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Justice League Invasion

Genre: Action / Superhero

Director: Michael Bay

Writers: APJ, D.R. Cobb, John Malone & Chad Taylor

Based on DC Comics characters

Cast: Mahershala Ali, Tom Cruise, Alexandra Daddario, Dave Franco, Glenn Howerton, Vanessa Kirby, Taylor Kitsch, Chloe Grace Moretz, Aidan Turner, Giancarlo Esposito, Lachy Hulme, David Wenham, Jake Gyllenhaal (CAMEO)

Plot: Darkseid (Giancarlo Esposito), the tyrannical ruler of the planet Apokolips, has spent centuries seeking out the pieces of the Anti-Life Equation, scattered across the universe by the Old Gods. These pieces hold the key to subjugating all life and elevating Darkseid to a true God. Darkseid informs one of his Elite, Steppenwolf (Lachy Hulme) that he is just one piece away from having the completed equation and that he has already sent DeSaad to scout Earth. Suddenly a portal called a Boom Tube appears and DeSaad (David Wenham) arrives in front of Darkseid to report his findings. DeSaad bows down before Darkseid and informs his master that the planet Earth is protected by a team of heroes known as the Justice League. Darkseid cackles at the ridiculous name of the group and asks who leads them. DeSaad says the group is led by a hero called Green Arrow of Star City. Darkseid proclaims that they shall turn Star City to dust to vanquish the Justice League's leader.

Star City's bustling streets are suddenly overshadowed by Darkseid's massive Apokoliptian warship that appears through a massive Boom Tube. The massive vessel hovers ominously before unleashing a catastrophic red energy beam that decimates the city center around Queen Industries. Buildings crumble, fires rage, and the air is filled with the sounds of destruction and despair. The ship then suddenly vanishes through a Boom Tube away from Earth.

Dinah Lance / Black Canary (Vanessa Kirby) sees the cloud of destruction off in the distance on her motorcycle while returning to Star City from Gotham. She speeds up her motorcycle, expertly weaving through traffic to get toward the signs of trouble. When she arrives, she finds Queen Industries completely destroyed. She tries to dig through the rubble to find her husband, Oliver Queen, but finally realizes that the act is futile. She turns to the destruction around her and tries to help injured citizens to safety.

While working in the crime lab of the Central City Police Department, Barry Allen (Dave Franco) sees the news reports of the destruction in Star City. He switches into super speed, finishing his lab work in a matter of seconds. He texts Iris that he's going to be out of town tonight, changes into his Flash gear, and runs west toward Star City in a red blur. When he sees the destruction, the Flash feels overwhelmed by it all as his heroics have been smaller scale prior to this moment. He takes a deep breath.

Carter Hall (Taylor Kitsch) is doing archaeological work in some ancient ruins in the deserts of Kahndaq, trying to uncover artifacts to display in the Midway City Museum. He uncovers an ancient tablet. As he begins dusting it off, the symbols on the tablet begin to glow red. The sky suddenly turns black and ominous. Hall presses his chest and his regular clothes suddenly transform into his Nth Metal harness. He presses a button on the harness and his large wings emerge.

Sensing the activated energy of the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid commands Steppenwolf to head to the source of the energy signature. Steppenwolf acknowledges with a bow. He arms himself with his electro-axe before boarding a small space ship. He activates his Mother Box, creating a Boom Tube. Steppenwolf then pilots his ship through the Boom Tube, which takes him hurtling through space away from the planet Apokolips and toward the Milky Way Galaxy.

Patrick "Eel" O'Brian / Plastic Man (Glenn Howerton) arrives at the ruins of Queen Industries in Star City. He uses his malleable body to slither through the rubble. When he re-emerges from the wreckage of metal, stone and glass, Plastic Man looks emotionally shaken. Black Canary asks him what he saw. Plastic Man reveals that the Justice League of America is officially without a leader. Black Canary begins crying, even though she expected the news. Plastic Man wraps his arms around Black Canary several times. Suddenly a red blur zooms past them. They watch as the blur rapidly cleans up the area. Injured citizens are suddenly bandaged, glass swept up out of the street, even potted plants are straightened out. The blur suddenly stops in front of Plastic Man and Black Canary, revealing the Flash. He notices their superhero outfits and waves at them.

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern (Tom Cruise) has just started his latest Green Lantern shift and is en route to Sector 2814 for patrol when he intercepts a distress signal from a small planet facing imminent destruction as its star collapses into a black hole. When Hal arrives at the scene, he sees the evacuation ships from the planet struggling to avoid being sucked into the black hole. Steppenwolf has orchestrated the star's collapse. Hal uses his power ring to create a green energy pulley system that tows the evacuation ships against the star's gravitational pull and to safety.

J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter (Mahershala Ali) is meditating on the Moon when his concentration is cut off by two Apokoliptian warships headed toward Earth. As he flies over to investigate, he is met by Hal Jordan / Green Lantern, who has been trailing Steppenwolf's ship from the scene of the black hole. Martian Manhunter recognizes Jordan as a member of the intergalactic police force the Green Lantern Corps. Realizing that they are both good guys, Jordan and Martian Manhunter agree to split up, each following one of the ships toward Earth to investigate.

Martian Manhunter follows one ship down to Earth as it settles above Metropolis. A swarm of Parademons emerge from the bottom of the ship, terrorizing the citizens of Metropolis. Martian Manhunter uses his telepathic powers to contact Clark Kent / Superman (Aidan Turner), who is at work at the Daily Planet. Martian Manhunter asks for Superman's help containing the alien threat. Before he can even respond, Clark makes an excuse to leave his reporting duties. He soon emerges in the skies of Metropolis, immediately taking out dozens of Parademons easily. Martian Manhunter and Superman give each other a nod before teaming up to continue shredding through the army of Parademons, but there seems to be an endless supply of Darkseid's drone soldiers. DeSaad emerges from the ship over Metropolis and directly orders the Parademons to raze Earth's greatest city to spread fear.

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern follows the second ship down to earth where it hovers over the ancient Kahndaqi ruins. Hawkman looks at Hal and comments that he didn't realize there were more than one human in outer space with a magical green ring. Hal asks Hawkman what the ship wants. Steppenwolf emerges from the ship, landing on the ground with a thunderous boom. He demands the Anti-Life tablet. Hawkman says that it seems like he wants the tablet and shows Hal the tablet he unearthed with the glowing red inscriptions. Hal says that he isn't sure what the tablet is, but that it seems like it would be a bad idea to hand it over to a scary looking alien. Hawkman agrees and pulls out his signature mace.

The Kahndaq military, alerted by an unknown aircraft in their airspace, fires an arsenal of missiles at Steppenwolf and his ship. Steppenwolf easily brushes aside the missiles like they are paper. This causes Hal and Hawkman to realize they may be a bit out-matched. Green Lantern uses his ring to make a force-field around themselves and the tablet to protect them from the explosions of the missiles around them.

Alerted by the missile launches, Wonder Woman (Alexandra Daddario) arrives, emerging from the cloud of dust and debris wielding her Godkiller sword atop the back of Pegasus. Steppenwolf wields his electro-axe, swinging it violently at the heroes, and causing Pegasus to panic, bucking Wonder Woman from the mythical beast. Wonder Woman lands Pegasus next to Green Lantern and Hawkman and introduces herself. She instantly recognizes the Anti-Life Equation tablet. She explains to them that the Old Gods scattered the tablets across the galaxy so that no one being could subjugate all sentient beings. Hawkman puts two and two together and realizes that the Old Gods must have put it here since the area once was the cradle of civilization. Steppenwolf moves towards them, demanding they surrender now as the Anti-Life Equation belongs to his master Darkseid.

Just as it seems like all is starting to calm in Star City as the Flash, Black Canary and Plastic Man have continued to help stabilize the area around Queen Industries, a swarm of winged Parademons attack the city, swiping up frightened civilians. The Flash, despite his super powers, is not used to battling powerful creatures and has trouble keeping up with the sheer numbers of Parademons attempting to abduct pedestrians. Black Canary is able to use her canary cry to disable some Parademons, but they soon adapt and her cry no longer has any effect. Plastic Man uses his malleable body to deflect Parademons while the Flash evacuates civilians off to safety. Black Canary notices that the Parademons seem to be operating out of a hive-like structure, which seems to keep churning out multiple Parademons for every one they take out. She proposes that if they can destroy the hive, no more of the winged monstrosities can emerge which would allow them to keep up in the fight.

DeSaad uses his powers to begin to create illusions to terrify the Metropolis citizens and also throw Martian Manhunter and Superman off their games. Superman sees new civilians in danger that DeSaad is conjuring the images of. Superman frantically begins trying to save them all. Even though he knows they are most likely not real, he is unwilling to chance any innocent lives, and continues blasting away with his heat vision at Parademons - both real and imagined. Martian Manhunter, meanwhile, sees fire - his greatest fear - all around him. Just as Superman and Martian Manhunter begin to feel overwhelmed, Supergirl (Chloe Grace Moretz) swoops in, hurtling her first, glowing with energy into DeSaad's face. Supergirl lands with a thunderous impact, creating a shock wave that sends Parademons flying.

Black Canary works at gathering some explosives. She then allows herself to be captured and taken into the hive by a pair of Parademons. After planting the explosives, the Flash swoops in to retrieve her. Black Canary detonates the explosives, but they cause little damage to the hive. Black Canary is dismayed that her plan didn't work. Plastic Man tells her that the idea was right, but the execution was lacking. He explains that because the hive is out in the open, the blast from the explosives are able to spread out, lessening the damage. He suggests that they need to contain the blast energy to the hive, which should result in maximum damage. Black Canary is surprised by Plastic Man's knowledge. Plastic Man reveals to the team that before he gained his powers, he was a bank robber. The others are stunned by this revelation as Plastic Man has helped save the world with the Justice League multiple times now. The Flash, being a scientist, begins working out equations and taking measurements at super-speed. He regretfully informs the others that based on the measurements he just took, he cannot think of anything large enough at their disposal to contain the hive. Plastic Man says that he has an idea, but he doesn't like it at all.

Superman and Martian Manhunter snap out of their illusions now that Supergirl has disoriented the enemy. Superman and Supergirl float above the city, back to back, incinerating Parademons all around them. Martian Manhunter uses his shape-shifting ability to transform into a massive Praying Mantis, slashing at Parademons. With the Parademon army in Metropolis completely decimated, the three heroes surround DeSaad. Intimidated by their combined powers, DeSaad tries to activate his Mother Box to create a Boom Tube away from the area, but Superman grabs DeSaad by the throat. Superman and Supergirl use their heat vision on their enemy, while Martian Manhunter uses his telekinesis to rip DeSaad's body apart as the Kryptonians' heat vision turns him to charred ash. Supergirl and Superman team up to hurtle DeSaad's ship back into space.

Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Hawkman begin to battle with Steppenwolf. Darkseid's Elite soldier holds his own for a while, but is slowly worn out by the powers of the three heroes he faces. Eventually, Darkseid orders the retreat of Steppenwolf following the defeat of DeSaad in Metropolis. Steppenwolf refuses to retreat and continues to fight, as his Apokoliptian armor begins to be chipped away at. Finally, Darkseid sends a Boom Tube of his own, retrieving Steppenwolf and his ship against his will from the fight and back to Apokolips.

The Flash plants explosives through the hive at super-speed. Once he is finished, Plastic Man stretches his body out to completely envelope the Parademon hive. Once the hive is completely covered, Plastic Man gives Black Canary a thumbs up and closes his eyes. Black Canary detonates the explosives. The hive is destroyed, but the pressure inside also blows Plastic Man up into thousands of rubbery pieces. The Flash speeds through the area, rounding up as many pieces of the stretching hero as he can, but is only able to find a small amount. The pieces of Plastic Man that are gathered begin to merge into a football-sized lump. A mouth suddenly appears on the lump, Plastic Man's voice asks if the plan worked. The Flash gives him a thumbs up. Plastic Man points out that he has no eyes right now, so he needs an actual answer. The Flash stutters out a yes.

Wonder Woman tells Green Lantern and Hawkman that while that battle may have finished, the war is far from over and they must find a place where they can successfully protect the Anti-Life tablet from Darkseid. Green Lantern proposes they destroy the tablet in order to keep it from Darkseid's grasp. Hawkman, as an archeologist, is conflicted regarding Green Lantern's idea. Wonder Woman vetoes the destruction of the Anti-Life tablet, suggesting instead that they bring it to Themyscira where her people, the Amazons, can keep it safe until a better plan is devised.

Darkseid sits upon his throne, licking the wounds of his Elite's defeat on Earth. He chastises Steppenwolf, who kneels before him. Steppenwolf begs Darkseid for mercy, insisting that Earth's warriors are far stronger than they had anticipated. Darkseid is in no mood for excuses. The Omega symbol on Darkseid's chest begins glowing a violent red. Darkseid then vaporizes Steppenwolf with his Omega beam. Darkseid tells himself that it is now time to rally the Furies.

Wonder Woman rides Pegasus, leading the way to Themyscira, with Green Lantern and Hawkman following behind. The Amazon natives of the island are happy that their queen has successfully returned from battle, but are taken aback that she has returned with two flying, masked men. Wonder Woman secures the Anti-Life tablet in a vault on the island with other priceless artifacts. Wonder Woman rallies the Amazons, who all stand in formation to guard the vault.

Batman (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrives in Metropolis in the Batwing. He studies the ashy remains of DeSaad, collecting the villain's Mother Box device. He is confronted by Superman, who demands to know what he is doing. Batman tells Superman that they need to unite Earth's heroes and take the fight to Darkseid. He then holds up the Mother Box and informs Superman that it holds the key. Superman doesn't believe anything Batman says and demands to know who he is. Martian Manhunter steps forward, explaining to Superman and Supergirl that Batman is Gotham's protector, the Caped Crusader, and arguably the world's greatest detective. Superman isn't sure what to do with this information. Martian Manhunter suggests that they all listen to what Batman has to say. Plastic Man's mouth chimes in that the Justice League may have found its new leader, a man with a plan, the Batman.