Justice League: Gods and Monsters

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

Blu-ray cover
Directed by Sam Liu
Produced by
Screenplay by Alan Burnett
Story by
Starring
Music by Frederik Wiedmann
Edited by Christopher D. Lozinski
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Home Video
Release dates
  • July 21, 2015 (2015-07-21) (Digital)
  • July 28, 2015 (2015-07-28) (Physical)
Running time
 72 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a 2015 direct-to-video animated superhero film featuring the DC Comics superhero team the Justice League and is part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies. It was released as a digital download on July 21, 2015 and released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2015.

Plot

In an unspecified alternate universe, the Justice League is a brutal force that maintains order on Earth. This universe has its own versions of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman:

The Justice League's unaccountability is ultimately challenged by the world's governments following the suspicious deaths of three renowned scientists: Victor Fries, who was drained of blood in the Arctic, Ray Palmer, who was sliced into two with a sharp weapon, with his car having traces of a high heel shoe, and Silas Stone, who was burned alive by an explosion of heat vision energy along with his young son Victor Stone. The true killers are three humanoid, robotic creatures with appearances and attributes mirroring each member of the Justice League.

As all suspicion falls on the Justice League, President Amanda Waller asks that they cooperate with the government's investigation. Wonder Woman speaks to Steve Trevor to learn what the government knows while Superman invites Lois Lane to the Justice League's HQ, where he tells her of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Krypton or his heritage.

Batman investigates himself and discovers an email on Silas' computer that was sent to a number of scientists including Dr. Will Magnus, Kirk's best friend and college roommate who helped his transformation. Having remained close friends with Magnus and his wife, Tina, Batman asks the doctor about "Project Fair Play," which involved all the scientists under Lex Luthor's employ, but Magnus tells him nothing. Later, Batman locates all the remaining scientists (consisting of Magnus, John Henry Irons, Michael Holt, Karen Beecher, Pat Dugan, Kimiyo Hoshi, Emil Hamilton, T. O. Morrow, and Stephen Shin) discussing the possible threat over their heads, when they are attacked by the robotic assassins, who travel via Boom Tube. Despite Batman and later, the other League Members intervening, the assassins slaughter the remaining scientists and Tina before 'Booming' out, with Magnus being severely burned by one of the creature's heat vision, and the sole survivor of the attack.

The Justice League take Magnus to their HQ, the Tower of Justice, to recover, while Superman flies into the moon's orbit to a satellite, where Luthor now resides. Luthor reveals that Project Fair Play is a weapons program to destroy the League if necessary, while also revealing that he retained all the remaining information on Krypton from Superman's shuttle, and tells him the truth about Zod, who Superman had envisioned as a hero trying to save his world. Luthor tells Superman that Waller has the original files, and as Superman leaves, a robotic assassin booms in and the satellite explodes. As Superman looks on in shock, Trevor shows satellite footage of the explosion and Superman's presence to Waller, and she retaliates with Project Fair Play, which consists of troops and vehicles armed with energy weapons powered by red solar radiation like Krypton's sun.

Superman and Wonder Woman face the army at their door as Batman stays inside the Tower, where he activates the Tower's forcefield, with the idea being that once Magnus recovers, he can clear the League. Suddenly, Tina arrives, confusing Batman, who saw her dead body, but before he can ask the obvious question, she subdues him and shapeshifts into a liquid metal robot. With Batman restrained by Tin, Magnus' house robot, Tina revives Magnus with an organic nanite serum like the one used on Kirk, making him a superhuman with regenerative healing powers. Magnus is revealed to have orchestrated the framing of the League, with the robotic assassins, and Tina, are in fact the Metal Men, and the assassins appear with a weapon. Magnus tells Batman that he intends to use a Nanite Bomb, with microscopic Boom Tubes teleporting nanites into every person on the planet, to forcefully link humanity together into a hive mind. He reveals to Batman that he accidentally killed the real Tina in a fit of rage one night early in their marriage. Overwhelmed with irrational jealousy, Will believed that she secretly loved Kirk, and was tired of her constantly begging him to find a cure for Kirk's vampiric condition. After covering up her death, Magnus replaced her with a robotic duplicate named Platinum, capable of mimicking human flesh, and joined Fair Play soon after, intending to use its resources to fund his secret Nanite Bomb project, as he feels that his actions prove that humanity does not deserve to continue if even a brilliant, rational man like himself could do that to his own wife.

As Magnus prepares his weapon, Lex Luthor suddenly teleports into the middle of the battle outside and tells everyone that he has discovered Magnus' plan. Inside, Batman destroys Tin and frees himself, then seizes an opportunity to drop the forcefield. The Justice League then do battle, with Batman fighting Magnus, Wonder Woman facing Platinum, and Superman fighting the other Metal Men, who quickly merge into a single, more powerful form powered by red sun energy. Eventually, they all succeed, the bomb is destroyed (at the cost of Superman's Kryptonian escape craft) and a regretful Magnus commits suicide by disintegrating himself with nanites.

A week later, the Justice League has been cleared of all wrongdoing, and the world, along with Lois Lane, views them differently. Bekka decides to leave the Justice League to face her past along with Lex Luthor, who wants to explore other worlds after growing bored with this one. Before leaving through a Boom Tube, Lex Luthor gives Superman all the data on Krypton and tells him to be a "real hero". The film ends with Superman and Batman deciding to sort through the data immediately to help humanity.

Cast

Crew

Tie-in media

Companion series

In the weeks before the debut of the film, a three-part series, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, which focused on the characters and the universe of the film, was released online by Machinima on June 8, 2015.[1][2] The series is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. and Machinima, following the former's investment of $18 million in Machinima in March 2014.[1] The series is also the first production of Blue Ribbon Content, a digital content production unit of Warner Bros. formed in 2014 and led by president of Warner Bros. Animation Sam Register.[3]

The first season consisted of three episodes concluding on June 12, 2015. A second season of the series will be released in 2016 and feature ten episodes.[4]

Comic book series

A series of one-shot comics written by J. M. DeMatteis and Bruce Timm was released and focused on each hero's origin story. Additionally, a three-issue prequel comic book series written by DeMatteis and Timm was also released.[5]

Title Issue(s) Publication date(s) Writer(s) Artist(s) Ref(s).
Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Batman 1 July 22, 2015 Bruce Timm and J.M. DeMatteis Mathew Dow Smith [6]
Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Superman 1 July 29, 2015 Moritat [7]
Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Wonder Woman 1 August 5, 2015 Dan Green and Rick Leonardi [8]
Justice League: Gods and Monsters 3 August 12, 2015 â€“ August 26, 2015 Thony Silas [9][10][11]

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Kofi Outlaw from Screenrant.com gave the film 5 out of 5 stars, praising Timm's and Burnett's writing, the new versions of the DC Trinity, the fight scenes and characters and calling it "a must-see for any DC fan".[12] Joshua Yehl of IGN gave the film an 8.9/10 praising the excellent concept, Wonder Woman's origin story, the voice acting and the use of violence.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Graser, Marc (2014-09-17). "Machinima Lands Exclusive Animated 'Justice League' Series". Variety. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  2. ↑ "Forget everything you thought you knew about the @DCComics universe with Justice League: #GodsandMonsters, debuting June 8th.". Twitter. Machinima. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  3. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2014-10-21). "Warner Bros. Unveils Digital Short-Form Studio: Blue Ribbon Content". Variety. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  4. ↑ Means-Shannon, Hannah (2015-05-04). "Justice League: Gods And Monsters Chronicles Season 2 Announced By Machinima, WB, And DC Comics (UPDATE)". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  5. ↑ Beedle, Tim (2015-04-16). "Exclusive: First Look at the Justice League: Gods and Monsters Comic". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-05-06.
  6. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Batman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  7. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Superman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  8. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters â€“ Wonder Woman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  9. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #1". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  10. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #2". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  11. ↑ "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #3". DC Comics. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  12. ↑ "‘Justice League: Gods And Monsters’ Review". screenrant.com. Retrieved 2015-07-24.
  13. ↑ "JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS REVIEW". IGN. Retrieved 2015-07-24.

External links

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