Fans of DC Comics were blown away by the appearance of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in 2016’s Batman vs. Superman (perhaps the only mind blowing thing about this film) and once again in 2017’s Wonder Woman. In role that has been largely defined by Lynda Carter, movie goers accepted Gadot with open arms as she took on the mantle of Diana Prince / Wonder Woman.

Much to the excitement of fans, the trailer for the next installment of the franchise dropped today. In the clip for Wonder Woman 1984 we see Diana Prince living it up in full on 80’s glory. The glamour, the glitz, the shoulder pads … and two formidable foes. One is businessman tycoon Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal of Mandalorian fame. I’m not squealing in delight, you’re squealing in delight!) and the other is friend turned enemy Barbara Minerva/Cheeta (Kristen Wiig). Also joining Diana in 1984 is long lost love Steve Trevor (Christopher Pine of Star Trek).

The trailer is a visual extravaganza of beautiful set and costume design, with specatcular fight scenes and comic relief courtesy of Chris Pine (well, he’s a guy from WWI that’s been dropped into the 80’s, there’s gotta be a learning curve!), as well as our first glimpse of Wonder Woman’s arch nemesis Cheetah in action.

And while we don’t see Wonder Woman actually fly in the trailer as she does in the comics, we do see her using her famed magic lasso to swing through the sky from one bolt of lightning to another. That’s almost more cool than flying.

The film is directed by Patty Jenkins (Monster, Wonder Woman 2017), produced by Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Zach Snyder, Stephen Jones, Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot herself, and with the screenplay written by Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns and David Callaham. This powerhouse of players have come together to create what looks like an amazing sequel to the Wonder Woman.

Everyone was wondering how in the heck Col. Steve Trevor was going to make his reappearance 40 years after he supposedly died in the last film, and though we knew that Kristen Wiig was going to be making her debut in the DC Universe as Wonder Woman’s arch nemesis Cheetah, nobody knew exactly how all this magical stuff was going to happen. Now we know – the answer to both is, literally, magic.

Maxwell Lord connects with some serious magic to give people what they desire most – but as always with these sorts of things, there’s a price to be paid. That’s the theme of the film: what do you desire most? What would you give to get it? What Kristen Wiig’s character Barbara Ann Minerva / Cheetah wants is singular power over her destiny.

Wonder Woman 1984 is set to be released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on October 2, 2020. Exactly how it’s going to be released, considering that most of the theaters in the United States are still inaccessible to the moviegoing public is currently not known.

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