Wonder Woman 1984 has a surprising end-credits scene

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for Wonder Woman 1984.

Heading to the theater (if you're safely able to) this Christmas to watch Gal Gadot lasso some bad guys in Wonder Woman 1984? Staying home instead and streaming the film on HBO Max? Regardless of how you'll be watching the super-powered sequel this holiday season, make sure to stick around through the end credits: Gadot's Amazonian warrior has one final surprise up her golden sleeves.

The sequel to 2017's Wonder Woman finds Diana living in Washington in the 1980s and facing off against new adversaries (including Pedro Pascal's power-hungry entrepreneur Maxwell Lord and Kristen Wiig's feline foe Barbara Minerva, a.k.a. Cheetah). She also reunites with her former paramour Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who's been mysteriously resurrected after his death in 1918.

But as Diana explains to Steve, she isn't the first Amazon to leave Themyscira and face off against the world of men. Long before her, there was an ancient Amazon named Asteria, who was a fierce warrior and wore a set of golden, winged armor. It's that armor that Diana wears in the film's final act, to face off against (and ultimately defeat) Lord and Cheetah.

After the film ends, an end-credits scene introduces us to the original owner of that armor, played by—major spoiler alert!—Lynda Carter, the original Wonder Woman herself.

In the scene, a dark-haired woman saves a group of innocent bystanders from being hurt by a falling pole at an outdoor market. At first she's only seen from behind, and viewers might think it's Diana Prince—but when someone goes to thank her, she turns around and it's revealed to be Carter, who gives her name as Asteria and says she's been "doing this for a long time."

Carter, of course, was the first iteration of Diana Prince, starring in the classic Wonder Woman TV show for three seasons from 1975–1979. (In fact, just a few days before Wonder Woman 1984's release, HBO Max made the original series available to stream.)

Carter, 69, has long said that she admires Gadot's big-screen version of Diana, and she previously revealed that director Patty Jenkins asked her to make a cameo in the 2017 film, but wasn't able to make it work due to scheduling conflicts.

"I was so taken with the both of them, and taken with Patty from the beginning when she very first got this film, and we talked on the phone," the actress told PEOPLE in 2017. "I just said that she knows who this character is. Because Wonder Woman—it's the idea of her. It's not about superpowers, it's about her intellect and compassion. It's so much more than some comic book character, because we identify with it."

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• Wonder Woman 1984 to hit HBO Max and theaters this December