With every superhero movie, an end credits scene has come to be expected now — whether they act as teases to a sequel, essential building blocks for a wider cinematic universe, or just fun meta-nods. The saving grace (or greatest sin, depending on who you ask) of Patty Jenkins‘ Wonder Woman films is that they exist in their own little corner of the DC Universe, with the 2017 Wonder Woman even eschewing the post-credits scene altogether. But Jenkins reversed course to deliver a Wonder Woman 1984 end credits scene, just not one that fans may have expected.
Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 follow.
Who is Asteria? It’s one of the unanswered questions left dangling by Wonder Woman 1984, after a sequence set in ancient times before the creation of Themyscira, when the Amazons freed themselves from enslavement by humans. Diana describes the backstory of the golden armor she wears in the last act of the film, telling of how Asteria, their greatest warrior, held back the army of men with the help of unbreakable golden armor while the other Amazons escaped to safety. When Diana came to the world of men, she searched for Asteria but never found her body, just the empty armor.
But, the end credits scene reveals, Asteria had not died as Diana assumed.
In the mid-credits scene, we see a dark-haired woman walking through an outdoor market when a large wooden pole starts to crash down. The woman casually catches the heavy pole with one hand, to the relief of a family with a small child who were directly in the pole’s path. The mother thanks the woman, who turns around and reveals herself to be Lynda Carter, the star of the iconic Wonder Woman 1970s TV show, who introduces herself as Asteria with a little wink at the camera.
It’s a sweet nod to the fans of the ’70s icon, and a tease that Diana may not be the only Amazon working discreetly to save humanity in the world of men. Will it lead to anything in the sequels or larger DC Universe? Probably not — this seems like more of a cute fan service moment than anything. But the character of Asteria does exist in DC Comics, albeit in a much more minor fashion than she’s depicted as in Wonder Woman 1984.
Who is Asteria?
As far as we know, Asteria has only appeared once in the mainstream DC Comics continuity, as a background character in the 1998 Elseworlds: Supergirl & Batgirl. Early in the story, several Justice Society members head to Gotham City for an awards gala, but a few are left on the back bench to keep an eye on things at Justice Society HQ. One of those is Asteria, who gets maybe one line of dialogue — speaking to the alternate universe Tim Drake — and who never shows up again.
Asteria does have a bit more of a presence in Greek mythology, as a Greek goddess who escapes Zeus’s advances by fleeing to Mount Olympus and ends up transforming herself into the island of Delos. Later on, she ended giving birth to Hecate, goddess of magic and witchcraft.
Wonder Woman 1984 is streaming on HBO Max now.
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