[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Superman.] “3 CENTURIES AGO, the first superpowered beings, known as METAHUMANS, appeared on Earth, ushering in a new era of GODS AND MONSTERS.” Those are the words that open James Gunn’s Superman movie, introducing audiences to the newly rebooted DC Universe. Three years after Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton (David Corenswet), announced himself as Superman, we meet the Justice Gang: Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), corporate superheroes funded by the LordTech corporation and tech mogul Maxwell Lord (Sean Gunn).
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Although Guy and eventual new recruit Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) are the only members to embrace the team’s “Justice Gang” name, the moniker appears to be a homage to the heroic heritage of the world’s first super-team: the Justice Society of America.
When intrepid Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) investigates Superman’s disappearance inside the pocket universe where Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is holding his alien prisoner to keep Superman from interfering with the Boravian invasion, she visits the Justice Gang’s Metropolis-based headquarters at the Hall of Justice. As Lois attempts to talk Guy into a jailbreak, a mural depicting the golden age superheroes of the JSA can be seen adorning the walls of the former train station (filmed at Cincinnati Union Terminal, the original inspiration for the Hall of Justice in the ’70s cartoon Super Friends).
The DCU JSA
Examine the mural and you’ll spot World War II-era heroes like speedster Jay Garrick, the first Flash, and Wesley Dodds, the original Sandman, two founding members of the JSA in 1940’s All-Star Comics #3. Written by prolific Flash Comics and Adventure Comics scribe Gardner Fox, who would go on to form the Justice League in The Brave and the Bold #28 in 1960, the first meeting of the Justice Society of America included the likes of Hawkman, Dr. Fate, the Spectre, Hourman, the Atom, and Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern.
Other characters visible in the mural include Ted Grant, a heavyweight boxing champion who joined the JSA as the costumed vigilante Wildcat; Gardner Grayle’s armored Atomic Knight; the 16th Century swashbuckler Jon Valor, the Black Pirate; Dominic Mndawe, the South African superhero known as Freedom Beast of the Global Guardians; Brian Kent, a 6th Century knight called the Silent Knight; Amethyst, the magical princess of the other-worldly Gemworld; and Paco Ramone, a sonic-powered metahuman who joined a Detroit the Detroit-based Justice League of America as the superhero Vibe.
Like the ever-changing roster of the JLA, the JSA has gone on to include the likes of Dinah Lance’s Black Canary and legacy heroes like Starman, Sand (the Sandman’s former ward, Golden Boy), Star-Spangled Kid, the Kendra Saunders Hawkgirl, and Michael Holt, the second Mister Terrific who adopted the mantle from Terry Sloane.
“This is the most Easter egg-laden movie I’ve ever made. I have a lot of Easter eggs in my movie,” Gunn said while promoting Superman. “I mean, every character in the movie is practically from the comic books. Everybody in Lex’s control room, all those people are characters from the comic books. Every street in the movie is named after a comic book writer or artist. Most of the businesses are either named after a comic book writer or artist, or they are named after businesses that exist within the DC Universe on the page.”
“Later on, there’s an iconic scene with a huge, huge mural in the background that tells you the story of metahumans in the DCU. And that’s going to be really fun when we release those images to the public,” the writer-director continued. “So the stuff goes deep. It’s really fun, and it was really fun creating the world. That was one of the reasons that I liked DC a lot, because it isn’t New York and Los Angeles. It’s Gotham, and Central City, and Evergreen. It is really creating another world with other rules.”
DC Studios’ Superman is now playing only in theaters.
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