Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins shared her reasoning behind including both Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah and Maxwell Lord as villains in the upcoming film.

"It turned out that the story was the thing that gave birth to the need for both," Jenkins told Total Film. "It wasn't that I thought I needed both. Cheetah was the villain that we were focused on having in this movie, but then Max Lord, throughout the history of Wonder Woman comics -- he serves a very mechanical purpose, often."

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In Wonder Woman 1984, Ann Minerva/Cheetah is portrayed by Kristen Wiig, who recently spoke about playing two different characters. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal plays Maxwell Lord, who will appear in the film as a suave businessman. Both Cheetah and Maxwell Lord are significant characters in DC Comics' Wonder Woman mythos, with the former often being considered the hero's arch-nemesis.

Wonder Woman 1984 will serve as the follow-up to 2017's Wonder Woman, which was also directed by Jenkins. The film rejoins Gal Gadot's Diana Prince in the 1980s -- several decades after the first film -- at which point she experiences the mysterious return of Steve Trevor and is pitted against Maxwell Lord and Cheetah.

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Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film arrives in theaters Aug 14.

(via Games Radar)