Last year, Patty Jenkins made box office history with the smash success of Wonder Woman. She then made history again by using her leverage — and DC Films short-sightedness when it came to drawing up ironclad contracts — to score the biggest payday for a female director in cinema history in order to return to helm Wonder Woman 2.
That gamble is already paying off in spades. The first look at Wonder Woman 1984 showed both a commitment to the time period and got tongues wagging as to how exactly Steve Trevor has returned from the dead. But one character audiences hadn’t seen yet? The villainous Barbara Minerva, aka Cheetah. That ends now, with Jenkins revealing actress Kristen Wiig as the complex archaeologist.
Enter Barbara Minerva… #WW84 pic.twitter.com/56f8Diu7So
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) June 27, 2018
While a character named Cheetah was originally created in 1943 by William Moulton Marston, the current iteration came to be in Wonder Woman #7 – Rebirth! in 1987. Barbara Minvera became the Cheetah when an expedition to Africa went horribly wrong. Her quest to find the lost civilization of Urzkartagan led to the deaths of her entire team, while Minvera herself became a willing sacrifice to the Urzkartagan gods in return for the power. The end result was Cheetah.
Of course, all of that was wiped away in the New 52. It’s possible Wonder Woman 1984 will instead use the origin that has Minerva as a career criminal who was raised by cultists who worship Wonder Woman’s mother, Hippolyta. In that case, Cheetah would come to be when Minerva steals a ceremonial knife from a museum and plunges it into her own heart, thus unleashing the dark magic within. Considering the image used by Jenkins as the first look, either one is possible!
What approach would you like to see with this Cheetah? Let us know in comments!
Image: Sony/DC Comics
More Wonders never cease:
- Here’s that first look at Steve Trevor’s mysterious comeback.
- Who is Pedro Pascal playing?
- How to block bullets like Wonder Woman.
