It might not feel as long, but Wonder hasn’t been seen in the DC Extended Universe ever since the much-maligned Justice League. Fortunately, Wonder Woman 1984 is set to arrive and further her storyline within this universe. During her absence, the series has seen plenty of other movies join the fray.
The advantage for Wonder Woman 1984 is that it can learn from the flaws found in the DCEU thus far. These range from tired old tropes being frequently repeated and plot points that don’t follow a logical flow, among others. Let’s see the mistakes the film should avoid in order to be a success.
Exposition Through Flashbacks
Even the well-received DCEU titles like Birds of Prey and Man of Steel are guilty of this mistake. The series has taken to using extended flashback scenes both at the very beginning of the movies and in the middle, which causes the pacing to be haltered.
More than that, the exposition is a rather lazy way of setting a plot, seeing as these flashback sequences bring in information that was previously not known, and viewers are expected to mug this up right then and there. Wonder Woman 1984 should carry the previous story and bring in exposition during the events of the current chronology.
Setting Up Future Movies
An argument in favor of Lynda Carter over Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is that the former had a straightforward storyline and was easier to follow. This is more of a mistake of the DCEU, though, as the movies tend to throw in multiple references to other events unrelated to the particular film.
The intent is to set up future stories, yet these do nothing other than build up a movie that’s not the main concern for the time being. Instead, it packs in a number of elements that are likely to be a hindrance in the next film for those who haven’t seen the current one.
Heavy CGI Use
There’s always been something off about the DCEU’s usage of CGI. Even the benefit of big budgets hasn’t prevented the visuals to feel something like out of a B-movie. Wonder Woman 1984 can avoid this by not putting too much emphasis on CGI-heavy action scenes.
Fight sequences that utilize the character rather than over-the-top explosions and destruction are far better. Films like Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad made the mistake of thinking fans want a mindless CGI-fest, but that’s far from the case.
Messing Up With The Timeline
Despite the DCEU being relatively new, there are a whole lot of unresolved questions from the series. Quite a bit has to do with the wonky timeline, which has been messed up due to subsequent movies contradicting the established chronology of what the characters were supposed to be doing.
Wonder Woman 1984 might have already messed this up, seeing as Steve Trevor was confirmed dead in 2017 during Justice League but is alive in the film. However, the movie can still turn this around through the use of its internal logic of magical means. The issue would be if Steve’s confirmed fate is somehow retconned.
Heroes Being Reluctant To Help
By now, it’s really played out to see a superhero having to be convinced to do what’s right. The dilly-dallying over this matter has led to many preferring the comic book versions over the film ones. Wonder Woman herself suffered from this during Justice League.
Considering everyone from Superman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Batman have also gone through this arc, it has become a recurring gag of sorts at this point. Wonder Woman 1984 should sidestep this aspect by having Diana be in the center of the action the whole time so she isn’t shown pondering over her reluctance to step up.
Uneven Comedic Moments
Let’s just hope the studio leaves the overt comedy to the people who make the DCEU memes and for Wonder Woman 1984 to not be cheesy. After all, the series has been filled with uneven comedy that clashes with situations where there really shouldn’t have been any jokes.
Shazam! was one film that did this right due to it being a comedy movie for the most part. However, movies like Birds of Prey and Justice League brought the funny moments midway through sad or intense scenes. Wonder Woman 1984 would do well by simply restricting the jokes to scenes that aren’t high in impact.
Telling The Same Story From Different Angles
It gets really annoying when a character fans don’t like or even hate is seen multiple times. The DCEU has chosen to do this a fair amount, with movies like Batman v Superman and Birds of Prey outright repeating the same scenes in order to present the point of view of another character.
The problem with this is that it just feels like a rehash rather than bringing a new revelation. Not to mention how these sequences are usually accompanied by narration with unsuccessful attempts to either be funny or too dark.
Characters Being At Odds With One Another
Another overused trope of the DCEU is to bring characters together based on hostility rather than friendship. So much so, that fans have made up their own fictional couples since the movies have overlooked potential romance over making the heroes fight one another.
Wonder Woman 1984 is most certainly welcome in bringing new characters, but the whole dynamic with Diana would be too predictable if they start off at odds since viewers will be certain they’ll eventually become friends. Along with that, it would be a waste of runtime to see characters taking shots at one another when they’re clearly not each other’s antagonists.
Setting Up Powerful Villains, Who Get Defeated Easily
There’s a reason why guys like Zod and Ares are considered as the top villains in the DCEU, and that’s because they were presented as true rivals to the heroes. And yet, films like Birds of Prey and Justice League have built up baddies throughout the runtime, only to kill them off without much of a fight.
It undermines not only the villain’s worth to the story but the heroes themselves since their whole journey feels unjustified. Wonder Woman 1984 already has a relatively weaker villain on paper with Cheetah, so killing her off will do nothing but confirm doubters that she really wasn’t worth worrying about.
Making Past Events Immaterial
It’s going to take a long time to forget stuff like Superman’s supposed survival in his coffin, Batman’s vision of Flash from the future, and Cyborg’s depression, although the movies have done their best to make people forget them since these plot points were simply overlooked later on.
This is perhaps the DCEU’s biggest make, in that it insults the audience who have been invested to see the resolution of these plot points. Wonder Woman 1984 would do wrong by waving away her arcs in her previous movies even if those storylines weren’t well received. The film needs to acknowledge all of Diana and only fix past issues through new plot points.
