Update: 10/04/17 —

Justice League is just a little a month away, and Warner Brothers has released a series of five character posters featuring the main team line-up, minus Superman, because he’s “dead” and all. Supe’s symbol is included among the other logs, so maybe he’ll get one eventually. The posters are all colorful and vibrant, a far cry from the dour marketing from Batman v Superman last year. You can check all five of them out down below:

#Aquaman is ALL IN. New #JusticeLeague trailer coming Sunday. pic.twitter.com/ulD6eiTfRf

— Justice League (@justiceleagueuk) October 4, 2017

#WonderWoman is ALL IN. New #JusticeLeague trailer coming Sunday. pic.twitter.com/gfD9lbayHF

— Justice League (@justiceleagueuk) October 4, 2017

#Batman is ALL IN. New #JusticeLeague trailer coming Sunday. pic.twitter.com/sAXFw6VY7e

— Justice League (@justiceleagueuk) October 4, 2017

#Cyborg is ALL IN. New #JusticeLeague trailer coming Sunday. pic.twitter.com/V4gHQOf3Io

— Justice League (@justiceleagueuk) October 4, 2017

#TheFlash is ALL IN. New #JusticeLeague trailer coming Sunday. pic.twitter.com/0LIR4Z9cT8

— Justice League (@justiceleagueuk) October 4, 2017

—

The Long Road To A Justice League Movie

If one considers DC Comics’ 1940s team the Justice Society a kind of prototype version of the Justice League, then DC’s premiere super team is the oldest and most celebrated gathering of heroes in comics. Officially debuting in The Brave and the Bold #28 in 1960, the Justice League of America was so instantly popular that it began a whole new era of superhero comics in the ’60s called the Silver Age. (In fact, without the JLA’s success, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would never have created the Fantastic Four, and subsequently, the Marvel Universe on the whole.)

But while the Marvel super teams to follow–namely, the Avengers and the X-Men–have gone on to big screen glory, DC’s parent company Warner Bros lagged in getting the League up on the silver screen. A Justice League movie almost came to pass in 2008. The project, dubbed Justice League: Mortal, would have been directed by Mad Max: Fury Road creator George Miller, but the writer’s strike that year–as well as Christopher Nolan’s desire to not have a competing version of Batman out there while he was smack dab in the middle of his Dark Knight trilogy–killed Justice League Mortal in its tracks, weeks from when filming was to begin.

In the succeeding years, the Marvel Cinematic Universe became the biggest thing since sliced bread, and Warner Bros. knew they had to follow suit with their own DC version, which they eventually dubbed “The DC Extended Universe,” or DCEU. Step one was Man of Steel, from Watchmen director Zack Snyder, which reintroduced to the world to Superman in 2013. Step two was the much hyped Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which gave us a new Batman in Ben Affleck, and cinema’s first Wonder Woman with Gal Gadot in March of 2016. All of this was meant to be the preamble to finally getting a Justice League up on the big screen after years of false starts. The movie was officially announced on October 15th, 2014.

Despite the critical reception to BvS being mixed (and that’s being kind), Warner Bros decided to forge ahead with the original plan for Justice League, albeit with some adjustments. Production began in April, 2016 in Leavesden, England, and ended on October 1, 2016. Some shooting also took place in London, Scotland, Los Angeles, and Iceland. The studio promised fans that, unlike the previous film, this would be a fun affair, and the kind of superhero movie that audiences want.

Warner Bros invited Nerdist and other outlets to the first few days of filming back in 2016 (read about it all here!) to show fans that things were indeed going to be different this time. Justice League would be the fun superhero team-up movie we’d been waiting for all these years. In an effort to course-correct, producer Geoff Johns said that the film would be “hopeful and optimistic” in comparison to the previous DCEU films.

Then at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Snyder and the cast of Justice League hit Hall H with a hell of a presentation for fans, including a new trailer that looked fun, and dare I say it, even Marvel-esque. You can see the SDCC trailer down below:

Since that first trailer was released, a second trailer was released at the end of March, 2017. Here’s trailer #2:

Since production of the movie was officially announced, we’ve learned quite a bit about the project as its evolved. Here’s everything we know about Justice League so far.

Who’s Behind the Movie?

Zack Snyder, the director behind Man of Steel and Batman v Superman is once again at the helm with Justice League. Warner Bros seems to have given him the keys to the kingdom when it comes to their DC Extended Universe, despite the mixed reception to his previous DC films–Justice League is the culmination of this.

The film was written by Batman v Superman scribe Chris Terrio, who also wrote Argo, and is being produced by Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Jon Berg, and DC Comics CCO Geoff Johns.

The score is being composed by Junkie XL, who shared soundtrack duties with Hans Zimmer on Batman v Superman. Production design if from Patrick Tatopoulos, and Fabian Wagner is the film’s cinematographer.

Due to a personal family tragedy, Snyder had to step down from his directing and editing duties in April of 2017, along with his wife Deborah. Taking over for the film’s final edit, as well as the remainder of reshoots, which are rumored to be anywhere from six weeks to two months is none other than Avengers (and future Batgirl director) Joss Whedon.

Justice League’s composer is one that is no stranger to one of the principal characters — Danny Elfman, who made his name as film composer almost three decades ago with the soundtrack to Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman film. This is the second time Danny Elfman has worked with Joss Whedon, as he and the director collaborated before on Avengers: Age of Ultron. Whedon recently came on board to take over directing duties from Zack Snyder, who has stepped down due to a family tragedy.

Zack Snyder had been working with Junkie XL on the movie, who worked on the score for Batman v Superman. Apparently, he is now moving on to Tomb Raider, according to sources at The Hollywood Reporter.

What’s the Movie About?

According to the official logline from Warner Bros, this is the movie’s plot:

In Justice League, 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.

Although it’s not clearly spelled out in the description, the assault of catastrophic proportions is from the alien general Steppenwolf, minion of Darkseid, and his Parademon army. Darkseid, the DCU’s biggest bad himself, is said to be making a cameo, leading to a bigger role in the sequel, but it’s not 100% confirmed. All of these characters are straight from Jack Kirby’s New Gods mythology, which is said to be a major inspiration to Zack Snyder and the creators of the film.

The Cast

Justice League is a pretty densely cast film, with a lot of returning cast members from Snyder’s previous two DCEU films. As the League, we’ve got our “DC Trinity” of Ben Affleck returning as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman (he may be dead, but all promotional materials have suggested he will be back before the third act), and Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman.

Joining them are Game of Thrones‘ actor Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, the King of Atlantis; Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash, a Central City police CSI who can move at superhuman speeds; and Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg, a former college athlete who, after being cybernetically reconstructed after a near-fatal accident, has powers that allow him to manipulate technology.

In smaller parts we have Amy Adams returning as Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane; Willem Dafoe as Vulko, the Atlantean advisor to Aquaman; Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, the evil genius and CEO of LexCorp; and Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne’s butler and trusted confidant. Also returning are Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Clark Kent’s mother; Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Diana Prince’s mother and the Amazon queen; Robin Wright as General Antiope of the Amazons, Amber Heard as the Atlantean Queen Mera, future Flash actor Billy Crudup, who plays Barry’s wrongly incarcerated father, Henry Allen,and J. K. Simmons as Gotham City Commissioner James Gordon, Batman’s trusted ally.

In addition, Kiersey Clemons (Dope) has confirmed to Modeliste Magazine, via Screen Rant, that she appears in the film as Iris West, Barry Allen’s girlfriend. Though just a cameo, this is a preview of her character before she makes her full debut in the (eventually coming, some day) big screen version of The Flash. Apparently, she shot the bit part recently on a London soundstage.

Rounding out the cast are Game of Thrones’ Ciarán Hinds as the villainous alien general Steppenwolf; actress Amber Heard as the Atlantean Queen Mera; and Kiersey Clemons, who will portray Iris West, the Flash’s girlfriend.

How Cool Is This Poster?

In the latest poster, Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), the Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) are all posing stoically, and are looking ahead at something  or someone off screen, all while a bright light shines in the background. Is that you Superman?? They can’t keep hiding Kal-El from the movie’s marketing forever, can they? You can check out the new poster above.

What About Green Lantern??

Every major version of the League in the comics has had a Green Lantern among its ranks. The original JLA had Hal Jordan as resident Lantern (as did TV’s Super Friends), while the ’80s and ’90s had Lanterns Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. The Justice League Unlimited animated series had John Stewart.

So why no GL as one of the “Big 7?” Blame Ryan Reynolds‘ failed Green Lantern movie. Warner Bros is afraid the stink of that bomb will follow the Justice League movie, despite the fact that everyone has seemingly moved on by now.

Having said that, character actor Julian Lewis Jones has been cast in an undisclosed role, one which is heavily rumored to be Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 and Hal Jordan’s immediate predecessor. Could there be a surprise GL as a member of the League after all? I’d say the chances are good.

When Does It Finally Come Out? And What About Justice League 2?

Justice League is set to be released on November 17th, 2017. For a while now, it seemed that the sequel would be filmed back-to-back with the original movie, but those plans seemed to change. Originally, Justice League 2 was going to be released in June of 2019, but has been pushed back. It might still come out in 2019, but the fall is now a more likely release date.

__

What are you most exited about in regards to the Justice League’s long awaited big screen debut? Let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Warner Bros / DC Comics  /  Danny Elfman photo: Pani Paul