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Latest Justice League Casting News Reveals Big Piece of DCEU History

Wonder Woman is conquering the box office right now, bringing a much-needed surge in buzz around […]

Wonder Woman is conquering the box office right now, bringing a much-needed surge in buzz around DC Films and the DC Extended Universe. The DCEU is scored its first big win of 2017 with Wonder Woman, but the real test will come this fall when Justice League attempts to bring the entire DCEU superhero lineup together for a massive event film.

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When breaking down the Justice League movie trailers that have been released, we (like many other fans) noticed a particular scene that stood out from the rest. That scene was of a massive battle taking place on a fiery and desolate patch of land, with The Amazons of Themyscira battling the alien army of Apokolips. It was impossible to tell for sure where the scene fit into the storyline of Justice League – but thanks to the latest casting confirmation for the film, we can now say for sure what Justice League‘s big Amazon battle sequence is, and where it fits into the story.

Read on only if you want to know, as these could be considered MILD SPOILERS!

War of the Gods

In DC Comics lore, theology gets a more fantastical spin. Our own Russ Burlingame has already broken it down in detail (see below), so we’ll just go over the general gist of it, and how it applies to the DCEU.ย 

MORE: Full Story of the Old & New Gods

Basically, there was a world of gods that was destroyed, letting loose a wave of energy that seeded every world it touched with gods of their own. One of the worlds was Earth, which saw the rise of Greek gods like Zeus, Poseidon, and Ares. Meanwhile, the descendants of the original “God World” evolved into two camps of “New Gods,” inhabiting the warring worlds of New Genesis (the good guys) and Apokolips (the bad guys).

Inย Justice League,ย the team will battle Steppenwolf, a general who serves under the ruler of Apokolips, Darkseid. However, in comic book icon Jack Kirby’sย New Gods #1ย in the ’70sย it was shown that the Old Gods had gone to war against the “New Gods” looking to replace them – and the battle scene inย Justice Leagueย is now all but confirmed to be related to that storyline.ย 

How it Applies to Justice League

Wonder Womanย stars Connie Nielsen (Queen Hippolyta) and Robin Wright (Antiope) recently confirmed that they are both going to be appearing in Justice League, with Nielsenย offering the following tease: “[Wright and I] got to do more in Justice League as well. As sisters as well. Kind of badass as well. We can’t say much, but โ€ฆ”

That quote says a great deal more than intended. Since (SPOILER!) Robin Wright’s General Antiopeย dies early on in Wonder Woman, it’s clear that the scene with her and Hippolyta being “badass” in Justice Leagueย must be a scene that takes place in the past. That’s further confirmed by the Wright also adding in the interview thatย Justice Leagueย will show more history of the Amazons.ย 

As stated, the battle sequence depicted inย Justice Leagueย invokes a lot of the Jack Kirby lore in DC Comics, and seems to be a reworked version of the historical battle between forces of the Old Gods (Zeus’ creation, The Amazons) and the New Gods (Darkseid’s forces from Apokolips). We know fromย Wonder Womanย producer Charles Roven that in this DCEU version of history, The Old Gods decided to hide important tools/weapons of the New Gods called Mother Boxes (more on them below) on Earth. As Roven explained in a previous interview:ย ย 

“Back before history, mankind, the Atlanteans before they were underwater, the Amazonians (sic), and actually the Old Gods, teamed together and decided that, based on an event that happened, these Mother Boxes were going to be placed in the care of as I said, the Amazonians (sic), mankind, and the Atlanteans,”

MORE: What Are The Mother Boxes?

That “event that happened” is clearly the New Gods of Apokolips invading ancient Earth for some nefarious purpose – only to be battled back by the forces of man, Atlantis, and (of course) the heroic sisters Hippolyta, Antiope, and their Amazon warriors.ย 

Besides tying intoย Wonder Woman‘s DCEU history, this battle of the gods on Earth could also be the possible reason for Atlantis sinking into the ocean – but that’s just speculation.ย 

What we do know for sure is thatย Justice Leagueย will have a massively important battle sequence – one that establishes a lot more DCEU lore, and will possibly lead to the introduction of the benevolent New Gods of New Genesis, such as Highfather and Orion.ย 

More Justice League News

In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroesโ€”Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flashโ€”it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder, from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, based on a story by Snyder and Terrio, and stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Amy Adams, Willem Dafoe, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeremy Irons, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, J. K. Simmons, and Ciarรกn Hinds.

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