Everything We Learned From the ‘Justice League’ Set Reports

We finally have a ton of new details about Zack Snyder’s upcoming Justice League movie.

A handful of publications visited the London set of Justice League on day 31 of its production, and the slew of reports include everything from an official synopsis to a new logo, from Willem Dafoe’s character name to how the tone of the film will differ from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve learned from all the set reports. (SPOILERS follow).

First things first, here’s the Justice League official synopsis:

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.

Directed by Zack Snyder, this marks the big screen debut of the Justice League, featuring an all-star lineup: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher.

Warner Bros. has also released the movie’s official logos. The black background logo is above and the white background one is below:

Now onto the details. Here’s everything we learned:

• According to Uproxx, the new movie is set a few months after the end of Batman v Superman. Producer Deborah Snyder revealed that the first half of the film follows a changed Batman with a new sense of humanity as he assembles a team following the “death” of Superman.
• Steppenwolf has officially been announced as the movie’s villain, though Uproxx notes the role hasn’t been cast yet. The plot will follow Steppenwolf and an army of Parademons planning to invade Earth.
• Reporters got to screen a short scene with Cyborg in which three Mother Boxes were seen. According to Uproxx, one is possessed by humans, one is possessed by Atlanteans, and another is possessed by Amazonians.
• Willem Dafoe will play an Atlantean named Vulko. Ain’t It Cool News described the character sketch of Dafoe’s costume as “regal” with algae growing on it.
• The original reports surrounding Warner Bros.’ Justice League reveals that it would be a two-part, two-movie affair, but we’ve now learned there will only be one standalone movie. Deborah Snyder told ScreenRant, “We’re only ever planning and we are only doing Justice League, just Justice League. One movie.” Well that clears things up.
• But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a chance for another Justice League movie. Zack Snyder teased, “The movie doesn’t end and you go, “Okay, well that’s the DC Universe!” adding that theres still a release date for the previously announced Part Two movie. Hmm, mysterious.
• Zack Snyder said that the reaction to Batman v Superman led him to making adjustments with Justice League. Here’s his full quote via Collider.

You know, when Batman v Superman first came out, I was like, ‘Wow, okay, woof.’ It did catch me off-guard. I have had to, in my mind, make an adjustment, and maybe it’s my hardcore take on the characters as far as I love ‘em, and I love the material. I do, I take it really deep. So I think the nice thing about working on Justice League is that it is an opportunity to really blow the doors off of the scale and the bad guys and team-building and all the stuff that I think I could justify as a big, modern comic book movie, if that makes any sense.

• Snyder also discussed how the tone of Justice League will greater differ from that of Batman v Superman and Man of Steel, saying, “I really wanted the tone of the three movies to be different chapters and not be the same note that you strike like, ‘Okay, there’s this again.’”
• According to Collider, “Flash’s costume is made up of 148 pieces and the cowl alone has 70 pieces.” Cyborg’s costume, on the other hand, “is being created digitally from the neck down but still has to be designed.”
• Ben Affleck said he’s not sure whether his solo Batman movie will hit its intended release date because the script it’s ready. “My timetable is I’m not going to make a movie until there’s a script I think is good.” Affleck said. “I’ve been on the end of things when you make movies with a script that’s not good and it doesn’t pan out ... I have a script, we’re still working on it. And I’m not happy enough with it yet to actually go out there and make a Batman movie – which has to have the highest standard. It would have to pass a very high bar for me.”
• Finally, Affleck revealed that there will be more humor in Justice League, which won’t be as dark and heavy as Batman v Superman. Here’s his full quote to Collider:

There’s definitely room for more humor. It’s not going to be—DC movies, I think, by their nature are a little more mythic than some comic book movies are. But [Batman v Superman] was very dark and heavy because it was really rooted in The Dark Knight Returns, which is a heavy, dark book. And this is not that. This is a step in evolution to bring together all of these characters who have had their origins. It’s about multilateralism, and it’s about hope and about working together and the kind of conflicts of trying to work together with others. It’s a world where superheroes exist, so there’s comedy in that necessarily, trying to work with other people and people trying to accomplish goals together is the root of all great comedy in my view. So there’s definitely, hopefully some fun in it. But it’s not unrecognizably these characters or these stories. It’s not turning it upside down.