Justice League Movie: New Superman Details, Trailer, & Release Date

This article contains some Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice spoilers.

This is the one that the DC Extended Universe is building towards. Five years after The Avengers showed us that it was possible to pull off a non-mutant superhero team on the big screen, we’ll finally see a Justice League movie. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice director Zack Snyder is currently filming Justice League in the UK, with a script by Batman v Superman‘s Chris Terrio.

Justice League Movie Latest News

As the shoot continues for Justice League in London, a new picture from the set has shown Henry Cavill’s Superman once again. And notably, he’s got the signature Superman curl back. Take a look…

I see a red “S” and I want it painted black. At least that is apparently what Henry Cavill’s Kal-El is thinking in regards to his Superman costume for Justice League. While the character is still officially “dead,” as according to Amanda Waller in Suicide Squad, everybody knows that Clark Kent is returning for Zack Snyder’s much anticipated 2017 team-up. Yet to date, we have not seen any actual footage of him in the Justice League trailer from San Diego Comic-Con, nor did we catch a glimpse of his suit during our set visit last June.

Nonetheless, Cavill is definitely in League and now he has taken to Instagram to tease what fans of the “Reign of the Supermen” storyline always figured: Superman is coming back to life and taking a page from the follow-up story arc to “The Death of Superman.” In the comics, a newly resurrected Superman dons a sunlight-absorbing black suit in order to recover his powers faster.

In the below image, Cavill showcases the famous Kryptonian armor that looks a whole lot like chainmail, which has comprised his superhero costumes in both Man of Steeland Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Now, we have a glimpse of what Michael Wilkinson is cooking up for a newly risen Man of Tomorrow.

Justice League Movie Release Date

Justice League is scheduled for a November 17th, 2017 release, with a sequel to follow on June 14th, 2019. The complete DC superhero movie release calendar can be found here.

Justice League Trailer

The first trailer for Justice League has arrived out of SDCC 2016! This is our first glimpse of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman working together on the big screen. Check out the trailer below:

Justice League Movie Story

Warner Bros. has released the first official synopsis for the movie. If you’re wondering what this one is all about, it’s laid out pretty clear here.

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

From what we learned on our set visit, Batman begins assembling the Justice League after being inspired by Superman’s sacrifice at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. There will be plenty of parademons (you saw them in the nightmare sequence of BvS) who are kidnapping prominent scientists, as the team scrambles to find three Mother Boxes on Earth, which have been divided between humans, Atlanteans, and Amazons.

Notable by his absence on our set visit was Henry Cavill’s Superman. “I wanted to get to a Superman that had a reason to be Superman, you know?,” Zack Snyder said. “Like a reason to feel the way he felt about humanity or the way that we all understand from the comic books, as far as his moral compass goes, he’s pretty much the thing. But I feel like he had to go through something to be that. And I’m not saying he shows up in this movie!”

Now, about that “greater enemy…”

Justice League Movie Villain

In order for the Justice League to form, they need a threat with power levels that only a team of heroes could take down, right?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made it pretty explicit that Darkseid is on his way to this world, and there were several visual cues for those who are interested. We broke those down (along with lots more comic references in the movie) right here. But it may very well be the case that he isn’t the main villain of the movie.

The key villain of Justice League Part One isn’t Darkseid, but another Fourth World related despot (and Jack Kirby creation), Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf is basically Darkseid’s cousin, a powerful warrior from Apokolips who wields a pretty crazy energy axe. Birth Movies Death (who first broke the news of Steppenwolf’s involvement) says that “Steppenwolf has a contentious history with Darkseid” in this movie, so he may be less of an advance force for a larger invasion, and just an invading force of his own.

What’s really crazy is that we may have already seen the big screen version of Steppenwolf. A deleted scene from Batman v Superman released online offered a look at a monstrous creature on a Kryptonian ship, and I rightly assumed this was someone with a Darkseid connection.

It’s still inevitable that we’ll see Darkseid in these movies, and he’ll probably still be a presence in the first one. DC Comics used him as the catalyst for the formation of the Justice League in the current comic book series. He’s a pretty big gun to burn this early, though, so holding him back for Justice League Part Two sound about as logical as anything else we’ve heard.

But what about Lex Luthor?

“I’m kind of in wait,” Eisenberg told a crowd at MCM London Comic-Con (via Digital Spy). “They just started filming Justice League, so I’m kind of like waiting for my crack at it…But yeah I think so, and I love it, and I love everybody who’s in it. You know, it’s a really talented group of people.”

Luthor was last seen at the end of Batman v Superman raving about a villain on the way. Whether he was talking about Steppenwolf or Darkseid remains to be seen, but given that deleted scene, it’s probably Steppenwolf.

Zack Snyder has also hinted that we’ll see more of Doomsday in this film, but we’ll see if that amounts to anything.

Justice League Movie Cast

So, there’s no surprises in terms of the three big guns: Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Gal Gadot will make up DC’s central trinity. Along with the other announcements, Warner Bros. chose Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Vic Stone/Cyborg, and Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash.

Additionally, Justice League Part One will introduce Amber Heard as Aquaman’s wife, Mera, as a kind of “Khaleesi of the sea,” to help get things ready for the Aquaman solo movie. Willem Dafoe has joined the cast and we can confirm that he’s playing Aquaman ally, Vulko. It also appears that Kristofer Hivju (Tormund Giantsbane on Game of Thrones) will join the party as Atlantean royalty.

Also, look closely at this behind-the-scenes image:

There are some hints in the background here of what Mera and Aquaman might look like, as well as some costumes that we simply don’t recognize. An alternate Superman costume? Place your bets! We have an entire article on the costumes of the Justice League movie right here.

JK Simmons is playing Commissioner Gordon. That’s pretty cool…unless you were hoping he would return as J. Jonah Jameson in Marvel’s new Spider-Man movie.

Apparently, Jeremy Irons will make an appearance as Alfred Pennyworth. Mr. Irons seems to think that the script for this one is a bit better than Batman v Superman, too.

You’ll note there’s no Green Lantern in that list of names. Green Lantern Corps is being readied for a 2020 release, and that one would focus on both Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Right now it appears that Green Lantern won’t be in the first movie, and will instead be saved for an appearance in the second one.

Welsh actor Julian Lewis Jones has a role in the Justice League movie, although he isn’t saying anything about who he’s playing. “I’m not allowed to say yet what part I play but let’s just say I’ve a role in what will likely be the most expensive film ever made,” he told Wales Online. “I’m just happy to have been involved and I’m looking forward to the movie’s release which will be next year.”

Justice League started filming in April, and these quotes make it sound like his work is already complete on the film. That probably rules him out as Steppenwolf, although a little misdirection never hurt anybody. We’ll update this with more info as we get it.