WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now in theaters and on HBO Max.

Some fans have been disappointed by Wonder Woman 1984, pointing to the film's many glaring plot holes as a let-down after years of anticipation. Though problematic in their own right, these errors are even more notable because the movie creates major continuity issues in the DC Extended Universe, which the Wonder Woman series is part of. Yet, it's not the events of the film's finale that are its most egregious offense, but the rest of the plot that is truly hard to reconcile within the DCEU timeline.

In the film, Wonder Woman triumphs in her climactic confrontation with Maxwell Lord by using the Lasso of Truth to speak directly to the citizens of the world, urging them to do the right thing and renounce their Dreamstone wishes. On the surface, this seems like it would conflict with the anonymity Diana is shown to have at the beginning of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice -- after all, every human alive in 1984 presumably heard her speech. However, it's within reason to assume that the world saw nothing more than a golden glow and heard a disembodied voice, which would have protected her identity for at least a few more decades.

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If this was the film's only possible misstep it would have been all well and good, yet it is far from it. Unlike her speech in the finale, Wonder Woman's other, physical appearances all over the world lack any realistic in-universe explanations for staying below the radar.

Wonder Woman 1984 depicts Diana living in Washington D.C., the location of the United States' federal government and, therefore, one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the country. She presumably operates fairly regularly in costume, given that she is shown responding to a seemingly run-of-the-mill mall heist and since she has already developed a method to disable surrounding CCTV cameras. She gestures hush to one girl who she saves, but there were many more bystanders that clearly saw her take down the thieves.

Later, she intercepts an armed convoy in Egypt, stopping most of the cars and rescuing a few bystanders. A foreign country like Egypt would undoubtedly keep some kind of record of a foreign national operating within its territory. Furthermore, right after she renounces her wish and lets go of Steve Trevor, Diana walks down a busy street filled with people before using her Lasso to fly. It's established that everyone keeps their memory of the events, and even in the ongoing chaos, at least a few individuals must have seen a woman taking off into the stratosphere.

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Wonder Woman 1984

Yet these examples are still not as glaring as her trip to the White House to stop Lord where she fights a number of government agents and Barbara Minerva in full view of several unmistakable witnesses. Even if all the other public incidents in the film could somehow be dismissed as minor events that could have been overlooked, a fight in the workplace of the President would undoubtedly be looked into and noted by the government's intelligence and security services.

Granted, in the 1980s, 24-hour news networks and cellphones with cameras did not exist, but other forms of evidence, such as eyewitness accounts and grainy CCTV footage must have been recorded somewhere. It's also more likely than not that Diana was active at some point before and after the events of Wonder Woman 1984, expanding the number of possible sightings.

All this makes Batman's surprise at discovering Wonder Woman during the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice somewhat puzzling. For a detective with the skill and resources of Bruce Wayne, it seems incredibly unrealistic that he would not have at least heard of a costumed super-heroine appearing every now and then.

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To be fair, Gal Gadot has addressed at least some of the lapses in continuity, admitting that Diana's role in world events was purposefully re-written to better fit her character. Still, if Gadot's position is official, it seems to be at least somewhat in opposition to the stance of filmmakers, who included shots and lines of dialogue intended to explain how Diana kept herself hidden. For example, after she stops the mall robbery, a few lines of newscaster dialogue suggest witnesses were unable to identify the hero, even though Wonder Woman made no effort to conceal herself.

The continuity of the DCEU has long been a pain point for the franchise, so much so that the upcoming film The Flash is intended to reset it completely. Wonder Woman 1984's haphazard approach to the timeline certainly does little to suggest filmmakers are any closer to fixing it in its current state. Perhaps a reboot would be in the DCEU's best interest, as the plot holes continue to grow by the movie.

Directed by Patty Jenkins, from a script she wrote with Geoff Johns and David Callaham, Wonder Woman 1984 stars Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Natasha Rothwell. The film is playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

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