Fandom in Context: Wonder Woman Fans Wish For A Better Sequel

Be careful what you wish for—just ask Wonder Woman fans. Three years after their Amazonian princess triumphed on screen, she returned amid a flurry of descent, division and criticism with Wonder Woman 1984, which dropped on HBO Max on Christmas Day. Perhaps the most anticipated film of 2020, the first year without a superhero film in what feels like approximately 200 years, Wonder Woman 1984 is also the most divisive.

DC movies usually split audiences, but Wonder Woman was different. Patty Jenkins' 2017 period epic was the first DC-based movie to connect with audiences and critics. Batman v. Superman, Man of Steel and Suicide Squad have their fans, but the grim tone, cruel violence and bloated run times seemed to turn most casual fans off. But Wonder Woman hit like a Kryptonian spaceship on Smallville, and fans came flocking to admire their new hero.

A lifelong fan of the character, Renny helped found the Facebook group "Gal Gadot Wonder Woman DCEU Fans" five years ago. The group grew steadily, garnering more than 257,000 followers and becoming one of the largest Wonder Woman communities on Facebook.

Unlike other entries into the DC film catalog, Wonder Woman was a more old-fashioned hero, one who, you know, saves people. This aspect appealed to fans like Renny. The movie was hit, collecting more than $800 million worldwide and becoming the first DC movie to win over critics and fans. "The reaction to the movie was extremely positive, from long-time fans to new," wrote Renny in an email. "I do believe a lot of fans that prefer a more traditional ’superhero’ style."

Ohmstar, a moderator on /r/WonderWoman agrees. "The consensus on the first Wonder Woman movie was incredibly positive," he wrote via email. "Overall, the community felt that Diana's character was represented beautifully on the screen. She was smart, capable, compassionate, hopeful, and honest. These are central characteristics to who Wonder Woman is. It was amazing to see it portrayed on the screen so well." The sequel challenged those characteristics.

Wonder Woman 1984 moves the classical style to the 1980s, emulating movies of the period. The main plot centers on a magic wishing stone that helps a struggling businessman Maxwell Lord (played by Pedro Pascal) become the most powerful man on Earth. It's a not-so-subtle parallel to our society's penchant for putting our hopes and dreams on hucksters who claim to have all the answers. When Diana "Wonder Woman" Prince (Gal Gadot) gets her hands on the stone early in the film, she wishes for the resurrection of her dearly departed boyfriend Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who died some 70 years prior. Somewhere in there, a lowly gemologist played by Kristen Wiig wants to be popular and turns into a cat lady. It's a defiantly absurd plot in an absurd genre, and for many, it was only half successful.

Jenkins' film is a big swing that divided fans. "There have been quite a few comments, both positive and negative, that I've seen echoed by many users," writes Ohmstar. "People really like the actors in their roles. Gal Gadot, Pedro Pascal, Chris Pine, and Kristen Wiig all did the best they could with what was given to them. Negative comments tend to revolve around the writing, the plot, and the pacing."

The discourse surrounding Wonder Woman 1984 hasn't been great. A heroically goofy movie that turns its nose at modern superhero movie conventions, WW84 feels like a sequel from another time, namely 1984. It plays more like Superman III or Batman Forever than it does Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But when all those hungry audiences pop-in for what turns out to be a relatively iconoclastic piece of popcorn entertainment, you've got a Last Jedi on your hands.

But even Last Jedi has its fervent defenders. Wonder Woman 1984 seems to have alienated hardcore fans and casual viewers all the same. Moderators on the /r/DCComics and /r/WonderWoman subreddits say fans are mixed on the film. "The reaction to WW84 has been one of disappointment," says Marty, a UK-based /r/DCComics mod. "I think that, alongside it being received as just another poor to mediocre DCEU film, the fact that the first film was so good in comparison makes the sequel even more of a letdown."

The /r/DCComics subreddit is a massive fan community on Reddit. With more than 392,000 readers, they get a crosssection of new and old fans. Add to that a vast, mainstream film release and you get an even more significant jump in readership, making the conversation between diehards and newbies a little more volatile.

That's been the case, at least, for /r/WonderWoman, which has a smaller but still healthy membership of 12,000. Long-time fans of the character, writes Ohmstar, tended to skew more positive, but the new film brought angrier commenters. "Any time there is a new film, fan communities get bombarded with new users wanting to share their thoughts on the movie. /r/WonderWoman has been no exception," says Ohmstar. "There have been a large number of people commenting and posting about the film. With this large influx of people comes more arguing. Some people who hated the movie in particular love to troll people who enjoyed the movie. Those instances are thankfully not very common."

Ohmstar joined the subreddit in 2011, becoming a moderator shortly after. Over the next decade, he watched the subreddit balloon from 100 members to more than 12,000. The response isn't his first rodeo. "The reaction to most DC movies trends more negative than positive. I think by now, we're all used to it (unfortunately). Over time, equilibrium will set in; the users who hated the movie will move on, and the users who liked the movie will stick around and learn more about the character."

Wonder Woman 1984 ain’t no way they watched that movie before putting it out and said “this the one”.

— Mark Phillips (@SupremeDreams_1) January 3, 2021

Across the communities, complaints tend to be the same. The film fell into trouble in its handling of Diana's boyfriend Steve Trevor. The relationship between Steve and Diana was the first Wonder Woman's secret sauce. However, the politics of Jenkins' body-swap plotting, a staple of 80s studio comedies like the Tom Hanks' classic Big, really rubbed viewers the wrong way. "The occupying of another man's body has disturbed a lot of people," Renny writes. "For many fans and reviewers, it’s been the disregard of the man's authority over his body [that turned people off]."

The character, known only as "Handsome Man," is causing controversy in and out of the community. Joe, an engineer from Texas, who helps moderate /r/DCcomics, says some equate the Diana-Steve-Handsome Man throuple with sexual violence, calling it amoral. "Not only is the morality of this never addressed," writes Joe via Reddit, "But Wonder Woman even sleeps with the man while he's still possessed, which is effectively rape." To fans, Diana's treatment of "Handsome Man" flies in the face of her own guiding moral principles.

These criticism aren't relegated to the fandom. A thread on Reddit's /r/OutOfTheLoop subreddit has more than 10,000 points and 23,000 comments. Meanwhile, mainstream outlets, like Vulture and Mashable have also questioned the film's message with this plotline. For Vulture, Roxana Hadidi writes, "Because Steve’s soul zoomed back to Earth courtesy of a wish upon a mystical rock and Wonder Woman, mysterious female savior to literally everyone else, doesn’t even feel a little bad about it? Where did Handsome Man’s soul go when Steve’s took over? Were his parents or friends worried about him when he stopped calling? We know the world eventually goes to shit in this DC version of the 1980s, but surely someone was concerned about his wellbeing."

By all metrics, other than the mixed reaction, the film is a hit. By pandemic standards, Wonder Woman 1984 is a box office smash, grossing more than $100 million, meaning people risked their lives and the lives of their loved ones to see Chris Pine in a fanny pack. Within 24 hours of its release, Warner Bros. announced that Jenkins and Gadot would return for film three.

Out of context Wonder Woman 1984: pic.twitter.com/cm5wDR11rL

— Jeffrey Zhang (@strangeharbors) January 2, 2021

However, no one seems quite sure on where Diana should go from here. Some fans think they should return to the Amazonian mythos, while others think they should dump it and move forward. Maybe the right villain is the key, or getting rid of Steve Trevor all together? Whatever they decide, Wonder Woman's army will stay loyal, as they have been for more than 80 years. To real fans, like Ohmstar, showing people the real Wonder Woman is key:

"There's a common idea among comic book fans that Wonder Woman doesn't have a lot of really good runs. With any franchise that has been running for almost 80 years, there's a lot of good and a lot of bad. I think the key to any character is finding the book that speaks to your tastes. The same is true of Wonder Woman. I truly believe there is a great Wonder Woman story out there for everyone. I'm always happy to help people find these stories. I want everyone to see what I see in Wonder Woman."