Whoa! That new Justice League trailer is pretty cool. There are a lot of fun easter eggs hidden throughout the trailer, but one thing sticks out. During the battle in the beginning of the trailer we see Steppenwolf attack some soldiers with his axe and as the camera pans out the land begins to transform into a dark volcanic state. It looks as if he has begun to terraform the planet to become more like Apokolips which is very charred and volcanic in the comics. Terraforming is not an uncommon practice in the DCEU. In Man of Steel, General Zod began to terraform Earth into a new Krypton. So, did Darkseid send Steppenwolf to Earth to terraform it to become an Apokolips outpost? All signs are currently pointing to yes – with a more sinister twist!
In Man of Steel, the Kryptonians required the use of a ‘world engine’ to terraform Earth. It would make sense that this technology was not indigenous to Krypton. In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Lex Luthor was told by the Kryptonian scout ship’s A.I. that “the Kryptonian archive contains knowledge from 100,000 different worlds.” Therefore, Apokolips could definitely have been one of those 100,000 different worlds and the New Gods would have access to the ‘world engine’ technology.
In the Justice League trailer, we hear Batman say “I had a dream, it was the end of the world.” This dream is most likely a reference to the ‘Knightmare Sequence’ in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. In the dream sequence, the Earth is a vast apocalyptic landscape – pun definitely intended! There are many ‘world engine’ like machines hovering above and fire shooting out of the Earth. On the ground in front of Batman, there is a giant omega symbol. Fans of the DC comics know that this symbol is analogous with Darkseid. The ‘Knightmare Sequence’ is very close to what we see happening in the new trailer. In which we see the land becoming charred and fire spouting into the sky.
Batman is also heard saying something else in the trailer. After Wonder Woman dramatically states “invasion” he says “I think it’s something more, something darker.” What could be darker than an invasion? Well, in an invasion the current inhabitants of the planet would be wiped out. General Zod showed Superman in Man of Steel that the humans would not survive the terraforming of Earth into a new Krypton. Darkseid may have Steppenwolf terraform Earth in a different way inJustice League.
From the footage we saw in the trailer there is a human warrior that is transforming on the battlefield. His skin is becoming dark and cracked and his teeth are becoming sharper. It is highly likely that he is being turned into a Parademon by the terraforming process. His new fangs and skin are very similar to those of the Parademons we saw in the ‘Knightmare Sequence’ in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. If Steppenwolf succeeds in Terraforming Earth for Darkseid it would give Apokolips around 7.6 billion new slave soldiers to use in other invasions. Also, it would easily allow him to take on the 7202 members of the Green Lantern Corps.
In the comics, Parademons serve as the loyal army of Darkseid. They are genetically created on Apokolips in laboratories and operate as soldiers and slaves. When Apokolips decides to mount an interplanetary invasion, Darkseid sends in waves of his Parademons as the advanced infantry. Though most Parademons are created in a lab there are some Parademons are bred from human stock, selected from the lowly populous that reside in the poorest districts of Apokolips. In the New 52 comics, more specifically Earth 2: World’s End, Parademons are created from reformatted genetic material gleaned either from the living or dead remains of a native species during an interplanetary invasion. Considering that Geoff Johns is now a co-runner of the DC Extended Universe, and co-chairman of DC Films it would make sense that they begin using more material from the New 52 comics.
Justice League is due to hit theaters on November 17, 2017.
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