Every Wish Made In Wonder Woman 1984

HBO Max’s Christmas Day release Wonder Woman 1984 was on plenty of DC fans’ wish lists, but the film granted every wish made in more ways than one. The film’s success has bolstered faith in theaters while providing the Wonder Woman franchise momentum for future sequels. Industry context aside, the film’s relationship to wish-granting is baked into its very DNA, as the story centers around the Dreamstone.

In 1984, Diana encounters a mysterious relic which grants her wish to have her lost love Steve Trevor returned to her. But when the aspirational oil tycoon and megalomaniac Max Lord gets ahold of the power of the Dreamstone, things take a turn for the disastrous. Through her powers of determination and humanity, Diana must overcome Lord’s greed and set right a world reeling from having gotten everything it ever wanted.

The Dreamstone itself possesses unique qualities. Like the titular talisman of the famous 1902 short story, “The Money’s Paw,” it grants its wielder’s wish, but at a steep cost. The result is a “be careful what you wish for” high concept narrative from which Wonder Woman 1984 derives its central plot device. The Dreamstone grants the user’s wish – and one wish alone – but takes something valuable in exchange. Let’s see what each person wished for, and what the consequences of those wishes were.

Diana/Wonder Woman

Prior to Wonder Woman 1984, Diana appears to have spent her days saving lives while pining for Steve Trevor, who sacrificed himself in the climax of the first movie. Naturally, she knows exactly what she would wish for: to have Steve back with her. Lo and behold, at the Smithsonian Gala, her wish comes true! But later we discover that her wish has cost her the powers which become so desperately needed that she ultimately renounces her wish.

Barbara Minerva

After being saved by Diana from a mugger on her walk home, Barbra wishes on the stone to be like Diana; never again would she be defenseless, clumsy, or go unnoticed by her peers. She unwittingly gains the powers of an Amazon and ultimately becomes the secondary antagonist, Cheetah, having lost her compassion and kindness in favor of her new ruthless abilities.

Maxwell Lord

Most intriguing and driving of the plot is Max Lord’s wish. Lord, a failing father and businessman, seeks out the Dreamstone after having purchased it on the black market before that deal went bust thanks to Diana. Understanding its mystic capabilities, he wishes to become the Dreamstone himself, allowing him to grant wishes and dictate their terms of exchange. All wishes following Max’s go directly through him, and in granting them, he selects what will be given up in exchange.

Simon Stagg

Baited into wishing for customer-owned startup oil company Black Gold’s success by Maxwell Lord, this shareholder inadvertently jumpstarts Lord’s ascent to power while simultaneously bringing about his own downfall. Max takes full control of Black Gold in exchange for the wish and magically removes Stagg from his path by way of a tax fraud arrest.

Raquel

After Black Gold strikes it rich, this overwhelmed secretary wishes for more help, and Lord takes her by the shoulders and intensely asks her to wish again. Just as soon as she does, employees flood into the building and Black Gold becomes a bustling, prosperous operation.

Emir Said Bin Abydos

This rival oil baron from Egypt poses a threat to Lord’s control of the world’s oil reserves, so he tricks Bin Abydos into making a wish in order to take his return cost. His highness wishes for all of his “ancestral realm” to be returned to his family dynasty and for the “heathens” to be kept out. This wish takes the form of a wall suddenly erected around his land, cutting off their water supply. When he reveals to Lord he’s already sold his oil to the Saudis, Lord instead takes Bin Abydos’s royal security detail and moves on, leaving the oil baron defenseless.

Alistair

After a series of meetings in which Maxwell Lord’s powers grant wishes to Lai Zhong (wish unknown), David Al-Fahmi (wish unknown), and the televangelist who stole his TV slot (sex tape destroyed), taking power, oil, and the preacher’s congregation (and his time slot back) in exchange, he meets with his son, Alistair. In an unfortunate turn of events, Alistair spends his wish on his father’s greatness, using up the wish Lord had hoped to save for his son’s future.

President Reagan

After enlisting an underling to blow their wish on wishing Lord could get an audience with the President (though Lord first ent through one whose wish had already been spent on a Ferrari), Lord gets his meeting and asks the most powerful man in the world what he wants. Reagan responds by asking what is there to wish for but more: More nukes, more than the Soviets, and positioned closer to them. In exchange, Lord takes the power of his office and Reagan’s complete fidelity, along with freedom from interference by the U.S. government. At this point, Lord’s health is failing, being the Dreamstone himself taking a great toll. Maxwell Lord’s villainous plan needs to kick into action fast.

The World’s Wishes

Lord’s plan to televise his power and grant every person’s wish on Earth is a daunting one to pull off, so he dupes a NORAD Colonel into wishing for the plan’s success ahead of broadcasting. Once on the air, he entreats the citizens of the world to wish for whatever they want, taking in exchange enough of their life force to sustain his health. The wishes come in droves: a waitress at a Chinese restaurant wishes to be famous; an English woman wishes for the Irish to be deported to their native country, while the patron at whom she screams this wishes she would drop dead; someone wishes for a million dollars, someone else wishes for their country to have their own missiles. Another wish to become king, another for one’s terrorist cell to have nukes, and on. The wishes throw the world into chaos and disarray. Ultimately, Diana must defeat Maxwell Lord by convincing him and the world to renounce their wishes in order to restore peace and normalcy.

Roger

But all this began with the very first wish. Not Diana’s, but Roger’s. Diana and Barbara’s co-worker jokingly wishes for a coffee as they first examine the stone, when suddenly, another co-worker happens to have an extra cup on hand. It’s unclear what Roger got insofar as comeuppance, but it’s safe to say that with Wonder Woman 1984‘s wild finish, he renounced his coffee along with everyone else in a desperate effort to restore a better world. Maybe next time, Roger will be more careful with what he wishes for.

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