WARNING: The following article contains discussion of sexual assault and major spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now in theaters and on HBO Max.

Wonder Woman 1984 tries to be a lighthearted Silver Age-esque romp, but it somehow contains one of the darkest and most twisted storylines in the entire DC Extended Universe... and it doesn't seem to realize it. As far as the movie seems concerned, Steve Trevor's magical return is primarily a vehicle for fun romantic montages followed by a lesson in learning to accept loss. The means by which Steve Trevor returns, however, raise a whole bunch of consent issues the film never goes so far as to show any real concern about.

When Diana wishes for Steve's return, it comes about through his soul possessing some random guy at a party. Only Diana sees this random guy as Steve; his physical appearance has not actually changed. As for what happened to said random guy's consciousness while Steve's possessing him, we don't know. Is he dead now? Is he sharing a brain with Steve in a "Sunken Place" scenario? No answers are given.

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So Steve is controlling some stranger's body, and Diana is hugging, kissing and heavily implied to be having sex with this stranger's body without the stranger's consent. Does this make Wonder Woman a rapist? While the fantasy nature of this scenario creates some ambiguity as to how viewers may choose to process or describe this, it's undeniably creepy, and the movie doesn't seem to realize this creepiness.

The possession aspect is merely noted as "awkward" and then ignored for the rest of Wonder Woman 1984. What makes it all even worse is the ending of the film. After Steve's gone and everything has returned to normal, Diana runs into the man Steve was possessing and flirts with him. This is supposed to symbolize her learning a lesson in learning to love others following Steve's death, but it also shows she hasn't learned a single lesson about respecting people's bodily autonomy.

If Wonder Woman 1984 was going to go this darker route, it should have actually engaged with the twistedness of it all. If the point of the Dreamstone plot is a "monkey's paw" story, then the possession should have been treated as the dark side of Diana's wish. It's not treated as such; instead, the cost of the wish is shown to be Diana's powers weakening, something thematically disconnected from the big issue the movie is intent on ignoring.

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If the filmmakers weren't wishing to delve into the gray areas of consent with the depth and seriousness these issues deserve, they should have come up with a completely different method for Steve's resurrection. There's no reason he had to take over someone else's body. He could have just magically apparated in out of nowhere. Maybe he fell through a wormhole in the past and showed up in 1984. If they wanted the gag of Steve in a different body, why not do a reincarnation/past life memories awakening story? That would be silly, but Wonder Woman 1984 is already embracing silliness, so that could have been an entertaining and much less problematic twist.

Wonder Woman has long been a feminist icon. She was created by William Moulton Marston for the sake of spreading feminist messages to young readers, and the 2017 movie was widely celebrated for being the first high-quality big-budget female superhero blockbusters. It's a shame, then, that Wonder Woman 1984 completely fails in regards to one of the basic principles of feminism: consent.

Directed and co-written by Patty Jenkins, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film is currently in theaters and on HBO Max.

If you are a U.S.-based victim of sexual assault or misconduct in need of help, contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. If you are based outside the U.S., click here for a list of international sexual assault resources.

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