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'Wonder Woman 1984' slammed for 'non-consensual' sex scene: Fans fume, 'he's a Meat Puppet'!

Wonder Woman's complicated romance with Steve in 'Wonder Woman 1984' has some fans riled up over consent issues

Spoilers for 'Wonder Woman 1984'

'Wonder Woman 1984' changed a few things from the comics. Most significantly, it changed the nature of Max Lord's (Pedro Pascal) powers — turning him from a man with mind control abilities into one who could grant wishes. One of those wishes was accidentally used by Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) herself — to bring Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) back to life. For baffling reasons, her wish was granted in the most roundabout way. Steve Trevor's spirit was brought back in another stranger's (Kristoffer Polaha) body, which raises some complicated questions.

What happened to the soul of the man Steve Trevor's soul was inside? What about his family and friends? Is Steve Trevor's actual body still buried out there somewhere? Most importantly, however, isn't Diana kissing this man without his consent a violation of his body? It's an ethical conundrum, one complicated by the fact that the man's soul was returned to his body when Diana renounced her wish. Fans online have grown extremely uncomfortable with the fact that Diana slept with Steve... but used another man's body to do it.

"Can someone explain the nature of wishes in #WonderWoman1984? For example, why does Steve have to be resurrected in some dude's body? Doesn't that raise a lot of dubious consent issues? I mean, Diana has sex with Steve using some poor guy as a meat puppet. #metoosomeguy," asked one fan. 

Many fans were outraged and/or uncomfortable with the scene's implications. "Okay was anyone else hella uncomfortable with Diana having sex with Steve in some other man’s body?? Then she runs into him at the end and he’s clueless???" asked one fan. "I JUST REALIZED DIANA AND STEVE HAD SEX WHILE HE WAS IN ANOTHER PERSON'S BODY LIKE THAT'S NOT CONSENSUAL SEX OMG OMG THAT'S SO F**KING BAD OMFG," declared another.

"It really rubs me off that Diana Prince has sex with Steve, but in the body of another person, like where did that man ever consent to that s**t?? That’s technically sexual assault & literal possession. It ain’t cute & It sure as hell ain’t feminist!" wrote this viewer. "Can't get over how stupid & creepy the whole 'Steve possesses a stranger's body & Diana is pretty much cool with it' story is. If this was Spiderman bringing back Gwen's ghost to have some nonconsenual possession sex, there's no way it'd have made it past the first draft," wrote this viewer.

Diana does meet the man later in the film, once he's recovered his body. He has no memory of the events, but as the two share a short conversation, it becomes clear that the man has no romantic or sexual interest at all, despite Diana showing what, under normal circumstances, would be clear interest in him. He politely wishes her a happy holiday before walking away. Given that Max Lord's powers managed to make giant walls manifest, and create nuclear missiles out of nothing, it makes little sense why the film couldn't have just materialized Steve's body out of thin air, making this particular film choice all the more confusing.

'Wonder Woman 1984' is now streaming on HBO Max.