The film opens in Themyscira, where a young Diana Prince is getting ready to compete in an athletic competition against older, experienced Amazon warriors. Although Diana takes an early lead, an error during the competition causes her to cheat and take a shortcut in order to attain victory. When she is close to the finish line and ready to shoot her arrow through the final hoop, she is stopped by her aunt, the warrior Antiope. Antiope lectures her on the importance of honesty, and states that “no true hero is born from lies.”
Young Diana does not yet understand the importance of this message. Over time, she learns the importance of honesty and truth as she grows into a hero.
Sometimes honesty can hurt when we are told something we may not want to hear. But holding in a lie can eat at us or could destroy a relationship, which is probably what we are usually trying to avoid in the first place. Is it better to hold it in and hurt ourselves or tell the truth and possibly hurt someone else? That is a hard decision, but we have to be okay with being truthful and possibly hurting another person’s feelings.
Years later (1984, to be exact), Diana is living in Washington D.C. and operating as Wonder Woman in secret. In her civilian life, she works as a specialist at the Smithsonian. It is there that she meets and befriends Barbara Ann Minerva, an awkward but brilliant scientist. They begin a friendship, and Barbara wonders aloud what kind of life someone like Diana must have. Diana stops her and says “My life hasn’t been what you think it has. We all have our struggles.”
Barbara is tasked with identifying the items from the robbery that Wonder Woman prevented. One of the items, later called the Dreamstone, catches both of their attention. They individually think about what they would wish for if the stone were real. Diana silently wishes for the return of Steve Trevor, her former love. Barbara wishes to be strong and beautiful like Diana, inadvertently attaining Diana’s powers.
Barbara thinks that Diana has it all, and she wants to be like her. Despite all of her achievements in her career, she still feels very insecure and jealous.
Maxwell “Max Lord” Lorenzano, oil businessman, visits the Smithsonian under the guise of wanting to make a donation. In actuality, Max Lord has been looking for the Dreamstone for some time. He knows its true power; he wishes to use the stone to save his failing business. He uses a gala at the Smithsonian that night as an opportunity to seduce Barbara and take the stone. When he arrives back at his office, he uses the stone to wish himself the powers of the stone. He gains the power to grant wishes and exact any price from the person for whom he grants the wish.
Diana also attends the gala out of suspicion of Max Lord, but is completely caught off guard when Steve Trevor arrives. Her wish has brought his soul back in another man’s body. Overjoyed, she forgets Max Lord and experiences domestic bliss with Steve.
Diana experiences a true relationship with Steve for the first time, and she has someone to share love with after years of solitude.
Diana and Steve set off to investigate the stone and how he returned to her; Diana enlists Barbara’s help, and together the three discover the origin of the stone. The stone was created by Dolos, the god of treachery and mischief; it grants one wish, but at great cost to the user, and the only way to reverse it is by renouncing the wish or destroying the stone. Steve’s existence is at the cost of Diana’s powers, while Barbara’s powers have cost her of her kindness and humanity.
Meanwhile, Max Lord has been granting wishes and using them to take power and control from influential people. However, all of these wishes have horrible effects, creating instability and conflict between both people and countries. As a result, the world is now on the brink of nuclear war. Max Lord uses this as leverage and makes his way to the President of the United States. There he learns of a satellite system capable of transmitting to every television on the planet simultaneously. On his way out of the White House, he is attacked by Wonder Woman; however, Barbara shows up and protects Max Lord in order to retain her wish.
Both Barbara and Diana are unwilling to renounce their wishes. This results in Barbara siding with Max Lord and Diana being unable to stop her.
As Steve and Diana escape, they experience firsthand the chaos that the “Dreamstone” has created. Despite her protests, Steve convinces Diana to renounce her wish and move on without him. After giving him one final kiss, Diana runs off without looking back and leaps into the sky, flying for the first time thanks to Steve’s influence. She returns to her apartment and puts on the armor of the legendary Amazon warrior Asteria, then sets off to stop Barbara and Max Lord.
When she encounters Barbara again, she learns that Barbara wished to become an apex predator, becoming “Cheetah” (referencing a long-used Wonder Woman villain) . After an impressive fight, Wonder Woman takes her down and heads inside to stop Max. She uses her Lasso of Truth to communicate with everyone through Max and the telecommunication system. While speaking to the world, she shows them the consequences of their wishes and asks them to renounce the wishes in order to restore peace. She also shows Max the error of his ways, and he is struck by a vision of his son trying to find safety amidst the in the current worldwide destruction. He renounces his wish, and so does everyone else across the world, bringing peace.
Diana is brought back to the lesson imparted by her aunt at the beginning of the film – “no true hero is born from lies.” She chooses to renounce her wish in order to move forward in her path as Wonder Woman, a true hero.
The film ends with Diana witnessing the joy in her community during Christmas time, appreciating the world she helped save. Meanwhile, Asteria is revealed to be alive, played by Lynda Carter, the last actress to play Wonder Woman in live action before Gal Gadot.
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Photo Credits: © Warner Bros
