Everything We Know about the Justice League Movie So Far

After nearly a decade of missed chances and failed starts, production is finally underway on a live action Justice League movie.The new movie, simply titled Justice League, is part of the DC Cinematic Universe that began with Man of Steel and was expanded by Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and the upcoming Suicide Squad movie. Justice League won’t be out until next November, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to share what we know about the movie so far:

The Basics

Like Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, Justice League will be directed by Zack Snyder, the director made famous by films like 300 and Sucker Punch.  However, while his previous forays into the DC Cinematic Universe were extremely dour and serious, Snyder promised that Justice League will have a significantly lighter tone.  Snyder isn’t the only member of Batman V Superman‘s production team to return for Justice League.  The script for the movie is written by Chris Terrio, who also wrote the screenplay for Batman V Superman. 

Co-producing the movie is Geoff Johns, DC’s Chief Creative Officer.  Johns was allegedly given a bigger role on Justice League in response to Batman V Superman underperforming at the box office. Johns now has oversight on all DC films and will use his love and knowledge of DC history to provide an authentic experience for fans.  Johns recently ushered in an era of “hope and optimism” in DC’s comics with Rebirth and WB executives might hope he’ll repeat that with the movies.  

A Two Part Film…Sort Of

There’s a bit of confusion as to whether Justice League is a standalone or two part film.  When first announced, Justice League was a two part film, with part one coming out on November 17, 2017 and the second half coming out in June 2019.  However, Justice League: Part Two (obviously a working title) seems to be intended more as a traditional sequel than a direct continuation of Justice League.  Warner Bros. isn’t filming the two movie parts together and rumors have noted that the two Justice League movie won’t have one continuous plot.  Basically, expect the two Justice League movies to be more like Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron than the Lord of the Rings movies. Zack Snyder will direct both movies and the entire cast of Justice League is expected to appear in both parts.

State of the DC Cinematic Universe

Man of Steel set the tone for the DC Cinematic Universe, but Batman V Superman really made the idea of a shared universe come alive.  Not only did we see Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman fight together for the first time, we also learned that there were other metahumans in the DC Universe as well.  While hacking into Lex Luthor’s network, Batman discovered files on Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg and Aquaman, all of whom are set to appear in Justice League.

While Justice League will feature a full cast, it could be missing DC’s most important superhero.  Superman died after a lengthy battle against Doomsday, leaving Earth strangely vulnerable to attack.  Superman’s death greatly impacted Batman (who had spent most of Batman V Superman preparing for a showdown with the Man of Steel) and it appears that he’ll be collecting a team of metahumans to make up for Superman’s absence.  

Who’s In and Who’s Out

Here’s the superheroes we know will appear in Justice League: 

Batman (Ben Affleck): An older version of the Caped Crusader, Batman started off Batman V Superman violent and embittered, but gained a new appreciation for heroics after the death of Superman.  While Robin is dead, Batman still has Alfred hanging around the Batcave, there to provide support and nag his longtime friend for grandbabies. 

Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot): An immortal Amazon who lives incognito in the real world.  Wonder Woman’s backstory will be fleshed out in her own movie next summer but a photo shown in Batman V Superman showed that she’s been around since at least World War I.

The Flash (Ezra Miller): A super-speedster living in Central City.  We got a glimpse of the Flash in action in Batman V Superman, when the Flash seemingly traveled back in time to warn Batman about Superman’s impending turn to darkness after Lois Lane’s death. 

Aquaman (Jason Momoa): Underwater dweller and king of Atlantis.  In lieu of his traditional costume, Momoa instead is sporting an intricate set of tattoos for the role. 

Cyborg (Ray Miller): A college athlete transformed into a mechanical warrior after a horrific accident.  In the DC Cinematic Universe, Cyborg was transformed by a Mother Box, which we saw on screen during Batman V Superman. 

Superman (Henry Cavill): Metropolis’s Kryptonian guardian, who’s currently sitting in a wooden box six feet under the ground in Smallville. The dirt around Superman’s grave seemed to levitate in the last scene of Batman V Superman, hinting at his return.

Mera (Amber Heard): Aquaman’s future wife with the ability to control and manipulate water with her mind.  Heard confirmed she was playing Mera in March, but her role in the movie was recently called into question when she was sent home from a costume fitting. 

WB also plans to eventually bring in multiple Green Lanterns into the DC Cinematic Universe, but they probably won’t appear in Justice League.  And while DC has longterm plans for Shazam (The Rock is already signed up to play Black Adam), don’t expect to see him either. 

The Villain

Batman V Superman provided fans with a pretty big clue who Justice League’s big bad will be.  During a dream/flash forward sequence, Batman fought Parademons in world clearly controlled by Darkseid and Apokoliptian forces.  We didn’t actually see Darkseid, but we did see his infamous Omega symbol stamped into a large clearing as a Fire Pit (similar to the ones seen in Apokolips) burned near the remains of a city. 

However, don’t expect to see Darkseid appear on Earth just yet.  Rumors indicate that Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s lieutenants, will be the primary antagonist of the movie.  This is backed by a deleted scene in Batman V Superman that showed Lex Luthor communicating with an alien creature holding several Mother Boxes on Zod’s Kryptonian battleship.  The alien’s helmet and garb looked similar to Steppenwolf’s armor, and the scene explained why Luthor warned Batman that “something” was coming to Earth at the end of the film.

Supporting Cast

In addition to a full cast of superheroes, several other classic DC characters will also appear in Justice League. 

Amy Adams will return as Lois Lane, Superman’s love interest and anchor to humanity.  The Flash mentioned that Lane’s safety is paramount to Earth’s future in Batman V Superman, so expect her to have a big part in Justice League. Jesse Eisenberg may also return as Lex Luthor, Superman’s maniacal menace who may have inadvertently put Earth on Apokolips’ radar. 

In addition to Alfred returning for Justice League, JK Simmons will play Commissioner Gordon, Batman’s other longtime ally in Gotham.  Recent photos showed Simmons getting beefed up for the role, so maybe Gordon will fight Darkseid one on one at some point in Justice League. 

Willem Dafoe is also in Justice League, as an as-yet-unidentified “good guy” character rumored to be tied to Aquaman.

All The Rumors (That Are Probably Wrong)

There’s a ton of rumors floating around about Justice League, most of which are probably wrong.  The most intriguing one I’ve seen is that the Amazons have some sort of connection to Apokolips, as they stopped a previous Apokoliptian invasion of Earth thousands of years ago.  Tying into that plot is that the Justice League will apparently be hunting three Mother Boxes, one of which is part of Cyborg’s mechanical body, while the other two are in Themyscira and Atlantis respectively. 

Since this is a Justice League movie, plenty of additional DC characters are also rumored to appear in the film.  We’ve seen rumors about Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Lobo, Maxwell Lord, and Black Canary, all of which should be taken with a pretty big grain of salt.  Remember that none of Batman V Superman‘s rumored cameos came to pass…unless you count the unnamed photographer/CIA agent who turned out to be Jimmy Olsen.