Justice League Concept for a JL Trilogy

[cleverusername8]

Some may roll their eyes at this, but I think this is a solid idea for a triology of movies starring the Justice League WITHOUT prequel movies to introduce each character.

For those of you who want to get to the point with the details here is the summary:

• Three movies which are all connected by the villains in them.
• No Darkseid to avoid seeming similar to the Avengers w/ Thanos
• All characters are original and not in any way tied to the Superman, Batman, or Green Lantern incarnations already released (or about to be)
• The tone is slightly more serious than the Avengers but are nowhere close to as dark as the Nolan Batman films

I'll just do movie one for now. I have the concepts for 2 and 3 but I'll probably post them tomorrow or later.

Movie 1
So the idea starts in a similar way to the cartoon. The first movie banks off of character recognition of Superman and Batman to introduce the others as the story moves forward. Batman is investigating a mysterious organization that has been tampering with (and stealing technology from) Wayne Technologies. After a number of break-ins and such, he has gotten on a trail to discover who these people are an what they want from him. He eventually discovers that this organization is Cadmus and they are an extension of the government itself... or rather the government is an extension of it... Bruce isn't sure.

Meanwhile, Superman is being revered as a hero that the world can count on. A number of countries have already awarded him and granted him full hospitality to visit whenever he wants. Politicians begin trying to get behind him to further their campaigns and all around things are looking as though they are heading for a golden age.
Batman continues his stalking until he sees fit to move in himself physically. He catches an agent of Cadmus as they are in the act to stealing computer files from another source (other than Wayne's company) and he learns that Cadmus is much bigger than he realized and that their plans are much bigger than he originally expected. Hints of a larger threat incoming cause Batman to venture off again to do his own investigation on things.

Meanwhile in more mystical realms, disturbances are felt by high officials. On Wonder Woman's island (I can't really spell it correctly off the top of my head). The head Amazon (the one in the cartoon, I forget her name) can tell that a great trial is about to befall the human race. Most Amazons are indifferent to this news but Princess Diana feels a compelling to do something to help. Of course, her superior tells her no- that the Amazons must remain removed from humanity.
Similar things are expressed in Atlantis where Aquaman has recently taken the throne in full kingship. As a young ruler, his advisers take it upon themselves to make the more intense decisions as they feel Aquaman has been too corrupted by his time on the surface. Backstory is hinted at throughout Aquaman's scenes of his endeavors on land an maybe a love interest. Aquaman expresses wanting to help the humans as well but the council won't let him take any official action or use any of Atlantis' resources.
Hal Jordan is getting debriefed by the Green Lantern core on an issue he had taken care of somewhere in the space between Earth and Mars. He tells the Corps leadership about something strange that was going on out there. Whatever it was it was coming from the Mars side of things but he felt that it would definitely be worth a look into. The leadership is cautious but the consent to letting him and Tomar-Re look into it.
Diana seeks out the wisest woman on the island and asks a number of questions as to what is so offputting about the humans and why her queen tells her not to get mixed up with them. The old woman tells her about how warlike and wasteful humankind is and that the Amazons are above them as superior beings. Diana isn't convinced and goes back in forth until she gets frustrated and turns the conversation to the incoming threat. The old woman admits that she is not entirely sure what it is, but whatever it may be, they will not be able to resist it should it come to their shores without a special kind of help from their gods. When Diana prods more the woman shoos her away and tells her she has already said too much.

Aquaman confronts one of his councilmen one on one and begins talk about the state of the kingdom. After a while he quickly turns the conversation to the disturbances that they had been sensing. The councilman brushes it off as a concern for humans not them and tries to leave. Aquaman gets in his way and insists that if it is a problem for the humans it will become a problem for them sooner or later as the whole planet could be at stake. The councilman assures him that Atlantis is more than equipped to handle any threat no matter the size but Aquaman presses further about the councilman personally and how he feels about humans. At first he puts off the impression that he agrees with the rest of the Atlanteans that they are not worth the time and are not to be trusted in any way especially since all of their interest in unlocking the secrets of the Bermuda triangle (which is used to kept intruders away from Atlantis). After some prodding he admits that the other council members are a bit too stiff with their views on humanity but insists that it is of not use and dismisses further conversation. Aquaman stands in the room alone and fares him well as he turns to a locked closet of sorts and begins to access it looking over his shoulder as he does it.
Back on Earth (it is night time btw), Batman uncovers the same information that Hal Jordan had discussed with the leadership of the Corps and tracks it to Mars. Cross referencing some occurrences that had happened on Earth that he had been investigating, he determines that they are all coming from the same source. And that source was alien.

Hal and Tomar-Re are on Mars and begin their search. For a while it seems as though nothing real is turning up and TR suggests turning back but accidentally triggers something that prompts Hal to investigate. It leads to a secret corridor- one that leads deep into the planet. Hal leads the way inside and they find something reminiscent of cave drawings at the bottom. TR says something about it being impossible that humans have been on Mars but Hal corrects him: not humans, Martians. Suddenly the ground begins to tremble and an orangish glow begins to rise in the cave. Hal and TR ready themselves to find that the source is not directly with them but on the other side of the cave wall. They search around until they find a hollow portion and a raging fire pit although it wasn't fire it was a kind of energy that resembles fire only more intense looking. And around it were seven beings- aliens- that were discussing something in their native tongue. The discussion (if you could call it that) was steadily growing more heated and Hal was visibly starting to sweat from all of the heat even in the Martian atmosphere. TR suggests him falling back and he will continue observing but Hal insists on staying because he needs to see what is going on. The seven aliens grow more frustrated with one another as the energy fire grows more prominent until one rises up and hushes the rest of them. The fire calms a bit and the alien gestures upward. The others look either confused or indifferent to what the speaker was saying which angers him into smacking the others around then paving his own path up towards the surface. Hal and TR make their way back the way they came in hopes of catching up with the aliens but when they reach the surface everything is growing orange there as well as the seven aliens extend their hands towards earth and the orange energy/fire radiates out of it. Hal and TR agree that this isn't good as the energy grows more and more.

Batman goes to get in contact with Cadmus to see if he could compare some notes (and also satisfy his suspicion that they had something to do with this) when he stops along the way to pursue a weird incident. A criminal had messed with the Gotham city water system and was controlling the water to do something (not revealed yet). Batman lurks and observes for a bit and finds the criminal attempting to gain access to the last uncorrupted water facility in the city. Suddenly, a blur and flash and Superman descends behind the criminal saying something about the amount of trouble he has caused. The criminal is terrified and starts to make an attempt to attack but Superman swats it away and subdues him. Batman swoops down and lands just before Supes is ready to fly off with him. The two have an exchange and Batman (without much luck) is trying to convince Superman of what is going on and to let the criminal go so that he can find out what he knows. Superman then retorts telling Batman that he disagrees with both his methods and his motivations for meddling with crime. He makes it clear that he doesn't recognize him as a true hero and the he intends to arrest him if he insists on sticking his nose in any other criminal activities. Batman just stands defiantly staring until he turns and walks away without another word. Superman takes the criminal and flies.

The scene jumps to after Superman had turned the criminal into maximum security prison- the kind where FBI most wanted go and the officials are seeing him to the door both literally and metaphorically patting him on the back (they had been chasing this guy for a long time). Superman acknowledges them as they leave to head back but suddenly crumples as lights, sounds, and images hit him as he seems to grow weak. It goes on for all but 10 seconds and stops as if it had never happened. Superman is obviously confused but shakes it off and goes on his way.
Batman is back in his cave brooding when he remembers the contact the guy he had stopped before had given him. He heads out once again and arrives at an outpost (if you will) of Cadmus headquarters where he lets himself in and interrupts what seems to be a top secret meeting led by a slightly obese black woman named Amanda Waller. He dismisses the other people in the room first verbally but then with batarangs. He has a (hostile) discussion with Amanda for a while and finds out a bit of what the organization knows about a roaming alien presence that seems to be consuming planets and major asteroids alike. She also reveals before Batman leaves that not everyone trusts in men in red capes. Someday, even their greatest strength could turn into their greatest weakness and Cadmus was not going to wait around for Superman to turn into bad insurance.
Diana snoops and secretly observes religious authority on the island gaining access to a secret area that she had heard from her peers was just a legend and that they really have paraphernalia from the gods locked away in that temple. Meanwhile she settles for consulting more wisdom from temple resources about humans and their original intention for existence. She begins to make progress but is forced to leave as someone (or some people) are coming.

Superman tries to clear his head but cannot shake what had happened to him. He gets some food, bathes, and gets a glass of water as he looks out upon the city that he protects so diligently. He becomes a bit sentimental just before another session of the debilitating lights and sounds come back but this time he feels a bit of clarity about what it is- he feels as though he is being contacted.
Aquaman is decked out in a hoodie and plain trousers as he moves throughout a city environment. It is still the same night of the Batman/Superman encounter, the debilitating visions, Diana's spying, and Superman's second encounter in his apartment. The streets have a meager amount of people still roaming them but none the less are still active. He passes a number of neon store fronts and encounters a noisy tavern. Shouts and breaking glass can be heard from inside. Aquaman sullenly looks away just as a group of men burst from the side entrance. About four of them are dragging on skinny looking guy out into the damp streets and are wailing on him as they go. The man already is bleeding from his nose and mouth and falls face flat onto the ground as they continue to hit him. Aquaman pulls off his hood and moves towards the group calling that enough but with no response. They turn the guy over and beat him some more. Aquaman lays a hand on one guys shoulder who shakes him off and goes back to continuing what he was doing. Aquaman jumps in and starts a full on fight in a 1v4 match. He fares pretty well getting hit quite a bit but still going as strong as when he started as the drunken men begin to tire. He knocks out all but one (with a little help from the puddles in the street) and turns to the biggest of the group who has taken the fight into the physical street. Aquaman is getting himself beaten pretty bad but the guy comes in to hit him one last time but seems to be thrown back a little by an unseen force. Aquaman acrobatically leaps to his feet and launches the guy into a perpendicular street where a bus rounds the corner and is right on top of the guy. Aquaman's eyes grow huge but the bus passes harmlessly and the man lands with a thud on the far off sidewalk. Suddenly, (after a whoosh) the streets are quiet and Aquaman stands in the middle of 5 groaning men lying on the wet sidewalk. Things seem still except for Aquaman's breathing as he jumps at every little noise and movement. The tension builds up until he whirls around to see a man in sunglasses standing behind him dressed pretty similarly. The guy tells him about how if he's gonna pick a fight with a bunch of drunk doofuses he should be more careful where he hangs em out to dry. Aquaman asks him about why he is wearing sunglasses at night but the man tells him not to worry about it, stop trying to cramp style. The man seemingly vanishes into thing air. A breeze blows by and the streets are quiet again.

(Implied that it is the next night) Batman reemerges from the Batcave once again on foot and heads to the water plant where the criminal had been before. He sets up a device and plants it somewhere near the door when he hears commotion on the other side of the building. Some low level thugs are squared against each other with two groups facing either way like they are set up for a brawl. Batman at first turns disgusted with an air that he has better things to do than to stop this but one side of thugs seem to be in possession of something not normal and use this device to generate blasts of obnoxiously orange fire. The other group of thugs scatter but the powered ones are in pursuit and leave a trail of destruction that grows as they travel. Batman chases after in all out grappling hook/gliding cape/acrobatic parkour and knocks out a few bad guys along the way. Suddenly, some powered up thugs turn on him with some remark of how they don't need to fear the Bat anymore but the familiar red and blue whoosh come and Superman stands in his full presence. He begins taking on the powered and non powered thugs and rounding them up although the leaders (who have the most power) give him a little trouble. Batman takes care of the smaller threats while Supes focuses on the big ones. After all is said and done, Superman goes straight for Batman and tries to subdue him as well. Batman avoids it for a while until Superman gets... well... super and gets the better of him for a moment. Batman says something about being on the same side but Superman retorts that he doesn't see much different between the two. They struggle for a bit longer as the sky seems to creep (interesting image created with CGI). The fight seems to be going Superman's way until the visions start again and he is overcome by Batman at last. This time the visions don't stop and Batman suspects something is seriously wrong. He begins applying remedies which seem to not work until Superman calms down by himself and insists that they have to go. Suddenly, the sky brightens up to almost daytime level of orange-red light. The two heroes gave into the sky and watch as it seems to open up and a single alien being earlier seen on Mars descends. Without a word it extends its hand and the ground seems to open up with energy fire and civilians go crazy. The whole city begins to flame in a matter of minutes and the crevice grows in both directions.
Batman sees to start to head off but Superman stops him and tells him that he is deputizing him to help on an important mission. Batman is none to pleased to be condescended by the boy scout but reluctantly goes with him.

The whole Amazonian island feels the quake. Diana runs to her queens throne room to find it filled with leaders from all over the island rallying around the queen who is trying to calm them all down. The wise old woman is in the corner moaning about the end is here, not even hera can save them now... Diana moves with purpose to the temple and to that area with the secret entrance that she spied earlier. With lots of attempting she cannot open the doors but seemingly by a miracle, a priestess exits and makes eye contact with Diana. Fully expecting the woman to be angry Diana slowly starts to back away but the priestess solemnly bows her head and moves aside allowing Diana to head in. Guided by almost intuition, Diana comes upon the clothes and the Lasso of truth that can be easily identified by an audience member as the Wonder Woman costume. After quick words to hera or whatever Diana begins to strip (cutting the scene right before you can see her girly parts (I know that's immature))
Aquaman is in the midst of a running crowd. Law enforcement and such is helping who they can. Beings seem to rise from the fiery canyons the tremors have created. They immediately attack civilians who are running for their lives or trying to recover possessions/loved ones from wreckage. Aquaman loses the now worn hoodie and pants and is decked out in his usual costume which is the sacred Atlantean ruler's war outfit (or something like that). He begins to fight off the created beings which begins seeming simple until they adapt and begin to overpower Aquaman. Soon, the effects of being on land seem to be getting to him as he begins to weaken. It begins to look like the end when the same man from the drunken street fight shows up and takes out each creature. He helps Aquaman up and makes a joke comment about him picking fights he can't finish properly. A still weak Aquaman eyes him up and down and barely smiles. The man makes a comment about his cool suit and says something about a costume of his own (that he made himself) and tells him to not blink. Aquaman closes his eyes and turns his head in pain but quickly opens them again as the man pulls him up off of his back and onto his feet. The man is now wearing a red and yellow outfit that admittingly looks silly. The man insists on calling him the Flash (or Barry if it'd make him more comfortable). Aquaman weakly indicates that he needs water and Flash makes another quip making fun of him for that. Then he jokingly says he's going to call him Waterboy since he would now be in charge of carrying water bottles for the two of them. Joking aside, Flash helps Aquaman towards the river which becomes obvious that it is not happening so Flash opts for a nearby fire hydrant. The water blasts out and soaks the both of them but Aquaman gains renewed strength and makes a pedestal for himself out of the spouting water as he lifts into the air. He raises Flash up to and invites him to join him in a fight against the foul creatures. Flash is shocked and timidly apologizes for the whole "Waterboy" thing.

 

[cleverusername8]

Superman is blasting through walls in a high tech facility with Batman not far behind. Batman asks about what they are even looking for and Superman says it's hard for him to explain but they need to keep moving. They reach a final doorway in their way and Superman finally tells about the visions and how he felt they were a calling. Batman checks a device and tells of how the tremors are getting worse and what is more alarming is there are alien beings all over the world now and the crevices they have created are moving towards each other and are on the course of meeting. Superman says that that won't happen if they can just make it through this door. Once they get through and enter they are startled by what they find. The camera turns so the audience sees a green creature being help captive by a machine. It is obviously an alien but not like the ones that were spied on earlier by Hal and Tomar-Re. The creature shudders a bit before slumping down again, pained by its restraints. Superman releases it from its bonds and Batman asks how this is going to help them. The alien speaks for himself and explains how he has seen this happen before on his own planet of Mars and can help them fight it off if they allow him to escape. He introduces himself as J'onn J'onzz aka the Martian Manhunter and tells of how he telepathically contacted Superman to have him come rescue him. They make their way outside to find the situation growing even worse as the military has moved from the base to guard J'onn and were responding to the alien which was now accompanied by a number of countless creatures that were fighting Aquaman and Flash. They see the fallen bodies of civilians perking up and turning into those creatures as the alien simply looks in their direction.

MM explains how there was a civil war between the green and white Martians on his planet which had weakened his people to a point but the Appellaxians (which the main aliens were called) had arrived to wage a war to determine who would be their king. They cleared out the already weakened Martians and fought their battles among themselves until they determined that they were not on the right planet to carry out the act. One had been foretold in prophecy in the general area but the Appellaxians took a while to locate which one it was (they had a number of options of where to try next). MM explained that the abilities granted to all Martians were for some reason exceptionally strong with him which allowed him to survive longer than the others and ultimately to escape the planet in time to get to Earth in attempts of warning the inhabitants of the coming danger but the government captured him instead of listening to his cries.
The situation is obviously getting worse and the three move into the city in a roundabout way to get a better position for what they were about to try. MM said that there were 7 aliens and they somehow needed to bring them all to the same location. Superman and Batman move to follow his instructions but Batman pulls aside as he gets a contact from the Cadmus guy he was in contact with earlier. The Cadmus agent speaks of a weapon they were developing in anticipation of this but warned him to get out of the way because they were going to target Superman as well (kill two birds with one stone) Batman insisted that they can't do that because they were in the middle of fixing things but the agent made it clear that this was not up for debate.

Aquaman and Flash go around helping civilians more than fighting creatures but they did when necessary. Aquaman helped with big efforts while Flash payed more attention to things like children and animals that needed helping. Aquaman said that he admired his sensitivity to the weak, but the bigger populace needed more help. Flash came back with asking what could they possibly do and Aquaman looked around realizing that all hope was probably lost. Suddenly they both turned towards the ocean side of the river to see Wonder Woman approaching fast with lasso in hand and fully dressed in the outfit. She landed next to the two saying she was a foreigner but saw that they needed help here (it was the closest location where trouble was). Aquaman begins laying out a plan to help evacuate the people and then confront the creatures once and for all.

- Ok so I skip a bit of detail here because I haven't worked out what the big plan for drawing the aliens together will be, but just know that it works -

So there the aliens were assembled as seven. The one that emerged as the leader back on Mars comes forward and in plain English (with a deep, scary, villain voice) says that they are the Appellaxians here to fulfill the prophecy of fighting the good fight to see who among them was fit to be the king. They have seen Earth's defenses motioning to the still attacking military and then revealing that they had Hal Jordan as a hostage. They said that they could destroy cities at will and as they spoke, the Earth was being divided into pieces and soon the planet would fall apart if there was any more resistance to their plans. Superman steps forward and says they are not willing to stand down and let their planet be destroyed. He makes reference to MM and Batman and said that they are not a solitary force, they are a team and could fight stronger than maybe the one hero could. The Appellaxians scornfully laugh at Superman and declare that they are of no match for their might.
Flash points out to Aquaman and WW that Superman was there staring down the aliens. WW asks if they should go help and Aquaman agrees after seeing that the last of the civilians were on their way out (waving in gratitude as they went).

MM stepped forward and spoke of how his planet had faced them and were crushed but revealed that he knew their plans and how to stop them. The Appellexians were getting more and more irritated and basically said very well, they will fight the defiant ones first then move on to each other. Three Appellexians moved from the group to go against Superman, Batman, and MM while the remaining four took their places in furthering the advances of the crevices. The fight is intense as the 3v3 goes on. Aquaman, WW, and Flash fight against the creatures as the others take the aliens themselves since more and more downed civilians were turning into them. Hal Jordan was held tightly by one alien as the remaining ones swooped down to fight the new team that was killing all of the creatures. Hal somehow managed to make a distraction with the ring and break free from the hold of the last alien (which was the one doing all of the talking) and took him on 1v1. During the fighting Batman was called again by the Cadmus agent giving a last warning to pull himself and his allies away before they blasted the aliens, Superman, and inevitably the city with the top secret Area 51 stuff they'd been working with. Batman insisted no but it was too late. The single missile was headed for Metropolis. He remotely called the Batmobile (he had brought it with him prior) and fought off one alien enough until Aquaman took him on along with the one he was previously fighting. Batman drove and intercepted the missile, actually getting onto it but realizing that it wasn't the missile that would explode: it was what would be released. A glowing orb shot out of the side of the rocket before it fell into pieces letting Batman fall toward the ground. The orb went up high above the buildings then burst having an EMP like effect shutting down military, civilian, and even Batmobile technology. Of course, there was backup power for the Batmobile and necessary city things.

It did have an effect on the aliens but unfortunately Superman as well. The aliens were brought down to a point where they were more of a match for the heroes and instead of fighting 1v1 individually, the two groups united and fought against each other as teams (with the exception of Superman and Batman for the heroes). Batman was working on a way to counter act the effect on Superman who was fading fast. Batman resorted to talking to him saying that they needed him. If he died, the world's hope would go with him. He was never one to not finish something he started so he had to pull through now for him and everyone else. Batman eventually left his equipment to continue the work while he assisted the other heroes (getting saved by WW once too which visibly hurt his pride a little). The group fought until Cadmus itself arrived on the scene to take help finish off the Appellexians who were all diminished to being almost defeated. The leader spoke up with an exhausted but confident smile that the damage done to the Earth's surface was irreversible by now and good luck living in chaos on an unruled planet that's falling apart. MM stood up and told of a way that he knew to save what was left of the Earth (he hinted that Mars used to be similar to Earth with life and plants and water but the Appellexians ruined that).

-Again, I haven't come up with a non-cliche or cheesy detail for that so I'll leave it to reader imagination at this point-

In the end, the day was saved and the military was completely dominated by Cadmus/Amanda Waller who had moved in to give orders after the fighting had ended. Batman and MM returned to Superman to find him still him his state but of course MM had a antidote for the issue but it would take some time to heal.

Meanwhile, both Atlantean and Amazonian forces arrive in pursuit of their missing members (they both assumed where to go since the trouble was happening there). This lead to an awkward three way standoff between those two and Cadmus' forces. This only made Cadmus more cautious at the knowledge of other powerful groups of beings sharing the same planet. They slink off and cover their tracks as if they weren't there to begin with. The Amazonians take the defeated aliens into custody to have them "answer to the gods" for their treachery on the planet. The Atlanteans and Amazonians have conversations with Aquaman and WW respectively to express their disappointment about their actions but welcoming them back to their respective lands should they choose to return. WW thanks them but chooses to stay on land with her new found allies because she feels that she can make a positive impact on humans no matter how flawed they are (she was positively affected by the good she saw they doing for one another in the face of tribulation). Aquaman on the other hand opts to return with his people due to his commitment to his people. Flash is none to happy with this but Aquaman assures him that they will one day fight side by side again.

Superman has a bit of a moment with Batman thanking him for what he did and apologizing that even though Bats didn't have proper super powers, he was still a hero in his own right no matter what anyone says. Batman simply shrugs it off.
Green Lantern says that he has to go back to the Corps for yet another debriefing and to attend the service for his comrade Tomar-Re who was killed by the aliens on Mars where they both were taken captive. He said before he left he wanted to say that he appreciated the help protecting Earth. The others (mainly Flash) snicker at his arrogance but agree that they did a lot of good working together. Superman suggests that they look into doing something a little more formally and join the initiative being set up by politicians around the world for superheroes to protect the Earth. Everyone agrees with the exception of Aquaman who feels compelled to go back to his kingdom and Batman who feels that he works best alone.

The movie closes with a mini epilogue of WW and MM growing accustomed to their new place in society, Flash becoming a more recognized and legitimate hero before the public, Green Lantern reporting back to the Corps and announcing his temporary leave from Green Lantern duty to shy from Oa and stay closer to Earth, and Batman going back to his usual business around Gotham and trying to secure Wayne Enterprises. Superman goes before the UN to officially suggest the Justice League initiative and promises that if no one else will rise to protect the Earth from threats like this again, he and his allies would gladly step in an take their place.

In a mid credits scene, Cadmus reviews the happenings in that room that Batman had interrupted in earlier. Amanda Waller addresses the concerns but says that Cadmus is lacking a bit on resources and is now under new scrutiny from the government. For this reason, she has brought in someone from the outside to be a sort of secret benefactor into allowing Cadmus to continue its work regardless of what limitation may come and Lex Luthor steps into the room from the shadows saying that he'll have the organization ship shape in no time but there is something that he needs from them first.

---​

And that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed this because it ate up an hour or two of typing and my fingers and eyes are tired. I'll try to have the sequel up tomorrow and potentially the third movie as well. Let me know what you think and what could be better as well as your own ideas!

 

[cleverusername8]

So... I'm guessing I shouldn't have wrote out the entire plot like a novel since it's kinda intimidating I'll admit. Should I just layout everything in bullet points instead? I have ways that the sequels will tie the story from the first movie together full circle.

 

[TheWatcher]

Yes^