Wonder Woman 1984 is a movie which many thought may not hit the cinemas. It was delayed once, at a time when many films were moved to 2021 before being shown to the public. For Wonder Woman, however, she is here to save the day – but who does Kristen Wiig play in the DCEU movie?
Who does Kristen Wiig play in Wonder Woman 1984?
WARNING: Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 ahead
Kristen Wiig plays Barbara Minerva in the movie, who is better known by her superhero name, Cheetah
In the comic books, archaeologist Dr Barbara Ann Minerva is an heiress to a vast fortune and is incredibly selfish and ambitious.
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She finances an expedition to find an African tribe whose guardian is a woman with powers like that of a cheetah.
After the guardian is killed, Barbara agrees to becoming the new guardian and takes a potion which includes human blood.
However, since Barbara is not a virgin, the potion had a terrible effect on her, with her transformations being part curse and part blessing.
She experiences severe pain and disabilities as a human but is desperate for blood and killing in her cat form.
Other versions of Barbara show her being obsessed with the divine, and meeting Diana before realising her becoming the cheetah came from Ares.
However, an earlier version of Cheetah has a more similar story to Barbara in Wonder Woman 1984.
In the case of Priscilla Rich, an earlier Cheetah, she is a rich, young woman who has a crippling inferiority complex.
This complex is worsened by Priscilla struggling with split personalities and becomes obsessed with wanting to be as good as, if not better than, Wonder Woman.
At a charity event, where Priscilla tries to do escapology, she is shown up by Wonder Woman, and goes to her room and screams at her make-up mirror, where she sees the image of a woman dressed as a cheetah.
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This woman takes over her, and the Cheetah is born.
In the case of Kristen Wiig’s character, this Barbara Minerva is a slightly different version to those seen.
Barbara is meek, mild, and kind, and tries to help others while they are unkind to her.
She also wishes she was strong and confident, to the extent she wishes to be like Diana.
Barbara does this while holding an ancient stone, which, it turns out, grants wishes but takes something in return, which for Barbara is her kindness and soul.
Soon she becomes less kind and more selfish, stopping Diana and Steve Trevor from bringing an end to the suffering of granting wishes, which came from selfish businessman Maxwell Lord.
Eventually, Barbara wishes to be the alpha predator, so becomes a cheetah, who can no longer feel for others.
Cheetah is defeated and, as the end of the film shows, she goes back to herself as Barbara, though is facing the reality of who she has become.
While it is unclear as to whether Barbara will return in a third Wonder Woman film, Kristen’s character is certainly a new version of the famous supervillain.
Wonder Woman 1984 is in cinemas now
