(Spoiler alert: Please don’t read this post if you don’t want to know what happens in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”)
So you just saw “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and you definitely know who Superman and Batman are. And though they never say her name, you have at least a strong suspicion that the actress from those “Fast & Furious” movies, Gal Gadot, who pops up to help Bats and Supes fight Doomsday is actually Wonder Woman.
So you know half of the new Justice League, which has its own film coming up in late 2017. The other three members of the team also appeared in “Batman v Superman,” but in cameo appearances that don’t quite explain who they are or what their thing is. If you’re one of the folks who didn’t quite know what you were seeing when Diana Prince (aka Wonder Woman) was looking through Lex Luthor’s secrets files on “metahumans,” then have no fear. I’m about to tell you exactly who those future heroes of the DC Movieverse are.
The Flash (Ezra Miller): His real name is Barry Allen, and he’s blessed (not naturally) with super speed and reflexes — he can go faster than the speed of light, and his thought processes are fast enough to keep up with his body.
In “Batman v Superman” he actually has two appearances — in Bruce Wayne’s dream, and in some convenience-store security footage in Lex Luthor’s secret files. The latter is easy to spot, but you may not have realized the former was The Flash because it was a weird moment and he was wearing a strange suit.
There’s a lot going on with the Flash’s appearances. In the dream, he’s warning Batman from the future (Flash in the comics has a time travel device known as the cosmic treadmill) that he was right to be wary of Superman. Though what the Flash is talking about there is not made clear in this movie. In the convenience-store footage he stops an armed robber with his super speed, but using his power causes a pretty dramatic electrical discharge that shorts out the lights and knocks over a bunch of stuff. This is, presumably, Flash having trouble controlling his powers — he’s been known to throw lightning generated by using his speed powers — but the discharge here doesn’t look intentional.
This is not the same Flash seen on the CW TV show, though they’re both Barry Allen. The DC TV and movie universes are separate — though with “Batman v Superman” and “Justice League” director talking about having a multiverse in the movie series, it’s possible the two Barrys could meet someday.
The Flash standalone movie is scheduled for March 2018, after the first “Justice League” film.
Aquaman (Jason Momoa): This half-human is the king of the lost city of Atlantis. The video in Lex’s files show an underwater probe encountering him in a shipwreck, wielding a trident, which he uses to take out the probe. Another probe, further back, then shows Aquaman swimming away at superspeeds.
Aquaman is able to breathe underwater and can see in the dark (since he lives on the bottom of the ocean). As shown, he can swim real fast. On land, he’s incredibly strong because his body is accustomed to dealing the harsh pressure of living beneth the sea, and his skin can stop bullets. He also has the power of telepathy and can talk to fish with his mind and compel them to do his bidding.
The Aquaman movie is planned for July 2018.
Cyborg (Ray Fisher): Real name Vic Stone, Cyborg is a regular guy until he’s the victim of an accident at the STAR Labs, where his father Silas worked. In the most recent comic version of the story, Vic is maimed by an exploding Mother Box (a sort of sentient computer) and Silas fixes him by turning him into, well, a cyborg. But he’s not just a machine person — the parts Silas and others at STAR Labs use to rebuild Vic are superadvanced and grant Cyborg superpowers like strength and speed and the ability to fly. He’s also got a powerful computer inside him that allows him to deal with any machine in a way no other person can. And, of course, he’s got lots of gadgets built in.
In “Batman v Superman” we see Silas trying to help his son, but he’s not having much luck, and expects Vic to die. But a pulsating box — one could probably assume it’s a Mother Box, given history — activates itself and intervenes, and that’s all we see.
Cyborg will appear in both “Justice League” films before getting his own movie in 2020.
Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot): Going to throw in a little primer for her, just because in “Batman v Superman” she’s just kinda there hanging out like a normal person until she suddenly is wearing a hero costume and being awesome.
Wonder Woman, aka Diana Prince, is an Amazon from Greek myths and the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta. She’s basically a normal person only much better in every way: stronger, smarter, enhanced senses and so forth. She uses magic tools like her unbreakable bracelets that she uses to block Doomsday’s heat vision beam in “Batman v Superman,” her golden lasso and a sword that can pierce even a Kryptonian’s hide.
The “Wonder Woman” movie is on the schedule for next summer, and it will both show her origins and feature a World War I story, as indicated by the photo Lex Luthor had of her from 1918.