Wonder Woman: Cold War

**Wonder Woman: Cold War** is a 2014 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. It is also a sequel to *Wonder Woman*. It was directed by Patty Jenkins and written by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. It stars Gal Gadot, Henry Cavill, Channing Tatum, Janelle Monáe, Camren Bicondova, Michael Shannon, Matt Damon, Gillian Anderson, and Gerard Butler. The film ran 122 minutes and was released on May 2, 2014.

## Plot

In 1984, 29 years before the events of *Justice League*, Diana Prince has been working with A.R.G.U.S. ever since it was the D.E.O. back in 1918. She attends Steve Trevor's funeral, who died at age 96. It is implied he and Diana were married, until it is revealed they split shortly after the war and he went on to have Steve Trevor II in 1920, who had Steve Trevor III in 1952, who is now working as an A.R.G.U.S. agent with Diana. Hank Henshaw, who supposedly died in 1968, has passed on the title of Director of A.R.G.U.S. to his son Henry Henshaw. Amanda Waller is a desk worker who wants to one day be Director. Diana is in a relationship with Agent Derek Minez, who Steve is jealous of due to his crush on Diana.

Diana returns home to Themyscira for the first time since 1918. She reunites with her family, specifically her mother, Hippolyta. Her mother reveals the entire story of her birth to Diana, who is shocked and upset at the revelations. She discovers that she has another half-sibling whose plans for the human land are terrifying. Diana travels to Mount Olympus, where she confronts her true father, Zeus, about her half-brother. He reveals it is the God of War, Ares, who has come to wreak havoc upon men and return the Earth to worshipping the Olympian Gods like it used to be. Diana sets out to stop him, only to be followed by the teenage Amazonian Donna Troy, who wants to be like Diana one day.

Diana trains Donna the way she was trained and finally the young girl is ready to fight alongside Diana. Diana learns Ares is one of her co-workers at A.R.G.U.S. and begins a hunt to find the perpetrator. Diana finally narrows it down to three workers. However, suddenly Minez orders in a USSR air strike, led by General Simon. Diana realizes Minez has been Ares all along and the two gods fight. Diana, being a demi-god, is at first beaten badly, until Trevor distracts Ares long enough for Diana to fight Ares. Donna is severely injured and forced by Diana to go home. However, Donna learns from Hippolyta that she, Donna, is also a demi-god, being the daughter of Ares and a young human woman 2 and a half thousand years ago. Donna is now inspired to fight more than ever to stop her father from killing the ways of man.

Diana, Steve, Waller, Donna, Henshaw, and even Zeus unite to save the Human Land. Ares unites the USSR powers to end the current ways of man. Steve, Waller, and Henshaw lead A.R.G.U.S. to fight off the USSR, while Diana, Donna, and Zeus fight Ares. Ares finally nearly kills his father, but Donna saves her grandfather. Diana accepts Donna as her niece and the women fight Ares. Zeus delivers the death blow, ending the fight and forcing the USSR to leave. Steve tries to get together with Diana, but she reveals she is done with romance for the time being. Zeus returns home while Donna stays in the Human Land to adopt her own secret identity while fighting as Wonder Girl alongside her aunt, who has finally taken up the name Wonder Woman.

In a mid-credits scene, Hank Henshaw, still alive, is visited by Henry, who knows of his father's secret evil business. The two play a game of chess while discussing their plans that will take time to initiate. In a post-credits scene, Steve is revealed to have married Waller and had Steve Trevor IV in 1985, just before Steve died in the line of duty in 1986.

## Cast

* Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
* Henry Cavill as Steve Trevor III
* Channing Tatum as Derek Minez/Ares
* Janelle Monáe as Amanda Waller
* Camren Bicondova as Donna Troy/Wonder Girl
* Michael Shannon as Henry Henshaw
* Matt Damon as General Simon
* Gillian Anderson as Hippolyta
* Gerard Butler as Zeus

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Wonder Woman: Cold War* earned $333.2 million in North America and an estimated $440.2 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $773.3 million.

### **Critical reception**

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 91% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 295 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "*Wonder Woman: Cold War* is an amazing superhero flick that improves on everything that th first film did wrong, and even better on the things it did right." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 76 out of 100, based on 52 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". CinemaScore audiences gave *Wonder Woman: Cold War* an "A" grade rating on an A+ to F scale, while earning an "A+" among under-18 and 25- to 34-year-old viewers.