Part of the fun of any comics mythology is seeing variations on tried and true characters and dynamics. Thor is now a woman? OK. The Guardians of the Galaxy are all new? Sure! It’s always nice to see things be re-imagined and with
Justice League: Gods and Monsters, it does exactly that. Before you read any further, I highly suggest watching the movie first as there are some
MAJOR SPOILERS to be found.
The Trinity (Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman) are all re-envisioned as deadly and morally gray characters. Superman is now the son of General Zod, sent to Earth instead of Kal-El. Batman is no longer Bruce Wayne but rather Kirk Langstrom (aka Man-Bat). Wonder Woman is now a New God rather than Diana. Some of these replacements worked for me (Superman and Batman) while I did think that Wonder Woman fell flat.
This is not your typical Justice League, they incinerate, kill, and ruthlessly hunt down criminals. In my eyes it was refreshing. I’m used to Superman toying with criminals only to lock them up. To see Superman utterly incinerate a criminal with his heat vision, it’s nice. In a way, it’s attempting to do what
Man of Steel did which is make Superman gritty, but since this isn’t Clark, it’s easier to buy into the different take on the man of steel.
There’s a few great twists and turns to be had, Metal Man gets a great new re-imagining, and Lex Luthor is not how you normally think of him, he’s fragile, weak, and actually a decent human being. The overall plot involves Metal Man essentially framing the Justice League for a series of murders, and considering how this Justice League is completely brutal, it’s difficult for the team to fight this conspiracy. It’s kind of fun, as if this plot were to work with the typical Justice League no one would buy it, but since this Justice League does things outside the realm of acceptability, it’s easier to see how they could be framed for murder.
Batman and Superman’s backstories work in this revisionist history, Batman is essentially a self-created monster and one that now has to live with the consequences of self-experimentation. They tie it all into Metal Man and his story, but it is really well done. Superman too is interesting, although not as fleshed out. Wonder Woman’s backstory…well…it sucks! It’s basically that she’s a New God, and all the ties to Darkseid can’t save the fact that she’s essentially defined by her relationship. Literally, this version is who she is because of what happened with her lover. It’s weak, and undermines the strength of Wonder Woman typically; and even though I embrace some level of subversion with this, Wonder Woman was just too much in that regard.
The ending sets up an interesting status quo for this offshoot DC universe. It’s not perfect in the sense that it doesn’t actually give real resolution as much as it sets up some new stories to be had, but we’ll see if that actually happens. If not, it’s basically one large open ending.
All in all I enjoyed Justice League: Gods and Monsters, it’s not perfect but it’s at least interesting. It takes familiar characters and replaces them with engaging characters (for the most part) and a plot that ultimately proves that no matter who you are, everyone can be a hero.
9 Uncle Joeys / 10