Media Essays: An Alternative Wonder Woman Sequel

Written by The Wandering Fox

Freddy was scarfing down some cocktail sausages that he was given while Teddy chuckled away.

Teddy: Celebrating?

Freddy: Mmmm mmmm! Yup! About time he started talking about something else so this calls for a celebration!

Teddy: Heh, I bet you can stuff up to dozens of them in your mouth!

Freddy: You bet I can!

I bet he could. Teddy, before I begin, here’s some nice fish for you.

Teddy happily took the fish sticks from me and munched away on them.

Oh my boys love their food. But they are right, it’s worth celebrating because why’s that?

I’M COVERING SOMETHING ELSE!

Yes that’s right everybody, come on in, get reading because this is far apart from my last bunch of essays!

As we know, comic book movies as of late haven’t really been hitting the mark, whether it’s Marvel getting their balls busted with only one billion dollar success (Sony took home 75% of their earnings on those Spidey movies) and are calling back RDJ to help them, or it’s Superman underperforming at the box office and followed up by a disastrous Supergirl movie. An interesting thing emerged from the topic of Supergirl and it was this baffling idea that people don’t like female led superhero movies and men hate them.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Note the sarcasm.

I need to jog everybody’s memories. Do you remember a movie that came out in 2017? It starred a female character? And she’s one of the biggest female icons on the planet? And that movie became a big success that won over men and women? Oh yes that’s right WONDER WOMAN!

Yeah, happy to bring that up again. It made me think of Diana and her tale in cinema. From her debut in BvS, to her solo movie, to the duo cuts of Justice League and…oh…yeah…

Yeah that……..then she cameoed in Shazam: Fury of the Gods and The Flash…yay.

The second movie. Yeah that was something. It had Wonder Woman being a public hero in the 80s when she was living in secret as said in BvS and JL, a clean shaven Pedro Pascal and brought Steve Trevor back and the less said about that the better. Oh but Lynda Carter was in it for a post-credits scene, yay…

Yeah, that movie had problems, like a lot of problems. Not only did it have those above they juggled around having Cheetah and Maxwell Lord in there with a McGuffin at the centre of it all. What you got in the end was a movie that didn’t hold a candle to its predecessor and another dent in DC’s bothersome tries at doing a cinematic universe.

Of the many what ifs of DC films there is out there, I don’t know if many have thought of the Wonder Woman sequel we could’ve gotten instead. One that did feel like a progression from the first movie but still staying truer to the lore that was established on film. Maybe we could’ve gotten a movie that felt like a love letter to Wonder Woman comics.

Freddy: Which is why he’s here.

Teddy: To give you a rewrite!

Yup! I’m here to do just that! Let’s get into the movie I feel that could’ve worked as a sequel to the first. Let’s set out the rules of this sequel.

What’s Gone

I’m taking the 80s setting away, because that raises a lot of plot holes in the DCEU.

Cheetah won’t appear. Not yet.

Maxwell Lord is gone.

Steve Trevor does come back just. Not how they did it.

Instead:

It’s set in a post-Justice League universe.

Dr Cyber and Phobos and Deimos are the main villains.

Barbara Ann Minerva is in it, but she doesn’t become Cheetah yet.

Steve Trevor returns as a ghost.

Diana’s cast has now come to include Helena Sandsmark, Cassie, Barbara, Trevor Barnes, Brian Elliot and Diana’s neighbour Tod.

We do go back to Themiscyra.

Yes, I’m bringing in Helena and Cassie, I think they’d have worked in the DCEU well enough. I’ll talk about casting later, but for now these are your characters.

The Plot

The story takes place after Justice League, Diana’s been continuing her work of collecting artefacts and helping perfect historic sculptures around the planet as well as branching out her influence around the arts industry. We find out that she has been collecting artefacts specifically to keep them out of the wrong hands and we start the film with Cylvia Anita and her mercenaries raiding a sacred sight in Greece, searching for certain items that had long been buried. Diana gets wind of this thanks to Brian tapping into the coms of the mercenaries and thus Wonder Woman arrives and defeats the mercenaries and has a fight with Cylvia who holds a child at gunpoint. Diana tries to talk Cylvia in letting the child go but Cylvia offers to let the kid go if Diana gets on her knees and surrenders her lasso, having been keen on getting it herself. Diana does get on her knees and throws the lasso but then slams her bracelets together which stuns Cylvia into letting the kid go. Diana runs in and punches Cylvia hard in the face, knocking a few of her teeth out and crushing her nose which Diana regrets.

The artefacts are saved and Diana calls on Interpol to have Cylvia arrested, having braced up her face a bit. Diana takes the artefacts and promises the villagers she’ll keep them safe. Going back to Gateway City she goes to the museum which is a cover for her true work, we finally see Diana has her own friends in Helena Sandsmark, Barbara Ann Minerva, Brian Elliot the computer genius and Trevor Barnes, who’s Diana’s friend in Interpol. It’s revealed Diana has been friends with them for a little while, having rescued Helena from gunmen, turned to Barbara for help in translating texts she doesn’t understand, and convinced Brian to live a better life than be a hacker. Trevor had met Diana during a hostage event she was stopping and has since been a good friend of hers. They look over the artefacts, among them a pair of Amazonian bracelets that Diana can tell are magical, including a staff that appears to have been marked by Zeus. Helena gets a calls from the school and finds out Cassie has been slipping in class again so she has to go and get her, grumbling how she wishes her dad didn’t just disappear. Diana is curious of the lives of her friends, coming to realise she hasn’t really paid much attention until recently. Barbara teases she could set up a date between her and Trevor if she wants to know him. Diana smiles softly and says “I don’t know if I’m ready yet”. She decides to go with Helena to the school. We cut to the school where we see Cassie sheepishly greets her mum outside the principals’ office. Helena tells her to wait with Diana while she talks to the principal.

Cassie isn’t sure who Diana is until she reveals she’s her mum’s employer at which Cassie begs her not to sack her mum for having to come and get her from school. Diana just chuckles and says Helena isn’t the one who’s in trouble, it’s Cassie. She asks if all girls these days are rebellious. Cassie snorts and wonders if Diana ever went to school, all kids are rebellious. Diana remarks she rebelled quite differently from her then asks why she’s not doing so well in class. Cassie confesses it’s a combo of superhero gossip and boredom and frustration, she’s not fond of maths but loves to imagine how amazing mythologies are, it’s why she excels at culture and mythology. Diana is curious as to how good she is and decides to give Cassie a chance at her place of work. Helena isn’t really up for it as she feels it’s rewarding bad behaviour, but Diana wants to see where her strengths are. Diana goes home that night, says hello to Tod and goes to sleep, where we see her remembering Steve Trevor.

Meanwhile, Cylvia is being held in a Interpol HQ where we find out not only did Diana damage her jaw and nose, she knocked her eye a bit loose. Cylvia’s guards and doctors are then approached by a pair of handsome twin men who taunt them of their fears and dread, asks them if they’d do anything to see their loved ones again. They say yes and thus the twins order them to handcuff themselves and the doctors and knock themselves out. The twins go and get Cylvia, offering some sympathy to her of the injury she got out of Diana “If only we had the courage to kill her before” Phobos laments “Yes but we had little resources back then. Humanity has been quite beneficial for our goals in their societal change. Our father’s life will be avenged, brother.” Deimos replies as they take Cylvia out of the HQ.

Diana goes to work, finding Cassie there with her mum and Barbara. Diana pleasantly asks her what she knows of the Greek gods and is impressed that Cassie knows much of the myths like Cronos, Zeus, Hades nowhere near as evil as other works made him to be, and the trials of Hercules. Cassie does catch a few things Diana slips out that has her confused for a bit. Diana tells Helena Cassie has a knack for history and wants her back at some point. Cassie cheekily asks if Diana can pull some strings to get her out of school for good but Diana says she needs to better things at school and get a good school grade. Cassie tuts but then suggests that as thanks she’s gonna take her out for lunch and give her a quiz. They go to a takeout and Cassie asks her where she thinks Wonder Woman came from. Diana says “She came from a faraway place like Superman”. Cassie questions if Wonder Woman can fly to which Diana says “She probably could” in a thoughtful way as she wonders why she never thought of that. Cassie smiles and guesses Wonder Woman must have an awesome family, her mum and dad must be proud of her and whoever gets to date her is lucky. Diana looks a bit sadder and reckons that maybe love isn’t in the cards for her, if she’s been around for so long maybe it’s best to walk alone. Cassie notices how sad Diana looks and Helena quickly suggests that Cassie can come to the museum after school.

Trevor then calls Diana who says she has to go. Cassie is worried she upset her but Helena assures her she didn’t. Cassie asks where Diana is going at which Barbara says “Oh as the owner of this place she’s got lots of people to chat with. Now, why don’t I get you some sweets?”

Diana meets with Trevor who takes her to the HQ Cylvia had been freed from, with her seeing the injuries the guards and doctors did. Diana is then shown CCTV of the twins and finds they’ve blurred their faces out, getting her greatly weary as to who Cylvia is with, reckoning these are either demons or demigods. Diana asks more about Cylvia, to which Trevor bitterly asks if Diana remembers having to save the children of multiple big tech employees from explosive toys. Diana shudders and recalls it well, how she had to step in and save the children from the toys. Trevor reminds her that on that day a diamond was stolen from the bank vault, it was all Cylvia. She’s a cyber hacker and a master criminal in conning billionaires and charities out of their money, to curry power and influence on others. He doesn’t know why such a talented woman would do that. Diana agrees but does think of Cylvia is that cruel then what are these twins doing?

We go to Cylvia who is given a mask to support her jaw and vision as well as helping her breathe, becoming Dr Cyber. She is angry at the pain she was left in and how Diana has busted her face. Deimos reminds her that she will soon have all the power she could ever have wanted, with Phobos reminding her to not let hatred distract her from the goal they all want, they saw that ambition and belief in her and it only gave them that extra confidence to get what they want. Cylvia points out that with some of the mercenaries in custody it won’t be long until Diana finds them, but Phobos and Deimos chuckle and hope Diana comes as they will keep her busy while Cylvia can help recover the artefacts.

Diana and Trevor get a mercenary to tell them where Cylvia’s secret hideout is, a big lake house up in the north of Canada. Diana goes on alone as she fears that the twins would kill Trevor and any human that goes up there. Back at the museum, after another day at school, Cassie finds the room where the artefacts and sticks on one of the bracelets which amazes her at how her strength increases and lifts up a few heavy objects until she hears her mum coming, taking the bracelets off. She’s scolded from Helena but Barbara assures her that Cassie knows how precious they can be. Cassie is confused as to why her mum is collecting these and what she will do with them. She asks Barbara the truth. Barbara laughs and says if they ever told Cassie the truth she wouldn’t go to school again. Cassie begs her to be honest until her superhero app tells her Wonder Woman is in Canada which gets her excited as to what she’s going there for. But she then wonders where Diana is.

Going to the lake house, Diana is ambushed by a few built in machine guns and traps until she overcomes them. Phobos and Deimos then appear, walking in and out of her eyesight, conjuring up phantoms of her past. Antiope, who asks if she made the right choice with Diana. Her mother who hates the woman she’s become. And Steve Trevor, who asks Diana how she can move on from him. Diana gets angry at these and demands the twins show themselves. Deimos then turns his cane into a snake which wraps around Diana’s neck and starts strangling her but she manages to fend it off but Phobos then turns the snake into Antiope who’s laying there dead. Diana tries to shatter the illusion by banging her bracelets together which does weaken Phobos but Deimos has the snake bite her, weakening Diana. Tying her up with the lasso, Phobos and Deimos ask where the artefacts are. Diana tries to resist the lasso but she admits that they’re in the museum in Gateway City. She asks who they are. They proudly introduce themselves as her nephews: Phobos and Deimos, the sons of Ares and they want revenge for their father. Dr Cyber comes in and says the best plan of action is to turn the museum’s security against itself and she knows how. She laughs at Diana and stomps on her face, knocking her out and leaving her in the lake house as it crumbles on her.

Trevor gets there with his agents and finds Diana in the remains, she’s still alive but needs to heal. Diana groans out that they need to get back to Gateway, the museum and its staff are in terrible danger. Trevor calls Brian, telling him to get everybody out of there and to move the artefacts. Brian tells Helena and Barbara and they start to move everything with Cassie told to go out the back and get the car ready. However, Dr Cyber hacks into the museum’s security and shuts all the doors and leaves some open for the mercenaries to get in, surrounding them all. Dr Cyber, Deimos and Phobos come in. The twins smugly tell them they care little for humanity for their beef is with the Amazons. Phobos has some fun by conjuring up their fears, Brian fears slipping back into his criminal ways, e Barbara fears being a weak burden on her friends, and Helena’s fear for Cassie. They notice her to which Deimos asks her to come to him. Helena tells her to run, Deimos tries to grab her but Barbara whacks him with her cane. He chuckled and brutally smacks her into a glass box that holds a piece of the Urzkartarga tree. They throw the bracelets away and take the staff they shatter the pillars holding the museum up. Wonder Woman arrives at the museum and fears everybody is dead, until she sees a bit of rubble moving, she finds Cassie is holding it up. Cassie grabbed the bracelets and ran to protect everybody from the rubble. Though weakened, Wonder Woman works with her to get their friends to the ambulance. Cassie sees the way her mum looks at Wonder Woman and realises she’s Diana. She angrily yells at Diana for letting her mum and friends get hurt. Trevor tries to get her to back away but Diana falls to her knees. She whispers to Trevor before she passes out.

Diana finds herself in a beautiful meadow and finds Steve there. Diana asks if this is what death feels like. Steve says it’s close enough. Diana apologises to Steve, for not freeing the world of Ares, for feeling like she’s trying to forget him. Steve tells her that while he misses her he doesn’t want her to wallow in the past, she must live. No matter what in life, he will wait for her. Diana holds his hand and says it’s gonna be a while, but she’ll get there. Steve asks what she will do now. Diana says it’s time to go home.

Diana wakes up in her apartment where Trevor had drained the poison with an ancient magic spell in a book Diana had uncovered during her adventures. Cassie is also there and Trevor admits that she and Diana need to talk. Going to her, Diana is sorry for what has happened to her mum. She talks of how they first met and Helena was that good of a friend in their mission that she trusted her with her identity. Cassie sees Diana is regretful and is sorry for losing her temper, it’s not her she should be angry with. Cassie asks what she will do. Diana says Themiscyra is in danger and she has to go now. Cassie wants to come, pointing out her bracelets but Diana isn’t wanting her to come, she should stay with her mum. Diana and Trevor leave but Cassie ends up finding a black and gold armour in Diana’s secret room.

Diana, Trevor and a few Interpol agents fly out to the coast of Greece, certain they’ll find the villains out there. They find Cassie has snuck on board the plane and is wearing the top of the armour, the bracelets helping resize it. Diana is annoyed but confesses she really is like her. They find a huge fleet of helicopters flying to a specific place in the waters. Diana leaps out of the plane and gets in a helicopter, demanding to know where the staff is. Diana throws out the crew and jumps in another helicopter where Phobos and Deimos are. They chuckle at Diana, confessing though she’s faltered their plans a little they won’t change a thing. They were originally going to toss the staff out to Themiscyra but now she’s here they will just use the power of the staff to restore themselves to power. They send a snake out to her but Diana fights it and throws it out, but Phobos and Deimos take the staff and their godly powers are fully restored. They tear apart the helicopter and throw the staff out to the shield of Themiscyra, shattering it.

The final battle sees Phobos, Deimos and Cyber fighting the Amazons with the mercenaries, managing to destroy several buildings and killing a few Amazons. Hippolyta leads the fight back with Diana, Cassie, Trevor and the Interpol agents helping fight back. Dr Cyber tackles Diana and tries to carve her face off with a laser cutter but is injured by Hippolyta. Phobos and Deimos then grab Hippolyta and try to behead her. Diana and Cassie fight them both, Cassie struggles but manages to grab the staff and stabs Deimos with it, killing him. Diana stabs the brother and both of them crumble. Diana reunites with Hippolyta who is happy to have her back. The mercenaries who weren’t killed are arrested with Dr Cyber and Trevor and the agents are greeted by the Amazons. Hippolyta thanks Cassie for helping and senses there’s something more to her.

Themiscyra is now known to the planet and Diana sees that this is a big change for the Amazons. She will be their voice, and there’s much Themiscyra can offer with Trevor offering protection for the Amazons. Helena, Barbara and Brian get better though it’s teased Barbara has been gifted incredible strength. The movie ends with Diana out with Trevor and enjoys a good meal with him.

After credits has Barbara getting ready for work but finds her eyes have turned feline looking. The other after credits has Diana take Cassie to the Hall of Justice where she ends up meeting Batman.

Characters and Casting

This is more for the new characters.

Cassie Sandsmark, played by Emma Myers

I chose Emma because at the time of the sequel she would’ve been around 17 or 18 which is just about the right age for Cassie in the story, Emma would bring that fresh young vibe but have enough depth to her to give Cassie enough of a character.

Cassie is kinda your typical teen, she’s annoyed with school but is talented in some areas. She’s rebellious in the sense of finding maths to be a pain, is engrossed in superhero gossip which leaves her to be a bit distracted in school. However, she is a good kid and has certain topics she likes to follow like mythology, culture and archaeology. Cassie is lacking a father which leaves her a bit envious of the other girls who do have dads (I’m either going to have Zeus or Lennox as her dad), which has her a bit lonely and yearns to be with her mum more. She is friendly though and makes a good start with Diana though notices there’s something not right with her. Cassie is no fighter but with the bracelets making her stronger she relies on brute force which while helpful in some parts leaves her easy to be beaten up a bit with her almost killed at the end but manages to get the staff to kill Deimos. Hippolyta can sense there’s something to her and offers to train her up which Cassie accepts. Diana asks if this was her way of getting out of school to which Cassie confesses is partly true but also wants to be skilled enough to help people.

Cassie wears a brown jacket with a blue, red and yellow Wonder Woman t-shirt and a skirt and leggings to start with then by the middle of the movie she wears red trousers, black and gold armour to greatly resemble her YJ costume.

Trevor Barnes, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor

In the movies I’ve revised him to be an Interpol agent before he works at the UN. Trevor is a charming man but also dedicated to doing the right thing. Though he’s not as strong as Diana it doesn’t stop him from jumping into the fight with either a gun or a baton. Trevor met Diana while trying to stop drug smugglers using children to smuggle drugs. He was impressed with Diana’s hard work in stopping the smugglers and the timeout she took to help the children. Trevor has feelings for Diana after working with her for a while but can see she’s got a lot of hesitance about it so he lets her take things at her own pace. He’s trusted by her enough to read out a healing spell that cures her of the snake poison. Trevor is a good leader of his agents with him offering great directions and will save an injured friend even if it means he could end up dead. Chiwetel is my choice because he’s a good actor with enough charm that isn’t so forced and would make for a good opposite of Gal.

Trevor is mostly in a black suit but does switch into a tight sweater and trousers when out for a fight.

Dr Cyber, played by Helena Bonham Carter

Helena would just work as her. Not only would she have the beauty of Cylvia before she wears the mask but she’d be so good at playing such a petty villain and giving her enough of a detesting character that you want Diana to defeat her. Cylvia had grown up lusting after one thing: power. A skilled con artist, she saw the technological advancements and studied long at computing and would use those skills to drain banks of their money. Cylvia has also been keeping up with the changes in technology, having stolen certain tech pieces for her crimes. Cylvis believes that power is all that there is to live for, with enough money and influence you can live life to the greatest. Her ambitions attracted Phobos and Deimos who saw her as a worthy ally in their revenge on the Amazons. Cylvia has long felt invincible with how Interpol has struggled to find her and with that confidence she starts to get incredibly bossy and violent. She did not take to losing to Diana that well and wants to get revenge on her, first by killing the Amazons and wants to cut Diana’s face off to stitch it over her own. Cylvia is arrested in the end so she can live with knowing she lost bit a;so leaves it open for a return.

She wore a lilac purple suit and green coat to start with, after her injury she wears a gold and purple mask with her coat and wears gold and purple gauntlets with a chest piece.

Phobos and Deimos

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I don’t have anybody in mind as them, but they’re closely based on how they appeared in Rebirth as charming twins. This goes in line with how Ares was in the first movie where he had the appearance of a gentleman. Like their father, Phobos and Deimos are not as strong as they use to be, only able to cast illusions and conjure some ghastly creatures and force out some people’s fears. With the advancements in transport, the internet, society changes and more guns, Phobos and Deimos would use this to their advantage in finding artefacts that could restore them to their full power and get revenge on Diana by killing the Amazons. The staff they are looking for is an ancient tool that had once been touched by Zeus’s lightning which is what they need to restore their power. Once their powers are restored, Phobos and Deimos look a lot taller and wear Greek armour.

Barbara Ann Minerva

I don’t think I’ll cast Kristen Wig as her, I’d maybe go with a British actress to stay closer to her Rebirth version. Barbara here is a keen archaeologist who is friendly enough but is also a bit bitter at her disability in relying on a walking stick at a young age, in spite of the fact nobody sees her as a burden. She gets quite excited at the new artefacts Diana brings and gets a bit lost in them, but she’s still a good friend who tries to protect Cassie. Barbara makes a good recovery after she was in hospital, with her having been stabbed with a piece of the Urzkartargan plant it starts to slowly morph her into Cheetah, with her set up for another movie.

Would this movie have been perfect? No, I’m sure it wouldn’t have. But I’d have this instead of WW84.

Freddy: Yeah I would.

Teddy: It’s more action packed and you’re bringing in more characters that are tied to Wonder Woman.

Freddy: Yeah, just a shame this is a what if kind of thing.

I know. But at least we can have it on our minds.

There you go everybody, do tell me what you think. Would this have made for a good sequel to the first Wonder Woman? Tell me below.