‘Justice League’ Photo Reveals Closeup of Ares, Artemis, and Zeus

In one of the most epic scenes in Justice League, the heroes of Earth (with an assist from Green Lanterns) came together to fight off Steppenwolf’s first attack on the planet in ancient times. Now, we’re getting a better look at the “Old Gods” who helped in the fight.

While the official Justice League art book revealed detailed looks at Zeus and Ares’ artistic concepts, a post on Reddit’s DC Cinematic community shared photos on Twitter of the actors who played the gods in costume as Ares, Artemis, and Zeus. You can check it out below.

The Twitter post also shared the differences between the Ares artistic concept as seen in the Justice League book and the practical costume as seen in the film. While the action scene was so fast-paced in the film, this gives fans their first opportunity to see what the Old Gods looked like and as you can see, the concept and the actual costume stayed pretty close in look for Ares, while Zeus appears more low-key in the photo, though the sheer size of his arms make his lightning-throwing in the film all the more impressive.

However, this behind-the-scenes glimpse at the heroic gods only reminded some fans that the history lesson flashback wasn’t long enough, with some Redditors wanting to have seen more of the gods fighting off Steppenwolf’s first attempt at invading Earth. Others pointed out that despite the actor in Ares’ gear is not David Thewlis, it’s Thewlis who is credited on Justice League as playing Ares. Thewlis played Ares in Wonder Woman and his receiving credit on Justice League lead some to speculate that he had recorded dialogue or filmed scenes that didn’t make it to the final cut of the film.

Even with criticism of the brevity of the gods’ appearance in the film and why the history lesson wasn’t longer, the flashback sequence was well-regarded by fans and provided an exciting tease of what fans might be able to expect in David F. Sandberg’s upcoming Shazam! movie. With the titular hero, played by Zachary Levi, having the power of the gods fans could get some very exciting action scenes when that film reaches theaters.

Justice League is now in theaters; Aquaman arrives on December 21, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Wonder Woman 2 on November 1st, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020.