Wonder Woman 1984 is once again available to watch on HBO Max and so I decided to watch it because what the heck. It’s a Wonder Woman movie and I was in the mood for a superhero movie.

I watched the film totally expecting to hate it again like last time but I actually kind of enjoyed my experience. Knowing the story and which icky parts to skip gave me the chance to understand what Patty Jenkins was going for and while the film isn’t perfect I did find it somewhat enjoyable.

The thing about Wonder Woman 1984 and why it performed so poorly among casual viewers was because it did not live up to expectations. Most superhero sequels tend to get bigger and flashier than their predecessors. Take The Dark Knight which features both the Joker and Two-Face, two extremely well-written antagonists that give Batman a challenge he didn’t get in the first film. And Marvel has pretty much perfected the superhero sequel.

Iron Man 2 introduces War Machine and Black Widow to add some pizzazz to the story. Captain America: The Winter Soldier features Black Widow, Falcon, and an intense storyline between Captain America and the Winter Soldier that is as riveting as it gets. Ant-Man and the Wasp adds Wasp. Spider-Man: Far from Home features Mysterio, a villain who really poses a greater challenge to Spider-Man through the film.

The only two Marvel sequels that I’m not as fond of are Thor: The Dark World and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, a pair of movies that tried to raise the stakes but ultimately didn’t really achieve that goal.

And if you look at the upcoming Marvel sequels Marvel Studios clearly is going for bigger and flashier. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness will feature Wanda a.k.a the Scarlet Witch. That alone is intriguing. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still being kept heavily under wraps but I have a feeling Coogler will take us, narratively, where we haven’t gone before. And Captain Marvel’s sequel, The Marvels, will feature two other powerful superheroes in Monica Rambeau and Ms. Marvel.

Like I said, Marvel has figured out the formula for a superhero sequel. Patty Jenkins, instead of giving fans a Wonder Woman sequel that would blow their socks off, opted to focus on speaking a message to the world but sometimes the world just wants to see its fictional heroes evading explosions and fighting bad guys.

I hope that Patty Jenkins remembers the critique presented to her on an international platter for Wonder Woman 1984 and chooses to make a fun Star Wars movie instead of using Star Wars as an avenue to speak to the political nature of our society.

All in all, while I enjoyed Wonder Woman 1984 more than I expected to I am not oblivious to its problems and why it ultimately will be considered one of the worst DCEU movies by many.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day.