There have been some rumors floating
around the web about the proposed villains of the two Justice League
movies, Braniac and Darkseid. Whether or not these rumors are true or
not I have no way of knowing but I am taking the opportunity to write
about how I would depict each of these threats on screen.
First off is Braniac. Some time ago I
wrote a treatment for a Superman origin movie that had Braniac as the
main villain. While I took a few artistic liberties with the
character I feel I stayed true to the essence of one of Superman's
greatest foes.
In my treatment I depicted Braniac as
the sole survivor of a race of a semi immortal beings who traveled
the Universe collecting the remaining members of dying cultures and
preserving them aboard their ships. Over time they themselves began
to die out and left Braniac as the last of his people. Driven mad by
millennia alone in the cosmos and dedicated to his peoples eternal
cause, Braniac began to destroy civilizations he came into contact
with. After decimating an entire planet he would collect the last
remaining survivor and imprison them aboard his ship in his
Menagerie. It was during this time that he came across the remains of
Krypton and salvaged some relics but found no survivors.
The way I envisioned Braniac was as a
sort of genuinely insane but committed galactic preservationist. He
believed that life itself was inherently self destructive and would
inevitably bring itself to extinction. This twisted logic
rationalized his genocide of entire cultures as he felt they would
destroy themselves regardless and so he would expedite the process
and preserve what remained. My Braniac saw himself as benevolent and
justified in his actions. When he comes to Earth and witnesses the
violent nature of humanity he decides to destroy our world and it is
here that he encounters Clark Kent, not yet Superman, who defends
humanity as it's champion. He captures Clark and opts not to kill the
only Kryptonian left in the Universe, instead he imprisons him
aboard his ship. It is here that Clark discovers his Kryptonian
heritage and finds his iconic Superman suit. I departed from the
Superman lore and did not choose to include Superman's Father in the
treatment, instead I had Braniac in the role of a sort of dark Jor
El. The super intelligent Alien would inform Superman of his culture
and and its eventual demise.
As for Braniac's character I depicted
him as soft spoken, polite and world weary. Not a generic cackling
villain but sort of pitiable, viewing his abducted specimens as
family and professing his deep compassion for them, he wasn't so much
evil as confused. Braniac truly believes that what he is doing is
what's best for humanity as he views us as violent savages hellbent
on our own extinction. This was to act as a counterpoint to Clark's
optimism and faith in his adopted peoples potential for good.
For his physical depiction I departed greatly from previous renderings of the character. He wasn't human in appearance, boasting four arms and a more lupine face. His clothes were weathered and old adorned with souvenirs of long dead worlds. I wanted to give him the air of an ancient librarian. The iconic green color scheme and the nodes on his brow remained but for the most part I played to the alien aspect of his character. Braniac's final confrontation with Clark high above Metropolis is what causes the last Kryptonian to finally accept his destiny and become Superman.
Now onto Darkseid.
Anyone familiar
with my fake Dawn of Justice script will know that I hinted at the
Lord of Apokolips as the villain of the future Justice League film,
but I never showed him physically. While writing the screenplay I had
a vague image of what I wanted Darkseid to be, his motivations and
character, I never got around to writing the character. What follows
is a description of how I would depict Uxas and like Braniac I will
be taking artistic license.
First change I would make would be
stature. This change is mainly to differentiate DC's villain from
Marvel's Thanos. I don't feel we need another hulking Galactic power
player on screen. While I and most comic book fans know that Thanos
was a rip off of Darkseid, the majority of the movie going public
would think the opposite if a faithful visual of Darkseid was shown
in Justice League. Marvel got there first unfortunately and I think
DC should adapt to counter this. My Darkseid would be tall, thin and
lean a departure from the comic books broad shouldered behemoth. I'd
have him almost gaunt but still strong. I would use Brad Pitt's Tyler
Durden as a reference, wiry and quick. His appearance in the comics
would be honored but his size decreased. I feel this would give him a
more menacing look as it implies power but isn't obvious at first
glance.
I believe his motivation should be the
Anti-Life Equation and because of that he comes to Earth. The secret
to his life's obsession lies in the minds of humanity which he plans
to enslave so his can discover the truth of the Equation. Simple and
effective in my opinion.
The biggest departure is his
character. I would have him act more dynamic and younger than his
comic book counterpart. As a New God, emphasis on the 'New', I see
him as relatively young in his manner. While being millions of years
old I would have him possessed of a more youthful exuberance, the
kind of energy that would propel a being such as him to obsessively
search for something as elusive as the Anti-Life Equation. He would
be confident, self assured and dismissive of any and all challenges
to his philosophy. And my Darkseid would be savage and have no regard
of the consequences of his actions. He will do anything to achieve
his goals no matter who stands in his way.
I feel this would be more than enough
to differentiate Darkseid from his Marvel Comics counterpart.
Familiar yet new, true to the essence of the character yet different
enough to be a fresh.
This is just what I would do had I
input into the DC cinematic Universe.
SoA.
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