What I Thought of ‘Justice League’

Justice League came out this weekend, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should! This film is a marked improvement on the Man of Steel and Batman v Superman films, bringing a lighthearted and fun aspect to the films. No, it wasn’t as good as Wonder Woman, but Wonder Woman was amazing, so you shouldn’t be expecting that anyway.

If Justice League can’t pull in bigger numbers by the time it leaves theaters, Warner Bros. might think it is because people DON’T want fun superheroes, which is ridiculous, because these stories are about fights-in-tights, which shouldn’t be serious most of the time (unless you are on Netflix).

What We Saw

We had a lot of really cool characters in this film. We meet Aquaman, who is clearly in the beginning stages of his hero career, seeing as how he has been in hiding, helping a small fishing village get food, and honestly not much else. Aquaman takes a visit down underwater (not Atlantis), at meets up with Mera (his comic-book wife), and has a slight squabble about his mommy-issues. Clearly has plenty of room to grow.

If anyone is still upset about Ezra Miller being the Flash in this movie instead of TV actor Grant Gustin, it’s time to grow up. DC loves having their stories set in alternate dimensions, so it totally makes sense to have a different actor with a different kind of Barry Allen. So far the only other role of note for Ezra has been in Perks of Being a Wallflower and Fantastic Beasts, all three of which are wildly different from each other, and I am excited to see him rise into stardom over the rest of the Worlds of DC and Fantastic films, and his growth in Comic Con popularity.

Cyborg, being the weakest of the team, was able to hold his own, and be very useful to the success of the mission, but his character just wasn’t at all fleshed out. We know very little about his motivations or backstory, and overall was just a disappointment.

Wonder Woman is back in the fray, and after her movie, I was prepared for a lot, but it left some plot holes around. Why, if after being so influential and important to the success of WWI, has Bruce not been able to dig up anything on her, especially during WWII? If the only record of her is from ~1914, does that mean that she has been in hiding for the past century? And if so, why? (Edit: Hopefully we’ll see more in WW1984) I still love Gal Gadot’s portrayal of such a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants and how to get it, but the writing pushed a lot of her motivations in this film to be based off of Steve Trevor, which makes her not super strong and independent. This movie also does not pass the Bechdel test, “Two named female characters talk to each other about something other than a man.” There are only two times where two women talk to each other, one is the Amazonians talking about the MotherBox, but not both ladies are named, and the other instance is when Lois and Martha are talking to each other, but about Clark.

Slight spoiler, Superman comes back to life in the film. Without going into what he does, what we do see is a happier Superman, with a more colorful suit. The reason that Superman is the antithesis to Batman, is that Superman is supposed to be happy and optimistic. This film, as opposed to the previous two, actually see an optimistic Superman, who seems happy to be alive.

Lastly is Batman. The way that Batman moves across the screen reminds me so much of his awesome Arkham video games of the past decade. We see him use his tech a lot more during combat, especially with his Grapnel Gun, a grappling hook that shoots out of a gun, as well as his new Bat-themed transportation. So much of his movement is smooth and aesthetically pleasing. Bruce Wayne also appears a bit more in this movie, seeing a responsible, well dressed, mature Bruce. Batman is the only character in this movie that seems to be in the third act of his hero career.

Post credits scene, (highlight for spoilers)… Lex Luthor has broken out of Arkham Asylum, and had a rendezvous with Deathstroke on a super awesome yacht, to discuss teaming up into “A League of Our Own.” Whether this is leading up to a baseball-supervillain buddy comedy, or the Legion of Doom, I am excited for it! …

Honorable mention goes out to Commissioner Gordon, who we don’t see nearly enough of. J.K. Simmons worked out a bunch, and we never get to see the end result of his superhero level muscles. I either want to see those muscles pay off, or him asking for pictures of Batman.

What This Means

Hopefully, this means that characters will be getting more fun. It doesn’t need to be a Willy Wonka splash of color and silliness like the MCU does, but having a super powered team of heroes fighting a super powered team of villains, with comic relief and understanding that these are cape wearing symbols of good vs evil, I think good things can happen. We just need Warner Bros. to not see this as a failed investment, so we can continue to move in this direction.

Also heres some cool fan art

What did you think of Justice League? Let us know in the comments below!