Justice League: Legion of Doom

**Justice League: Legion of Doom** is a 2016 superhero film based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. It is also a sequel to *Wonder Woman: Cold War*, *Green Lantern: Blackest Night*, *Batman 3*, *Aquaman*, and *The Flash: Fire and Ice*. It was directed by Joss Whedon and written by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan. It stars Hugh Jackman, Chris Evans, Gal Gadot, Chris Hemsworth, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jason Momoa, Mark Wahlberg, and Angela Bassett. The film ran 151 minutes, with an extended version at 182 minutes and was released on March 4, 2016.

## Plot

Taking place three years after *Justice League*, the team has gone their seperate ways and faced their threats. However, suddenly Amanda Waller recruits Bruce Wayne/Batman, Clark Kent/Superman, Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Barry Allen/The Flash, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern, and Arthur Curry/Aquaman once again. After being joined by Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, they are debriefed and learn their worst enemies have come together. Waller reveals that a secret organization has been growing inside the D.E.O./A.R.G.U.S. since 1918. They ask how and she reveals that the Director of the D.E.O. in 1918, Hank Henshaw, slowly turned over half the agency to create Checkmate. They also discover Henshaw is still alive and healthy, because of cybernetic implants. Diana convinces Waller to try to repair her relationship with her son, Steve Trevor IV, which has been strained ever since Steve's father, Steve Trevor III, died in 1986. However, Steve does not want to bond with his mother.

They confront Henshaw, who then dispatches his "Legion of Doom": the Joker, Lex Luthor, Reverse-Flash, Cheetah, and Ocean Master. The Justice League fights the Legion, eventually defeating them, though they are only able to capture Ocean Master, who then willingly goes back to the Atlantis prison. The team agrees that Henshaw will come back, and with being down a member, he might use his cybernetic implants to fight as a member of the team, himself. Diana and Steve are revealed to be in a relationship, and she convinces him to bond with his mother. Waller decides she does not have time for personal relationships at the time, and focuses all her energy on stopping Henshaw and Checkmate. Clark has his girlfriend/journalist Lois Lane try to figure out where Henshaw is, but she cannot find him anywhere. Finally, Henshaw takes the next move by kidnapping Lois.

The team, along with a team of A.R.G.U.S. agents, including Steve and Dale Gunn, find Lois and rescue her. However, suddenly Henshaw alerts his agents and half the team of A.R.G.U.S., including Gunn, is revealed to be a part of Checkmate. The team is able to escape with Lois and Steve, but the rest of the agents are killed by Checkmate. They return to the A.R.G.U.S. HQ, where they discover Checkmate switched over there too, killing most of the agency and critically injuring Waller, who dies in Steve's arms, though the two finally reconcile. The team is distraught by what happened and they hide in Gotham City. However, the Legion soon finds them and Henshaw reveals he has the powers of Superman, with him being called a "Cyborg Superman". Diana fights Cheetah, Bruce fights Joker, Clark fights Luthor, and Barry fights Reverse-Flash. Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Star Sapphire fight Cyborg Superman and Checkmate. Gunn is killed in the fight.

Finally, Henshaw slips up by ordering his agency to release the big guns, a nuclear weapon that could destroy an entire city. He releases it upon Metropolis, but Superman catches it before it can land. Diana punches Henshaw in the face and, though Steve wants him dead, Diana reluctantly puts him under arrest of A.R.G.U.S., which he reminds them is in low numbers. The team, plus Steve, returns to the HQ, where they find that out of the 200 A.R.G.U.S. field agents, only 29 are surviving A.R.G.U.S. agents, including Steve and Diana. Steve and the rest of the agency look up to Diana, who is declared Director. Bruce is able to uncover the whole Checkmate plot to the public, also revealing A.R.G.U.S. existence, which had been secret up until now. Diana agrees to make A.R.G.U.S. a more public agency now, while Bruce in doing so reveals his superhero identity, along with Diana, and the two encourage the others to do so, excluding Hal and Carol, whose identities are already known.

In a mid-credits scene, Diana has built up her agency to 50 agents. Suddenly, they get a call about a White Lantern glowing energy in Smallville. In a post-credits scene, Hal returns to Oa where he discovers Sinestro, who reveals that a stronger villain is coming, more powerful than anyone they've ever faced.

## Title and plotline

Originally, when the film's title was announced in 2013, it was titled *Justice League: Brainiac*, and a few months later Ving Rhames was cast as J'onn J'onzz. However, suddenly the film was canceled with no explanation. Then, in 2014, Justice League: Legion of Doom was announced and J'onzz was cut from the film. There is still no known reason why the films were swapped.

## Cast

* Hugh Jackman as Bruce Wayne/Batman
* Chris Evans as Clark Kent/Superman
* Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman
* Chris Hemsworth as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern
* Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Barry Allen/The Flash
* Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman
* Jon Hamm as the Joker
* Jeremy Renner as Lex Luthor
* Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire
* Jake Gyllenhaal as Eobard Thawne/Reverse-Flash
* Alison Brie as Barbara Ann Minerva/Cheetah
* Henry Cavill as Steve Trevor IV
* Dan Stevens as Orm Marius/Ocean Master
* Kate Mara as Lois Lane
* Chris Pine as Dale Gunn
* Mark Wahlberg as Hank Henshaw/Cyborg Superman
* Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller

## Reception

### **Box office**

The film grossed $341.2 million in the United States and Canda, and $682.5 million in foreign areas, for a worldwide gross of $1.023 billion.

### **Critical reception**

On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 98% based on 256 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The amazing *Justice League: Legion of Doom* is a film for all ages, with it being a high improvement from the first film, because of it's humor, acting, and amazing storyline." It was the site's second highest-rated film of 2016 behind *Moonlight*. On Metacritic, the film has a normalized score of 78 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.