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Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons attempted to take over Earth with the combined energies of three Mother Boxes. They were foiled by a unified army that included the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, mankind, and a Green Lantern. After repelling Steppenwolf's army,

Justice League is a 2017 superhero movie meant as the culmination of the DC Extended Universe films up to that point. It depicted the Justice League's formation and first battle against General Steppenwolf.

Initially directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio, it was heavily rewritten and reshot by Joss Whedon, which resulted in a critically panned theatrical cut and a more well-received "Snyder Cut". The Flash later confirmed the Snyder Cut was canon to the DCEU.

Synopsis for "Justice League (Movie)"

Thousands of years ago, Steppenwolf and his legions of Parademons attempted to take over Earth with the combined energies of three Mother Boxes. They were foiled by a unified army that included the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, mankind, and a Green Lantern. After repelling Steppenwolf's army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in locations on the planet. In the present, mankind is in mourning over Superman for two years, whose death triggers the Mother Boxes to reactivate and Steppenwolf's return to Earth. In an effort to regain favor with his master Darkseid, Steppenwolf aims to gather the boxes to form "The Unity", which will destroy Earth's ecology and terraform it in the image of Steppenwolf's homeworld.

Steppenwolf retrieves the Mother Box from Themyscira, prompting Queen Hippolyta to warn her daughter Diana of Steppenwolf's return. Diana joins Bruce Wayne in his attempt to unite other metahumans to their cause, with Wayne going after Arthur Curry and Barry Allen, while Diana tries to locate Victor Stone. Wayne fails to persuade Curry, but manages to recruit an enthusiastic Allen onto the team. Although Diana fails to convince Stone to join, he agrees to help them locate the threat if he discovers their location. Stone later joins the team after his father Silas and several other S.T.A.R. Labs employees are kidnapped by Steppenwolf seeking to acquire the Mother Box from mankind.

Steppenwolf attacks an Atlantean outpost to retrieve the next Mother Box, forcing Curry into action. The team receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon leading them to Steppenwolf's army, based in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor. Although the group manages to rescue the kidnapped employees, the facility is flooded during combat, which traps the team until Curry helps delay the flood so they can escape. Stone retrieves the last Mother Box, which he had hidden, for the group to analyze. Stone reveals that his father used the Mother Box to rebuild Stone's body after an accident almost cost him his life. Wayne decides to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman, not only to help them fight off Steppenwolf's invasion, but also to restore hope to mankind. Diana and Curry are hesitant about the idea, but Wayne forms a secret contingency plan in case Superman returns as hostile.

Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the amniotic fluid of the genesis chamber of the Kryptonian scout ship alongside the Mother Box, which in turn activates after Flash uses his powers to charge it up and successfully resurrects Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Stone accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he reflects and his memories slowly come back. In the turmoil, the last Mother Box is left unguarded and Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease. Without Superman to aid them, the five heroes travel to a village in Russia where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes once again to remake Earth. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to distract him enough for Stone to separate the Mother Boxes. Superman arrives and assists Allen in evacuating the city, as well as Stone in separating the Mother Boxes. The team defeats Steppenwolf, who, overcome with fear, is attacked by his own Parademons before they all teleport away.

After the battle, Bruce and Diana agree to set up a base of operations for the team, with room for more members. As the team is now established, Diana steps back into the public spotlight as a heroine; Barry acquires a job in Central City's police department, impressing his father; Victor continues to explore and enhance his abilities with his father in S.T.A.R. Labs; Arthur embraces his Atlantean heritage and continues protecting people on the seas; and Superman resumes his life as reporter Clark Kent and as protector of Earth as well. In a mid-credits scene, Superman and Barry have a friendly race to see which of them is faster. In a post-credits scene, Lex Luthor has escaped from Arkham Asylum and then recruits Slade Wilson to form their own league.

Appearing in "Justice League (Movie)"

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Notes

  • In an interview with Cinemablend, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins stated that she did not consider Joss Whedon's cut of Justice League canon to the rest of the DCEU. She continued to state that it contradicts her films in particular, and other directors, like James Wan and David Ayer, made their films to work with Zack Snyder's original version of the film.[1]
  • A week before the release of his cut in March 2021 however, Snyder confirmed that Whedon's version is still canon for Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. But his version is not.[2]
  • Julian Lewis Jones portrays an unnamed ancient Atlantean king in Justice League and the same character in Zack Snyder's Justice League. However, the latter film confirmed that this king is supposed to be Atlan.[3]
    • The Flash later made reference to his time-reversal effect in Pozharnov in Zack Snyder's Justice League, thereby acknowledging the aforementioned director's cut as part of the franchise canon and placing the theatrical version in an alternate timeline.


See Also


  1. Cinemablend: Patty Jenkins Has Blunt Reasons For Not Liking Joss Whedon's Justice League
  2. Milheim, Russ (10 March 2021). Justice League: Zack Snyder Admits Joss Whedon Movie Is DCEU Canon. The Direct. The Direct.
  3. Proud to stand side-by-side with King Atlan. #SnyderCut. Zack Snyder's Justice League. Twitter (March 19, 2021). Retrieved on May 24, 2021.
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