Wonder Woman 1984: 10 Things Only Comic Fans Know About The Dreamstone

Most modern DC and Marvel superhero movies look to major comic book events or storylines for their inspiration, even if they make significant changes. Wonder Woman 1984 was unusual in that it took as its source material a very obscure MacGuffin from the comics: the Dreamstone.

The mystical object may have come out of left field for movie fans, but it does have a significant history in the comics, even if it’s not widely known. Many modern and classic Wonder Woman comic books could inspire the next movie, but few are likely to be as unusual as the Dreamstone, which is actually more strongly linked to Dream of The Endless.

10 The Materioptikon

The Dreamstone first appears in 1963, in Justice League Of America #19, written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Mike Sekowsky. In its original incarnation, it’s known as The Materioptikon, a powerful device that allowed the supervillain Doctor Destiny to alter reality by harnessing the power of dreams.

The Materioptikon was initially only intended for petty crimes, as Doctor Destiny’s ambitions were modest, like many Silver Age villains with extraordinary intellect and powers. But in time, the device would become one of the most powerful objects in the entire DC Comics universe.

9 Reality Altering Powers

The most frightening thing about the Dreamstone in the comics is that it was completely without control. The object harnessed the power of Doctor Destiny’s dreams even while he was sleeping, altering reality on a scale that might feel familiar to fans of House Of M, a comic that inspired WandaVision.

The Justice League was forced to get more brutal with Doctor Destiny than most of their early adventures showed. They hypnotized him and instructed him to stop dreaming. This had catastrophic effects on him. He went insane, and his body also suffered, aging unnaturally.

8 Doctor Destiny

The Dreamstone is associated with the villain Maxwell Lord in the movie, but it’s the creation – mostly – of Doctor Destiny in the comics. Doctor Destiny started out as John Dee, a scientist who used his intellect and talent for engineering for crime (not unlike Doctor Octopus and other Spider-Man villains).

John Dee had run into the Justice League before the creation of The Materioptikon, using a device on Green Lantern that subverted his will to Dee’s. After his psychotic break, he was sent to Arkham Asylum, where he remained for many years.

7 False Justice League

The Justice League actually discovers the existence of The Materioptikon by encountering evil versions of themselves in Justice League Of America #19. This false Justice League defeats the real team in direct combat and then proceeds to commit a series of major crimes, tarnishing the Justice League’s image.

The real Justice League retreats to space and eventually figures it out, but the concept of an alternate, evil version of the team would stick around.

6 Connection To The Endless

A major retcon to the origin of The Materioptikon occurs many years later, in The Sandman #6. The radical new take on the classic Golden Age superhero by writer Neil Gaiman would become one of the most essential comic books in history with its own rich mythology. Early on, it maintained some connection to the DC Universe.

It’s revealed that The Materioptikon was actually powered by the Dreamstone, a mystical object belonging to Dream of The Endless. John Dee’s mother had acquired it and gave it to him to power his invention. Dream, also known as Morpheus, would later come to reclaim it.

5 24 Hours

In The Sandman #6, John Dee has escaped Arkham Asylum. He uses the Dreamstone on the patrons of an all-night diner, trapping them in the restaurant and influencing their actions and mental state with his extraordinary power. By the time Dream arrives, all the people are dead.

At the end of the story, the Dreamstone is destroyed and all of its power is released back into Morpheus. Dream then took Dee back to Arkham Asylum and returned his ability to dream, which he had been without for several decades.

4 The Second Dreamstone

The Dreamstone, or Dream Ruby as it was also known, was one of twelve such stones created by Morpheus. But it was the only one of its particular type and when it was destroyed, Doctor Destiny lost his greatest weapon. Or so it seemed. He quickly constructed a new Materioptikon.

His arrogance blinded him, leading him to think he could become as powerful as Morpheus or even as powerful as he had once been himself. He was able to build a new weapon and use it against the Justice League International in the Dreamscape, but his consciousness was ultimately trapped there.

3 The Six Billion Flaws

Like that of The Scarlet Witch in Marvel Comics, particularly in her role as a Nexus Being, the user of the Dreamstone has a god-like power that requires lots of consideration. Doctor Destiny built a special device to overcome the six billion flaws in the gem of the Dreamstone and prevent the destruction of reality.

Using the Dreamstone actually undermined the fabric of space and time, because using it to the extent Doctor Destiny did split a single person between numerous realities. The multiverse is about to become a major factor in the DCEU in the upcoming Flashpoint movie, featuring the 1989 Michael Keaton Batman.

2 The Red King

After Doctor Destiny’s defeat at the hands of the Justice League International, the second Dreamstone fell into the hands of another villain. Darrin Proffit lucks upon the weapon and then uses it to his own advantage, specifically making himself a millionaire through speculating in the stock market.

The Red King ultimately faces the Justice League as well, but he chooses this fight. They are unaware of him or his actions, but his boredom with his success leads him to create weapons to defeat the super team. This ultimately leads to one of the biggest battles in the history of the Multiverse.

1 The Parallels

Doctor Destiny used technology to reintegrate alternate versions of himself and others out of the Dreamstone, to prevent the erosion of others. The Red King didn’t bother with this and instead used the Parallels, alternate versions of reality, to acquire even more power.

The Red King would simply send a copy of himself into different Parallels to game outcomes, and when one didn’t work, he killed them. This led to chaos within the fabric of space and time, which the Justice League helped to overcome, but just barely. The team fights the Red King through all of reality until they defeat him.

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