents and save the world, while still offering all the thrills you’d expect from mainstream superhero films that adults also enjoy.

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