The first official trailer for Justice League dropped today — yeah, that footage fans have been watching over and over again for months is technically just a Comic Con sizzle reel — and, among other things, gave the audience several good looks at the Parademons of Apokolips, who seem to be a primary antagonist in the film and much more menacing onscreen than they have been in many comic book appearances.
You can check a number of Parademon images out in the attached image gallery, as they square off against Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and even the Amazon army of Themyscira.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Parademons are the foot soldiers of the space tyrant Darkseid – think of them as the orcs in Lord of the Rings, a marginally intelligent, fiercely loyal troop that’s bred only for war. Darkseid’s uncle, Steppenwolf, is the principal antagonist in Justice League.
During a set visit last summer, executive producer Deborah Snyder told reporters including ComicBook.com that the Parademons would play a major role in the film. Back in February, her husband and the film’s director Zack Snyder shared an editing bay image that featured Batman squaring off with a group of Parademons.
At least on paper, they seem similar to the Chitauri of Marvel’s The Avengers or the Sakaarans in Guardians of the Galaxy: non-human, but humanoid and plentiful, giving the filmmakers the ability to show famliar fight and action sequences, but without the baggage that comes with killing human henchmen with impunity.
Parademons have shown up in many forms in the pages of DC Comics and in animated and video game adaptations since they were first created by Jack Kirby in 1971. The wasp-like flying parademons were featured prominently in Justice League: War, the animated film that launched a new continuity for DC Animation, based primarily on the New 52 relaunch of DC Comics.
It’s been widely speculated that those DC animated movies are being used as a development ground of sorts for the new live-action films, so it’s not too surprising to see them share a look — especially since Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the film in which the animated Parademons briefly debuted, served as an artist on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where the movie-look Parademons had a cameo.
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 heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—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, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons and Jesse Eisenberg.
Justice League hits theaters on November 17, 2017, just five months or so after the June release of Wonder Woman.
More Justice League:
- Trailer #1 released
- Viral site lets fans join the League
- The League stands together in new poster
- Is that the Justice Lords Batman costume?!
Related Posts
-
TMS Entertainment -
Henry Cavill as Superman in Man of Steel
