With the arrival of DC Fandome, the huge WB digital fan convention, comes an onslaught of news, trailers, exclusives, and reveals, starting with a new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984. There’s plenty to pick apart here with big Cheetah moments and some teases of the maniacal Maxwell Lord, but the biggest shock is the confirmation that Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) has somehow survived being shot down by Doctor Poison’s henchmen in 1954 at the climax of the first Wonder Woman movie, and even stranger the fact that he too apparently hasn’t aged.
It will likely have some fans breathing a sigh of relief, as many wondered if Patty Jenkins would follow in the footsteps of the classic Wonder Woman TV show, in which, alongside the time jump, Diana became involved with Steve Trevor’s ancestor. It would have been a strange and bold move for the movie, but this choice makes far more sense… until you start to think about how he’s still alive. Luckily, there are decades of comic books to pore over to try make sense of what’s going on here. We have a few comic-based theories to help you parse just how Steve Trevor survived…
Theory #1: Aphrodite Resurrects Steve
In the new trailer, we hear her lover say, “Diana look at you, it’s like not one day has passed.” So we know that it’s really him, the same good ol’ Steve. There’s also plenty of funny fish-out-of-water moments that highlight that he has likely not been living in the modern world for long. In the comics, Steve has a long history of dying and being resurrected—like most superhero characters—that began in the late ’60s when he was killed off after years of trying to trick Diana into marrying him. That was not the end of Steve, who was brought back to life by the goddess Aphrodite, which ultimately could happen here.
Wonder Woman established the concept of the Gods and Goddesses as real and key to the lore of Themyscira and the Amazons who live there. If Aphrodite believed that Steve Trevor was key to the battles to come, there is a fair chance that she may have played a part in saving him. Something that is immediately different from the comics here, however, is the fact that Steve is the same old blonde hunk that he was before, whereas in the classic DC source material he comes back as the very different brown-haired hunk known as Steve Howard (lol).
Theory #2: Doppelganger Steve
If they don’t go the admittedly high-concept Goddesses route, then there is another unlikely route that would have to be over-explained and could play into a big twist: During the ’80s, comic book Steve was replaced by a doppelganger from an alternate universe. Even though this Steve wasn’t the original man Diana fell for, the pair did embark on a long and boring romance, so this isn’t super out of the realm of possibility. Maybe this Steve is from another space in the Multiverse, we know that DC is leaning into that concept heavily after Fandome and all of their recent reveals, so it’s not so crazy to imagine. But the big question would be: Why is this Steve also from WWI and is he aware of being a different Steve or that he’s in love with a different Diana at all? That would introduce an interesting romantic subplot and conflict that has been missing from the movies.
Theory #3: The Movie Doesn’t Draw From the Comics
There is always the chance that the movie may make up its own way to explain his arrival. We know that DC and Marvel love to borrow from each other so perhaps Steve got frozen in time (or ice) like a certain other famous Steve? There’s also the possibility that this isn’t Steve at all and is some kind of evil scheme by Maxwell Lord to distract and destroy Diana. We know he can apparently make dreams come true and what would Diana want more than the return of the man that she loves and misses so much? This would be a dark and dramatic turn for the story and would give Diana a potential for true rage when she finds out the real truth.
We’ll have to wait until it’s safe to go into theaters to find out, but until then we’ll be wondering just what secrets Wonder Woman 1984‘s Steve Trevor has up his sleeve.