Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash and Superman strike their best pose on this new Justice League poster (seen below). Yes, you read that last part right. The Man of Steel is featured prominently here, despite being kept out of most of the marketing material thus far.
That doesn’t mean he won’t be missing for the majority of the film, though. In fact, from the looks of things, his absence will cause a rippling effect in Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s DC tentpole, with the recent theatrical trailer teasing a world that has fallen into chaos since his ultimate sacrifice at the tail-end of Batman V Superman. Crime rates are through the roof, and Ben Affleck’s brooding Dark Knight has been licking his wounds – both physical and emotional – in the shadows. But there’s a new threat emerging on the horizon – the cosmic horizon, that is, and it comes in the form of Ciaran Hinds’ Steppenwolf, who’s bound for planet Earth in search of the Mother Boxes.
They are, in essence, the film’s MacGuffins, as you no doubt know by now – three ancient artifacts that have been buried on our planet ever since Darkseid waged war on humanity eons ago. And the DC super-villain has sent his subordinate to collect them after all these years. Steppenwolf won’t be alone, though, as he’s brought an army of Parademons along with him to give the titular team a run for their money.
As for this new poster, it may look a bit familiar as we have sort of seen it before. The backdrop has been used in the past and we’ve also seen the characters in these poses on previous marketing material. However, the formation of the heroes is new and besides, given that we’ve had so little of Supes in the promotional campaign, we’ll take what we can get.
Justice League swoops into theaters on November 17th, when Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s blockbuster will become the fifth entry into the DC Extended Universe to date. But can it channel the smashing success of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman movie? Or will it struggle to overcome the hurdles and production woes that befell Suicide Squad? Only time will tell.
Beyond 2017, and aside from locking down a late 2019 release date for Wonder Woman 2, Warner Bros. has been coy about its future plans for the DCEU, but there have been rumblings that David Sandberg’s Shazam movie – a film that is seemingly much more light-heartened when compared to the rest of WB’s superhero output – is next in line to enter production ahead of its debut in the early stages of 2019.
