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Justice League: Gods & Monsters
Justice League: Gods and Monsters is a 2015 direct-to-video animated superhero film, part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies series. It features an alternate universe version of the DC Comics superhero team the Justice League. It was released as a download on July 21, 2015, and released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 28, 2015.
In an alternate universe, the Justice League—Batman (Dr. Kirk Langstrom), Wonder Woman (Bekka), and Superman (Hernan Guerra, son of General Zod)— is an autonomous brutal force that maintains order on Earth; thus public opinion is mixed with awe and hatred. Scientists Victor Fries; Ray Palmer; and Silas Stone, along with his young son Victor are killed by methods similar to the Justice League. President Amanda Waller asks they cooperate with the government's investigation. Wonder Woman speaks to Steve Trevor to learn what the government knows while Superman invites Lois Lane to the Tower of the Justice, where he tells her of his goals to help humanity, and reveals how little he knows about Krypton or his heritage.
Batman discovers an email sent to Dr. Stone and a number of scientists, including Dr. Will Magnus, Kirk's best friend who helped with his transformation. He asks Magnus, and his wife Tina, about "Project Fair Play", which involved scientists under Lex Luthor's employ; Magnus offers to ask what the others know. Magnus gathers the remaining scientists (John Henry Irons, T.O. Morrow, Michael Holt, Pat Dugan, Emil Hamilton, Karen Beecher, Thaddeus Sivana, Kimiyo Hoshi, and Stephen Shin) for answers. However, they are attacked by three robotic assassins who travel via Boom tube. Despite their efforts, the assassins leave Magnus as the sole survivor of the attack.
In the weeks before the debut of the film, a three-part series, Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles, which focused on the characters and the universe of the film, was released online by Machinima on June 8, 2015. The series is the first collaboration between Warner Bros. and Machinima, following the former's investment of $18 million in Machinima in March 2014. The series is also the first production of Blue Ribbon Content, a digital content production unit of Warner Bros. formed in 2014 and led by president of Warner Bros. Animation Sam Register.
The first season consisted of three episodes concluding on June 12, 2015. A second season of the series was planned to be released in 2016 and would have feature ten episodes. However as of September 30, 2016, it has been shelved.
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics. Kofi Outlaw from Screenrant.com gave the film 5 out of 5 stars, praising Timm's and Burnett's writing, the new versions of the DC Trinity, the fight scenes and characters and calling it "a must-see for any DC fan". Joshua Yehl of IGN gave the film an 8.9/10 praising the excellent concept, Wonder Woman's origin story, the voice acting and the use of violence.
