Every DC Comics Character That Appears in ‘Justice League’

The Justice League finally came to the big screen last November — but they were hardly alone.

As in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2015, the film featured a number of DC characters whose names were not actually in the film’s title.

With dozens of DC and Marvel characters coming to screens big and small in 2018, it seems like as good a time as any to look back at DC’s biggest outing of 2017 to see what foundation was being laid for the future to come.

You can check them out here, with the obvious caveat that some of these will be somewhat spoilery if you have not yet seen the film and still care.

Justice League is in theaters now, and is expected to be available on DVD, Blu-ray and digital in February.

The Justice League

Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman returned in Justice League, joined by Cyborg, The Flash, and Aquaman.

Each of the new characters got a bit of screen time establishing them, with The Flash and Cyborg being singled out for a bit more screen time than Wonder Woman, who had a solo film last year, and Aquaman, whose solo film comes out this year.

On top of that, we had Alfred Pennyworth acting as, essentially, the Oracle/Overwatch to the team, providing intel, technical support, hardware, and more.

 

Steppenwolf & the Parademons

He likes to conquer worlds right between the sound machine.

Seen in the delted scenes from Batman v Superman, Justice League villain Steppenwolf led a horde of monstrous Parademons against the League in the film. 

In the comics, Steppenwolf is the leader of Apokolips’s military leader; his weapon of choice is the Electro-Axe, which he uses to lead invasions on behalf of his nephew.

You don’t know Steppenwolf? It’s never too late…

Steppenwolf was the brother of Heggra and commander of Apokolips’s military during both her reign and that of her husband Yuga Khan.

Her son, Darkseid, sent Steppenwolf to New Genesis, where he killed Izaya’s wife. Izaya, in revenge, killed him in the ensuing war between the two planets. However, he was resurrected, and Darkseid once again put him command of the military.

In the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe, Steppenwolf was ultimately killed on Earth by the Terror Titans as part of a tie-in to Final Crisis.

In the post-Flashpoint DC Universe, Steppenwolf’s first appearance on the main Earth was in the recently-concluded Darkseid War storyline, which saw the forces of Apokolips battling the Anti-Monitor. Before that, though, Steppenwolf was notorious on Earth-2.

Steppenwolf led an army against Earth in the name of Darkseid during the Apokolips War, killed Wonder Woman and Superman during their last ditch attack against him. He was, however, turned back after Batman sacrificed his life to send all of Steppenwolf’s Parademons back through Boom Tubes.

 

The Amazons

Wonder Woman’s Amazon sisters appear in Justice League — not just because in the present but in the past.

We got a glimpse of the modern-day Amazons as they tried and failed to defend one of the Mother Boxes from Steppenwolf and his Parademons, and later in flashback got to see the story of how the Mother Box ended up on Themyscira in the first place.

There was some controversy, as the Amazons looked and acted a bit differently here than they did in Wonder Woman, although obviously neither of the two times Justice League‘s Amazons come from are exactly the same as Wonder Woman‘s World War I setting.

 

Mera

In the comics, Mera is Aquaman’s wife, who rules Atlantis at his side (y’know — when he actually gets to rule. There are a lot of coups and other assorted political strife in Atlantis).

Here, they have a much cooler relationship, with some obvious sexual tension but no clear relationship, other than her being disappointed by his failure to “grow up” into the role his mother had intended for him.

We get to see her only briefly, and the way they communicate will apparently look different in Aquaman, but both her wardrobe and that of Atlantis’s soldiers will remain materially the same.

 

Commissioner Gordon

As one of Batman’s key supporting characters, Commissioner Jim Gordon would have one of the largest screen resumes of any DC character even if he weren’t currently appearing (played by Ben McKenzie) as the main character on FOX’s Gotham.

He shows up here in part as a way of illustrating the changing way that Gotham is viewing Batman; Gordon is happy to see Batman seemingly less crazed and more willing to work with others — even if they are the aliens and metahumans he would previously have figured were a menace.

 

Crispus Allen

Actor Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who had a small role in Marvel’s Doctor Strange, returned to the world of superheroes in last year’s Justice League as Crispus Allen, a Gotham City Police Department officer who in the comics eventually becomes The Spectre.

Allen debuted as a Gotham cop in the pages of Detective Comics #742 by Greg Rucka and Shawn Martinbrough, and later became a prominent character in Gotham Central by Rucka, Ed Brubaker, and Michael Lark.

The character has also appeared on Gotham played by Andrew Stewart-Jones, and by Rob Brown in The Dark Knight Rises.

One of the rare objectively good cops in Gotham City, the character was seemingly a go-to in Justice League for Commissioner Gordon.

In the comics, Allen was murdered by the corrupt cop Jim Corrigan in the pages of Gotham Central, becoming the new human host for the Spectre during the Infinite Crisis event.

It remains to be seen if Holdbrook-Smith will reprise the role in a future film, though J.K. Simmons is set to reprise his role as Commissioner Gordon in Matt Reeves’ planned Batman movie.

Besides The Batman, there is the remote chance that Holdbrook-Smith could appear in Justice League Dark if it should ever get off the ground; that movie reportedly will feature The Spectre alongside supernatural heroes and antiheroes like John Constantine, Swamp Thing, and Zatanna.

The Spectre is the merging of a human soul with God’s swift arm of judgment; a supernatural hero with near-limitless powers, many of the character’s solo stories over the years have centered on making villains and sinners pay for their transgressions in violent and creative ways.

Lois Lane & Martha Kent

Both Lois Lane and Martha Kent return to the film after appearance in Batman v Superman and Man of Steel.

In Lois’s case, she is used to motivate and calm Superman, although we lose the scene in which she and Clark discuss their engagement, which appeared in the trailer.

Martha, meanwhile, continues to be a put-upon working woman who ultimately can’t get out from under the mountain of debt that burying her son presumably cost her, until she gets a little timely assistance from Bruce Wayne.

 

Silas Stone

Joe Morton, Jr. — the character actor who plays Olivia Pope’s father on Scandal — plays Silas Stone, the father of Victor Stone, the metahuman better known as Cyborg.

Stone is an executive at STAR Labs, which will likely inform much of what’s going on with Cyborg in this and his own solo movie.

It’s likely safe to assume that Morton will reprise the role in Cyborg.

Ironically, it’s Morton’s Silas — and not Vic himself — who audiences got to hear from directly in Batman v Superman itself, where audiences also learned that Stone and STAR had a Mother Box.

 

Henry Allen

Watchmen star Billy Crudup plays Henry Allen, father of Barry Allen/The Flash.

Warner Bros. frequently dips into their own past for new films; once they’ve worked with – and like – and actor, they tend to show their loyalty, so Crudup getting another shot in a superhero world isn’t too surprising. The casting for The Flash should be speeding up right about now, as the film is expected to go into active production directly after Justice League, also starring Miller as The Flash, finishes principal photography.

Crudup has spent plenty of time in the genre world, including a role in 2017’s Alien: Covenant.

In the CW version of The Flash, Henry Allen has been either a recurring or ongoing guest character, falsely accused of killing his wife; it’s a major plot point that led Flashpoint in the comics — the story from which The Flash’s solo film draws its title.

 

Lex Luthor and Deathstroke

In the post-credits sequence that likely marks Zack Snyder’s last contribution to the DC Extended Universe, Lex Luthor and Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson appear together.

Deathstroke’s involvement with Justice League and the greater DC cinematic universe, in general, has been in question for some time. Test footage was revealed early on of actor Joe Manganiello in full costume, but it wasn’t known where he would eventually show up. The answer turns out to be Justice League’s first after credits sequence.

The sequence starts off at Arkham Asylum, as the Guards direct the prisoners to their regular duties. A prisoner is turned away from the camera, sporting a bald head similar to Lex Luthor’s. He isn’t moving though, so the guard issues a few more commands. He doesn’t budge, so the guard approaches him and turns him around, revealing a prisoner who is most definitely not Luthor.

The scene flashes over to a yacht in the ocean, with another smaller boat approaching it. As the camera pans closer you can see an armored figure walking onto the yacht, which turns out to be Deathstroke in all his glory. He approaches the main figure on the yacht, which is revealed to be Lex Luthor. Luthor has a proposition for Deathstroke, and that’s when Deathstroke removes his helmet to reveal a gray-haired and eye patch wearing Manganiello.

That’s a pretty fantastic moment to be sure, but Luthor makes it even better when he teases that the two should “start a League of our own.”