diff --git a/plugins/base/src/test/kotlin/model/JavaTest.kt b/plugins/base/src/test/kotlin/model/JavaTest.kt
index b3ee2726c9..f57c3c8c77 100644
--- a/plugins/base/src/test/kotlin/model/JavaTest.kt
+++ b/plugins/base/src/test/kotlin/model/JavaTest.kt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import org.jetbrains.dokka.model.doc.Text
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
 import utils.AbstractModelTest
+import utils.assertContains
 import utils.assertNotNull
 import utils.name
 import kotlin.test.assertEquals
@@ -439,4 +440,48 @@ class JavaTest : AbstractModelTest("/src/main/kotlin/java/Test.java", "java") {
         }
     }
 
+    @Test
+    fun variances() {
+        inlineModelTest(
+            """
+            |public class Foo {
+            |    public void superBound(java.util.List<? super String> param) {}
+            |    public void extendsBound(java.util.List<? extends String> param) {}
+            |    public void unbounded(java.util.List<?> param) {}
+            |}
+            """, configuration = configuration
+        ) {
+            with((this / "java" / "Foo").cast<DClass>()) {
+                val functionNames = functions.map { it.name }
+                assertContains(functionNames, "superBound")
+                assertContains(functionNames, "extendsBound")
+                assertContains(functionNames, "unbounded")
+
+                for (function in functions) {
+                    val param = function.parameters.single()
+                    val type = param.type as GenericTypeConstructor
+                    val variance = type.projections.single()
+
+                    when (function.name) {
+                        "superBound" -> {
+                            assertTrue(variance is Contravariance<*>)
+                            val bound = (variance as Contravariance<*>).inner
+                            assertEquals((bound as GenericTypeConstructor).dri.classNames, "String")
+                        }
+                        "extendsBound" -> {
+                            assertTrue(variance is Covariance<*>)
+                            val bound = (variance as Covariance<*>).inner
+                            assertEquals((bound as GenericTypeConstructor).dri.classNames, "String")
+                        }
+                        "unbounded" -> {
+                            assertTrue(variance is Covariance<*>)
+                            val bound = (variance as Covariance<*>).inner
+                            assertTrue(bound is JavaObject)
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/subprojects/analysis-java-psi/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/dokka/analysis/java/parsers/DokkaPsiParser.kt b/subprojects/analysis-java-psi/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/dokka/analysis/java/parsers/DokkaPsiParser.kt
index 45f44338d9..a1f9cef0f4 100644
--- a/subprojects/analysis-java-psi/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/dokka/analysis/java/parsers/DokkaPsiParser.kt
+++ b/subprojects/analysis-java-psi/src/main/kotlin/org/jetbrains/dokka/analysis/java/parsers/DokkaPsiParser.kt
@@ -567,8 +567,10 @@ internal class DokkaPsiParser(
 
 
     private fun getVariance(type: PsiWildcardType): Projection = when {
+        type.isExtends -> Covariance(getBound(type.extendsBound))
+        type.isSuper -> Contravariance(getBound(type.superBound))
+        // If the type isn't explicitly bounded, it still has an implicit `extends Object` bound
         type.extendsBound != PsiType.NULL -> Covariance(getBound(type.extendsBound))
-        type.superBound != PsiType.NULL -> Contravariance(getBound(type.superBound))
         else -> throw IllegalStateException("${type.presentableText} has incorrect bounds")
     }