Why Cheetah Is The Best Villain In Wonder Woman 1984 (& Why Maxwell Lord Is Even More Evil)

With two big villains featured in Wonder Women 1984, fans are left to discuss which one of them is the best, and more evil, of the two.

The highly-anticipated Wonder Woman 1984 has finally arrived, continuing the adventures of Gal Gadot's iconic hero. As with most superhero sequels, this movie ups the stakes by introducing two new heroes for Wonder Woman to face off against.

In a bit of surprising casting, Kristen Wiig plays Barbara Minerva, a timid colleague of Diana Prince who becomes the villainous Cheetah. Also included is Max Lord, played by Pedro Pascal, a greedy businessman who seeks to fulfill his wishes at all costs. With two big villains featured in Wonder Women 1984, which is the better baddie?

10 Cheetah: A Match For Diana

The first Wonder Woman showed what Diana could do with her powers in the world of humans. She is an incredibly strong and nearly indestructible hero who means there are not a lot of things that pose a threat to her. However, Cheetah proves herself to be a worthy adversary.

After Barbara wishes she could be as strong as Diana, her wish is granted while Diana's own strength begins to fade. This makes for a fight in which Diana is finally outmatched which is more interesting and sets up for a fun final confrontation.

9 Max Lord: His Power

Cheetah's powers are pretty ordinary. She has super strength and agility while her final monstrous transformation makes her into a beast with sharp claws and teeth. That's not bad, but Max's powers are a lot more fun.

After stealing the powerful Dreamstone, Max gains the ability to grant anyone's wish while also taking something in return. In order to establish himself as the most powerful person in the world, he grants everyone's wish leading to chaos all over the world. He is like a dark genie which is pretty entertaining.

8 Cheetah: Sympathetic

Interestingly, neither of these villains are seen as purely evil people. In both cases, they are overlooked and disrespected by others and seek to have more power. In the case of Max Lord, we really only see this aspect of him at the end, meaning for much of the movie he is just a greedy businessman.

For Barbara, we actually get to know her and like her as a character before she starts to go evil. It gives us an understanding of her actions and makes us hope she can eventually be saved.

7 Max Lord: His Plan

The '80 setting for the movie is particularly important for the character of Max Lord. His drive for success is very in keeping with the spirit of excess during this time period. But his motivations are much more interesting than just being a greedy businessman.

Seeing his flashback in the climax of the movie is surprisingly moving. He came from nothing, was looked down upon his whole life, but nonetheless built something on his own. That struggle makes his action much more interesting than the average "corporate villain."

6 Cheetah: Transformation

Both of these characters begin in positions of powerlessness before gaining what they want. For Max, that transformation happens very quickly and gets the plot moving. But for Barbara, her transformation into a villain is much more gradual.

At first, she just becomes more confident thanks to her strength. But her nice persona starts to fade and she becomes more violent. By the time she confronts Diana in their first fight, her villainy feels earned.

5 Max Lord: Fun Performance

Despite being known for her lighter comedic roles, Wiig is great in this villainous role. She even handles Barbara's eventual dark turn very effectively. But everyone else's performance in the movie pales in comparison to Pedro Pascal as Max Lord.

Pascal is clearly having a lot of fun with the role and makes Max the most entertaining part of the whole movie. while Pascal usually plays the swaggering badass, it is a joy to see him go wild as this hilariously unhinged madman.

4 Cheetah: Intimidating

Part of what makes Pascal's performance so fun is that he is not afraid to make Max look silly. As he grows mad with power and his body begins falling apart, he is a full-blown mess. But even with his power, he never feels like a scary villain.

Luckily, Cheetah fills that role as Barbara grows darker over the course of the movie. In one scene, she confronts a man who previously attacked her. While it starts as a cheer-worthy moment of a creep getting punished, Wiig also makes Barbara scary at that moment and solidifies her as a threat.

3 Max Lord: His Ending

Fans may be disappointed to see that Wiig is only in full Cheetah mode for the climax of the movie. She has one decent fight with Wonder Woman before being electrocuted. The movie later shows that she renounced her wish and returned to normal in a pretty anti-climactic way for the character.

Max's ending is much more satisfying as Diana confronts him as he broadcasts to the whole world, fulfilling their wishes. Diana uses the Lasso of Truth to show Max is heartbreaking past as well as his young son who is scared and looking for his father. Seeing the truth of his actions, Max renounces his wish and the world is saved.

2 Cheetah: Action Scenes

Seeing as Max is a villain who just makes everyone else do things for him, he doesn't get very involved in the movie's action sequences apart from being chased by the heroes. Luckily, Cheetah provides a solid action-oriented villain.

Her first fight with Diana inside the White House is a really fun sequence showing what Barbara is now capable of as she throws Diana around. While the final fight isn't as epic as fans would hope, it does provide a good action scene for the climax.

1 Max Lord: Main Villain

Though the advertising seemed to suggest Max Lord would be a secondary villain in the movie, he is absolutely the main villain and arguably the main character in the story. He is the one who kick starts the plot and the one who is the real threat to the world.

Cheetah is a fun villain at times, but she is very secondary to Max. In fact, the only reason she confronts Diana at all is that she wants to protect Max. By the climax, she really just becomes a henchman villain.

NEXT: Wonder Woman 1984: Diana's 10 Best Outfits

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