'Justice League' Steppenwolf And Parademon Plot Revealed, Also Batman's New Gear

Batman v Superman director Zack Snyder has been inviting press reps to the set of his Justice League film, which is shaping up to be a large-scale interdimensional punch-up between Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and a host of Steppenwolf’s Parademons. Fans will note we’ve actually already seen Steppenwolf’s creepy deal (in the deleted post posted to the internet after BvS’s release) and the Parademons (in Batman’s trippy dream sequence).

We’ve gathered everything currently available online regarding the film. The details range from costume descriptions to new promotional materials, so strap in.

We have a plot

Warner Bros released an official plot synopsis for the Justice League film, which is set for a 2017 release.

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 heroesBatman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash —it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

A great deal of BvS was devoted to setting the scene for Batman to track down the metahumans. Of course, we also know Superman will return for Justice League, but Warner Bros hasn’t revealed how or when. UPROXX reports that the first half of the film will follow Batman as he convinces each of the League members to join him. Deborah Snyder, one of the film’s producers, says Justice League will be more appropriate for small children than BvS was. On set, Zack Snyder screened the scene in which Batman confronts Barry Allen in his apartment, and we learned quite a bit about The Flash as a result.

The DCU Flash

UPROXX described Barry’s costume as “a sleek Iron Man suit, with individual crimson red metallic parts (148 of them, to be accurate) form-fitting to the body.” It appears first in the scene between Batman and Barry, and is apparently a personal project of Barry’s. His cowl looks vaguely like a “bicycle helmet”, and his body is covered in cables which contain the “electricity [he] produces”. Collider reports, “Flash has a cool pair of sneakers with the Flash symbol on both sides and on the base.”

Barry, thank god, is actually funny in his Justice League debut. He tells Batman that he’s a competitive ice dancer when interrogated about his Flash suit, and joins the team immediately because he “needs friends”. IGN reports, from another scene, “As [Jim] Gordon turns to speak to the team, he finds all but Flash have already left. Flash knocks his colleagues for ditching Gordon, remarking, “That’s rude.””

Additionally, when Cyborg teams up with the crew, Barry quips, ““If he’s joining us, there won’t be enough room in the car,” which prompts Batman to introduce his new transport.

Vehicles

Set visitors describe the Flying Fox, the ship in which the Justice League travels around in, as “massive”, with Alfred at the gunner’s station taking out baddies and providing cover for our heroes. Collider said, regarding the Fox, “It’s a three story ship that can fit the Batmobile and tons of other Bat gadgets. The ship is self-contained and a fantastic piece of equipment.”

It seems Batman has also added machine guns and a missile launcher to the Batmobile, and has acquired the Nightcrawler, an underground-ready vehicle built for rough terrain. Collider says, “Imagine the main part of the Batmobile except where the wheels would normally go you have four spider like legs from the largest spider you can imagine,” and that sounds insanely cool.

Branding

It appears everyone on set for Justice League is sure the DCU team-up film, which is now consolidated into a single part, will be more fun and more optimistic than any of Snyder’s previous superhero films. When interviewed, Snyder told reporters that Geoff Johns had been a positive and helpful presence on set, which means Johns’ “enough with the gritty already” mentality had sunk in. Several sources confirm the Justice League film will cater to younger, less disillusioned audiences who don’t necessarily want their superheroes “deconstructed.” Even the new logo for the film looks like a Converse ad:

Ben Affleck, who has a production credit in addition to playing Batman, told reporters, “It’s not going to be – DC movies I think, by their nature are a little more – gothic, or mythic rather, excuse me, than some comic book movies are. But that movie was very dark and heavy because it was really rooted in Dark Knight Returns which is a heavy, dark book. And this is not that.”

When asked about the levity of the new film, Zack Snyder delivered some sort of strange syllable gumbo to reporters. IGN quoted him as saying, “”If it’s about putting more fun in the movie or embracing some of the more what I would call — because I think it’s in all the characters inherently, sort of this larger-than-life, big, fun stuff, especially when you’re dealing with the Justice League. You can’t — and Flash and with [Aquaman actor Jason] Momoa, when you see, I’ve been out with Jason and the way that he’s interacting with the group, even just in his Jason-ness, the contrast to Ben and to Gal is really interesting and fun.” All of those barely-connected nouns indicate that Snyder is vaguely on board with Geoff Johns’ rebranding of DC, which is heartening.

Gal Gadot added, “It’s fun, it’s funny. It’s different, each and every character brings their own flavor and color to the team. And for me, you know, personally it’s really fun to play with them.”

Another part of the DCU’s branding for Justice League is its reliance on practical effects and in-house costume design. Collider reports that every superhero costume in the film was constructed on set, and that 3D printing was heavily involved in the process. As we’ve noted regarding the minute details on Wonder Woman’s BvS costume, it appears Warner Bros wants comprehensive, complex costumes for each of their characters — suits that could feasibly work in physical combat, in addition to looking cool.