Wonder Woman 1984's stark warning about Big Oil

Caution: This post contains spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984

Wonder Woman 1984 is a refreshingly fun and shamelessly extravagant movie in which the eponymous, lasso-wielding superhero must save the world from a grifter in possession of a magical crystal. It is also, I was surprised to learn, an incisive commentary on the greed and deception at the heart of the fossil fuel industry, which has roots in the period of rampant consumerism that the movie takes place in.

Set decades after its World War I-era predecessor, the plot of the film revolves around the “Dreamstone,” a strange artifact that grants its owner whatever wish they want (for a price). Shortly after the stone arrives at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, where Diana Prince, aka Wonder Woman, is working as an enviably stylish anthropologist, it’s nicked by over-coiffed con artist Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal), who uses it to save his failing oil business while sowing chaos all over the world.

While Lord’s character seems like an obvious metaphor for Donald Trump—an untalented, megalomaniacal TV personality who ascends to power through a combination of luck and lies—he is also a wannabe oil tycoon, making this the first superhero movie I can remember where the villain literally embodies the fossil fuel industry. And it’s worth unpacking that creative decision a bit more, because as an allegory for the many things wrong with fossil fuels, Lord ain’t bad.