The final Justice League trailer went light on plot details and heavy on character moments. Here’s what we know about each of the six known members going into this final month before the movie premieres.
Superman: ?????
At this point, it’s not a matter of if Superman will return, but simply a question of how he’ll return.
It’s a question that viewers will have to wait until November 17 to see answered, and I can’t tell you just how relieved I am that that’s the case.
As much as I loved Batman vs. Superman, I was incredibly frustrated by the advertising, which I felt had spoiled the two best character reveals — Doomsday and Wonder Woman — in the trailers.
Luckily, it seems as though Warner Bros. has learned from their past mistakes and used its trailers as they’re intended — offering us hints of what’s to come rather than an explanation of all the movie’s best parts.
And even in offering us hints of what’s to come they’ve been incredibly selective, giving us the plot in broad strokes and instead focusing on building each of its characters — both individually and in relation to one another.
They’ve been creative in following this same strategy with Superman, teasing not his return but his impact on a world without him and the characters who unite in his honor.
Even the bit of Clark Kent that we got in this trailer spoke more to the power of Superman’s absence than anything else, though it did also present us with a Clark Kent who was decidedly less burdened and carefree than we’ve seen in either previous iteration of the character.
Really though, we know more about the absence of Superman than his presence — which is just as it should be (and makes me ten times more excited for the film).
Batman: The Tired™ Dad
Batman is often known for being a rather dour, drab loner — and certainly both the Nolan Trilogy and the majority of Batman vs. Superman lean into this interpretation of the character.
However, as any fan of the comics or the many DC Animated feature films or tv shows can attest to, Bruce Wayne will often temper his general broodiness with an incredibly dry sense of humor.
Also, for a character that is so often depicted as a loner in mainstream films, comic book Bruce Wayne has a rather long history of basically — and really oftentimes literally — adopting any troubled and/or lonely youth that comes his way.
Both these facets of his personality have been showcased in all of the clips we’ve seen so far, and were likewise on display in this final trailer.
We’ve seen him make wry comments while he attempts to recruit new heroes to his cause, and with this trailer are able to see his more reluctantly paternal side in his interactions with Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen.
We also see less brooding from Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne in this trailer — and in all the promo material we’ve seen thus far. Gone is the sharp sense of exhaustion and desperation from Batman vs. Superman, instead replaced by a much softer general sense of bewilderment that sometimes borders on exasperation but never crosses over into meanness.
It’s a natural progression for his character in this universe, and I’m glad to see that the arc that was begun in Batman vs. Superman continues to be developed in the upcoming Justice League
Wonder Woman: The Proud Mom
The Wonder Woman we see in Justice League is older, wiser, and more experienced than the character we saw in her debut solo film.
It makes sense — she learned a difficult lesson about man’s world and mortality at the end of Wonder Woman, and has been living in our absurd, messed-up world for the last century.
However, despite all that she’s lived through, we still see the exact same traits in her that made her so appealing in the first place. Of course, there are badass action scenes galore that involve her — but we’re also treated to moments of compassion and empathy that do nothing to diminish just how physically powerful she is.
The trailer snippet released on Instagram highlights her understanding of the loneliness of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, as she presumably asks him to join the league.
We see her take on the co-leader/co-parental figure alongside Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, casting a proud smile at the younger league members when they succeed and an indulgent one when they act like the young individuals that they are.
And when I talk about her and Batman as co-parents for the League’s younger members, I don’t mean in a romantic sense (as an aside: I really, really hope the movie doesn’t go there), but rather prefer to think of them like two parents engaged in the world’s best platonic co-parenting arrangement.
I can’t wait to watch an entire movie where Wonder Woman goes around simultaneously helping Batman and putting him in his place, (when she called him a “little boy” in Batman vs. Superman my entire soul ascended to a higher state of being) while also caring and supporting the other members of the League.
The Flash: Geeky fanboy son, just needs someone to give him direction
Ezra Miller’s description of Barry Allen as a “really endearing, altruistic nerd” is a pitch perfect definition of his character in this (and every previous) trailer.
While we don’t quite know how long he’s had his powers, we can make an educated guess from all that we’ve gotten from the trailers so far that it hasn’t been very long.
Additionally, unlike the older members of the league, he was neither born with them nor was he choose them — he got them through a freak accident and has been muddling his way through heroics ever since.
So it only makes sense that he needs a sense of direction and guidance, and that he approaches each outlandish situation — and each established hero — with a wide-eyed sense of awe and genuine excitement.
Because of this, Barry Allen is not only often the funniest member of the League — he is also the most relatable.
Because c’mon — who wouldn’t geek out even just a little bit when seeing the bat signal lit up while standing with Batman?.
Cyborg: Sad and lonely son, just needs someone to believe in him
Victor Stone — aka Cyborg — is probably the hero that most audiences will probably be the least familiar with, but one who will likely play a major part in the story.
First off, Zack Snyer himself said that Cyborg’s story “is in a lot of the ways the heart of the movie.”
Secondly, as we saw in the small snippet in Batman vs. Superman, Victor Stone’s cybernetic body is fused with one of the motherboxes – which is the same technology that is directly linked to Steppenwolfe, the movie’s main antagonist.
This is too great a coincidence to let slide, so my theory (and almost every fan’s) is that either his technological skill or hardware will be the key in defeating Steppenwolfe.
We get a lot of great character moments in this trailer — Cyborg catching Aquaman mid-air is sure to elicit cheers when seen on the big screen – but the one that stuck out most to me was the one of Victor sitting in his apartment surrounded by remnants and reminders of his past life, a hoodie covering his cybernetic parts as he watches old clips of himself prior to his accident.
It’s an incredibly evocative moment, one in which you can see just how isolated from life he feels.
It also makes you understand just how desperately he needs to feel and be a part of a team, one in which his new skills and body parts will be regarded as a being helpful rather than harmful.
Aquaman: The Cool Uncle
The last trailer showed us Aquaman doing tons of cool, ridiculous and ridiculously cool things while giving Batman tons of crap.
And I was living for it.
Honestly, like I said before — this movie could literally be two full hours of Jason Momoa’s Aquaman riding parademons like surfboards and spearing them in midair and I’d leave the theater ecstatic.
All this movie really has to do is make Aquaman interesting enough to make me want to watch his solo when it comes out next December, and they basically did that already the minute they cast Jason Momoa — everything else is just icing on a very handsome, badass cake.