La Ron S. Readus
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WW84: How to Keep Kristin Wiig's Cheetah in the DCEU (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-12-30 21:00:03 +0000 UTCFun Fact: This was ACTUALLY supposed to be the only video I made about Wonder Woman 1984. Had the meat of the script written out and everything!
Then, as I was working on its opening, I accidentally made the video comparing and contrasting Cheetah to Catwoman and realized that I had A LOT to say about Kristen Wiig’s Cheetah.
So I hope you’re ready for more of it!
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Readers, I know a lot of you won’t find this a surprise. But despite me trading in my small-scale film reviews in favor of analysis and critique videos over the course of the year, I genuinely enjoyed Wonder Woman 1984.
/Yes, the first fight in the mall was a bit rough and I can DEFINITELY critique on how it was edited till the cows come home. But the fights and action sequences that followed definitely make up for it, and the performances as well/
I’m just gonna be honest; I have NEVER gained an appreciation for Maxwell Lord in the comics until I saw Pedro Pascal’s depiction of him
But one thing I was IMMENSELY entertained by -- as I’ve stated in my previous video -- was Kristen Wiig’s portrayal of Barbara Minerva, and how the plot of 1984 handled her transformation into the villain Cheetah.
Now consider this your spoiler warning, Readers. Due to the topic of this video, there is absolutely no way for me to discuss Cheetah’s future in the DCEU without talking about key plot points and devices that are used throughout this movie.
So if you haven’t seen the movie yet and you care about spoilers, I’d suggest you get someone’s HBO Max login and watch it yourself before watching the rest of this.
Yes, I know it was released simultaneously on HBO Max AND in theaters. But there’s still a pandemic happening, and all the rich white COVID deniers that think we only need a collective $1800 for the entire year to get our lives back in order haven’t gotten their flu shots yet. So forgive me if I’m NOT gonna suggest seeing it in theaters anytime soon.
With that being said, considering that she’s one of Wonder Woman’s most popular villains, I really did appreciate that they kept the relationship between Barbara and Diana intact like they did in the comics in order to drive home the tragedy of their falling out.
/Making the change in Barbara from already being somewhat pompous that befriended Diana to someone who didn’t really have that much confidence to begin with and still ended up pinging on Diana’s radar made the transition to them becoming adversaries all the more impactful in my opinion/
Especially since the change in her origin isn’t regarding stumbling upon an artifact related to Urkartaga the Cheetah Goddess this time around, but instead the McGuffin of the movie the Dreamstone, created by Dolos, the Greek god of trickery and guile
Or as his DC Comics counterpart is known as, the Duke of Deception.
According to the movie, the Dreamstone grants the wish of anyone touching the stone, but comes at the cost of something precious to them.
/And before Maxwell Lord stole the stone and wished to BECOME the stone, Barbara playfully made a wish that resulted in her gaining super speed, strength, agility, reflexes and other things that I’ll focus on later in the video. But in order for her wish to be granted, the Dreamstone took away her sense of selflessness and her capability of empathy over time./
As I stated in my video regarding the parallels between Cheetah and Catwoman, using her newly gained selfishness regarding her first tier of abilities she gained in the movie and looking at Diana as someone who doesn’t want her to have that power is a pretty decent way of still establishing the dynamic that Wonder Woman and Cheetah have in the comics.
Not only is she still jealous of what Diana has, but now she’s capable of proving that she’s better than her in every way.
/Meanwhile, Diana is constantly trying to get her to see that she sacrificed what truly made her special for the sake of acquiring what Barbara only sees on the surface./
And while I had no doubt that Kristen Wiig would be able to pull it off, I was definitely pleased with her performance regarding the dynamic the movie was going for.
/Even when she made the transition to Cheetah proper./
Which is why it sucks that because this movie is set in 1984, any future stories in the DCEU involving Wonder Woman and Cheetah would have to stay relatively close to that timeframe if we wanna see Kristen Wiig portray the character again. Especially since there’s a 30+ year gap between 1984 and Justice League
But what if I told you, that thanks to the rules that were set up in Wonder Woman 1984 regarding the Dreamstone, that I found a way to easily bring Kristen Wiig’s version of Cheetah into the modern-day post Justice League era of the DCEU?
Well, I did. And it’s all thanks to the wishes that Barbara made in order to become Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984.
That’s right, I said WISHES. Because Barbara didn’t make just one wish. She made TWO.
/The one she made to become an apex predator and turn into Cheetah proper was her SECOND wish; the one that was made after Maxwell Lord acquired the powers of the Dreamstone and when he began his broadcast around the world./
And that was only possible because Maxwell’s wish was to become the Dreamstone, which -- because of that -- gave Barbara the chance for a second wish through Maxwell Lord, the new Dreamstone. The DreamLORD, if you will.
Think of it as an alternate version of...signing up for a free trial of something online that requires you to create a profile with an email address, but then you use ANOTHER email address to create ANOTHER profile to get ANOTHER free trial.
You acquire something from one source. That source then transforms into something else. You still have everything you acquired from the first version of the source now that said source is something new, but now that it IS something new, you have another opportunity to acquire something ELSE. THAT’S what Barbara did; she gamed the system by taking a DreamSTONE wish, then followed it up with a DreamLORD wish.
/So when Maxwell Lord renounced his wish to be the DreamLord, everyone who hadn’t already renounced their DreamLord wish when they saw Diana’s invasion of his broadcast had it taken away from them immediately. That’s why Barbara reverted back to her human form at the end of the movie, despite refusing to renounce her Dreamlord wish/
Now we’d definitely be singing a different tune if Barbara renounced BOTH of her Dreamlord and her DreamSTONE wishes before the final confrontation with Diana and Maxwell.
/After all, Diana’s wish was a DreamSTONE wish and she was able to easily renounce it WELL after Maxwell became the Dreamlord; the movie laid out those rules perfectly clear./
But she ALSO never renounced her DreamSTONE wish, either. And if we follow the rules of wish renouncing according to what Diana and Barbara discovered about Dolos’s little trinket -- that being the wishes can only be undone by either renouncement or destroying the stone completely...
/The Dreamstone would return to its original form the moment Maxwell Lord renounced his wish to BE the Dreamstone. And only the wishes that were made from the DreamLORD would be the ones that were immediately cancelled by Lord’s renouncement./
So because she was forced to give up her Cheetah wish thanks to Lord’s renouncement due to her refusal to renounce ANY of her wishes, only her DreamSTONE wish stayed intact.
/And while her Dreamlord wish was to be Cheetah, her DreamSTONE wish was to be/
(Just like Diana. Stong, fast, etc...)
And IMMORTAL. Because in the DCEU, Diana is the daughter of Zeus; a demigoddess.
/At the cost of her empathy and selflessness, Barbara is now just as strong, fast, invulnerable, and AGELESS as she is. And can easily transition to the 21st Century to be a foe for both Wonder Woman and the Justice League./
And if she TRULY missed her Cheetah visage, all they would have to do is have Barbara interact with one of the various forms of her origin that involve Urkartaga, the Cheetah Goddess, in order to get it back.
Or -- and just hear me out here -- have her regain her Cheetah visage as a reward for working with who I think should be the villain of the third Wonder Woman movie, Circe. Played by Charlize Theron. BECAUSE SHE SHOULD BE PLAYED BY CHARLIZE THERON.
I mean, Charlize is basically Patty Jenkins’ Johnny Depp; she should be in a Wonder Woman movie!
And yes. If we go by how I explained Barbara’s wishes worked, that does in fact mean her demigoddess abilities were NOT cancelled out when she gained her Cheetah abilities. They, in fact -- to use a gamer term right quick -- stacked with each other.
And the proof we have of that is Barbara and Diana’s final fight.
/Because if her Dreamlord wish of becoming like an apex predator cancelled out her Dreamstone wish to become just like Diana, not only would she have been unable to put a dent in Asteria’s armor, let alone sever off bits of its wings which not even the SPARTANS were able to do from what we’ve seen, but she wouldn’t have survived the severe electrocution she suffered underwater, that only left Diana unfazed by it BECAUSE she was wearing Asteria’s armor./
So yeah; it is DEFINITELY possible for Kristen Wiig’s version of Barbara to be brought to a modern post 2020 setting and still be a threat to both Diana and the League in the DCEU.
And honestly, after seeing her performance in Wonder Woman 1984, she deserves it. And so do I.
But, I digress, Readers; YOUR homework assignment for the day!
Write in the comment section below how YOU thought Cheetah was handled in Wonder Woman 1984 if you’ve seen it.
Or, if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, what YOU would do to explain Kristen Wiig’s version of Barbara in modern-day installments of the DCEU if you’re not a fan of her connection to the Dreamstone.
Whichever one you decide to answer, I’d LOVE to know your thoughts!
