Justice League is far from a perfect film. One look at the review scores, and the box office numbers, will tell you that. But among its many, many problems, the one that stuck out the most was Steppenwolf. Voiced by Ciarán Hinds, the big bad was as forgettable as they come, not ever posing much of a threat and stepping into a long line of underwhelming CGI villains who fail to leave a mark on audiences.
Clearly, Warner Bros. didn’t get the memo that fans are experiencing CGI fatigue at the moment and crave something fresh. Not every villain needs to be a huge alien monster that wants to take over the world. There are numerous other possibilities available, which could also end up being much cheaper and practical for productions. Yet, for some reason they went with Steppenwolf and he turned out to be one of the worst parts of the film.
Earlier on, though, there were plans to include another antagonist in Justice League. However, we’re not so sure that he would have worked out any better. That’s because the studio had considered throwing Desaad into the pic as well, another one of Darkseid’s followers from the planet of Apokolips. It’s likely that he would have been an entirely CGI creation like Steppenwolf and quite frankly, probably wouldn’t have added very much to the proceedings.
Still, it’s interesting to learn that he was almost involved, and we know this thanks to a recent Reddit AMA conducted by one of Justice League‘s VFX artists, who described him as looking “grim reapery and skull like with a big cloak.” It’s unknown how large of a role he would have played, but it’s definitely for the best that he was cut, given that fans didn’t take very well to Steppenwolf and Desaad probably would have been a similar villain.
It’s not that any of these characters are uninteresting or not worthy of being adapted to film, mind you, but like we said above, there’s definitely a feeling of CGI fatigue right now amongst audiences and we’re hopeful that for the sequel (should it happen), Warner Bros. gives us a more grounded antagonist. Thankfully, it looks like that’s exactly what they plan to do. At least, if the post-credits scene from Justice League is any indication.
