Zack Snyder's Justice League Review - Part Two: The Age of Heroes

Part Two is the history lesson for the movie and it is expanded upon and contains a lot of detail and information regarding the enemy and their motivations. But lucky for us, not only does it contain a lot of exposition, we also get to see a lot of action. As Diana narrates the history lesson to Bruce, we are also shown the story so as to see it firsthand.

Thousands of years ago, a dark army with the three Mother Box’s tried to conquer Earth.

But first, after getting the first Mother Box from the Amazons, Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons go to an abandoned city ruined by a nuclear accident. He uses this as a base due to to it’s toxic radiation as that will help the Mother Box’s. He infuses it into a metal pillar that allows the Mother Box to interact with the nuclear power plant and the surrounding city.

Bruce and Alfred are on their way back from trying to convince Aquaman to join their alliance, and are searching the clues on how to track down Barry Allen next. Bruce is adamant of the need to find them as he promised on the grave of Superman that he would be ready for an attack. Bruce thinks that the monsters might already be here, but isn’t sure. Alfred isn’t so sure and questions his paranoia, similar to what he did in Dawn of Justice with Bruce being so focused on stopping Superman and killing him. Alfred is worried that Bruce is starting to go down the same path of self destruction.

At the crashed Kryptonian ship, S.T.A.R. Labs has set up shop to study the ship. Dr. Silas Stone leaves his work there to go home and says goodbye to the janitor. Afterwards, the janitor hears a noise and goes to investigate and stumbles upon a Parademon looking for something.

Back on Thymiscera, the Amazons prepare to The Arrow of Artemis for Queen Hippolyta and bring her the Arrow. She speaks to the Arrow and tasks it to fly far and warn her daughter of the coming war. Queen Hippolyta uses a massive bow and shoots the Arrow of Artemis to the Shrine of the Amazons in Greece which strikes true and the warning signal fire burns bright. As the fire continues to burn in the Shrine, the media notices and covers the event. Diana sees the coverage while working at the Louvre and she recognizes the warning fire for what it is and knows that an invasion is coming.

Dr Ryan Choi and Dr. Silas Stone at S.T.A.R. Labs

S.T.A.R. Labs employees, Dr. Silas Stone and Dr. Ryan Choi, work together and we see them talk to the investigating agency, OSI, about the recent break in and that 8 people were abducted. There was a witness who draws an ID sketch of a monster. Stone doesn’t know for sure what happened, but he knows that they were looking for the Box. He heads home to tell Victor that the Box isn’t safe there as monsters are looking for the Box. Victor Stone is angry at the world and his father. He replies that his father knows a lot about monsters, especially how to make them implying that thanks to his father, Victor is now a monster. We see the pent-up anger and tension with Victor towards his father. These two have a lot to work through.

Three Mother Box’s, The Unity, and Darkseid are revealed to Diana Prince.

Diana goes to the Shrine of the Amazons and takes the Arrow. She sees writing on the Arrow and is able to find where to go. She uses the Arrow to access a hidden crypt dedicated to telling the story of the first invasion of Darkseid many thousands of years ago. We see what Diana sees, there are murals on all four of the walls showing the invasion and how Men, Atlanteans, and Amazonians joined together to fight the invasion. There is also a depiction of the three Mother Box’s, the Unity, and Darkseid. Diana knows this is serious and the attack that Bruce learned about from Lex Luthor (from Dawn of Justice) and then subsequently told her about at Clark Kent’s grave, has arrived.

Vulko implores Arthur Curry to take his mother’s trident and to step up and lead.

Arthur Curry has no direction in life, but is a good person. We see him rescue a fisherman from certain death as his ship flounders in the storm. He brings him back to his village and then swims off again. Arthur goes to see the monument of King Atlan underwater. He goes there as it brings him peace. This is a monument to the same King Atlan that we later see in Aquaman. He meets with Vulko who implores him to take his rightful role as King and to lead the Atlanteans. He tells Arthur that people are being kidnapped, but Arthur tells him to talk to King Orm. Vulko say that King Orm lies to the Atlanteans and tells them that these kidnappers are from the surface so as to start a war with them. Vulko says the kidnappers come from the dark place to take the Mother Box that they guard. He tells Arthur to take up his mother’s trident and he has the trident with him and drops it at his feet. Vulko tells Arthur to go the Stronghold where they hold the Mother Box to protect it and prevent it from being stolen. Arthur refuses the trident and goes to leave without saying he will help. Vulko tells Arthur he can’t turn his back on the world for ever, either above or below the ocean.

Desaad reminds Steppenwolf of his failures and past betrayal.

Back at his stronghold, Steppenwolf calls out to Desaad and they communicate across the stars. Steppenwolf reports to Desaad, who is Darkseid’s Lieutenant, that this world is divided and they can be easily conquered. Steppenwolf reports that he has found one Mother Box and will find the other two soon. Desaad reminds Steppenwolf that he once betrayed Darkseid and still has to make restitution of conquering 50,000 more worlds. Steppenwolf tells Desaad that he will find the other Mother Box’s and this world will fall as there are no protectors, no Lanterns, and no Kryptonian.

Diana goes to Bruce and tells him what she learned about the story of the invasion. Bruce is working on his attack carrier but is having trouble getting it to fly. Diana warns Bruce that the invasion is already here. The dark forces want to conquer and destroy. They came here once before, long ago. Darkseid found a power on Earth, the Anti Life Equation. He brought the Mother Box’s into battle, they are a technology so advanced that it looks like magic. The three Mother Box’s greatest power is that they can be joined together to form the Unity. The Unity will cleanse the earth with fire to transform it in to a copy of Darkseid’s world, Apokalypse. The inhabitants will be transformed into Parademons and will serve Darkseid.

The Anti-Life Equation was found on Earth.

But the inhabitants of Earth stopped the Unity from happening during this invasion and were able to join together to fight the armies of Darkseid. This army of Earth consisted of the Atlanteans before their descent into the sea, the Amazons before their betrayal and enslavement, and the armies of Men. Along with a Green Lantern and the Old Gods (Zeus, Ares, and Artemis/Diana) this army is able to fight and repel Darkseid and his army. Together they are able to do what no other army in the universe has been able to do - send this invading army back into the stars.

The Old Gods - Ares, Artemis, and Zeus are powerful allies.

The Old Gods really turned the tide of the battle as we see Artemis shoot Darkseid with her powerful arrows, then King Atlan used a powerful energy blast from his trident to rock back Darkseid, then Zeus used his lightning to weaken Darkseid, which lowered his defenses and allowed Ares to deal a heavy blow to Darkseid by using his war axe to wound Darkseid causing him to retreat. In their hurried retreat the army of Darkseid leaves the Mother Box’s behind. As a result the Boxes grew weak, dogs without masters, and causes them to go to sleep until they can summon their master again. In an effort to protect this from happening the armies split the boxes up to enshrine them in metal casings to prevent the signal to get out and to guard them. The Atlanteans take one, the Amazon’s take one, and Men take one.

Diana tells Bruce that something woke the Boxes and that the one the Amazons were guarding was able to call out to the Dark Place, to one of Darkseid’s conquerers, Steppenwolf, and that the enemy is already here. Diana tells Bruce that they need to recruit the others and get ready to again repel the invasion. A Second Age of Heroes has arrived.

Next up is PART THREE: BELOVED MOTHER, BELOVED SON