Wonder Woman 2: How Steve Trevor Returned to Life in the Comic Books

Although we had heard rumors of Chris Pine's return in Wonder Woman 1984, the sequel to Patty Jenkin's 2016 smash it Wonder Woman, they were hard to believe. After all, Steve Trevor had made the ultimate sacrifice at the end of the film, destroying an airplane filled with toxic bombs in an explosion that killed him in the process. His death was appropriately heart-wrenching, and it would propel Diana Prince on a journey filled with heart and hope to do right by mankind, whether from the shadows or the light of day.

However, now, Chris Pine's return to the Wonder Woman franchise is no longer rumor: earlier today, Patty Jenkins released an official image from the shoot of the sequel, featuring Pine's Steve Trevor in the middle of what looks to be a shopping mall circa 1984. Trevor's wearing the appropriately baggy clothes and running shoes, and he appears to bear a lost expression on his face. Clearly Steve hasn't aged a day, which means that he wasn't secretly alive all this time. His death was in 1918 after all, which would age him well over 90 years old. No, something else is at work here, which makes us believe Steve Trevor was only recently brought back to life in some form or another. But how?

Steve Trevor was created by William Moulton Marston and H.G. Peter in 1941, and has been part of Wonder Woman's extended cast ever since. But like many characters who have been around for over three-quarters of a century, Steve has died -- quite a few times, in fact -- and has also been brought back to life. Here are all the ways Steve Trevor was returned to life in the source material. And who knows? Perhaps they hold a clue as to how Chris Pine will return to the DC Extended Universe fold.

Steve Howard/Eros

In 1968, Steve Trevor suffered a death at the hands of Doctor Cyber. For many years, the character was gone, but he would eventually return to life in the form of Steve Howard. Steve Howard looked exactly like Steve Trevor did, with the main difference being the color of his hair -- where Trevor was blond, Howard's hair was brown. As we would come to learn, this new version of the character was brought back to life by Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

However, Steve Howard was something else entirely: in truth, he was actually Eros, the Greek god of attraction. Eros' spirit was inside Steve's real body, and he even possessed his memories, which led him to believe that he was actually a man and not a god. Later, this version of the character would also come to die, and Eros would be released from the body.

Considering that Wonder Woman, both in the movie and in the comics, is closely tied with all manner of Greek mythology, this is a return that isn't too far fetched. We have already seen the great power of Ares in Wonder Woman, so who's to say that Aphrodite and Eros aren't alive out there somewhere, with good or bad intentions. It would sure make for quite a few twists. If anything, whether the sequel actually uses this version of Trevor's resurrection or not, don't be surprised to see the character try on a new name for this new time period. If you hear Steve Howard, then you'll know it's meant as an Easter egg.

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Steven Trevor

After the death of Steve Howard, yet another Steve Trevor would arrive in the comic books. This time however, there was no magic at play, and no deities using their great power. No, this "resurrection" was pure DC Comics: Steven Trevor was introduced to the Wonder Woman title, an alternate version of Steve Trevor who hailed from Earth-270. Steven was a doppelganger from an alternate universe, who had crash-landed on Earth-One after an undisclosed cosmic event.

In actuality, Aphrodite was once again behind this. Thanks to the Mists of Nepenthe, she had altered the memories of everyone in the world into believing that this was the real Steve Trevor who had never actually died, and not one who originated from a parallel Earth. Finally, when Diana Prince would discover of the Greek goddess' role in these events, when the truth would finally be revealed, Aphrodite would fuse the memories of the first, real and deceased Steve Trevor with the body of Steven Trevor, creating one whole version of the character.

This might sound needlessly complicated, but the Justice League film did play around with the idea of other worlds and universes. Wonder Woman 1984 could easily advance the idea of the DC Multiverse by introducing a Steve Trevor from an alternate reality.

Captain Wonder

Captain Wonder may not have surfaced during a time when Steve Trevor was dead, but he still counts as an alternate form of the character with a connection to the spirit world. The Wonder Woman supervillain Doctor Psycho once found that he could harness ectoplasm, bending it to his will. Using Steve Trevor, Psycho created a whole new version of Steve Trevor, one which he could inhabit. This body had superpowers to match Wonder Woman's. Taking on a costume and the name Captain Wonder, this new, evil version of Steve Trevor battled Diana Prince on multiple occasions.

While Steve Trevor wasn't dead in this occasion, the fact that Doctor Psycho used a connection to the spirit world is all that could be needed for Wonder Woman 1984 to "bring back" Steve Trevor. With mysterious powers at play, seeing Wonder Woman have no choice but to battle a super-powered version of the man she loved and lost could be something both exciting and devastating to see unfold.

Reincarnated gods, doppelgangers or twisted creations -- Steve Trevor has been brought back in many interesting ways. Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman sequel could easily borrow from anyone of them... but that doesn't mean she will. For all we know, she has something wholly original planned for Chris Pine's character. The only thing we do know is that, no matter how he comes back, Steve Trevor's return will lead to a whole lot of interesting drama for Gal Gadot's Diana Prince.

Directed by Jenkins and starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine and Kristen Wiig, Wonder Woman 1984 is slated to hit theaters on Nov. 1, 2019.