Justice League (2017)

February 22, 2021

2,172 5 minutes read

Film and Plot Synopsis

The world still mourns the death of Superman, and Batman struggles to fill the gap left behind by the Man of Steel. However, a new danger threatens everyone on the planet Earth. The evil and powerful Steppenwolf returns to Earth with his army of Parademons to reacquire three Mother Boxes that can terraform the entire planet and kill every living thing on Earth. Now, the heroes Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg must unite to stop the alien invader. But will they have any chance without the help of Superman?

‘Justice League’ Movie Summary

The summary below contains spoilers.

The world is still mourning the death of Superman aka Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) nearly two years after the events of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Batman aka Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) struggles to fill the gap left by the Man of Steel and continues to push his abilities to their maximum as a normal human being. He encounters a Parademon while stopping a criminal in Gotham City. The Parademon is destroyed by Batman’s use of ultra-high sonics, but the Dark Knight realizes that a new danger is approaching to threaten the Earth. He sets off on a mission to recruit heroes to unite and take on the impending threat.

Meanwhile, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) arrives on Earth with his army of Parademons. Thousands of years in the past, Steppenwolf led an army that attempted to take over the Earth using the combined energies of three Mother Boxes. Steppenwolf was defeated by a unified force of Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, humans, and various extraterrestrial beings, including members of the Green Lantern Corps. Steppenwolf was forced to retreat without the Mother Boxes. The Mother Boxes were divided up and given to mankind, the Amazons, and the Atlanteans, each group vowing to hide and protect them against Steppenwolf. Steppenwolf has now returned to complete his mission on behalf of his master, the evil Darkseid. His intent is to form the Unity which will destroy Earth’s ecology and terraform the planet into the image of Steppenwolf’s home world.

Steppenwolf first arrives in Themyscira to retrieve the Mother Box that the Amazons possess. Queen Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen) leads her forces in a battle against the intruder, but ultimately Steppenwolf is successful in retrieving the Mother Box. The Queen sends a warning to her daughter Diana aka Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) in the outside human world. Once Diana sees the warning, she joins Bruce in his search for additional metahumans to help combat Steppenwolf.

Bruce first travels overseas to find Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa), the Aquaman. Arthur rejects Bruce’s offer to join forces and heads back out into the sea towards Atlantis. Diana seeks out and locates Victor Stone aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher), a former college athlete who has been cybernetically reconstructed by a Mother Box after a nearly fatal car accident. Diana fails to persuade Cyborg to join the group, but he does agree to help them locate the threat. Bruce next travels to Central City to locate Barry Allen aka the Flash (Ezra Miller). Unlike Arthur, Barry enthusiastically agrees to join Bruce’s proposed super group and travels with him back to Gotham City.

Meanwhile, Steppenwolf attacks an Atlantean outpost that is protecting their Mother Box. Mera (Amber Heard) leads the Atlantean forces against the alien invader, but they are overwhelmed. Aquaman arrives and joins the battle, but Steppenwolf still acquires the Mother Box and retreats. Aquaman knows the danger to the Earth is real and returns to the surface world to join Bruce’s group. At the same time, Cyborg learns that his father Silas Stone (Joe Morton) and several other S.T.A.R. Lab employees have been kidnapped by Parademons due to their interactions with the humans’ Mother Box. Cyborg also agrees to join Bruce’s group.

Back in Gotham City, Batman, the Flash, Wonder Woman, and the Cyborg receive intelligence from Commissioner James Gordon (J.K. Simmons) that leads them to Steppenwolf’s army in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor. The group rescues the kidnapped employees and engages Steppenwolf and his Parademons in battle. However, the facility is ruptured during the conflict and begins to flood. Only the timely arrival of Aquaman prevents the team from drowning. Once free of the danger, Cyborg leaves the group to retrieve the last Mother Box. He brings in back to Bruce and Diana so that they can analyze it. Cyborg reveals that his father used the Box to rebuild his body. Bruce proposes using the Mother Box to resurrect Superman, so that he can help them fight Steppenwolf. Diana and Arthur are against the idea, but Bruce promises a secret contingency plan in case the Superman resurrection goes awry.

Cyborg and the Flash exhume the body from Smallville and bring it to the genesis chamber in the Kryptonian scout ship in the heart of Metropolis. They place Superman’s body in the amniotic fluid of the chamber, and the Flash activates the Mother Box with his power. The plan is a success, and Superman is brought back to life. However, Superman’s memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Cyborg’s programming initiates an attack on the Man of Steel inadvertently. The group is overwhelmed by Superman’s strength, and Superman appears to be ready to kill Batman when the contingency plan is activated in the form of Lois Lane (Amy Adams). Superman stops his attack and picks up the love of his life and flies off to his mother’s home in Smallville. At the same time, Steppenwolf arrives in Metropolis and collects the last Mother Box while the heroes are distracted.

Superman gathers himself in Smallville and reunites with his mother Martha (Diane Lane). His memories return and he struggles to decide what he should do next. Meanwhile, the remaining heroes begin to make plans to take on Steppenwolf without Superman. Cyborg tracks Steppenwolf to a small town in Russia near an abandoned nuclear power plant. The group sets out to take on Steppenwolf with the plan to keep the Mother Boxes from being united. They fight their way through the army of Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, but they cannot keep him distracted long enough for Cyborg to separate the Mother Boxes. Superman finally arrives and takes on Steppenwolf before flying off to help the Flash evacuate the civilians from the village. He eventually returns and helps Cyborg separate the Mother Boxes. The team beats Steppenwolf, who suddenly exhibits fear, an emotion that attracts the Parademons to attack. With his minions attacking him, Steppenwolf teleports himself and his Parademons away from Earth.

After the battle, Bruce and Diana agree to set up a base of operations for the Justice League in the ruins of Wayne Manor. They also plan for more members to join. Wonder Woman steps back into the public spotlight as hero. Barry gets a job at the Central City Police Department, which impresses his imprisoned father, Henry Allen (Billy Crudup). Victor works with his father at S.T.A.R. Labs to further explore his abilities. Aquaman embraces his Atlantean heritage and continues to protect people on the seas. Superman resumes his life as Clark Kent with the help of Bruce, who gets the Kents’ house back from the bank that foreclosed.

In a mid-credits scene, Superman and the Flash begin a race to see who is faster. They agree to race to the West Coast. The outcome of the race is not shown.

In a post-credits scene, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is shown to have escaped from Arkham Asylum and sits comfortably on a yacht. Slade Wilson (Joe Manganiello) joins him on the ship, and Lex discusses forming their own league.