Is Chris Pine in “Justice League”? Steve Trevor stans, you might want to sit down for this

The DC Extended Universe giveth, the DC Extended Universe taketh away. No sooner had we met Steve Trevor and fallen in love with Steve Trevor than Steve Trevor was taken away from us. The ending of this summer’s Wonder Woman had Steve Trevor flying high into the sky in a plane full of explosives…and he knows the only way to help our savior, Diana Prince, is to detonate the bombs himself. And now that Justice League is here, you might be wondering, “Hey, is there a chance Steve Trevor survived that flight?”

If you’re headed to the theaters in hopes of catching a quick glimpse of Chris Pine’s beautiful face, I’ve got some bad news. In Justice League, Steve Trevor is still very much dead. And it’s honestly a damn shame, because just like the world needs more Diana Prince, the world needs way more Steve Trevor.

However, Steve’s presence is very much felt in the movie. He is brought up in conversation, like, half a dozen times, whether by Diana herself or by Ben Affleck Batman Bruce Wayne.

When Diana talks about Steve, she does so in a loving, kind way. She and Cyborg have a heart to robotic-heart about losing someone important to you, and how you can move on from there. She is clearly still harboring feelings for him (and, same), and has spent some time over the last hundred years thinking about him (also, same). Though it’s never explicitly stated, it sure sounds like she hasn’t had any great loves since she lost him. Also, same. “Steve Trevor” and “forever” rhyme for a reason.

And while Diana is loving, when Bruce talks about Steve, he does it solely to provoke Diana, and she — spoiler alert for the best part of the movie — straight-up punches him in the stomach like a badass, and sends Batman flying backwards. (Honestly I almost stood up and cheered in the theater.)

Anyway. Considering Steve comes up in conversation so much, I am actually pretty surprised we didn’t see him in a photo, or at least in some sort of flashback. A lot of Justice League was reshot this summer, so maybe there was a Steve scene in there somewhere, that was cut at the last second. Or Justice League is setting up the fact that Steve won’t be dead forever, and will be back for Wonder Woman 2, somehow brought back to life via that…hey, didn’t they use a cool box to bring Superman back to life in Justice League? Huh.

Listen, undead Steve is better than no Steve, and we’ll take what Steve we can get.