It’s not the highest grossing film of 2017 — though it will almost certainly pass “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” very soon to nab the silver — but “Wonder Woman” is still the year’s big cinematic success story. It overcame the odds, beating back any notion that a female-driven superhero movie would sell as well as one revolving around dudes. A sequel was announced even before it bowed, though its box office winnings have ensured that DC is putting the pedal to the metal, quickly throwing together details about what “Wonder Woman 2” will be like.
So here’s what we know now (which isn’t much). For one thing, Gal Gadot is returning, which was a no-brainer. More surprising is that it won’t jump right to the present day, having her fight alongside members of the Justice League. It will still be a solo outing, taking place (tentatively) during the Cold War, around the 1980s, when relations between America and the Soviet Union were prickly. That means there’s no actual war — just lots of spying and snooping and accusations and Reagan talking smack about Gorbachev and vice versa. Instead of Diana Prince running through trenches and straight into No Man’s Land, she may simply be ’80s-era James Bond, only in duds reserved for a Bond girl.
This next bit is a bit tricky: Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor will be back as well, though we’re not sure how. For one thing, he died — or seemed to, in one of those feats of editing they used to do in old movie serials, where our hero seems doomed at an episode’s end only to return looking a little dusty but generally fine in the next one. He’ll also be how old? The “Wonder Woman” film was set around 100 years ago, and if Steve was supposed to be as old as Pine is (i.e., 36), he’d be older than Old Dustin Hoffman is in the bookend section of 1970’s “Little Big Man.” Maybe we’ll find out he jumped out of that plane and into an Arctic glacier a la the end of “Captain America: The First Avenger”?
Director Patty Jenkins will return, too, which is a relief. It’s clear watching “Wonder Woman” that whoever’s in charge really gets WW, and isn’t just giving us an anonymous superhero movie. The second “Wonder Woman” movie will arrive in theaters whenever.
