Wonder Woman 1984's Opening Scene Is Totally Awesome

With just over a week to go before Wonder Woman 1984 is released in theaters and on HBO Max, the fans are devouring every detail they can get about the DC Extended Universe sequel, and who can blame them? Wonder Woman 1984 has been delayed for over a year now, and while a handful of international markets were able to see the film beginning December 16, 2020, the overwhelming majority of us are still stuck in a holding pattern, albeit on an invisible plane.

Naturally, Warner Bros. wants to make sure our collective excitement holds so we're all glued to the television watching Princess Diana (Gal Gadot) and Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) on Christmas day. Their latest effort to lasso fans into Diana's world is an early release of the first three minutes of Wonder Woman 1984. Aside from ginning up fan fervor, releasing this footage also carries with it the benefit of muting some of the negative reviews the film has received from critics so far.

Similar to the original film, Wonder Woman's sequel opens not in Diana's present, but in her past. Long before she became Wonder Woman, Diana was the only little girl on the island full of Amazonian women that is Themyscira. It's in Diana's past that we get our first glimpse of what her future may hold — and her future is going to hold a lot of very dynamic action scenes.

In Wonder Woman, we are introduced to the mythical island of Themiscyra, where a bunch of Amazonian warriors live an essentially immortal life full of weapons training, horseback riding, and other exercise routines that they carry out far from "Man's World." Once Steve Trevor shows up, things fall apart, soldiers descend, and some of the long-lived Amazonians die — including Diana's long-time trainer Antiope (Robin Wright).

Wonder Woman 1984 actually opens back before any of that. We see a young Diana running through the forests of Themiscyra, with her adult self providing a voice over. Notably, Diana's narration talks about how she wishes she'd watched more closely to learn the lessons she would need later. Naturally, we're thinking this opening sets up some of the challenges we'll see Diana face later.

Most of the three minutes, however, is action. We see the Amazonians flying through the air using their lassos, riding standing up across two horses, climbing up waterfalls, and cooperating in what appears to be Amazonian rugby. None of that may seem important, but we suspect that many of the major action set pieces later in Wonder Woman 1984 will mirror this sequence.

Antiope does impart one phrase of wisdom: "Greatness is not what you think: Pace yourself and watch." Young Diana proceeds to run in a race with the other Amazons who are all easily three times her size. Perhaps, later in the film, we will witness Diana fall flat on her face by rushing into combat with Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig).

Regardless, we're excited to see how the action sequences play out when Wonder Woman 1984 releases at long last in theaters and on HBO Max on December 25, 2020.