The revelation that Chris Pine is returning as Steve Trevor in Wonder Woman 1984 made a lot of people scratch their heads in confusion. After all, Trevor heroically and memorably died in the original Wonder Woman. And that’s not all. Within the in-universe timeline, we’ve seen Diana sadly reminisce about Steve and not once did she mention hanging out with him in the 1980s. On top of that, he’s just a normal guy, so if he’d miraculously survived the original Wonder Woman, he’d be about ninety years old in 1984.
So, what gives? Is this just going to be the clumsiest retcon of all time? Well, Pine has given an interview with Variety that might hint at the role he’s set to play, with the actor teasing:
“This one is a little different for me tonally. The tables are turned, and I’m more of the deer in the headlights.”
My reading of this is that where Wonder Woman showed Trevor acclimatizing Diana to ‘man’s world’ after she escapes Themiscyra, Wonder Woman 1984 will show a more worldly Diana attempting to explain 1980s America to the presumed confused Trevor. But that still doesn’t explain how and why he comes back from the grave. The going fan theory on that is that Pedro Pascal’s character’s secretly the human form of Hades, and thus able to pluck Trevor from the afterlife (perhaps in order to emotionally blackmail Diana into doing his bidding).
Whatever the reasons end up being, I think it’s a dead cert that there’ll be at least one climactic tearjerking scene where Trevor must once more return to the afterlife (or just disappear in some manner) before Diana can save the 1980s from whatever cat-astrophe (because the villain’s Cheetah) is about to befall it.
That said, we’ve got a hell of a frustrating wait until we get to see the movie. Originally slated for release this year, we’ll now have to be patient until June 5th, 2020, as that’s when Gal Gadot will pick up the sword and shield again in Wonder Woman 1984.