The long-awaited new trailer for Justice League has arrived.
There are quite a few new reveals in the trailer — including the first footage of Lois Lane; the Flash’s father, Henry; and Aquaman solo-movie love interest Mera in the film. One big question: Where’s Superman? (More on that here.)
Now, let’s take a closer look at the trailer.
There’s no Superman … but there’s Lois.
Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel is still missing in action after dying at the end of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. But Lois Lane (Amy Adams) makes a brief appearance. Cavill is indeed in the film (he’s even teased a black Superman costume on social media). One intriguing idea is that Superman could return from the dead as a bad guy. The black costume and recent comic book history support that theory, as does a dream sequence in BvS in which Batman saw a world overcome by Parademons and a tyrant Superman.
Who are these bad guys?
Speaking of Parademons, there are plenty of the alien bad guys in the trailer, but so far, no “leader,” just faceless drone villains. The comics villain Steppenwolf is expected to be involved in Justice League. In the comics, he works for Darkseid, believed to be the big bad of the DC Extended Universe. As in the first trailer from last summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, this one does show a Mother Box — a piece of alien technology used by Darkseid. In this case, it’s seen in the home of Dr. Silas Stone (Joe Morton), aka the father of Victor Stone/Cyborg (Ray Fisher).
A T2 throwback?
Morton is revered among the sci-fi crowd, thanks to his work as Skynet creator Dr. Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. This bad guy sneaking up on him certainly has a Terminator vibe to it.
Barry’s dad behind bars
The Flash movie has cast Billy Crudup as the father to Barry Allen/the Flash (Ezra Miller), and here it’s confirmed he’s behind bars. In comic book mythology (as well as on The CW’s The Flash), Henry Allen is falsely accused of the murder of his wife, Nora, and serves time for it.
Mera reigns supreme
Aquaman star Amber Heard makes a brief appearance as Mera, queen of the sea. There will be more of her in 2018’s Aquaman solo adventure.
Evening, Commissioner
DC has promised more humor and more fun for Justice League following the dour BvS. Who better to help than J.K. Simmons? He provided Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy with its funniest moments as J. Jonah Jameson, and here, he’s playing playing Commissioner Gordon, who makes a comment about how nice it is to see Batman (Ben Affleck) working with others again.
Aquaman goes for a ride
That leads us to the biggest crowd-pleaser moment of the trailer, which shows Aquaman riding off on the Batmobile. Batman appears to be the straight man of the Justice League, with wilder characters like Aquaman and the Flash providing humor to match his overserious tone. But he gets a good line in the trailer as well, when the Flash asks him what his superpower is and he deadpans, “I’m rich.”
The Amazons attack!
The DCEU really is pulling out all the stops, with even the Amazons stepping up to the plate to fight the forces of evil (though perhaps this is a flashback to an attack thousands of years ago).
The Warner Bros. film opens Nov. 17. Watch the full Justice League below.
