Justice League DarkGenre: Action/Superhero/Supernatural
Director: J.A. Bayona
Writer: APJ & Jimmy Ellis
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Colin Farrell, Alexander Skarsgard, Aubrey Plaza, Keira Knightley, Gina Rodriguez, Monica Bellucci, Oded Fehr, August Diehl, Ghassan Massoud, David Strathairn (cameo), Christina Hendricks (cameo)
Plot: 5000 BC – Kor, The Shores of the Black Sea.
Felix Faust (Oded Fehr), a sorcerer, stands before his king, Nommo (Ghassan Massoud). Nommo questions Faust about the drought and what the great sorcerer is doing to fix it. Faust says that there is not much he can do it is up to the Gods to provide the rain. Nommo grows impatient with Faust's ‘antics’ and demands that he conjure rain or he will face execution. Faust is dismissed. Later that evening Faust is in his quarters. Using some chants he summons the demon Neron (August Diehl). Faust tells him of his troubles and Neron decides to make him a deal. Faust will be given further powers and eternal life, however Faust’s soul will belong to Neron forever. Faust understands the proposal and agrees. Just like that, Neron disappears. Faust feels a power he hadn’t felt before it was time. Out on his balcony Faust conjures spells and calls for it to rain. The rain begins to fall on the kingdom. A council is called with Nommo and the citizens of Kor. Nommo takes full credit for the rain and demands payment from his people for giving them the rain their crops require. Faust is angered by Nommo taking credit for his magic, and conjures a sand demon to attack Nommo. The demon consumes Nommo, filling his body with sand. With Nommo disposed of, Faust takes a seat on the throne of Kor.
Present Day - Houma, Louisiana.
Abby Arcane (Keira Knightley) closes the door of her car, out in front of her house. Suddenly from behind her a cigarette is lit. John Constantine (Colin Farrell) is standing there, he startles Abby but he assures her he means no harm, he wants to have a chat about her father's work. Abby says she is sorry but she doesn’t want to talk about that. She begins walking to her door and places her hand on the door handle. “What about Alec Holland then, ” Constantine asks. Abby is shocked that he would have the nerve or the knowledge to ask about Holland. Constantine however assures her that he probably knows more about the incident then she does. Constantine asks her to take him to speak with Holland if she wants to know more.
Hub City.
Vic Sage (Ryan Gosling) sits alone in a spartan basement. The walls all around him are filled with information on the occult, demons and the red gem stone that he encountered previously, known only as the Dreamstone. Sage hears noises coming from outside, with his mask on he decides to investigate. He looks around outside but sees or hears nothing. As he turns back around however and sees that the whole building is on fire. He races back inside to try and retrieve every bit of research that he can, but only manages to save one notebook. Sage sits out the front of the building looking defeated. He flips through the notebook until he lands on a page with one name circled: John Constantine.
Abby Arcane takes Constantine into the swamps outside of Houma. She calls out to Alec Holland. The Swamp Thing (Alexander Skarsgard) emerges and reminds Abby that Holland is no more. He turns to Contantine and asks who he is, Constantine explains that he is something of a jack of all trades: occult detective, con man and something of a warlock, for lack of a better term. Constantine tells Swamp Thing, that when he transformed into this, well, thing, he became a part of what is known as the green, the lifeforce of all plant-life in this dimension. Swamp Thing expresses confusion so Constantine expresses it in layman's terms, he says that Swamp Thing can control and speak to all plants. Those voices he knows Holland hears aren't imaginary - it's the plants, the trees, all around him.
Faust with the Dreamstone in hand speaks an incantation. The ruby red gemstone begins to glow. He closes his eyes and the room around him turns into gold. Snakes begin to slither all over the floor. Faust opens his eyes and lets out a smile about the stone actually working.
Abigail takes Constantine back to town. He asks her whether or not she would like to get a drink with him, she tells him however, that she is in a relationship. Constantine jokes about her being in a relationship with a talking tree, but accepts her answer and heads into a bar without her.
Vic Sage finds Constantine in a Houma bar and slams a notebook down in front of him. Constantine doesn’t pay any mind at first until Sage demands he take a look. The notebook doesn’t catch Constantine’s interest enough. Sage then asks Constantine what he knows about the Dreamstone. This does catch Constantine's interest and he invites Sage to sit down for a drink. Sage explains to him that he encountered three demons or monsters, Constantine nods along, “The Demons Three”, he calls them. Sage states that they acquired this dreamstone. Constantine says that if the Demons Three had the Dreamstone that it is bad news for the entire planet. Constantine then goes on to explain that a powerful sorcerer would be able to use the Dreamstone to replace the reality around them with their own personal dreamscape. The more powerful the magic-user, the more expansive the dreamscape will become.
A group of locals don't like the idea of the British Constantine and the city-slicker Sage drinking in their bar and tell them to get out. Constantine and Sage refuse, and urge the men to back away and let them get back to what they were talking about. The bartender leaves the bar and deadbolts the front door of the bar. The men surround Constantine and Sage at the bar, armed with beer bottles, baseball bats and knives. Constantine takes a large drink of whiskey and pulls out his lighter. He then spits the whiskey, spitting flames at the local ruffians. Sage then picks up a bar stool and takes out a few men with it. Constantine climbs on top of the bar and continues his breathing fire at the men, while Sage fights off the rest of them. Sage begins throwing bottles of liquor at the men. When Constantine spits fire at them again, the men become fully engulfed in flames. The burning bartender is unable to unlock the door, so he jumps through the front window and begins rolling around in the parking lot outside. The rest of the men follow the bartender out of the building, trying to put out the flames.
Las Rosas.
Vultures fly over a charred stretch of woodlands. Suddenly, purple flowers begin to rapidly grow from the Earth, before fully taking over that forest around them. All the vultures fly away as Alba Garcia (Gina Rodriguez) emerges from the flowers. She is covered in purple and black vines, although she still looks human with her face being fully visible. She starts hearing voices in her head telling her to head to the swamps of Louisiana. She starts walking, the plant-life around her perking up and blossoming with flowers as she passes.
Constantine takes Sage to meet Zatanna Zatara (Aubrey Plaza). Constantine lists all of Zatanna’s credentials to the sceptical Sage. Zatanna, who has the power of telepathy, tells Sage that they all can't have the super marketable superpower of curiosity and calls him The Question. Sage is confused, while Constantine is surprised by her knowledge of Sage's secret identity. Zatanna admits that she is surprised that The Question is so handsome underneath the mask - she expected some who would hide under such a mask would look more like Claude Collins than Bruce Wayne. After Constantine and Sage explain what has happened with the Demons Three and the Dreamstone, Zatanna says she may know someone who can help. She decides that it is a good idea to take them to Madame Xanadu, she will be able to point them into the direction of the Dreamstone.
Alba seemingly sleepwalks through the night, her eyes suddenly open, and she sees a sign saying “Welcome to Houma”. The voices in her head tell her she is almost at her destination.
Zatanna, Sage and Constantine enter Xanadu’s shop. They all sit down and Zatanna asks her about the Dreamstone. Xanadu looks in her crystal ball and tells the three of them that they are looking for Felix Faust. He is the one who has the Dreamstone and he no doubt plans to use it for nefarious means. She tells them to go to Delta City. It is there that they will find Faust, but she warns them to be prepared for anything as the Dreamstone can be used as a very powerful, mind-altering weapon in the hands of a skilled magic user like Faust.
Swamp Thing and Abigail sit by the swamp while she reads the newspaper to him. A sudden feeling comes upon Swamp Thing. He tells her to stop, he senses something strange coming out of the swamp – not quite human, not quite plant, but rather something in between. He stands and starts sprouting purple orchids from his body. Abigail comments that they are beautiful, but Swamp Thing says that he isn’t making them. Alba Garcia suddenly appears out of the swamp. Swamp Thing senses she is no threat and asks who or rather what she is. She states that she does not know, but she heard voices inside her head that told her to come here. Swamp Thing says he recently learned the voices he hears are the plants all around him. Alba expresses confusion and asks how he knows that, and Swamp Thing says that a new friend explained it to him.
Abigail calls John Constantine and asks that he come back to Houma – there’s another plant person that he may need to know about. Constantine tells her that they are in luck as Houma is on the way to Delta City.
Constantine, Zatanna and Sage travel by train toward Houma. Mid-conversation the train begins to shake. They look out the windows and see a large hand, made out of opals reach for the train car and lift it from the tracks. Zatanna begins using her magic to fend off the opal hand. Constantine and Sage bail from the train, jumping off and down to a river below the tracks. Zatanna continues to hold on to the train car fighting off the hand with her magic. She makes a giant hand of her own from the river water, this in turn breaks apart some of the hand. She continues to fight it with the water hand and eventually it crumbles and falls to the tracks. The stones damage the tracks. Zatanna sees this and jumps down to the river where Constantine and Sage are waiting and watching.
Alba and Swamp Thing are sitting in the swamp when suddenly Alba is surrounded by alligators. Swamp Thing begins to summon some vines to wrap the alligators up, but Alba tells him to let her handle the alligators. She gets her whole body under the swamp and stares into the eyes of the alligator, all the alligators turn around and leave the area. Swamp Thing asks what that was, she says she isn’t quite sure but that she thinks she told the alligators to think she was an alligator herself. She adds that she told them to leave.
Constantine, Sage and Zatanna continue on foot toward Houma. Constantine tells them that Faust must know they are coming to get the Dreamstone from him. The three of them arrive at the swamps, both Swamp Thing and Alba appear to greet them. Constantine is surprised at the sight of Alba – saying that she has one foot in the green and one foot in the red. He asks Alba what the last thing she remembers was before she gained these powers. She tells him of the burning forest and her friend John. She remembers all of the smoke and the flames and not finding a way out. Constantine offers to help both Swamp Thing and Alba with their predicaments if they are willing to lend their special powers to a greater good in Delta City.
Abby arrives at the swamps with an AA Sciences truck. Swamp Thing gets in the back of the truck, while the others get into the cab. Abby really wants to go with them, but Swamp Thing tells her it is too dangerous and asks her to stay behind for her own safety.
When the group arrives in Delta City, they find everything has turned to gold and snakes fill the city streets. Sage says that nobody told him anything about snakes. He doesn't want to get out of the truck. Constantine laughs at Sage’s fear of snakes. As Alba walks, the snakes clear a path for the group, which makes Sage willing to exit the truck. As the group begins walking down the golden city streets, Sage wonders aloud where all the people have gone. Alba senses there are people in the city, but that they are all in a comatose state. The group enters a diner and finds the place full of sleeping bodies.
The group continues walking through the city, when the streets and buildings begin re-configuring like walls of a labyrinth, splitting the group into two groups. Sage and Zatanna are together, while Constantine, Alba and Swamp Thing are together. As the groups continue their way through the city, they begin experiencing their greatest fears. Alba begins envisioning that she is fire, while a stream of oil begins flowing through the streets. Swamp Thing tries to calm Alba, reminding her that the fire is not really there. She says it sure feels real. Hands start reaching up through the oily ground, reaching for Constantine. Constantine kicks at the hands. Swamp Thing begins destroying the hands, smashing them with branches from his arms. Zatanna sees her father, John Zatara (David Strathairn). His body teleports all around Zatanna, causing her to break down crying. Sage tries to comfort her, assuring her that it is just a trick. He is quickly stopped in his tracks by the image of the love of his life, Myra Connelly (Christina Hendricks), laying comatose in a hospital bed. She stands up out of the bed, but her skin begins rapidly decaying. She tells him that he failed to save her, he failed to save her daughter Jackie, and he failed to save Hub City from itself. He tells her that she's wrong. He saved her and Jackie, but admits that he failed to save Hub City from itself. The more real the illusion feels to the hero, the more their energy is drained. Sage and Zatanna hold each other up as they struggle down the street.
Eventually the two roads converge in front of Delta City Hall. The group reconvenes, commenting that Faust's dreamscape he's created is no fun at all. Constantine says there's no liquor or naked women anywhere to be seen - what a lame dream. The group enters the gothic-styled City Hall, where they find Faust looming over the Dreamstone, seemingly in a trance. As the group gets closer, stone gargoyles come to life and begin attacking them. As Swamp Thing and Alba fight off the gargoyles, Sage, Constantine and Zatanna confront Faust. He turns toward them and expresses pleasure that Constantine and Zatanna have both come to him, since he wants to use their powers to expand his dreamscape. He offers them the chance to give over their power voluntarily, saying he will make them like gods in the new dimension their power could help create. Constantine comments that he’s met enough wannabe gods and has no interest in becoming like them. Faust says that is fine, he will simply kill them and take their powers that way.
Swamp Thing and Alba finish off the gargoyles and join the others to confront Faust. As Faust begins conjuring up demonic creatures made of the concrete, marble and steel of the building’s walls, Sage rushes up and takes the Dreamstone from its stand. This angers Faust, who sends his mineral-based minions toward the group of heroes. Sage runs through the halls of the building, dodging stone arms reaching out of the walls toward him. Swamp Thing and Alba fight off the stone creatures while Constantine and Zatanna combine their powers to open a portal behind Faust. The marble arms finally are able to get a hold of Sage. He throws the Dreamstone to Swamp Thing, and vines pull the stone into his plant-based body. Swamp Thing walks toward Faust and stretches his arms out toward him, Faust takes a step back. Alba also begins inching toward Faust. Constantine comments that there is no way Faust could possibly defeat them without his precious Dreamstone. Faust continues stepping back, this time tripping back and falling through the portal. With Faust no longer in their dimension, the city returns to normal, the residents wake from their sleep states and the snakes all slither back to the swamps outside of the city.
Faust finds himself back in Kor, 5000 BC, kneeling before Neron once again. Neron tells Faust that granting him powers will not change anything - Faust will not succeed in the end - and rescinds his magical offer. Faust pleads with Neron to give him another chance, but Neron states that he already gave Faust over 7000 years to no avail and leaves.
Constantine congratulates the group on a job well done, only to find Sage has already vanished, with only a card with a question mark written on it left behind. Swamp Thing turns to walk back toward Houma without a word. Alba’s body turns into a group of purple orchid leaves that blow away in a gust of wind. Zatanna comments that they sure found themselves a talkable lot on this one. Constantine asks Zatanna if she would like to grab a drink, but Zatanna declines, stating that Constantine is no Question. Zatanna then creates a portal and hops through it. Constantine shrugs and lights himself up a cigarette as he watches a few snakes still making their way from Delta City.
Back in Hub City, Sage watches through a window as Myra gets her handicapped daughter Jackie ready for bed. Thinking she sees something, Myra looks out the window, but doesn't see anyone as Sage has slipped into the shadows. Myra turns on a light to get a better view, and finds a question mark carved into a tree and smiles ever so slightly.
Post-Credits: 1789. A woman (Elizabeth Debicki) storms into a nearly-empty
tavern in Liverpool, with a gang of men following her. She scans the
room until she finds the one person there: a red-haired man (Marc
Menchaca) sitting by himself. She introduces herself as Lady Johanna
Constantine as her men take the redhead by knifepoint. She says that
legend has it that on the same day every 100 years, for the last four
centuries, the same two men have met at this very tavern for a pint: the
Devil and the Wandering Jew. And today is that day. She’s been planning
this rendezvous for almost 2 years so that she could obtain her dreams
of power and wealth.
After letting her talk, the man introduces
himself as Hob Gadling and says “Sorry to disappoint you, lady, but I’m
not Jewish.” His drinking mate enters the tavern behind them and they
all turn around to see him. A pale man (Johnny Depp) with glowing eyes,
jet-black hair, and an aura around him stands before them. “And I’m not
the Devil.”
