Justice League: Gods and Monsters

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

For the 1998 film, see Gods and Monsters (film).

Justice League: Gods and Monsters
Blu-ray cover
Directed bySam Liu
Produced by
Screenplay byAlan Burnett
Story by
Starring
Music byFrederik Wiedmann
Edited byChristopher D. Lozinski
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Home Video
Release date
  • July 21, 2015 (2015-07-21) (Digital)
  • July 28, 2015 (2015-07-28) (Physical)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

In an alternate universe, the Justice League—Batman (Dr. Kirk Langstrom), Wonder Woman (Bekka), and Superman (Hernan Guerra, son of General Zod)— is an autonomous brutal force that maintains order on Earth; thus public opinion is mixed with awe and hatred. Scientists Victor Fries; Ray Palmer; and Silas Stone, along with his young son Victor are killed by methods similar to the Justice League. President Amanda Waller asks 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 Tower of the Justice, where he tells her of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Krypton or his heritage.

Batman discovers an email sent to Dr. Stone and a number of scientists, including Dr. Will Magnus, Kirk's best friend who helped with his transformation. He asks Magnus, and his wife Tina, about "Project Fair Play", which involved scientists under Lex Luthor's employ; Magnus offers to ask what the others know. Magnus gathers the remaining scientists (John Henry Irons, T.O. Morrow, Michael Holt, Pat Dugan, Emil Hamilton, Karen Beecher, Thaddeus Sivana, Kimiyo Hoshi, and Stephen Shin) for answers. However, they are attacked by three robotic assassins who travel via Boom tube. Despite their efforts, the assassins leave Magnus as the sole survivor of the attack.

The League takes Magnus to the Tower to recover, while Superman flies to Lex Luthor's satellite orbiting the moon. Luthor reveals the Project is a way to destroy the League if necessary; he also reveals the truth about Zod to Superman. As Superman leaves, a robotic assassin booms in and destroys the satellite, seemingly killing Luthor. Steve 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 while Batman stays inside the Tower, where he activates the forcefield, thinking Magnus can clear the League. Tina suddenly appears and subdues Batman before shape-shifting into a liquid metal robot and revives Magnus with an organic nanite serum that enhances his strength and healing. Magnus reveals he orchestrated everything using his Metal Men; he intends to detonate a Nanite Bomb, to forcefully link humanity together into a hive mind. He confesses he killed the real Tina in a fit of rage and replaced her with a robotic duplicate named Platinum, and joined Fair Play for its resources to fund his secret Nanite Bomb project.

As Magnus prepares his weapon, Luthor, who escaped the explosion, teleports into the middle of the battle outside and tells everyone he has discovered Magnus' plan. Batman frees himself and seizes the opportunity to drop the forcefield. With Batman fighting Magnus, Wonder Woman faces Platinum, and Superman takes on the Metal Men, who quickly merge into a single, more powerful entity that initially, has the upper hand on Superman due to repeatedly ambushing him via rapid teleportation using its three Mother Boxes within itself. Wonder Woman uses her sword's boom tube to send Platinum into the sun, while Superman finally manages to destroy the Mother Boxes inside the unified Metal Man in a bid to halt its teleport-based attack before taking it underground and melting it inside molten rock. The League destroys the bomb (at the cost of Superman's Kryptonian escape craft) and, after being defeated by Batman, a remorseful 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 universes after growing bored with this one. Before leaving, 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 use the data to help humanity.

Cast

Crew

Tie-in media

Companion series
Main article: Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles

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 was planned to be released in 2016 and would have feature ten episodes.[4] However as of September 30, 2016, it has been shelved.[5]

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.[6]

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

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".[13] 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.[14]

Sales

It earned $2,928,833 from domestic home video sales.[15]

References
  1. Graser, Marc (September 17, 2014). "Machinima Lands Exclusive Animated 'Justice League' Series". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  2. "Forget everything you thought you knew about the @DCComics universe with Justice League: #GodsandMonsters, debuting June 8th". Twitter. Machinima. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  3. Spangler, Todd (October 21, 2014). "Warner Bros. Unveils Digital Short-Form Studio: Blue Ribbon Content". Variety. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  4. Means-Shannon, Hannah (May 4, 2015). "Justice League: Gods And Monsters Chronicles Season 2 Announced By Machinima, WB, And DC Comics (UPDATE)". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  5. "[News]Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles season 2 has been 'shelved'". Reddit. July 17, 2016. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
  6. Beedle, Tim (April 16, 2015). "Exclusive: First Look at the Justice League: Gods and Monsters Comic". DC Comics. Retrieved May 6, 2015.
  7. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters – Batman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  8. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters – Superman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  9. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters – Wonder Woman #1". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  10. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #1". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  11. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #2". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  12. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters #3". DC Comics. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  13. "'Justice League: Gods And Monsters' Review". screenrant.com. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  14. "JUSTICE LEAGUE: GODS AND MONSTERS REVIEW". IGN. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  15. "Justice League: Gods and Monsters". The Numbers listing. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
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