How Diana Flies: Wonder Woman 1984 Power Explained

Warning: SPOILERS for Wonder Woman 1984

Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) learns how to fly in Wonder Woman 1984, although her ability to soar through the skies is unique to her and different from how someone like Superman achieves flight. In Patty Jenkins’ sequel to her 2017 smash hit Wonder Woman, the Amazonian Princess has to save the world from the machinations of Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and face a newfound friend-turned-foe in the Cheetah (Kristen Wiig).

When she was created by William Moulton Marston in 1941, flight wasn’t one of the comic book Wonder Woman’s superpowers. Instead, she relied on the Invisible Jet, which was a staple of the character for decades, and was also reinvented in Wonder Woman 1984. After Crisis On Infinite Earths in 1986, writer-artist George Perez rebooted Wonder Woman for DC Comics and he further solidified Diana’s roots in Greek mythology. Perhaps Perez’s biggest change to Wonder Woman comics was giving her the power of flight so she could soar through the heavens at will like Superman, and she no longer needed the Invisible Jet, although it eventually returned to DC Comics canon during the publisher’s successive reboots. When Diana fought Ares (David Thewlis) at the end of Wonder Woman, she was able to levitate after she powered up and fully achieved her demigodhood as the daughter of Zeus. Otherwise, Wonder Woman hasn’t been shown flying so much as having the ability to leap incredibly high in the air and, as shown in Batman V Superman, Diana Prince flies commercial when she travels internationally.

Wonder Woman 1984‘s ingenious solution for how Diana learns how to fly emanates from Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who magically returned from death in the sequel, albeit in a different body after Diana used the Dreamstone to wish for his return. The reunited Diana and Steve immediately resumed their romance, but when they realized what Maxwell Lord was up to, they steal a fighter jet to chase Lord to Cairo, Egypt. After they flew through some Fourth of July fireworks en route to Northern Africa, Diana confessed that flying was the one thing she equated most with Steve, who was a World War I pilot and spy, and it was his gift that she most envied. “I’ll never understand it,” Diana confessed. Steve’s explanation was rather Zen: “It’s so easy, really. It’s wind and air and knowing how to ride it, how to catch it. How to join with it.”

But Diana finally understood what Steve meant after she renounced her wish and gave him up so she could regain her superpowers that the Dreamstone had stripped from her. In her anguish over losing Steve again, Diana ran at superspeed and then lashed out with her Lasso of Truth, vaulting into the air. She then used the lasso to catch a passing airliner, which launched her thousands of feet into the sky. It was there that Steve’s Zen mantra about flight echoed in her ears and she finally understood she has the power to “catch air and ride the wind”.

As Diana grew more confident soaring through the skies, she also realized her magic lasso could also catch the air, the clouds, and even lightning, in order to give her acceleration. Later, for Wonder Woman’s climactic showdown with both Cheetah and Maxwell Lord, she donned the golden armor of Asteria (Lynda Carter), which had wings that helped her fly. But even without Asteria’s winged armor, Wonder Woman mastered the art of launching herself into the sky using her lasso to lend her speed and liftoff and then riding the winds to fly.

Although Wonder Woman is a Greek demigoddess whose powers are born from magic, she still can’t defy gravity and fly the way Superman or Shazam (Zachary Levi), another superhero powered by the Greek gods, can. But the way Wonder Woman 1984 gives Diana the magnificent ability to fly fittingly plays into Wonder Woman’s singular powers and iconography. It’s also a lovely final gift from Steve Trevor that lets him be with her in spirit every time Wonder Woman soars through the skies.

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