Kristen Wiig Became A Total Badass In ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ & Fans Are Living
Although she's best known for her laugh-out-loud characters, Kristen Wiig has proven she's not just a comedic actor. The former Saturday Night Live star got a chance to flex her dramatic skills in the new film Wonder Woman 1984, playing the lead character's nerdy coworker-turned-adversary Barbara Minerva (a.k.a. Cheetah). Fans were seriously impressed by her performance, and these tweets about Kristen Wiig in Wonder Woman 1984 show that sometimes you can't help but root for the villain.
Warning: Spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984 follow. When the movie begins, Barbara is an awkward loner who spends her days studying gemstones at the Smithsonian. After meeting Gal Gadot's Diana Prince, she becomes captivated by her coworker's grace and poise, and wishes to be just like her. That wish comes true when an ancient dreamstone with magical wish-granting powers comes into the Smithsonian's possession.
However, the character eventually takes a darker turn as she gains the power and confidence she wanted for so long. When Diana suggests reversing the wishes granted by the dreamstone (since they have unforeseen, dangerous effects), Barbara resists, turning the two into enemies when she teams up with megalomaniac Maxwell Lord.
Barbara's alter ego only becomes fully realized after she makes another wish to become a totally unique "apex predator." Barbara then becomes the furry, superpowered DC Comics character Cheetah, and has a badass final fight with Wonder Woman. The villain origin story is certainly new territory for Wiig, and fans took to Twitter to gush over her latest role.
Seeing more of Cheetah isn't out of the question, either, since Wiig's character survived the events of Wonder Woman 1984. According to the actor, playing a more sympathetic, layered villain in the film is something she found particularly rewarding.
"Having [Barbara and Maxwell Lord] both start out as these like sympathetic people that you can kind of relate to — especially Barbara and that she's so invisible to everybody and she's insecure and socially awkward — we've all experienced all of those feelings before," Wiig said in an interview with POPSUGAR.
"So, from the beginning of the movie, I do think the audience sort of makes up their mind, I like this person or I feel bad for this person," she continued. "That's a really interesting way to look at the villains because when they do become more evil towards the end, you're a little bit conflicted and it just makes it more of an interesting, 'How do I feel about this?'"
Wiig's portrayal certainly won over tons of viewers, even if she did turn out to be the bad guy in the end.
