In Wonder Woman 1984, director Patty Jenkins’ highly anticipated sequel to her 2017 superhero blockbuster, Gal Gadot’s Diana Prince will face new enemies that challenge her capabilities as an Amazonian demigod. That means some new gear is in order.

Wonder Woman’s “Golden Eagle Armor,” as it’s commonly known, will make its live-action debut in 1984. Costume designer Lindy Hemming, while giving press a tour of the film’s London set, says “the suit itself has been a long time in development.”

The armor first made an appearance in the pages of Alex Ross and Mark Waid’s 1996 Kingdom Come comic book arc. Diana, preparing to battle a rising tide of younger, volatile superheroes, pulls this gleaming garb from the wall of her room on the Watchtower and enters war mode. Since then, the battle armaments, transforming Diana into a living Winged Victory, reappeared when the Wonder Woman needed to do battle against her most formidable foes. Neither Hemming nor Jenkins herself gave up the goods on why Diana needs the armor within the context of 1984, but the costumer pointed out a few choice features.

“There was this whole conversation about how, in all of these illustrations, there are some sort of wings,” she notes of the comic depictions. “There have been miles and miles of debate, that wings don’t really go with this [suit], and blah, blah, blah. In the end, the wings have become her shields.”

Hemming describes the wings themselves as akin to “paragliding” that then lock into place around Diana to “become her shields.” More specifically, “like Roman shields,” she adds. Print-outs of paintings depicting Ancient Roman soldiers cover the walls of Hemming’s work space. Clearly, the aesthetic made a big impact on her. “Basically, her fighting style is with the shields,” Hemming continues. “So, I’m really pleased now because I think that there was no logic to [them] being a pair of wings, really. But there is a logic to being something she can glide in on.”

Wonder Woman 1984 will pick up with Diana years after saving humanity from the god Ares during World War I where she makes a lonely life for herself working at the Smithsonian museum in Washington, D.C. in… you guessed it… the year 1984. Her best friend at work is a gemologist, Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), who will inevitably fulfill her destiny by undergoing a feline transformation to become Diana’s most famed foe from DC Comics lore, the Cheetah. Pedro Pascal also plays villain Maxwell Lord, a sleazy businessman with notes of Donald Trump. (Photos of the president can also be found adorning Lemming’s studio.) Suffice it to say, Diana will need some backup to handle all of this… in the former of the golden armor.

The challenge, as with the signature Wonder Woman look from the first movie and from 2017’s Justice League, was developing “a lightweight, moveable, sexy under suit,” Hemming says. With help from technicians who 3D screen-printed some of the suit’s components, they created something she describes as “sly and sinewy.”

“You get slightly the Superman effect where, when the lights are on it, there's a gleam,” Hemming says. “You can't see it there, but there's a gleam which will come through this fabric, in between the pieces. It just gives an extra dimension to everything.” After all, Wonder Woman, as the new center of the DC cinematic universe, is kind of like the new Superman.

Look for a brand new trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 to debut during the virtual convention DC Fandome on Saturday, with the WW84 panel taking place at 1pm ET.

For more of our set visit coverage check out an inside look at the epic opening scene and 20 things to know about the movie.

Wonder Woman 1984 is slated to open in theaters on October 2, 2020.