In the rush to introduce us to four new superheroes, the Justice League marketing has spent precious little time on the villains of the film — beyond plenty of disposable parademons for our heroes to crunch through.
But the latest Justice League trailer has given us two solid action shots of Steppenwolf, the face of evil for whatever Justice League’s plot turns out to be.
First, we see him leap to the center of a group of Amazons with his massive axe:
And then, a minute or so later, we see him facing off against just one Amazon, Wonder Woman:
Now, don’t feel bad for not knowing who Steppenwolf is. Even in the wide world of comics full of little known characters, he’s very obscure. In Justice League, it looks like he’ll be in the role of the leader of that parademon army we keep seeing, a general in the forces of the New God Darkseid, ruler of the hell-planet of Apokali—
Here, just watch this video.
Steppenwolf isn’t the only villain running amok and causing havoc for the Justice League. Darkseid’s parademons will be the first line of defense for Steppenwolf; the appetizer for the Justice League to snack on before the main course. The parademons made their first appearance during Batman’s nightmarish sequence in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Even with Darkseid’s parademons, there’s no question that Steppenwolf is the guy in Justice League. As one of Darkseid’s generals, Steppenwolf poses one of the greatest threats to civilization as a whole. As the first major big bad the Justice League will have to take on, Steppenwolf has a lot to prove. He will forever define the type of villain the Justice League will have to take on in future franchise installments.
But, y’know, no pressure.
Justice League will be released on Nov. 17.