WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
As is often the case in comic book movies, a powerful object rests at the center of the story. It could be a glowing cube or a jaunty golden glove, but in Wonder Woman 1984, that magical object is the Dreamstone, and it's the focus of Max Lord's master plan. While it appears to have been destroyed in the final moments of the movie, there's a good chance that this dangerous item is still in play thanks to its creator.
In the DC Extended Universe, the Dreamstone was created by Dechalafrea Ero, also known as the God of Treachery and Mischief. While little is discussed about him in the movie, Ero is described as immortal and devastatingly powerful. He is not directly in the film, but he leaves a devastating impact, imbuing the Dreamstone with the power of his own deceit and lies. It's essentially designed to destroy civilizations and corrupt humans.
This trap takes the form of wishes, where people ask the stone for their wildest desires, but every wish comes at a steep price. For instance, Diana wishes to resurrect Steve Trevor, but her powers start to weaken. Her subsequent research tells her all someone has to do is recant the wish, and everything goes back to the way it was. No one has recanted their wish before, so the wishes and their consequences snowball, eventually causing civilizations to fall apart. The same thing almost happens in 1984 thanks to Lord's grand plan. His wish is to become the Dreamstone, but Wonder Woman convinces him to take the wish back, repairing the damage he has done.
When Max recants his wish, he loses the Dreamstone's abilities, and in theory, he should be separated from the stone itself. While Lord is no longer one with the stone, it's unclear what happened to the Dreamstone, and that's something that needs to be resolved given how powerful the object is.
One possibility is that the Dreamstone returned to its original state. The last time it appeared as a separate object in the movie was in Lord's office before he made his wish. After his wish, it disintegrated as its power transferred to Lord. Once Lord recanted his wish, it could have reappeared in his office as a stone, but there is another option, and it's far more frightening than Wonder Woman might want to consider.
There is a possibility that the power contained in the Dreamstone has been unleashed on the world without any sort of a container or control. That could mean that Dechalafrea Ero might also be loose in the DCEU, something that could impact future Wonder Woman movies, as well as other DC films. Wonder Woman has already seen gods enter the DCEU, as seen in her origin film, so it could only be a matter of time before more gods, like Ero, start popping up.
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.