I know how the DCU’s movies can fix an iconic villain that was sadly wasted in the DCEU in Wonder Woman 1984. The DCU is poised to reinvigorate DC’s cinematic franchise after the DCEU fizzled out. The upcoming DCU release slate looks promising, spotlighting DC’s most prominent heroes alongside a slew of lesser-known ones such as The Authority, Swamp Thing, and Booster Gold. Details surrounding 2025’s Superman suggest that fans are in for an almost entirely unique experience when it comes to the franchise, making the impending introduction of Batman and Wonder Woman all the more exciting.

The DCEU’s legacy was propped up by a handful of standout films. These included the Justice League’s solo debuts, such as Aquaman and Wonder Woman – both of which were well-received, with Wonder Woman being the highest-rated DCEU movie on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, the sequels did not fare so well, with Wonder Woman 1984 fumbling the ball despite its predecessor setting it in good stead. There are a few criticisms leveled at the movie, but there was one notable sticking point in particular that the DCU is in a prime position to fix.

DCEU’s Cheetah Was A Much Criticized Part Of Wonder Woman’s Movie Sequel

Kristen Wiig made her DCEU debut in Wonder Woman 1984 as Barbara Minerva, a bookish employee at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, whose initial social awkwardness is a common trend in Wiig’s cinematic characters. From the jump, she embodied a common movie trope in being the socially outcast nerd who struggles with the fact that people – particularly men – fail to notice her. This would change as Diana Prince entered her life and showed her compassion, leading Minerva to gush about her newfound friend.

Wonder Woman 1984 failed to develop Minerva beyond this, turning her into a shallow secondary villain as she gains the powers of Prince after making a wish with the Dreamstone McGuffin in hand. Critics lambasted this particular facet of the movie due to the shallow writing afforded to Wiig’s character, despite the actress herself providing a stellar performance from what she had (alongside, of course, Pedro Pascal). Nevertheless, the criticisms leveled at Cheetah’s character development are warranted, but run far deeper than shallow writing.

What Went Wrong With The DCEU’s Cheetah

One classic misstep made by widely derided comic book movies is diverting too far from the source material. The DCEU was a repeat offender in this regard, and Wonder Woman 1984 continued that trend with Cheetah. In DC Comics, Cheetah’s origins are tied closely to the plant god Urzkartaga, who transformed her into the Cheetah and made her his wife because of the creature’s holy connotations, bringing a distinctly more tragic element to her origins. Wonder Woman 1984, meanwhile, transformed Barbara into the Cheetah because she wished to be an “apex predator.”

The distinct gulf in motives make movie Barbara far harder to sympathize with, for no good reason. The Dreamstone may have had mythical origins, but transforming into a Cheetah felt out of left field and perversely less believable. Having her play second fiddle to Maxwell Lord, meanwhile, significantly downplayed her importance to Wonder Woman’s mythos. For that matter, Wonder Woman’s own connection to ancient Greek gods is also significantly downplayed throughout the DCEU. This, thankfully, is something that the DCU already looks poised to rectify.

How The DCU Is Already Primed To Redeem Cheetah

What little we know of Paradise Lost – one of the shows slated to release in the DCU’s Chapter One: Gods and Monsters – is that it will delve into Wonder Woman’s lore without necessarily spotlighting the superhero herself. Right off the bat, it looks as if this show might dive headfirst into the mythical side of Wonder Woman, which is an inexorable part of her DC Comics origins. In doing so, it will be perfectly placed to introduce such figures as Urzkartaga and, therefore, a more fleshed out backstory to Cheetah.

This is great news for Cheetah’s DCU future as Wonder Woman’s arch-rival. While Wonder Woman 1984 attempted in vain to make Barbara Minerva a sympathetic villain, the fact that she was buried in an ill-advised two-villain movie did not do her tragic character arc justice. In being a series, it’s a lot easier to see Paradise Lost fleshing out both Cheetah’s origins while simultaneously rectifying the DCEU’s fumble when it comes to properly representing Diana Prince’s deep links to Greek mythology.