I know, I know, I’m a month late on this, but hey, life gets in the way. One way or another more critters are here!
Justice League. I’m not sure what I expected. I already had low expectations because DC hasn’t had a great track record with their recent movies (with Wonder Woman being an exception), but I felt the need to see Justice League out of some strange obligation because I’d already seen all the other movies leading up to it.
I really didn’t want to keep comparing it to the Avengers. But man, it was SO HARD not to constantly think of what the Avengers got right and what Justice League got wrong. Without spoiling the movie, I feel like the movie actually made me realize how flawed the entire idea of the Justice League is to begin with. But I’ll put in my detailed commentary below after the pictures. Critters will still be made, because at least the characters still have a long-running legacy that won’t be ruined by just one mediocre movie. 
First up, Superman! And oops, spoiler alert, SUPERMAN COMES BACK. Because as much as the studio tried to suppress that super-obvious fact, yes, he does show up in the movie. Otherwise the man of steel has been a constant companion with me at Comic-Con for the past seven years, and he’ll be coming with me for an eight round!
“I’m rich.”
Next: the rich dude with major abandonment issues. Batman has also been a constant critter at SDCC from the first year that I’ve been doing my critter drops, and he’ll be joining Superman in the 8-year club this coming summer!
And uh…dammit, I missed him again. This guy’s fast. REAL fast.
There he is! The Flash is a new addition to the critter line up! I loved Ezra Miller as Flash in the Justice League. He added a fun “rookie superhero” element to it all, very similar to Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War.
He was a fun addition to the movie, and hopefully he’ll be a fun new addition to my critter drop lineup!
Otherwise here are my more detailed thoughts on the movie:
AHOY, THERE BE SPOILERS!
SPOILERS AHEAD!!
Okay, there were SO MANY things wrong with the Justice League movie. And really the more I think about it, the more I get pissed off that DC just can’t seem to get their shit together to make all this work. So just a warning that this is really going to be more of a rant.
- …why did they need Aquaman? They spent so much time on Aquaman’s refusal to join the team. Storytelling 101 dictates that if you’re going to focus that much on the conflict, the payoff in the end better be pretty big. When the final “battle” came, he did nothing relevant to his powers. They couldn’t have conveniently put a CGI river somewhere? A kiddie pool? Anything?? Why would you showcase Aquaman if you’re not going to put him near ANY sort of body of water?
- Also are Atlanteans only capable of speaking to each other in air bubbles? They’re water people. They can’t…talk through water?
- All the heavier-hitting jokes that people would’ve laughed at were in the trailers and TV spots. The only gag that wasn’t revealed in the trailers or promo clips was the whole thing with Aquaman sitting on Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth. Whoever is cutting the trailers and TV spots, please stop doing this.
- So….you just had to scare Steppenwolf and the parademons would’ve turned on him because they could smell his fear? And you made him fearful by…destroying his axe? Just…what?
- Relevant to the fear thing: if it’s already been heavily established that the parademons can smell fear and wreak havoc based on this, why were they completely ignoring this terrified Russian family that the movie felt the need to focus on?
- WHAT’S THE POINT OF A JUSTICE LEAGUE IF IT TURNS OUT SUPERMAN CAN DO EVERYTHING? The entire premise of the movie turned into “Batman collects all these people with special powers just to hold us over until Superman gets back.” I get that the entire scene with Superman taking out the rest of the Justice League upon resurrection was supposed to remind us all how powerful Superman is, but to me it only showed how useless everyone else was in comparison. The only character who had abilities that Superman didn’t already have was Cyborg. And maybe Aquaman’s fish-talking abilities, but clearly no one needed that shit. The entire Justice League could’ve been reduced to Superman and Cyborg. This is what I mean when I say that this movie actually showed me how flawed the idea of the Justice League is to begin with. I hate making comparisons to the Avengers because I really want to see the two as separate entities, but the thing that makes the Avengers an actual team is that each character has their own abilities and limitations, and together they complement each other and help each other out when they need to save the world. The Flash is fast? Welp, so is “faster than a speeding bullet” Superman. Wonder Woman is super strong? So is Superman. Aquaman can talk to fish? Superman can’t do that, but he can zip through water and save entire cruise liners from going under. Superman is too omnipotent to effectively create a team without it seeming like “Superman and his lesser minions.”
- Just give the movie to Patty Jenkins.
END SPOILERS.
The thing that’s so frustrating about The Justice League is that it had everything set up for it to be good. They’ve got a huge budget, they’ve got iconic characters already to start out with, and the cast is full of charisma – Ezra Miller seems like a genuinely excited geeky guy, Gal Gadot’s become a Hollywood darling thanks to her work as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill is oozing with good looks and charm, and Jason Momoa is the kind of guy who could hype up a chess tournament, and yet somehow the movie STILL fell flat. You can have all the best ingredients in the world with a top-notch recipe, but you still can’t expect to bake a good cake by throwing everything into a bowl and thinking it’ll all magically work out. The Justice League starred the top three most iconic superheroes known in history and DC somehow still couldn’t make it work, while Marvel has been working with characters that people didn’t give a damn about and instantly put them on the map in everyday pop culture. Before Marvel kickstarted their current movie franchise, the only thing I knew about Iron Man was that he was a dude in a flying robot suit. The only thing I knew about Captain America was that he was some guy in a goofy-ass ‘MURICA! outfit with a shield. I had zero clue who the hell Star Lord was or why there was a raccoon involved. And yet all of these characters are now considered household favorites. I grew up far more with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman than I ever did with any of the Avengers, and yet these are the characters that keep disappointing fans over and over again. I’m probably taking it more personally than I should, but it hurts a lot more when it’s your childhood favorites that are being repeatedly dragged through the mud. DC, please do better. For all of us.
My own salty views on the movie aside, I’ll still have three little members of the Justice League in tow with me at San Diego Comic-Con this summer. Find them and they’re yours to keep!
If you want to join my hunt for crocheted critters at San Diego Comic-Con this year, follow me on either twitter or facebook to track my drops! I just ask for two things if you find a critter: 1) Send me a photo of your new friend! 2) Let me know where the little buddy’s new home will be! Good luck, and happy hunting!
