The DC Comics Cinematic Universe

Phase 1: Justice

Superman: Last Son

The planet Krypton was nearing its end. When his warnings fell on deaf ears, the brilliant scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara decided the only way to keep their legacy alive was to send their infant son far off into the cosmos to become a beacon of hope for a planet of despair. That planet happened to be Earth. Found by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent, the baby, now named Clark Kent, lived a peaceful life in Smallville, Kansas with a loving family and many friends but he always felt he was different from the rest. It wasn't until he turned eighteen after saving a family from a fire that his adoptive parents revealed his alien origins and he decided to do what his birth family wanted him to be: a symbol of hope.

Many years later, Clark moves to Metropolis and became a reporter for the Daily Planet where he met Lois Lane and photographer Jimmy Olsen, both of whom became his closest friends in the city. His first act of heroism was stopping a downed plane from crashing and was celebrated by the public who dubbed him Superman. But there was one person who died on the plane that was swept under the rug by the media, retired soldier John Corben.

Corben's body was taken and modified with cybernetics by a mysterious benefactor who orders him to exact revenge on Superman for leaving him to die. He is given a power source in the form of an strange alloy called Kryptonite and renamed Metallo. Metallo starts wreaking havoc in Metropolis beckoning Superman to fight him but when Clark does challenge him, he is weakened by the cyborg's green core and tossed out in the Arctic, left to die.

When Superman finally comes to, he discovers a small robot that creates an ice lair for him to recover in which he dubs the Fortress of Solitude. The robot reveals himself as Kelex, a robotic servant created by Jor-El specifically to assist Clark. After playing a final message to him from Jor-El and Lara, Superman's enhanced hearing picks up Corben giving him an ultimatum, fight and destroy him or else he kills Lois, Jimmy and the Kents.

Arriving back in Metropolis to stop Metallo once and for all, the cyborg decides to kill one of them anyway by shooting Jonathan Kent, sending Clark into a blind fury which escalates into a fight that takes them across the city. Superman tries to lower casualties and collateral damage during their clash but Metallo simply wants to destroy the entire city just to get revenge for forgetting about him on the plane. Realizing that someone had actually died that day, Superman removes his Kryptonite core and drops him to the ground for the police to arrest. Thus the day is saved thanks to the Man of Steel.

Post credits scene #1: Clark is on a date with Lois but she is running late. A man named John Jones fills her seat and starts asking him questions about Superman and other superheroes that might be running around. When Lois finally arrives, Jones takes his leave and crosses Clark's name off a list of other people including Bruce Wayne, Diana Prince, Arthur Curry, Wally West and Kyle Rayner.

Post credits scene #2: John Corben's benefactor watches the battle between Superman and Metallo play out on the news and declares war on the Man of Tomorrow, revealing himself as Lex Luthor.

Batman: Knight of Vengeance

Ever since that faithful night he lost his parents to a common thug, billionaire Bruce Wayne had trained himself to utter perfection to become Gotham City's caped crusader, the Batman. He has taken down criminals for many years and amassed the help of his butler Alfred Pennyworth, the young acrobat Dick Grayson, Gotham's police commissioner Jim Gordon and his daughter Barbara. But the past few months have been rough for Bruce after losing his latest ward Jason Todd to the clown prince of crime himself, the Joker.

Batman has more or less hidden himself away as a result thus leaving Dick & Barbara to take over protecting the city as Nightwing and Batgirl. One particular mission had the two pitted against the Penguin who has kidnapped archaeologist Jack Drake, his wife Janet and their son Tim. Rescuing the Drakes, Tim takes interest in the two and through analyzing Nightwing's acrobatic skill & Batgirl's strategic mind, he deduces their identities as Dick and Babs thus meaning that the legendary Batman is none other than Bruce Wayne.

Following the two back to Wayne Manor one day, Tim accidentally breaks into the Batcave and finally comes face to face with the Dark Knight himself. Bruce is impressed how the boy managed to learn his secret but is reluctant to take him in as a sidekick after what happened to Jason. But after learning that the villainous Mr. Freeze has broken out of prison, he decides to take up the cowl once more and nominate Tim as his new Robin.

Now as the new Boy Wonder, Tim is excited to fight crime alongside Batman as they follow Mr. Freeze to his hideout in a winter-themed amusement park. Taking notice of the new Robin, Freeze explains his backstory as scientist Victor Fries who's wife became terminally ill leading him to cryogenically freeze her until he could find a cure. Knowing what it feels like to lose a loved one from personal experience, Bruce offers to help Freeze but he lashes out and puts the Dynamic Duo on ice before he escaped.

The next day, Batman as Bruce Wayne digs through company files across Gotham and deduces that Victor's turn to villainy has to do with GothCorp and its CEO Ferris Boyle. He also learns of Freeze's plan to turn Gotham City into an land of ice for him and Nora using a weather machine. With Robin, Nightwing and Batgirl by his side, the vigilante takes on Freeze one last time during a Humanitarian of the Year ceremony where Boyle is supposed to receive an award. Freeze crashes the party and announces his plan before attempting to expose Ferris when the Bat Family arrive and stop him. Batman promises to find a way to save Nora before leaving Freeze to Commissioner Gordon and Boyle's reputation in ruins.

Post credits scene #1: Mr. Freeze is taken to Arkham Asylum where he is faced by many others of Batman's rogues including the Joker who mocks him for his failure.

Post credits scene #2: During a Wayne Enterprises press conference, Bruce Wayne is visited by John Jones who asks for his feelings toward the Batman. He leaves crossing Bruce's name off the list as his eyes start glowing red.

Wonder Woman: War of the Gods

For centuries, the warrior women known as the Amazons have hidden themselves away on the paradise island known as Themyscira ruled by their queen Hippolyta. Although they couldn't produce children because of their isolation, Hippolyta wanted a daughter who could go to Man's World and encourage unity for all. She made a clay figure in the shape of a baby and with the power of the gods, her daughter Diana was born.

One day, an eager, cocky pilot named Steve Trevor crash-lands on Themyscira and brought before the Amazons, bearing warnings of a mysterious woman, whom Hippolyta guesses must be the sorceress Circe, that has sparked conflict within his home country of the United States. As tradition states, an emissary must bring the visitor home. Diana volunteers and after emerging victorious in a competition to decide the emissary, Hippolyta grants her a suit of armor she wore fighting the God of War Ares and the Lasso of Truth.

Taking Diana, now calling herself Wonder Woman after a prophecy stating that an Amazonian bearing the name will bring prosperity between her people and the rest of the world, to America and introducing her to his secretary & friend Etta Candy, Steve gets to work helping her track down Circe while introducing her to the culture of Man's World. She grows to appreciate the environment around her, despite some crude comments against her. Eventually they meet a woman calling herself Donna Milton who leads them into a trap where she reveals herself as Circe.

She states that her plan is to tear the world apart through rampant conflict with her magic and that she escaped from her prison thanks to Ares before taking her leave, leaving the two to die. Steve eventually frees himself & Diana and the two work together along with the Amazons and the US Army to stop Circe once and for all. The sorceress immediately turns the two factions against one another except for Diana and Trevor who take her down and imprison her in the River Styx, freeing Man's World from her villainy and making Diana a hero.

Post credits scene: John Jones visits Diana in an art exhibit in France where they start chatting about Greek mythology. Jones crosses her name off the list as his arm accidentally turns green.

Aquaman: Throne of Atlantis

Arthur Curry is a young man who is the son of Thomas Curry, a normal lighthouse keeper, and Atlanna, the former queen of Atlantis. He lives an ordinary life with his father and their pet octopus Topo after his mother vanished when one day, he discovered his powers by telepathically communicating with Topo. Thomas is forced to reveal his Atlantean heritage to his son and leads him to the underwater city where he reunites with his mother and her two bodyguards Mera & Garth.

Learning more about the history of his people from the royal advisor Nuidis Vulko, Arthur discovers that they're being menaced by the pirate Black Manta who has a long history with Atlantis. Deciding to take on the villain himself, Arthur goes through rigorous training under Mera who calls him Aquaman.

When his training is completed, Aquaman returns to the surface where he challenges Black Manta to a duel in which if he loses, he will have to leave Atlantis and never return. Manta takes him up on the offer but claims that if Arthur loses, he will have to relinquish the throne to him before leaving.

Arthur returns home to discover that his father has been murdered and learns from Topo that Black Manta did it to further provoke him. And provoked he is as Aquaman returns to Atlantis to face Manta. He charges to the palace to find Manta cornering Atlanna with Mera captured and Garth badly injured. The two fight, both combatants using their skills to their advantage, Aquaman with his Atlantean powers and Manta with his advanced technology & weapons.

During their battle, Manta reveals his past as a cabin boy named David Hyde who was tormented by his crewmates. When he spotted Atlanna giving fish to a nearby island, he tried calling for help but his pleading fell on deaf ears and from that day forward, he would swear revenge on Atlantis for not trying to save him. Although he promised he would find the crew that tortured David, Aquaman still punished him for his crimes by stranding him on a deserted island far away from civilization. Returning to Atlantis, he learns that Hyde has poisoned Atlanna and chooses him to take his place as ruler. Thus, Aquaman becomes the new defender of land and sea.

Post credits scene #1: A man watches the final battle between Aquaman and Black Manta from afar, declaring they will meet again someday, calling Arthur by his birth-name Orin and revealing himself as his long-lost brother Orm, aka the Ocean Master.

Post credits scene #2: Aquaman rides horseback on a dolphin across the Pacific ocean before seeing a man on a lifeboat calling for help. Returning the man to shore, he bids farewell before the man pulls out a notepad, crosses out Arthur's name and looks up to the sky, spying on a cloud in the shape of a star.

The Flash: Legacy

Wally West is the teenage son of Barry Allen, the legendary defender of Central City known as the Flash, and his lover Iris West. His father disappeared a few years ago fighting his arch-nemesis Eobard Thawne aka the Reverse Flash when the two suddenly vanished without a trace and were declared dead. His family were deeply affected by this but still try to move forward with their lives.

One day while racing his sister Jesse West home from school, Wally suddenly awakens his speed powers and runs across the entire city before running into his two best friends Malcolm & Eddie Thawne. The two are astonished at the fact their friend now has the same powers as his father and take him to someone who can help him control them: Jay Garrick, the first Flash.

Over the next few weeks, Jay trains Wally to better his abilities and carry on his father's legacy with his mother, sister, adopted brother Bart Allen and all his friends helping him along the way. Eventually Jay dubs his worthy enough to fight a supervillain, that villain being the Pied Piper.

The Piper instantly recognizes the difference between Barry and Wally, mocking him before utterly wasting him and escaping. The news of the Flash's return and subsequent blunder starts spreading, further putting Wally in an emotional rut thinking he still isn't good enough to be a superhero.

Meanwhile, Gorilla Grodd, another villain of the Flash, makes his return and demands for the speedster to show himself in five days before he turns all of Central City into gorillas. Speaking of which, Wally is eating his sorrows away at Big Belly Burger where he is comforted by his girlfriend Caitlin Snow and Barry's friend Cisco Ramon, who try to convince him to return to being a superhero to stop Grodd but Wally just isn't feeling it.

They spot a rather large man helping himself to some burgers and bananas, revealing himself as another gorilla named Solovar, who was the leader of Gorilla City before Grodd dethroned him and Barry helped him multiple times in the past. He offers to train Wally for the eventual final battle against Grodd and he accepts.

During his training, Grodd takes control of Central City renaming it New Gorilla City and when the five days were up, prepares to enact his plan before Wally stops him, returned to his usual personality. Alongside him is Jay Garrick, having taken up the mantle once more to fight alongside his friend, and Solovar, who sacrifices himself to save the speedsters.

When all seems lost and Grodd prepares to kill the two, another speedster clad in black armor arrives at the last moment and beats the snot out of the gorilla enough for Wally to land the final blow. The speedster reveals himself to be none other than Barry Allen, now as the god of speed Savitar who was chosen by the Speed Force to be its protector. He gives his son his blessing to be the new Flash and thanks Jay for training him before saying goodbye for the last time and leaving into the Speed Force. Grodd and Solovar's corpse is taken back to Gorilla City and Solovar's son is named the new leader while Wally continues his role as the new Scarlet Speedster.

Post credits scene #1: Wally is at a convenience store where he meets a man named John Jones buying an entire armful of Chocos. The two carry a rather awkward conversation before John takes his snacks and leaves. When he gets further away from the store, he crosses Wally's name off his list and starts munching on his treats.

Post credits scene #2: In Iron Heights Prison, Leonard Snart is shown calmly reading the newspaper in his cell until he comes across an article of the Flash's return. Freezing the newspaper in his hands, he decides to break out and pay this new speedster a visit.

Green Lantern: Brightest Day

For centuries, the Green Lantern Corps have fought the forces of evil with their numerous members patrolling each sector of the universe. One such particular sector is Sector 2814, home to the planet Earth which is home to some of the greatest of the Green Lanterns like the very first human Lantern Alan Scott, his successor Hal Jordan, ex-Marine John Stewart and showboating Guy Gardner.

One day when a pair of Lanterns lost their lives trying to stop the Manhunters from destroying the planet Garnet, one of its inhabitants named Jack T. Chance is selected as the new bearer of one of the ring and is tasked by Ganthet, one of the Guardians of the Universe, to find someone worthy of wielding the second one. Chance goes down to Los Angeles to find that successor and meets struggling artist Kyle Rayner.

Chance learns that his ring wouldn't work anywhere else except Garnet so he decides to use Kyle to his advantage by posing as an art critic who showers him with praise to try and get close to him. Meanwhile Hal and John chastise the Guardians for choosing a criminal to scout for a new member and go after Jack & Kyle.

Arriving at Kyle's Californian home, they expose Jack but Kyle readily defends him saying that he helped him become successful and get a girlfriend named Alexandra. The duo apologize for their harsh actions and offer to give Jack a second chance, which he reluctantly accepts and finally bestows Kyle his ring. Now as a new Green Lantern, the four fight crime across the galaxy while Rayner is trained by veteran Lanterns Kilowag and Tomar-Re. But unbeknownst to them, the Manhunters plot their next move.

After months as a Green Lantern, Kyle returns home to find Alexandra missing before finding her bound and gagged in the fridge, telling him that she was attacked by a bunch of robots. Seeing this as a sign of things to come, Kyle races to Oa where he learns that the Manhunters were built to defend the universe predating the Corps but were exiled after going rogue. The three Lanterns form a team of corpsmen consisting of Kilowog, Tomar-Re, Ch'p, Arisia Raab, Guy Gardner, G'nort and Laira to stop the Manhunters.

The Manhunters start instilling their own twisted view of justice on the world arresting anyone for the simplest of acts. They were about to terminate Alexandra for escaping her confinement & trying to fight back before Kyle stops them and rescues her. Jack nearly sacrifices himself to stop their invasion but comes out relatively okay. After saving the Earth, Kyle is welcomed to Oa with open arms and Jack is rewarded for his heroic deed with allowing his ring to work even off of Garnet.

Post credits scene #1: It's revealed that the Manhunters were not attacking Earth of their own will. They were being controlled by none other than Sinestro who then decides to move onto Plan B by making a new yellow ring.

Post credits scene #2: During an art showcase, Kyle meets John Jones who asks him about the recent mechanical menace, to which Kyle replies by claiming that they were probably sent by some third world country that wanted to declare war. John leaves the scene and crosses Kyle's name off the list, saying to himself "He's almost here."

Batman and Superman: World's Finest

Superman and Batman return as they finally cross paths for the very first time. When the Joker steals a large piece of Kryptonite that originally powered Metallo, he recruits the terrorist Bane to go with him to Metropolis to hunt down Superman. At the same time, Lex Luthor oversees the creation of a top secret project before the two Gotham villains break in and offer an alliance.

Meanwhile, Batman learns of Superman's existence and has mixed feelings on him. On one hand, it's good there are other superheroes out there but fears that if rubbed the wrong way he could be a danger to humanity. As Bruce Wayne, he attends a charity gala in Metropolis to strike a business deal with Luthor, who puts up a friendly if eccentric & condescending facade where he also meets Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Bane is also there incognito as a Spanish billionaire named Diego Luna where he spies on Kent and Wayne talking about Superman and Batman. After speaking with Clark, Bruce breaks into a vault holding the Kryptonite and steals it from Lex.

Reporting back to the dastardly duo, Joker decides to get his hands on Luthor's secret project, who turns out to be a clone of Superman which the clown mockingly dubs "Bizarro." The clone is unleashed and starts causing chaos, tarnishing the Man of Steel's reputation. Batman doesn't realize this and confronts Superman in costume. Clark is unwilling to fight him fearing that it would further stain the public's view of him until he learns from Jimmy that Joker has kidnapped Lois and uses her to convince Supes to fight.

The two heroes finally come face to face and begin duking it out. Despite Superman's unlimited strength, Batman's intelligence gives him an advantage with various Kryptonite weaponry. The two are evenly matched until Superman finally tells him that this was all a ploy by their arch-enemies to destroy them both and that the Joker is holding Lois hostage. Seeing this as a sign that Clark isn't so bad after all, Batman throws the fight and they work together to save the day.

Batman decides to save Lois, who is being held in a warehouse by Bane and his minions while Superman finally confronts Lex who reveals to him Bizarro. The two battle, pretty much imitating each other's exact moves before Bizarro is knocked down. Angered, Lex whips out a suit of armor he built to fight the Man of Steel. Meanwhile, Batman had just saved Lois from Bane before Joker makes his appearance and attempts to kill them by destroying the warehouse with a pipe bomb, but he accidentally blows up himself and is nearly believed to be dead before he escapes from the rubble and leaves.

Finally, the duo meet up at a deserted slum where Bizarro absorbs all of the damage he's taken and evolves into Doomsday. The final battle between good and evil begin with Superman taking on Lex in his Warsuit and Batman against Doomsday. Since Doomsday is a Superman clone, Batman uses the last of his Kryptonite tools, a spear and takes him out, devolving him back to Bizarro while Superman finds a way to shut down the warsuit and expose Lex for his crimes. Thus, the two heroes come to an understanding and decide to become partners from then on.

Post credits scene #1: Joker is back in Arkham Asylum and he has a new psychiatrist named Harleen Quinzel, who he immediately starts warming up to.

Post credits scene #2: A while later, Clark and Bruce sit down in a cafe wisecracking about their first encounter before they're joined by Diana Prince. In the distance, John Jones watches them before clutching his head in pain seeing images of a starfish creature attacking Earth. He then mutters that he's too late and they must be united immediately.

Justice League

It has been months since the faithful encounter between Superman and Batman, and the media has dubbed them the World's Finest. John Jones decides to put his plan into action by telepathically convincing Intergang to attack the United Nations headquarters, which catches the attention of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash and Green Lantern. Although they defeat the crooks, neither party has no idea who prepared this but the heroes warm up to one another.

Meanwhile, the alien conqueror known as Starro and his heralds the Faceless Hunter and Malefic the White Martian begin to attack Earth, bringing the people under the starfish alien's control. The heroes take action once more but are stopped by John Jones, who reveals his true identity as J'onn J'onzz aka the Martian Manhunter. He explains that he brought everyone together to combat Starro and was secretly documenting their abilities. Although they are creeped out that one man has been watching them all, they decide to come together and save the Earth.

The team begins to split up into groups, Superman & Wonder Woman in one group, Batman & Aquaman in another and Flash & Green Lantern in a third group leaving J'onn by himself to confront Malefic, who reveals himself as his twin brother Ma'alefa'ak and that he brought Starro to Mars and wiped out his race. The Faceless Hunter then attacks Manhunter from behind and forces a Starro spore on his face, brainwashing him and driving away the heroes.

The group all hide out in an abandoned office building to lick their wounds. They feel so defeated after losing J'onn that they're ready to give up. But Superman doesn't want to as he makes a speech to the others that they will bring justice to the world. Fully motivated once again, the heroes decide to call themselves the Justice League and go out for the final battle against Starro.

Starro, now with Martian Manhunter by his side, prepares to leave Earth and conquer the rest of the galaxy with an entire army at the helm before the Justice League arrive to stop him. The Flash creates an electric current strong enough to shock the spores and free the people from their control, including J'onn. With their combined powers, they destroy Starro and save the Earth while the Hunter and Malefic are arrested by the Department of Extra-Normal Operations. The heroes are congratulated for their efforts and become the defenders of Earth, with the office building from earlier becoming the hall of Justice.

Post credits scene: Deep in space, an unknown figure spectates on the League's final battle with Starro taking particular interest in Superman. He steps into view, turning out to be Brainiac and prepares to visit Earth.