Diana Prince will return to theaters in August with Wonder Woman 1984, which pits the Amazon Princess against Maxwell Lord and the Cheetah. But months before the film's premiere, director Patty Jenkins has already confirmed Wonder Woman 3 is in the works, and that she already knows what the story will be.
For the time being, fans can only guess where the filmmaker plans on taking Diana next. But there is one comic book story from which the movie should take its cue: the DC Black Label series Wonder Woman: Dead Earth.
Written and illustrated by Daniel Warren Johnson, Wonder Woman: Dead Earth is a limited prestige format series released under DC's Black Label banner. While the comic book has yet to conclude, its basic setting is all one needs to know. After being kept unconscious for hundreds of years, Diana awakens in the far future to discover the world fell long ago to nuclear war. The cities have been destroyed, the Earth is but a barren wasteland and most of humanity has been killed.
However, there are still a few survivors, and Wonder Woman joins the group, quickly becoming a leader of sorts. The book has evil, opportunistic men, deformed monsters and a return to the island of Themyscira. Plus, throughout all of this, Diana has to continue to shine as the beacon of love and hope fans know her to be. It's a struggle for her, given the state of the world, and it's what gives the story much of its weight.
While Wonder Woman 3 wouldn't have to follow the exact beats of Dead Earth, it would do well to adapt its dystopian setting. After all, in the DCEU, fans have already seen Diana Prince in the past, both in the era of World War I and soon in the year 1984. Going to the future next would allow the film to explore Diana in a challenging setting than she's been in before. Her story started in the past, and continued in the present, so taking the character to the future would be inspired, and could serve as a logical end to her story.
What's more, there are multiple benefits to have Wonder Woman 3 take place years in the future. For one thing, this frees the movie from most of the continuity of the DCEU. There wouldn't be any need for the film to address the whereabouts of Batman, Superman and the rest of the Justice League or any such character because they would be long dead. On top of that, it would also be interesting to see how Diana reacts to the loss of her friends and teammates, just as she adopts the responsibility of being humanity's only superhero -- something she already was back when she first revealed herself during World War I.
A dystopian setting would also mean that Wonder Woman 3 would stand apart from other films in the genre. After all, there aren't any dystopian superhero films. Of course, an argument could be made for Avengers: Endgame, but the Marvel film examined things more on a thematic level than anything. Finding the world completely broken and beyond repair would, therefore, be a first for superhero films.
Wonder Woman 1984 jumped forward nearly 70 years after the events of the first film to examine Wonder Woman in a different era. And since fans have already seen how the Amazon Princess fares in the present, perhaps the best direction for her third solo film is to move the setting another 70 years in the future. This would be the perfect opportunity for the DCEU to do something Marvel hasn't done and set a precedent for what a dystopian superhero film could be.
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. Wonder Woman: Dead Earth #1-2 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer and Rus Wooton is available now from DC.