Cheetah's Ambiguous Ending in WONDER WOMAN 1984 Explained by Director Patty Jenkins
I actually ended up liking Kristen Wiig in the role of Cheetah in Wonder Woman 1984, I just think the creative team behind the film could’ve done a better job developing that character and telling her story.
I get what they were trying to do with the character with her envy of Diana Prince. Barbara Minerva just wanted to be recognized by society, she wanted to be appreciated, and she wanted to have the life that she assumed Diana had.
Shortly after Barbara gets a taste of her new superpowers and confronts Wonder Woman at The White House, she realizes that power isn’t enough, so she asks Maxwell Lord for another wish. She wishes to be an apex predator, which for some reason transforms her into a Cheetah? Was that because she saw Diana wearing Cheetah print shoes when she first met Diana? Barbara never specifically said, “I wish to be a Cheetah.” Anyway, it would have been nice to see Barbara and Diana actually form a real bond before they found themselves at odds.
During the final climatic battle Wonder Woman wants Cheetah to renounce her wish so that things can go back to normal. But Cheetah has no interest in turning back into Barbara so Wonder Woman stuns her with water and electricity, and the last thing we see of Cheetah is her sinking to the bottom of the water near where they were fighting. There’s a final glimpse of her where we see her turn back to human form
I know some fans have a lot of questions regarding Cheetah, some of which are wondering whether or not she eventually rescinded her wish. Director Patty Jenkins left these lingering questions there on purpose and in a recent interview with CinemaBlend, she explained why:
“I have my reasons for making it ambiguous. And I think it's not clear, her point of view on everything that just happened. I love that we wrap up Max Lord's point of view and that you see the culmination of that storyline. I think it's so important. But the truth is there may or may not be more to come, and reasons for that.”
I imagine this means we haven’t seen the last of Wiig as Cheetah. Maybe she will get her own spinoff film on HBO Max, which was previously teased. Maybe she’ll be back in the recently announced Wonder Woman 3. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Jenkins went on to explain that it was a tricky thing to try and find a way to give closure to that character without accidentally derailing the ending for Wonder Woman, which was obviously the primary focus:
“It's complicated, what goes on with Barbara. There was not an easy scene, even if the answer was one way or the other, even if it was that she did rescind wish, like then what? She goes back to her normal life and now Diana is not there anymore? It would take time and it would be a big deal to try to culminate it one way or the other. So there were multiple reasons for doing it that way. And if it leaves you wanting more answers, there's nothing wrong with that.”
I don’t know. I can see what she is saying, but on the other hand, it also tells me that Jenkins just didn’t know how to properly bring Cheetah’s story to an end. I think there could have been a better and clearer ending for the character had she developed the character properly from the beginning and strengthened her relationship with Diana a bit more in the story. That could have led to a different outcome, one that actually offered some kind of closure for the character.
What do you think about how Cheetah was handled in Wonder Woman 1984? What did you think of the way they left her character at the end of the movie?