Is a major Wonder Woman character back from the dead for the sequel?

One of the defining moments of the 2017 hit Wonder Woman was the death of Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), when he sacrificed himself aboard an exploding airplane to save countless lives. It was a brave and heroic moment that taught Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) the good and the bad of the humanity she had newly sworn to protect, and gave an already great movie (still DC's only post-Christopher Nolan masterpiece) an infusion of emotion.

Well, guess who's back? Steve Trevor — at least according to Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins, who tweeted a surprise image of the character on Wednesday. The picture shows Pine looking quite alive and very much a part of the new movie's '80s setting, just based on fashion alone (tube socks, shorts above the knee, puffy hair). Conspiracy theorists may speculate that this is perhaps a dream sequence (which, who knows, it still could be), but would Jenkins go through the trouble of the first major image reveal being of Steve if it was just a dream?

To say this is blowing things up after blowing up Steve in the first film is an understatement. So what happened? Did he survive that explosion high in the sky? Did Wonder Woman tap into some of her Greek goddess genetics (let's not forget she's the daughter of Zeus) and use some unknown power to alter reality?

Welcome to WONDER WOMAN 1984, Steve Trevor! #WW84 pic.twitter.com/BCLARdVuTu

— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) June 13, 2018

I hate to bring up Justice League considering how badly that film capitalised on Wonder Woman's good will and box-office momentum, but remember those scenes with Ben Affleck's Batman? When Batfleck confronted Wonder Woman about her leadership and said she remained idle and hidden from the world for decades and didn't come back out until Lex Luthor stole a picture of her and her dead boyfriend, that was more or less a present-day confirmation that Steve was still dead. So what gives?

Will this return from the dead carry over into future sequels that take place in the present day? And does this cheapen the experience of Steve's dramatic death scene in the first film? If you were in the camp of fans that wanted to see Princess Diana move on from her first love in the world of man and grow a little, this could throw a wrench in your plans.

Another new image released from WW84 shows us Gadot as Wonder Woman, perhaps pondering who shot J.R. (Google it, kids) as she looks at multiple television screens bombarded with the brightness of the '80s. Not seen in the new images revealed is Kristen Wiig, who will be starring in WW84 as classic Wonder Woman villain, the Cheetah.

Wonder Woman 1984, which is set to open in New Zealand theatres on October 31, 2019, is now in production and is currently filming in Washington, D.C. No word yet on what monuments will make an appearance.