How Wonder Woman 1984 Pays Sneaky Homage To Lynda Carter
Things have changed quite a bit between the run of the original live-action Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter and the blockbuster DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film franchise. But while Gal Gadot's Diana Prince may have all the sheen of modern big-budget blockbusters, there are aspects of the character that simply never go out of style. From the golden lasso of truth, to the bullet-deflecting bracelets, to a clever take on Diana's invisible plane, Wonder Woman 1984 reveled in giving viewers lots of fun callbacks and Easter eggs to the character's long history as a DC Comics superhero.
While the original Patty Jenkins-directed movie saw Diana take her first steps off of Themyscira during the first World War, the second film shows that by the time 1984 rolls around, she has settled in, and become more in tune with her powers. And with that came a more confident use of the many tricks up her sleeves (or lack thereof).
For instance, the latest movie outing sees Diana whipping out a certain accessory that mostly played a ceremonious role in her other recent film outings. And while it wasn't the most significant nod that WW84 gave to Carter's portrayal, for fans of the magical accessories-heavy 1970s TV series, it was a welcome return to form.
That accessory, of course, is her tiara.
Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman finally puts her boomerang tiara to good use
While the superhero movies we enjoy today are technical marvels on a grandiose scale, back in the 1970s, it was all a little bit simpler. The Wonder Woman TV series may not have had Diana lassoing thunderbolts to help her glide through the sky, but the show did manage to find plenty of ways to thrill its audience. One of the most reliable was showing Diana using every aspect of her wardrobe to restore truth and justice to earth. As Carrie Bradshaw once noted on Sex and the City, "Oh, with the bracelets and the tiara. I used to love that even her accessories had superpowers."
One of those accessories that proved to be extremely efficient was Diana's tiara, which she used as a boomerang-type tool to incapacitate ne'er-do-wells from a distance. Hardcore fans of the character, and especially those for whom the seventies TV series is a big part of their personal Wonder Woman canon, likely noticed that Jenkins' first Wonder Woman film didn't feature any tiara throwing. The headpiece did appear in the movie, but mostly as a status symbol to mark Diana's graduation from the Amazon Training Academy.
But WW84 sees that beautiful and utilitarian headpiece flying all over the place. Whether she's using it to knock out security cameras in a mall to preserve the secret of her identity, or distracting a hallway full of security officers at the White House, Gadot's Diana appears to have taken some inspiration from Carter's, and fully leaned in to making her accessories work for her.
Of course, it's also just great to see the second movie in the series expanding on the character's lore. Let's hope the recently announced threequel keeps with that tradition.