The Justice League (film)

The Justice League also known as DC Comics's The Justice League and Justice League is a 2019 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. It is also a crossover between/sequel of Aquaman, Batman 2, Green Lantern, and Superman: Origins of Krypton. It is the sixth installment in the DC Comics Shared Universe Films and the sixth/final installment of Phase One.

It is co-written and directed by Zach Snyder and stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Taron Egerton as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Jake Johnson as Sinestro, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/Flash, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, and Phil Morris as John Jones.

It was released May 4, 2019 in the USA and was released on April 25, 2019 and April 26, 2019 in the UK. The film drew inspiration from the Justice League and Sinestro comic series.

A sequel called Justice League: War was released on May 1, 2022.

Plot
Shortly after the events of Green Lantern Sinestro escapes his cell on Oa. Sinestro wanders the periphery of outer space for over a year before coming into contact with Desaad again, the servant of a mysterious warlord. After thanking Sinestro for his donation of the Yellow Lantern Battery, Desaad makes a deal with Sinestro: in exchange for recovering the Blue Lantern Battery, a powerful energy source being studied by Watchtower on Earth, his master promises to give Sinestro command over the Mangrians, a warmongering race of cyborgs, so he may conquer humanity. Seeing this as a chance for greatness, Sinestro accepts.

On Earth, Watchtower Director John Jones and his deputy director, Cecelia Martin are called to the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility in the Mojave Desert where the Blue Latern Battery is being researched by Carl Ferris. The Battery has recently begun emitting strange quantities of energy on its own accord, prompting the facility to be evacuated. Before any necessary precautions can be made, the Battery activates, opening a portal from which Sinestro appears. Announcing his intention to conquer Earth, Sinestro steals the Blue Lantern Battery and uses the Scepter, given to him by Desaad, to enslave the minds of Ferris and Barry Allen, aiding him in his getaway. Despite the efforts of Director Jones and Commander Martin to stop him, Sinestro escapes. In response to the attack, Jones reactivates the Justice Initiative.

Despite orders from the World Security Council to proceed with Phase 2, Jones sends Agent Diana Prince to locate Arthur Curry, who has been living in Atlantis as a doctor, and Agent Sam Hunter to recruit Bruce Wayne; both geniuses are recruited to help locate the Blue Lantern Battery. Jones himself meets with Clark Kent, informing him of Sinestro's theft of the Blue Lantern Battery, requesting his help in recovering it and subduing the invader. All three men accept the offer, though Kent is reluctant to do anything involving alien objects after his experiences on Krypton. Curry is also hesitant to assist, fearing that his friends in Atlantis, may cause mayhem. The group, minus Wayne, gathers on the Spacecraft, where Curry starts tracking the hope radiation emitted by the Blue Lantern Battery, while Watchtower tries to find Sinestro. Sinestro is discovered in Stuttgart, Germany, and attacks a man named Heinrich Schafer before he terrorizes a crowd of people attending a gala, providing a distraction so that the brainwashed Allen may retrieve iridium to stabilize the Battery. Prince and Kent, the latter now in uniform as Superman, arrive to apprehend Sinestro, with Kent and Sinestro engaging in an even fight until the timely intervention of Wayne, forcing Sinestro to surrender. After capturing him, they board a Waynejet and start their return trip to the Watchtower, when a lightning storm suddenly forms, and out of nowhere, Green Lantern appears, having been transported to Earth by Kilowog.

Green Lantern takes Sinestro from the group's custody and carries him to a nearby forest. Hal attempts to persuade Sinestro into abandoning his campaign and returning to Oa, but Sinestro, blinded by his jealousy of Green Lantern and contempt towards the Guardians of the Universe, refuses. Wayne jumps in and attacks Green Lantern, engaging him in a battle that levels part of the forest. Before any further damage can be done, Kent intervenes and attempts to get Green Lantern to stand down; Hal responds by lunging at Kent with his ring emitting a hammer, only for the Kent to absorb the blow. Green Lantern finally agrees to work with the humans, and joins them in returning Sinestro to the Watchtower.

On the Watchtower, Sinestro is imprisoned inside a cage designed to hold Kent as Superman, and Jones attempts to interrogate him regarding the Blue Lantern Battery's location, but Sinestro remains silent. Hal reveals Sinestro's plan to the Justice League: with the Battery, Sinestro hopes to open a portal that will allow the Blue Lanterns access to Earth and the planet next to them holds the Mangrians, thus beginning an alien invasion. Hal tells them he is good friends with the Blue Lantern, Saint Walker who might be able to help them. While Wayne and Curry work on locating the Battery, Kent is clearly annoyed by Wayne's erratic behavior and disrespect towards authority, and tries to get him to follow orders more carefully, instigating a rivalry between the two. Amidst their arguments, they begin to question Watchtower's intentions, deducing that Jones was hiding something regarding their plans with the Blue Lantern Battery. Wayne reveals that he had begun hacking the agency's mainframe to unlock their secrets, while Kent leaves to investigate the restricted areas of the Watchtower for himself. Both Wayne and Kent's investigations stumble upon "Phase 2", which they realize is in fact a program using The Battery to make weapons.

The Justice League confront Jones with their discoveries, to which he reveals that Watchtower began using the Blue Battery to manufacture weapons in response to the Oan incident in New Mexico the previous year, which revealed to humanity the existence of powerful and potentially hostile alien life. A massive argument ensues, during which Allen, accompanied by various soldiers also working for Sinestro, attack the Watchtower, crippling one if its holders. The resulting explosion destroys the lab that the group is in, causing Prince and Curry to fall into the boiler area, where they are trapped by wreckage. Despite Prince's attempts at escaping, the injured Curry gets dehydrated and escapes with his thirst for water, and gets Prince and escape the room. Green Lantern comes in and thinks Curry is trying to hurt her and brawls with Curry, only to be outclassed in strength. A Watchtower jet attempts to lure Curry away from Green Lantern, only for Curry to leap at the jet and tear it apart. The jet explodes, and Curry is sent careening away from the Watchtower in space.

Jones gets his men to spray him with water and he wakes up and they manage to get him back in the Watchtower just in time to save him. Kent and Wayne try to repair the damaged holder, but their efforts are hindered by Sinestro's underlings. Prince confronts Allen, and after an intense fight, she is able to break Sinestro's control by delivering a concussive blow to Allen's head. Hal attempts to prevent Sinestro from escaping, but is tricked by an illusion of Sinestro and trapped in his former prison cell. Agent Hunter attempts to save Green Lantern, but Sinestro stabs him through the chest with his scepter, and then jettisons Green Lantern from the Watchtower. Green Lantern breaks free from the cell at the last second, landing on the moon. Kent and Wayne are eventually able to overcome their aggressors and get the Watchtower to stand again, but the victory is bittersweet as Sinestro escapes and Hunter dies from his injury.

Jones attempts to use Hunter's death to motivate the Justice League into cooperating as a team, but Kent and Wayne get into another argument. Amidst their argument, the two realize that Sinestro plans to open the portal above Wayne Enterprises, at the center of Gotham City, in an attempt to satisfy his own ego. Kent, Prince, and Allen take a spacecraft to Gotham City, following Wayne in his suit in a Waynejet. Wayne arrives first, failing to stop Ferris from using the Battery, in conjunction with a device he built, to open the portal. Wayne confronts Sinestro, the two engaging in a brief battle of wits, with Wayne failing to intimidate Sinestro with threats regarding the Justice League. Sinestro unsuccessfully tries to possess Wayne, as his suit physically blocks the scepter's power, and instead throws him through a window. Fortunately, Wayne manages to activate his improved suit, which attaches itself to Wayne before he can hit the ground. Wayne then attempts to incapacitate Sinestro, but Ferris's device activates, opening a portal above Gotham from which the Blue Lanterns stare. Wayne realizes without the others he cannot get the Blue Lanterns help. Sinestro tells them that he needs the help of Mangrians to stop an alien invasion. The Blue Lanterns, not knowing Sinestro is a Yellow Lantern make room for the Mangrians, beginning Loki's invasion.

Kent, Prince, Allen, and Green Lantern soon arrive and assist Wayne against the Mangrians. Not expecting such a resistance, the Mangrians are initially overwhelmed, but their sheer numbers soon become an issue. Curry arrives on a motorbike, and uses a special technique he mastered to use his undersea telepathy to order the Atlanteans to help them, giving the Justice League an edge against the Mangrians. The team, plus the Atlanteans, fight through hordes of Mangrians, and during the battle, Sinestro is attacked by the Justice League, while the Atlanteans fight the Mangrians, and beaten into submission. Prince makes her way to Ferris's device, where Ferris, freed of Sinestro's control, reveals that Sinestro's scepter can be used to close the portal. Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council attempts to end the invasion by launching a nuclear missile at Gotham. Superman intercepts the missile and takes it through the portal toward the Mangrians fleet before running out of strength and plummeting back to Earth.

Wayne catches Kent as he falls, while the Mangrians fleet is decimated by the nuclear explosion, effectively disabling the Mangrian forces on Earth. Prince then closes the portal, the battle finally won.

The world, changed forever, is taken over by the idea of a superhero team. The Justice League become the center of media attention, admired by the public as heroes, but are also met with some concern and fear, with some finding their appearance during the battle to be too coincidental. All joining in Wayne Enterprises, the Justice League and Watchtower watch as Green Lantern escorts Sinestro back to Oa and the Blue Lantern Battery to Odym. Afterward, the Justice League diverge, though Jones notes that at such a time that a new world-threatening menace emerges, the team will reassemble.

Meanwhile, Desaad meets with his master and informs him of Sinestro's failure. He shares his concerns over the strength of Earth's heroes, commenting that attempting to challenge them again would be "to face death." At this, the master, Darkseid, smiles sadistically.

Before they had disassembled, the Justice League gathered at a shawarma restaurant and eat in silence.

Cast

 * Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman
 * Taron Egerton as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
 * Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman
 * Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
 * Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/the Flash
 * Jake Johnson as Sinestro
 * James Frain as Agent Sam Hunter
 * Jessica Lucas as Agent Cecelia Martin
 * Andy Serkis as Carl Ferris
 * Phil Morris as John Jones
 * Amy Adams as Lois Lane
 * Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth
 * Neil Patrick Harris as Desaad
 * Garrett Hedlund as Agent Steve Trevor
 * Dieter Riesle as Dr. Heinrich Schafer
 * Taye Diggs as Darkseid

Locations

 * Watchtower
 * Sanctuary
 * Mojave Desert
 * Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility
 * Russia
 * Gotham City, Gotham
 * Wayne Enterprises
 * Shawarma Palace
 * Wayne Manor
 * Kolkata, India
 * Stuttgart, Germany
 * Sinestro's Hideout
 * Oa
 * Prison Cells
 * Portland, Oregon (mentioned)
 * Washington, D.C. (mentioned)
 * Abidjan, Ivory Coast (mentioned)
 * São Paulo, Brazil (mentioned)
 * Budapest, Hungary (mentioned)
 * Tromsø, Norway (mentioned)
 * Atlantis (mentioned)

Events

 * Battle of Atlantis (computer screen)
 * Battle of Santa Fe (computer screen)
 * Battle for Earth (computer screen)
 * Battle of Metropolis (flashback)
 * War for Earth
 * Attack on the Watchtower
 * Battle of Gotham

Items

 * Lantern Batteries
 * Blue Lantern Battery
 * Yellow Lantern Battery (mentioned)
 * Batman suit
 * Aquaman suit
 * Flash suit
 * Superman suit
 * Green Lantern Ring
 * Green Lantern suit
 * Wonder Woman suit
 * Lasso of Truth
 * Mangrian Armor
 * Mangrian Gun
 * Mangrian Staff
 * Mangrian Bomb
 * Mangrian Helmet
 * Mangrian Neural Link
 * Scepter
 * Superman Card Collection
 * Galaga
 * The Atlantean Shot

Vehicles

 * Watchtower Spacecraft
 * Mangrian Chariot
 * Waynejet
 * Batmobile
 * Aquacycle

Sentient Species

 * Oans
 * Qwardians
 * Humans

Organizations

 * Watchtower
 * Phase 2
 * Justice League
 * Wayne Enterprises
 * United Nations Security Council
 * Gotham City Police Department
 * Mangrians

Mentioned

 * Thomas Wayne
 * Kilowog
 * Carol Ferris