The Wonder Woman Theory That Makes Steve Trevor's Death More Tragic
It's the great tragedy of a long life: even though Diana saves the world as Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), she loses her great love, Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), in 2017's "Wonder Woman." She still hasn't moved on from his death, even 60 years later, until he's miraculously resurrected, and then gone again, in "Wonder Woman 1984." But if you thought seeing her lose Steve — twice! — wasn't bad enough, one fan theory adds more salt to the wound, making Steve's death all the more painful for her.
It all comes down to their (first) last moment together: In the midst of all the chaos of Ares (David Thewlis) and Diana fighting, she is momentarily deafened by an explosion, making it so neither she or the audience can hear what Steve says before he runs off to hijack the bomber plane carrying horrific poison. He sacrifices himself to keep the weaponized gas from killing countless people, but Diana is distraught to the point of considering joining Ares in destroying humans.
Just before she makes that decision, she remembers her final moment with Steve, but it's a slightly different version of the scene. This time, it has audible dialogue, revealing Steve's final words to her: "I love you." Reminding her of the good in humanity, the memory inspires Diana to fight against Ares and save the day. However, the flashback has sparked confusion amongst fans, begging the question: Did Diana hear Steve's final words to her or not?
Maybe Diana doesn't know what Steve said
Reddit user u/Death_Star_ argued on r/FanTheories that Diana was not suddenly understanding what Steve said through the flashback, but rather that the scene was showing Steve's perspective to the audience. While Steve says, "It has to be me. I can save today. You could save the world. I wish we had more time. I love you," Diana's main response is simply, "What are you saying?" User u/Death_Star_ wrote: "If she knew he was going to sacrifice himself, wouldn't she have said more than that? Or "I love you too" especially since she's an Amazonian, who were created to bring love?"
Even as we the audience hear the conversation, Diana still seems confused and unable to hear. By this interpretation, that means Diana never heard Steve's confession of love.
The devastation of this theory makes sense considering Diana's origins in Greek mythology, user u/Death_Star_ said. "It would be a Greek tragedy if she never got to hear his final words to her," they wrote, but ended their argument for the theory on a cheeky note: "Also, I don't think Amazonians have internal recorders that can play mute memories back with sound when the deafness and tinnitus go away." Well, some fans believe exactly that. Somehow, her Amazon powers could have allowed her to clarify her own memory ... or maybe read his lips in hindsight?
Does Wonder Woman 1984 debunk the theory?
Other fans have another idea entirely: Perhaps Diana was simply imagining what Steve might have said to her. Shortly after her flashback invigorates her, she tells Ares that she's not concerned with what humans deserve, but rather what she believes. "And I believe in love," she says, before defeating him. This line could hint that the audible scene is what she believes happened, even though she couldn't hear it at the time. The tragedy remains, but she has found solace in her belief in Steve's love.
Of course, "Wonder Woman 1984" complicates the situation even further when Diana is reunited with Steve in another man's body. To convince her that it's really him, he repeats the line, "I wish we had more time." Diana is unsettled by him saying that, which suggests that she did hear Steve's last words, but also hearing that sentence from a stranger would be unnerving regardless of the words having previous significance. To emphasize that it's him, the new Steve puts his watch in Diana's hand, just like he did at the end of "Wonder Woman," and repeats his line about saving today. Keeping with the theory, the symbolism of the watch could be all Diana needs to believe him, but his words do seem to have meaning for her. Either way, in true Greek tragedy fashion, they part ways once more before the end of "Wonder Woman 1984," imbuing their story with as much pain as love.