The Justice League movie is set for release in 2015. So far, we really haven't heard anything other than the possibility of Darkseid being the villain to unite the team. It was also reported by Latino Review that JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA issues #183-185 will be the inspiration for the plot.

The question is, besides containing Darkseid, what were the issues about? What happened and could the issues be used for a movie plot?

I was able to track down the issues in my collection (don't tell anyone I left work early). The story starts out with the team finding themselves on New Genesis, the home of the New Gods. The team consists of Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Firestorm from the Justice League and Dr. Fate, Huntress, Power Girl and Wonder Woman from the Justice Society. This will obviously change along with any Earth-1/Earth-2 references.

Superman tells the others he's been there before and New Genesis lies "somewhere beyond the bounds of time and space." New Genesis appears to be abandoned. It's Firestorm that impulsively ventures off and runs into Orion the Hunter. After a misunderstanding and battle, the heroes discover that it was Metron that brought them there. He arrives with Mr. Miracle, Big Barda and Oberon.

The heroes were brought to New Genesis because the evil planet Apokolips has kidnapped the entire population and turned them into mindless slaves. They find out that Darkseid had been killed by Orion (secretly Darkseid's son) when Darkseid was trying to pierce the forbidden final barrier to gain ultimate knowledge. No one knows who is behind the kidnapping with Darkseid gone. They soon discover that Darkseid has been brought back from death.

With the return of Darkseid and the fact that the Injustice Society (from Earth-2) helped bring him back, immediate action was required. As Power Girl, Firestorm and Orion tried to put a stop to Darkseid's resurrection, Superman, Wonder Woman and Big Barda visited Granny Goodness' prison-orphanage where they discovered the Apokolips Underground Fighters, a guerrila army of children living underneath Granny's place.

They find out from a multi-cog child with a mind that combines precognition with telepathy. He saw on Earth-2 an animate construct of Darkseid erupted from the ground and offered Fiddler, Icicle and Shade power if they obeyed him.

They made their way to Apokolips and Fiddler and Shade used their powers to kidnap the gods of New Genesis. They know that Darkseid was planning his recreation but they weren't sure what else.

As this went on, Dr. Fate, Hal Jordan and Oberon are fighting soldiers of Apokolips. They know someone was imprisoned near by and soon discover it's Izaya, High-Father of the New Gods.

Green Lantern tries to free him from his restraints but is unable to do so.

Dr. Fate is finally able to free the High-Father. He is in a weakened form as the bonds were sapping his will and life-force. High-Father's says he'll recover but they need to act immediately. He can sense Darkseid's evil and says he knows what's in his mind. If he is allowed to complete his plan, it would result in the destruction of all space and time.

As Batman, Huntress and Mr. Miracle break into the imperial palace, Darkseid's plan is revealed. Mr. Miracle has uncovered tells them that Darkseid needs the kidnapped people of New Genesis to build him a machine that can be used as a transmatter device. Darkseid plans to transport Apokolips into the Earth-2 universe because there won't be any old or new gods to stop him.

Now that Darkseid is back, he confesses that when he was dead, he was floating in a spiritual limbo. He soon came to treasure the memory of living things. This just makes him more upset and he says he will never forgive himself for such weakness.

The Injustice Society points out that not only have they brought him back, they also defeated Power Girl, Firestorm and Orion. The three are trapped within a block of ice. This doesn't sit well with Darkseid since even though Orion is a traitor, he is still Darkseid's son. He hits them with the Omega Force which transports them to their permanent prison. Because he didn't destroy them, Darkseid feels even he can be merciful. When a soldier asks if they should free his son, Darkseid replies that he doesn't care that his son is trapped. He was angry that they beat him. He's fine if the frozen heroes rot.

Batman, Huntress and Mr. Miracle free the frozen heroes. Wonder Woman, Superman and Barda capture Granny. Fiddler, Shade and Icicle are liberated from their prison since Fiddler's power is needed to free the people of New Genesis from their hypnotic trance.

Darkseid is ready to transport Apokolips but Orion, Power Girl and Firestorm arrive to stop him. Darkseid shoots the Omega Force at them but Firestorm acts quickly to deflect it back at Darkseid.

Stunned, Darkseid manages to start the device. It appears the heroes are too late. Earth-2 is doomed.

High-Father quickly points out that the beam wasn't directed at Apokolips but the imperial palace. The beam hits Darkseid, seemingly destroying him, once again.

It turns out this happened because Metron felt he had no choice but to interfere. When Darkseid was preoccupied with them, he reprogrammed the master computer to redirect the machine's beam at Darkseid.

The threat is over. End of story.

How will this relate to the movie?

Clearly a lot needs to be changed. The basic idea could be used. Darkseid needs to transport Apokolips into the movie's universe which would result in the destruction of Earth. We'd have to assume the heroes won't be necessarily transported to New Genesis. If they were, that could be a way to first gather the team. Metron, or some other character, could have found heroes on Earth such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and so forth, all who might be unaware of the existence of each other. They are needed to fight Darkseid and the fact that it's their world at risk gives them the incentive to agree to the fight.

It sounds like it could be a lot for a movie that will be introducing most of the characters. This is something that would work better if the heroes were already established in their own solo movies first, as Marvel/Disney did.

The idea could work. It'll be tricky. Darkseid is a big threat that would call for uniting Earth's mightiest heroes (yes, I know that's how the Avengers are described). We'll have to wait to see if what further developments there are.

Does sound a little over-the-top when the heroes haven't been introduced ahead of time.

I am really hoping Darkseid isn't the main villain. More than any other villain, Darkseid NEEDS to be built up too. Works better that way. Hollywood is a game a sequels. Now who could possibly be a threat to the JL if they have already beaten DARKSEID? THINK this out WB. Give us a more personal threat. Bring us the L.O.D/ The Light (Young Justice)

Yeah, I would have rather seen new 52 Justice League turn into a movie. The way they came together was great, but this just seems to have way to much going on for a Justice League movie. Too much characters, just keep it simple. Justice League n52 story would bee a great movie. But then again it would feel like the Avengers movie. Which I don't think would be bad.

DC just has not been able to set up movies like Marvel. Marvel got it right with setting up the characters before Avengers. Now DC comes and screws up Green lantern and than has the balls to try a Justice League movie. They need to just sit down and watch some marvel movies and try to figure out how to make a movie. I mean has any Marvel movie been as bad as Green Lantern--I don't think so.

@jstndmnd said:

DC just has not been able to set up movies like Marvel. Marvel got it right with setting up the characters before Avengers. Now DC comes and screws up Green lantern and than has the balls to try a Justice League movie. They need to just sit down and watch some marvel movies and try to figure out how to make a movie. I mean has any Marvel movie been as bad as Green Lantern--I don't think so.

Spiderman 3.

>_>

DC is trying to rush on the bandwagon rather than take the slow approach like Marvel did. They're going to rush themselves and make a slew of bad movies, most likely, if they're not really careful. I can't wait for the movie, and yet at the same time I hope it gets pushed back 5 years, so they can make other movies first.

I feel that Darksied would be a bad villain because everyone would just compare him to Thanos in Avengers 2. This idea would be terrible because introducing the Justice League and the New Gods would just be two much for one movie.

@jstndmnd said:

DC is trying to rush on the bandwagon rather than take the slow approach like Marvel did. They're going to rush themselves and make a slew of bad movies, most likely, if they're not really careful. I can't wait for the movie, and yet at the same time I hope it gets pushed back 5 years, so they can make other movies first.

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I didn't like any of the Marvel solo movies. BUT, I thought the Avengers was awesome!

Not sure why DC needs to follow in Marvels footprints to be succesful? I'd rather see a slew of new actors in the JL movie, and based on critical reviews of the movie...determine what characters could hold their own in a solo movie. I don't want to wait ten years for a JL movie just so I can have a proper setup by watching half a dozen solo movies. I would rather see them go in the direction the LOTR and the Hobbit movies are going and split it up into 3 parts, one every year for one huge epic tale.

My .02

It. Is. Official. I have totally lost faith in this movie. I believe Man of Steel will be a fantastically epic movie, but as for Justice League? Yes all hope I had has now been shot clean out the window, hit by a bus, and crushed by a steam roller.

There is NO WAY this can end well. They are literally throwing a team together with characters that are basically strangers to us. Yes because without movies to give backstory to them, whatever Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern in the movie will be strangers because without backstory we will have no idea what their story is or how it differs from what we have seen in the comics.

Any adaptation needs to be able to stand on it's own and having a movie with seven main characters when we've only got to see ONE of them in a solo movie, Superman in this case, is setting up for failure.

Now I could be proven wrong, it wouldn't be the first time, but as of now I do not think I am. The New Gods are too similar to what they did in Thor's movie as the classic Kirby designs reigned supreme in that movie for the design of Asgard. The New Gods have ALWAYS been Kirby designed and Darkseid while a totally different character than Thanos does share many cosmetic similarities and would no doubt be panned for being a Thanos rip off by the general movie goer/

If this leads to Power Girl being in the movie, I'm all for it.

As others have said, I really don't think it's a good idea to release a Justice League movie so soon. They really need to wait and give all the characters a backstory before bringing them all together in one movie otherwise they'll be juggling with too much in just one movie. Also, I will say that I agree that the story in the article may work for a Justice League movie after I thinking about it but I still think they need to build up backstories for everyone before making a JL movie.

I think Power Girl should be in the movie!

@Danial79 said:

Does sound a little over-the-top when the heroes haven't been introduced ahead of time.

Agreed... it'd be entirely rushed!

Hopefully this movie will not end up like the Green Lantern movie.

I'm being optimistic in that I think this movie could be pretty good. Just wondering who the actual members of the League will be

This idea could work if it was looked at from an idea similar to what Smallville did (where Darkseid was more a corrupting influence much like the Devil......though personally I think his depiction was a big let-down in a final season that could have done with more focus) in that Darkseid is seeking to return from limbo/being imprisoned outside of reality and to do so he needs to feed on the corruption he spreads on Earth. Instead of bogging down the audiences with a great deal of characters, I would put a Final Crisis spin on the concept and make the beings of New Genesis and Apokolips be the Old Gods instead of the New Gods. They are the ones that had the terrible Ragnarok and in its wake an entirely new reality was created (much like the Big Crunch in the Marvel Universe). From that destruction Darkseid was the only survivor, trapped in a limbo like prison while the reality of the DC Movie Universe aged. He's made a number of attempts to escape, but each one has been foiled before he could gain enough power to breach the walls of reality. From each of those attempts, however, those he's corrupted became trapped in Limbo with him and became his servants (thus setting up the movie concept for the Parademons). The Justice League and audience come to realize these multiple attempts because each period of violence was documented by the Guardians of the Universe.

Darkseid's last attempt was with the Martian race, but due to the psychic link they share instead of becoming corrupted half the race was driven mad and resulted in the genocidal civil war that ravaged the planet. This would lead into why J'onn J'onzz is Mars' only survivor, as he was selected to be the protector of a select group that looked to outlive the war by going into cryogenic sleep deep under Mars' surface. His was the only pod that didn't fail and after awakening from his sleep his telepathy senses Darkseid's corruption beginning on Earth.

The film starts off with the various nations of the world dealing with growing violence within their own borders as well as rising tensions and conflicts between nations and ethnic conflicts. Superman is seen flying all over the world attempting to curtail these outbreaks but is quickly losing ground. As he does so, however, the audience is introduced to the other heroes that will be the founding members of the League as each is trying to help in their own areas (without getting side tracked I would make recommend making Flash British, Canadian, or Australian in order to add a new dimension to the character for the silver screen and also highlight how there are heroes around the world vice just in the US.....since I would not make the title the Justice League of America but just Justice League why not have a bit more national diversity to go with that.....plus Barry Allen being a member of Scotland Yard could be very cool).

What the film needs to do better than Avengers, though, is not wait until the end of the movie to introduce Darkseid and his Parademon forces. Let that come in the first 30 minutes. Darkseid's been trying to centuries to return to reality. He's built up his power and forces. Humanity was just the last bit he needed to accomplish his goal. So make him invade early and really kick the crap out of the Earth. Earth is unprepared. The heroes are unprepared. There is no Justice League yet to stop him and his forces. Its a great surprise attack that nobody sees coming. In this way you work the new 52 origin story into the film as well. The rest of the film then is the heroes trying to recover, trying to come together, to trust one another and go into battle together. We can see the growth of Superman as he goes from lone protector to the groups inspirational leader. We can see the growth of Batman from a lone attacker to the groups strategist and voice of reason. Hal Jordan makes it to Earth after the attack rather than being on Earth during it (much like in the new 52 origin he comes back to Earth to investigate the presence of the Parademons before the invasion) at the same time that J'onn J'onzz does and its through these two that the team begins to piece together Darkseid's origins. Then the counter-attack begins by the now formed, but unnamed, Justice League.

The big problem I'm running into is how to finish off a film like this. Does the tear in reality Darkseid came through still exist? If he was powerful enough to break through once why would sending him back matter? I think the answer to this may be that the Justice League doesn't actually win their battle. Instead what they do is delay Darkseid enough that he doesn't destroy the Earth and humanity. In that timeframe, Darkseid's opposites, the once good Old Gods, are re-incarnated as the New Gods (without really going into who they are.......they appear more like beings of light than what we are traditionally used to as their rebirth is not complete) as the universe looks to balance out Darkseid's return. The two forces clash in a flash of light and in an instant Darkseid, the Parademons, a number of corrupted humans, and the New Gods are gone (post-credit scene could show them now on New Genesis and Apokolips respectively, with the corrupted humans now making up the Hunger Dog population as Darkseid looks down on them from his fortress and remarks on his return to punish the heroes) and the Justice League is seen as heroes and Earth's saviors.

It might feel a bit of a cheap win, but I think it would be a nice spin that at the end of the day the Justice League didn't actually defeat Darkseid. He might have actually been wiping the floor with them in direct combat (again a bit like the new 52 origin) and that way the next Justice League film people aren't going to wonder why the League would be having such trouble against the next villain if they already beat Darkseid because they didn't really beat him. They were saved just as much as they kept Earth safe. That could be a cool twist and also be a talking point in later films that the team is always afraid of Darkseid's potential return, themselves unsure if he was truly defeated, because they couldn't defeat him themselves.

What do you all think? Does it keep with the idea of the story inspiration from issues 183-185 while also utilizing some of the more modern stories of Darkseid and Apokolips? Would the film de-evolve too much if the invasion came closer to the beginning than the end? Would it be different enough from Avengers that way?

Yo DC! Yeah you over there holding that "New 52" thing! Yeah you! I heard you're thinking about making a Justice League movie... Look I'm just throwing it out there. First you write Darwyn Cook a big F***ing check. Then you write a script based on Cook's Justice League; New Frontier, but contemporay. There problem solved. All your characters get Introduced in the film. You have a Major Threat that's not Darksead, but scary as S#!t. You're welcome DC. Oh yeah I almost forgot, New Frontier is a Green lantern origin story... BAM! You just rebooted your Green Lantern! You like that DC no more Ryan Reynold!

It is normal to rush to make money. It is ok to use Batman and Superman to help promote Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman. The Avengers movie was used to promote the less popular Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. I hope the Justice League movie will also lead to New Gods movies. It is quite convenient to have Metron gather the super heroes. It will also be fun if most of the movie is set in Apokolips bec. Apokolips has lots of interesting evil gods. Hopefully, they will use subtitles bec. aliens talking in english always look silly.

I have a real "wait and see" attitude about this movie. I can say with confidence, though, that I hate the idea of starting with Darkseid.

This seems like it would be a lot to cover in one film. Marvel had a fair number of movies before we even got to the Avengers. To try and throw all these characters together then deal with this would be extremely tough. I mean for the most part DC has not the best introducing characters other then Superman and Batman on the big screen. Use one of the lesser villians and then work toward the Darkseid.

This sounds perfect! Make it so, Warner Bros! Prove the haters wrong like you did with The Dark Knight

hope this isn't true

HEY EVERYBODY!! G-MAN LEFT WORK EARLY!!

I'm so glad Warner brothers is writing this movie and not none of you commenting. Your ideas are whack and very biased

Contemporary New Frontier! How bad ass it would be to see Wonder Woman in the middle east with an army of oppressed Muslim women taking out the Taliban! Hal Jordan takes the first manned space flight since the scrapped the space program. Homeland Security hunting down Batman! Martian Manhunter finds the Mars Curiosity Rover! The final battle holy $h!t! A giant F@#$ing Thing spitting out monster, taking out superman in less than minute. DC you have the outline to a great Justice League movie. F@#$ you made the movie, you just have to up date it!

A contemporary New Frontier would be amazing.

New Frontier would be a great idea, especially considering the fact that it focuses in Green Lantern, Flash and Martian Manhunter.

Also, OMFG Dick Dillin art!

@Superbat420: guess we can't quit are day jobs :(

If this brings Power GIrlk to the film, I suport this idea xD

I am proud of the design team for this movie. Truly.

The way Darkseid was brought back reminds me of the last couple episodes of Justice League

maybe they would develop the new gods in a superman movie sequel??possible?

A 2nd Superman movie can also involve fighting Orion to help promote the New Gods.

This is really ambitious, I can only praise it because of that. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we'll have good writing.

Has it been confirmed the JL movie will be an origin story? With New Gods involved it would make more sense to introduce the League in the beginning of the movie and throughout it discover the history and relationships behind it's forming.

As long as they don't give Darkseid that ridiculous chin implant Jim Lee draws him with, or shorten his mini-skirt even more than it has to be (seriously, does the guy even know he definition of underwear?) then maybe, just MAYBE there's something. But so far the only good DC universe films have been the Batman ones. Smallville was okay for a show, but only as a show (or sequel made into comic form) as is Arrow.

Make it iconic, not ridiculous, and no easy way out like Parallax or Galactus (movie forms). Either go mecha, cyborg, giant killer psycho God alien, or take your ideas and toss them in the trash compactor.

Exactly why I said in an earlier article that the sensible choice would be to just go with the first story arc of the Justice League reboot to use as a story. A story like the one that existed from Justice League of America #183-5 only works if characters are well established, and unless they are going to do a bunch of movies before 2015 of major characters of the League, then I really don't see how this is possible. Either that or go with the classic origin and put Starro into the movie, except his modern incarnation, not his old starfish look.

@OutlawRenegade said:

This sounds perfect! Make it so, Warner Bros! Prove the haters wrong like you did with The Dark Knight

This

Drop Huntress & Wonder Woman, but keep the rest. Maybe a few tweeks to Power Girl, maybe make her Megan from Mars, & keep the magic aspect of Dr Fate DC might be able to launch FireStorm, PG & DrFate movies. Maybe use the Bette Kane version of Flamebird for another female or non-powered hero. Again, establish her as her own top teir hero. Maybe Vixen as well. Though her powers are kinda weird to fit in, & you dont need two magical heros.

Honestly, dont even try to do solo movies with Batman, Supes, WW or even GL, those franchises are so heavy under the weight of their own fame, as much as I hate to say it, no Bat-film can ever match up to Nolan's movies, even if they are over-rated over-hype.

DC has shown nothing to give anyone any faith in what they can make. Superman doesnt count, (yet) outside of Nolan's Bat-Films the only thing they made decent was Watchmen. Make this JL movie be a (not a sorta) spiritual sequel to Watchmen. Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, Silk Spectre, Martian Power Girl, Firestorm, Dr Fate.

DC looks like a jealous sibling trying to rip off Marvel's success.

I can't imagine this being the plot for a Justice League movie for the following reasons

1. Characters such as the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman have never had films that have introduced themselves to audiences on the screen. Imagine then the confusion of having alternate versions of characters, the New Gods. and possible other characters from Apokolipse all in one film.

2. If they are going to do a shared universe that means more films for more characters. And rebooting ones not consistent with there vision of a shared universe

For a first Justice League movie, probably keep the number of super heroes to 5. Don't have to use too many evil gods : Darkseid, Kalibak, Granny, Mantis, Steppenwolf. Don't have to show the good New Gods too much except for maybe Metron.

Considering DC are going for a more realistic take on there movies this sounds like a really stupid idea

@Loki2u said:

... I would rather see them go in the direction the LOTR and the Hobbit movies are going and split it up into 3 parts, one every year for one huge epic tale.

Awesome idea!!...kinda funny, but i never thought about that and didn't see anyone else come up with that possibility^^

A JLA/JSA team-up?? With the New Gods too??? Either a stroke of genius or more than DC/TW can chew all at once?? If they pull it off kudos!! A close translation would take a lot of balls.

I love @ltbrd's idea and think it would work brilliantly as the first in a trilogy... Film 1: Justice League are forced together, don't quite work as a team and don't technically save the day. Film 2: A more personal, character driven piece about the characters in the team, who eventually come together to fight off a new threat. Film 3: Darkseid returns, this time JL are a strong unit and save the world! Hurrah!

@turoksonofstone said:

A JLA/JSA team-up?? With the New Gods too??? Either a stroke of genius or more than DC/TW can chew all at once?? If they pull it off kudos!! A close translation would take a lot of balls.

They'd probably just include the Justice League and leave the JSA out entirely

I remember this story. I thought Conway gave a lot of great characterization to Darkseid, but he ended up being defeated way too easily. They should fix that in the movie.

@SUNMAN: I agree 100%. I think this is packing way too much into the film.

@turoksonofstone said:

A JLA/JSA team-up?? With the New Gods too??? Either a stroke of genius or more than DC/TW can chew all at once?? If they pull it off kudos!! A close translation would take a lot of balls.

They'd probably just include the Justice League and leave the JSA out entirely

@StMichalofWilson said:

@OutlawRenegade said:

This sounds perfect! Make it so, Warner Bros! Prove the haters wrong like you did with The Dark Knight

This

am i the only one who think this should all be scraped and do an altian invasion. Have Aquaman's trident be possessed by darkseids evil which fuels Aquamans rage towards the land lovers. Have the altians invade which would join the heros. Towards the end have one of them destroy his trident and Aquaman realize what he has done. Which would build up Darkseid, and Aquaman. It would also save aquaman from being a so called corny hero and show how powerful he actually is. You can introduce Wonder woman flash and green lanter (john stewart hopefully.) and lead up to solo movies which can be prequels and a sequel of a bigger threat. I agree throwing Darkseid in right away is too much. Im not worried about an avengers comparison because darkseid is a way bigger baddie then thanos and The Justice league is a better super hero team. This would be a way better plot give some build up and playing with title waves and an under water kingdom would just be cool. And please NO DKR:S BLAKE CHARECTER. Ive waited years for a JL movie and it would be blasphemy is bats is not bruce.