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'Wonder Woman 1984': Was Kirsten Wiig's Cheetah wasted in the film? Fans disappointed with her 'half-baked' plot

Cheetah felt like the film's most underused character, and fans are not happy with her limited role in the movie

Spoilers for 'Wonder Woman 1984'

Every superhero has a nemesis, a dark mirror to themselves. For Batman, it's the Joker. Superman has Lex Luthor. For the Flash, it's the (unimaginatively named) Reverse-Flash. For Wonder Woman, her greatest nemesis is undoubtedly the Cheetah. Unfortunately, 'Wonder Woman 1984' treated her like a throwaway secondary character despite Kirsten Wiig's excellent performance, and fans are left wanting so much more.

All the fans seem to agree that Wiig's performance as Cheetah/Barbara Minerva was excellent, their biggest complaint seems to be that the movie did not have enough of her in it. While there were hints, at the beginning, of the early stages of friendship between her and Diana/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), that storyline was quickly shunted to the side in favor of Diana's romance with Steve Trevor (Chris Pine) and Max Lord's (Pedro Pascal) villainous journey, and that's not what the fans wanted from the film.

Some fans believed 'Wonder Woman 1984' jumped the gun when it came to introducing Cheetah, like this fan who wrote, "So it hasn't happened yet, but in my opinion they shouldn't have had Barbara turn into Cheetah in this movie. They should have saved that for the 3rd." Another fan wrote, "The barbara stuff is half-baked, just so poorly executed to the point where the bad cheetah cgi rankles less than everything else. just so bad."

"I just wanted to see more of Barbara and Diana's friendship on Wonder Woman... More of Cheetah..." lamented this viewer. "But wish there was more Barbara/Cheetah and less Max Lord. Trailers were disapointedly misleading. You think that it's going to be Wonder Woman Vs Cheetah but turns out it's about man that wanted to be powerful," wrote this fan.

Many fans wish that the core of the movie had been more about Diana and Barbara than Max Lord's rise to power or the Steve Trevor romance. One fan expressed their disappointment with the film, writing, "I think when I saw Barbara on the cast list I was expecting the storyline to be more focused on WW & Cheetah." Another wrote, "I think you could make a great movie involving Cheetah and/or Max Lord, but this definitely ain't it," adding, "There was really no reason to bring back Chris Pine other than to give Diana another romantic subplot. Except knowing that she's bi, a far more compelling romance would be with Barbara Ann Minerva (a lesbian in the comics) and then having to fight her when she turns into Cheetah." One fan believed all the Cheetah scenes were too short, and wrote, "I just wanted one more scene with WW and Barbara to strengthen their friendship whether it’s before her wish or after everyone elses renounced theirs."

However, as some fans have noted, though Max Lord renounced his powers at the end of the film, seemingly undoing all of the wishes he'd granted, Barbara never actually renounced her wish. She's seen to be human in her final scene in the film, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have her connection with her powers or that she can't get back to them in a more comics-traditional route, by seeking out the god Urzkartaga, who in the comics was the one to grant her the powers.

'Wonder Woman 1984' is now available to stream on HBO Max.